The Best Books of 2024
PopMatters Best Books of 2024 include a broad range of nonfiction, many books on music, short fiction, a novel that turns a Mark Twain classic inside out, and much more.
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‘The Theatrical Adventures of Edward Gorey’ Is Spectacular
Creator of the iconic PBS Masterpiece Mystery! title sequence, Edward Gorey’s artistic sensibility and wicked humor continuously inspires creators across many mediums.
Greil Marcus Explains Why Creativity Is Better Left Unexplained
In What Nails It Greil Marcus delivers a philosophical treatise wherein fact and fiction merge into poetic indeterminacy, like a nebulous 1960s garage rock tune.
Who Is the Monster in Claire Dederer’s ‘Monsters’?
In Monsters, Claire Dederer explores how fans’ “dumb love” of art can exist with “heartbreak” and unresolved feelings about monstrous artists.
In the Aeroplane Over the Meme with Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel’s ambiguous 1988 album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, suffered a memeified atrocity. But the tides of public opinion rise and fall, and memes come and go.
Patrick Bringley’s Exquisitely Rendered ‘All the Beauty in the World’
As there is an art to memoir writing, there is an artfulness to describing the power of the visual arts. Patrick Bringley’s ‘All the Beauty in the World’ is exquisitely rendered.
Why Work Doesn’t Work
The idea that we work because we want to, not because we need to, is a pernicious one that labor journalist Sarah Jaffe dissects in Work Won’t Love You Back.
Graphic Novel ‘Cuisine Chinoise’ Is a Feast for the Eyes and the Mind
Lush art and dark, cryptic fables permeate Zao Dao's stunning graphic novel, Cuisine Chinoise.
‘Camille Claudel’ Features an Electrifying Performance by Isabelle Adjani
Through a brazen performance, one to obliterate all performances that came before, Isabelle Adjani gives her Claudel a true body in which to house all her drive and desire in Bruno Nuytten's Camille Claudel.
When You Discover Your Father Had an Affair with Frida Kahlo…
The story of one of Frida Kahlo’s short affairs, captured by Marc Petitjean, offers an inspired glimpse into the surreal Parisian art scene of 1939
Queer Love and Art in the Time of Nazis: ‘Never Anyone But You’
Never Anyone But You is an inspiring tale of surrealists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, who defied homophobia, Nazis, and gender norms while pushing the boundaries of art and love.
PROTEST! A History of Social and Political Protest Graphics (By the Book)
From the French, Mexican, and Sandinista revolutions to the American civil rights movement, nuclear disarmament, and the Women's March of 2017, PROTEST!, by Liz McQuiston, documents the integral role of the visual arts in passionate efforts for change. Enjoy this excerpt, courtesy of Princeton University Press.