Michael Rock’s Book List
My list is comprised of books I admire for diverse reasons: the structure of the sentences, narrative complexity, the relationship to other books, the use of genre, the singular voice of the author. I draw from them differently. Some I use as models for argument, others I read to refresh my ear when I have been stuck on something, still others remind me to be more daring or fearless. My list is heavily weighted toward novels as they are the most important to me.
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My favorite essayist, after Joan Didion. I draw so much from McPhee’s extremely human approach to his subjects and the structural elegance of his essays. His movement from subject to subject, in absolutely fluid transitions, is remarkable.
At Last and The Patrick Melrose Novels (also by St. Aubyn) together represent the most crystalline prose and concise observation I have read in a contemporary novelist. St. Aubyn has an alchemic ability to, in a single sentence, engage humor, pathos, and shockingly bad behavior: absolutely compelling and often hair-raising.
At once hilarious and pathetic. I prefer The Corrections slightly over Franzen’s Freedom. What both books accomplish is the superimposition of socioeconomic and familial politics, in that they are both highly political novels that take on and critique the dominant cultural logic of the moment. The trope of the large writ small is expertly handled and entirely woven into the plotting, which is complex and multivalent.
The only architecture book on my list and one that I admire immensely, along with S, M, L, XL. Koolhaas is a brilliant prose stylist and one of the funniest, most insightful of theorists. I aspire to his ability to encompass counterintuitive thinking in surprising, wildly entertaining sentences. The premise of Delirious New York is utterly unique and relentlessly rigorous. Everyone else pales by comparison.
An elegant essayist from the pages of The New Yorker, Malcolm is a fascinating analyst and intricate structuralist. While this book-length essay encompasses all her techniques, my favorite essay is her magazine profile of the artist David Salle composed entirely of possible first paragraphs from a potential profile.
The author I most turn to when in need of reinvigorating my sentences. No one composes better ones in English (nor in Russian, I suspect). In addition, Nabokov masters contemporary forms and vernaculars. Lolita combines, in an almost painful way, the hilarious and the unconscionable. I have read it five times over the years and each time I find more in it. His love of language is unequaled. (Also see Nabokov’s other novels, including Pnin, Pale Fire, and Ada.)
Another benchmark book I reread once every ten years or so and it never disappoints. I love Melville’s thoroughly modern assemblage of genres: jumping from adventure narrative to travelogue to anthropological treatise to natural history text. Plus it speaks to the New Englander in me.
Joan Didion is another brilliant sentence composer with a clear, unflinching approach to her subjects. The essays are almost perfectly structured and I often attempt her stirring combination of the autobiographical and the cultural. Didion is able to capture the essence of a specific moment in subtle but precise ways.
The most contemporary book on my list included primarily because I admire the complex structure of the narrative. Egan moves so deftly between time periods and genres that the intricacy of the interrelationships is almost not apparent at first. An extremely designed novel. (I had my students at Yale attempt to diagram it.)
An absolutely compelling combination of the blank and the fantastical. Murakami is a phenomenal plotter, but what I admire most in his books is the ability to generate affect—a very specific, almost palpable, atmosphere or mood. Plus his use of musical reference is fascinating.
Announcements
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
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Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
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