6 Books to travel from your sofa

Books

The Good Culture

From director Wes Anderson to artist Laurent Grasso, The Good Life has selected six Books to go on an adventure without breaking the bank.

What can you possibly give to someone who already has everything? An imaginary journey! We slip into the house of our favorite artist, then into the head of director Wes Anderson, before branching off into the parallel universes of Laurent Grasso. Here are six adventure books to read this year.

Also read: 10 essential books to read (at least) once in your life

1 – Like at home

To understand artists, there’s nothing better than staying with them! This book takes us from Paris to Rio, into the living rooms of Maurizio Cattelan, Tracey Emin, Subodh Gupta, Claire Tabouret and Bernar Venet. We discover interiors as sublime as they are astonishing, whose numerous objects can serve as clues to decode the works of their owners.

Inside the Homes of Artists: For Art’s Sake, Rizzoli, 384 p., 85 €.

2 – Wave to the soul

Fan of Japanese culture, this book is for you. Through 4,000 commented drawings, this beautiful two-volume encyclopedia looks back at Hokusai’s complete work entitled La Manga. The series of sketches begun in the second half of his career describes landscapes where fauna and flora mingle with everyday scenes and supernatural interventions. With no apparent connection to each other, the prints document 19th-century Japanese society and the pictorial richness of a major artist who remains as popular as ever.

Hokusai. La Manga, Hazan, 912 p., 99 €.

3 – In the firmament

To celebrate its 90th anniversary, Harcourt, the legendary photo studio, has selected the portrait of 90 stars of contemporary French cinema. We focus on the half-angel, half-demon face of Tahar Rahim (2009) or the diaphanous beauty of Vanessa Paradis (2000) and Cécile de France (2005). Each photo has its own little text full of personal stories. Among the latest entrants, many talents from the Comédie-Française, such as Laurent Stocker, Benjamin Lavernhe, as well as the rising star Rebecca Marder.

Harcourt Studio Paris. 90 years old, La Martinière, 208 p., €45.

4 – If Wes was told to me

Prefaced by the indescribable Thierry Frémaux, La Totale dissects the now cult style of Wes Anderson, in eleven films and seven short films: obsession with symmetrical compositions, powdery palette and aesthetic marked by the 50s. Throughout the pages, the text opens up about the bio of the freshly Oscar-winning director, while the boxes reveal behind-the-scenes anecdotes from filming.

Wes Anderson. La Totale, E/P/A, 288 p., 40 €.

5 – The truth is elsewhere

Between the beautiful book and the art object, Time Travel plunges into the fascinating world of the artist Laurent Grasso to reveal installations imbued with science, contemporary mythologies and an artistic heritage punctuated with symbols. A fan of the side step, Grasso is interested in hybrid forms that offer much more than a jump in time. The work lifts the veil on the making of an alternative collective memory, where we are both spectators and accomplices.

Laurent Grasso. Time Travel, Rizzoli, 256 p., 82 €.

6 – Paper Giant

His name may not be familiar to you, but you have probably come across his work as a committed architect. The Center Pompidou-Metz, the Swatch and Omega Campus and even the Simose Art Museum in Japan, it’s him! Shigeru Ban works from recycled paper and cardboard, and advocates the use of cheap materials that are quick to handle – very useful for building a shelter for families hit by a tsunami, for example. Winner of the Pritzker Prize, the Japanese innovator receives a paper tribute in XXL format aligned with limitless altruism.

Shigeru Ban, bags, 696 p., 200 €.

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