Southern Sass: Undressed People. Al Pacino. Evel Knievel. Happy Not-Reading.

5.27.2014

Undressed People. Al Pacino. Evel Knievel. Happy Not-Reading.

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05/27/14

Fully Booked

The Great Summer Not-Reading List of 2014

Few summer pastimes are more satisfying than swaying in a hammock with a good book. Particularly so when that book has very few words and very many provocative, dangerous and/or even more provocative pictures. So here they are: five new books to consider not-reading this summer.

CAPTAIN RON

Smile, You’re on Candid Coffee Table

When a photographer known as “the Godfather of US paparazzi culture” (also, Ron Galella) unveils a brand-new tome of never-before-seen shots of people like Bianca Jagger, Madonna and Al Pacino, you do two things: 1) check outside your window, and 2) get that book.


411:	Ron Galella: New York, $53, order here

EVEL EYE

Evel Knievel. Oldsmobiles. America.

One day in 1972, Evel Knievel jumped his motorcycle over a bunch of cars at an Oldsmobile dealership in Oklahoma. Then some old photos of that day were discovered and turned into a book made for your coffee table. And possibly for inspiring you to open an Oldsmobile dealership in Oklahoma.


411:	Evel Comes to Cooperville, $40, order here

LIP SERVICE

A Beautiful Visual Treatise on Lips

You’re going to see your fair share of lips this summer. And yet, probably none of them will be as famous as the ones in this book of artistic lip shots by the likes of Warhol, Lichtenstein and David LaChapelle. Open lips. Kissing lips. Just-sitting-there lips. We guess our point is: lips.


411:	Blow Me a Kiss, $35, preorder here

NEW WAVE

A Year’s Worth of Retro Surfing Zen

In theory, this is a good idea: pair each day of the year with a picture of retro surf culture (like Hawaiian board artists in the ’70s), an interesting surf-related event (like Jack Johnson’s birthday) and a Zen-like quote by a famous surfer. In practice: actually, still a good idea.


411:	Taschen 365 Day-by-Day: Surfing, $30, order here

LACES OUT

For Mature Coffee Tables Only

And since no summer reading list is complete without something called The Mammoth Book of Erotic Photography, here’s that. As you may guess, it’s 448 pages of new material from the world’s best practitioners of tastefully NSFW portraiture. And probably not part of Oprah’s Book Club.