Howard Hodgkin (b. 1932) is among the most important artists working in Britain today. Nominally abstract, his paintings are, in his words, “representational pictures of emotional situations.” Sumptuously illustrated, this book presents a selection of Hodgkin’s paintings from the last fifteen years and provides a critical coda to the most recent retrospective publications on this artist’s work. Essays by Richard Morphet and Anthony Lane bring together personal responses to Hodgkin’s work of the last fifteen years (with special reference to works in the exhibition at Yale and Cambridge); accounts of the development of his art in the preceding decades; observations on the artist’s relationship between his personal circumstances and his art; and discussion of some of the links between Hodgkin’s vision and the work of selected other artists in England, continental Europe, and the United States.

Howard Hodgkin, Paintings 1992-2007

Arts & Photography

Lane, Anthony

MORPHET, RICHARD

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

Nobody's Perfect : The Reviews of Anthony Lane Esquire

Nobody's Perfect, the much anticipated collection from the New Yorker critic, brings together a generous selection of Lane's film criticisms, profiles, book reviews, and essays on art and culture. In the manner of Edmund Wilson and Kenneth Tynan, Lane embraces high and low with equal gusto, clearly having a marvelous time. Whether he's writing about T. S. Eliot or Judith Krantz, Alfred Hitchcock or Andre Gide, to read him-or better yet, to reread him-is to be carried along on a current of passionate declamation and urgent inquiry, wry reflection and penetrating wit. Taken together, these pieces reflect some of the most brilliant writing and thinking to have graced the pages of the New Yorker, and they impart a cultural and artistic literacy of the highest order.This, Lane's first book, is an exhilarating volume for fans old and new. 'Frequently prowling miles away from film - into Legoland for instance - he consistently surprises and delights with a heady blend of erudition and effervescence' Independent on Sunday 'Lane is the most entertaining writer in the New Yorker . . . the ant's pants, the bee's knees, the king of the hill. Some people can just do it; the rest of us only wish we could' Observer 'Nobody's Perfect, a cornucopia of the fruits of Anthony Lane's nigh-on decade as film critic with the New Yorker magazine, is a superb collection' Guardian 'A glory. Throughout, Lane upholds the sterling virtue of good writing combined with wit and emotional engagement . . . Nobody's Perfect is a gorgeous plum pudding of a book' Spectator 'An outstanding collection of journalism' Daily Telegraph 'Dapper prose, erudite allusions and blithe spirit' Time Out 'Readers will realise with delight that here is a critic quite prepared to snack happily on the lower slopes of Parnassus as on its heights, urbane enough to trust his own judgement on when art house cinema needs a good kicking, and knowledgeable enough without making his readers feel that they are in the presence of a show-off' Scotsman

Literature & Fiction

Classics

Picador

In an aside that reads like a declaration of intent, Anthony Lane writes that he “never quite thrilled to the battle pitched between mainstream and art cinema”—which is to say that he glories in highbrow and lowbrow alike, and respectfully suggests that “the ideal literary diet consists of trash and classics . . . books you can read without thinking, and books you have to read if you want to think at all.” In almost ten years as a critic for The New Yorker, Lane has not only written an indispensable column on the latest movie releases, great and small. He has also turned his gaze upon subjects as various as Evelyn Waugh, Shakespeare, the glory of cookbooks, and the fine art of the obituary. Whether he is examining Alfred Hitchcock or astronauts, to read him is to be carried along on a current of urgent inquiry (“What is the point of Demi Moore?”), wry reflection, and penetrating wit. An essay on The Sound of Music leads him to consider not only singing nuns but the comedy of our cultural memories (“For all our searchings and suppressings, the past comes unbidden or not at all”); his now infamous pieces on the best-seller lists both celebrate the exultantly bad prose of Judith Krantz and deride the “marshes of the middlebrow, where serious novelists lumber around with too many ideas on their back.” His writings on the poetry of Matthew Arnold, A. E. Housman, and especially T. S. Eliot showcase his erudition, dispensed with a piercing insight into human folly. In his survey of events as disparate as Oscar night, a Walker Evans retrospective, and the craziness of a Chanel show in Paris, the acuity of Lane’s intellect is matched by a quality of heart that is his alone, and by a willingness to be carried away. His writings remind us of what criticism can achieve at its best. Arguably the most gifted reviewer at work today, Anthony Lane sets the standard—as a reader, as a critic, and as an observer of life. Nobody's Perfect is a must for fans old and new.

Nobody's Perfect: Writings from The New Yorker

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

KNOPF

Anthony Lane on Con Air— “Advance word on Con Air said that it was all about an airplane with an unusually dangerous and potentially lethal load. Big deal. You should try the lunches they serve out of Newark. Compared with the chicken napalm I ate on my last flight, the men in Con Air are about as dangerous as balloons.” Anthony Lane on The Bridges of Madison County— “I got my copy at the airport, behind a guy who was buying Playboy’s Book of Lingerie, and I think he had the better deal. He certainly looked happy with his purchase, whereas I had to ask for a paper bag.” Anthony Lane on Martha Stewart— “Super-skilled, free of fear, the last word in human efficiency, Martha Stewart is the woman who convinced a million Americans that they have the time, the means, the right, and—damn it—the duty to pipe a little squirt of soft cheese into the middle of a snow pea, and to continue piping until there are ‘fifty to sixty’ stuffed peas raring to go.” For ten years, Anthony Lane has delighted New Yorker readers with his film reviews, book reviews, and profiles that range from Buster Keaton to Vladimir Nabokov to Ernest Shackleton. Nobody’s Perfect is an unforgettable collection of Lane’s trademark wit, satire, and insight that will satisfy both the long addicted and the not so familiar.

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

A history of the shipwrecks of Kent

Shipwrecks of Kent

Engineering & Transportation

Transportation

The History Press

Kent has a long coastline and this, together with its position as the English county closest to Europe, has meant that it has a long history of seafaring, as well as being vulnerable to attack during wartime. In this book, the different aspects of Kent's connection with the sea over the past 200 years is described, with a large number of photographs showing how the ships and the way of life of those who work on sea and coast have changed.

Maritime Kent

History

Europe

Tempus

This is the story of the design and development of British Lightvessels that have protected the coast since 1732, and the great variety of innovative engineering involved. Largely unknown to the general public, this study brings together information and photographs not previously published. A list of British and Irish lightvessel stations is included.

Guiding Lights: The Design & Development of the British Lightship from 1732

For over five centuries, the English Channel's eastern approaches have been the busiest stretch of sea in the world. The route from London and the ports of northern Europe has seen more shipwrecks than almost any other part of the coastline and the area is well known for its shifting sands, narrow sea lanes and rapidly changing weather patterns. From the Goodwin Sands to the offshore hazards of northern France and Belgium, these sandbanks have caused many a ship to founder. Calamity Corner illustrates just how this stretch of coast, on both sides of the Channel, is so treacherous and gives us an idea of the sheer number of ships that have been lost here in the past few centuries, and tragedies, as well as triumphs of man over nature. Anthony Lane gives a truly local flavour to the maritime disasters from Kent through Sussex and the French and Belgian coasts where the North Sea funnels into the narrow English Channel.

Calamity Corner

Travel

Kent Ports and Harbours

Made famous by its position, the port of Dover has proved of great importance to the nation in war and peace over many centuries. A Roman stronghold, it became a major Cinque Port after the Norman Conquest. Following the murder of Thomas Beckett at Canterbury in 1170, it became a place of transit for many pilgrims, encouraging Henry II to improve the remarkable castle we know today. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I made great efforts to improve the often threatened harbour, where, in 1660, Charles II returned to Dover to re-establish the monarchy. In the past, in peacetime, the town welcomed monarchs and statesmen from all over the world who arrived by sea. The Admiralty Grand Harbour provided a base for the Dover Patrol and a receiving station for more than a million wounded in the First World War. Similarly, in 1940, the major part of the British Army retreating from Dunkirk was landed at Dover. This highly illustrated book describes the development of the harbour over the last 500 years and its associated shipping activities, commercial and naval, particularly the cross-Channel ferries, which have considerably increased in size and number in recent times to cater for the enormous number of passengers, cars and trucks which nowadays cross to and from France. Dover remains on the Front Line in road communications with Europe.

Front Line Harbour: A History of the Port of Dover

Photography & Video

Amberley Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lane, Anthony. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lane, Anthony

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lane, Anthony. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Howard Hodgkin, Paintings 1992-2007

Nobody's Perfect : The Reviews of Anthony Lane Esquire

Nobody's Perfect: Writings from The New Yorker

Nobody's Perfect: Writings from The New Yorker

Shipwrecks of Kent

Maritime Kent

Guiding Lights: The Design & Development of the British Lightship from 1732

Calamity Corner

Kent Ports and Harbours

Front Line Harbour: A History of the Port of Dover