Pharmacopoeia: A Dungeness Notebook by Derek Jarman
Genre: Poetry/Autobiography/Nature Writing
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Catriona’s thoughts: Pharmacopoeia is a profound reflection on Derek Jarman’s deep connection with nature as he navigates grief and mortality. It combines diary entries, poetry, and longer meditative passages about his time at Prospect Cottage, where gardening became a form of solace, ritual, and remembrance.
Between 1987 and 1994, following his father’s death and his own HIV diagnosis, Jarman lived in this former fishing hut on the harsh, windswept coast of Dungeness. Initially, he assumed the barren landscape would be inhospitable to new life, but against expectation, the garden flourished. What began with a single dogwood rose, propped up with a piece of driftwood, evolved into a living archive, a sanctuary and a memorial for the ‘forgotten generation’ lost to AIDS. His careful documentation of plant species reflects his desire to preserve memory, securing both his own history and that of his peers. Tilda Swinton, Jarman’s close friend and collaborator, introduces the book with a tender recollection of their first visit to Prospect Cottage, arriving in shared silence and seeing the yellow door for the first time. In that moment, they understood that this place would be ‘a vision not of taking but of giving.’
For Jarman, nature serves as both metaphor and companion. Violets transport Jarman back to his first romantic encounter as a boy. An ‘exquisite tulip’ greets him after a restless night. He describes every cycle of the garden with a tenderness. Growth, bloom and decay all reflect his own reckoning with his illness and the passage of time. The poem ‘Cold, cold, cold they die so silently’ was a particularly poignant moment in the book as he begs the flowers to come back again next year, even though he fears he won’t see them. I found, overall, Jarman’s writing to be a deeply moving meditation on creativity, love and loss, and one I will come back to many more times.
The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Alice’s thoughts: Existential, impulsive, and profoundly absurd, Muriel Spark’s 1970 novella The Driver’s Seat is the author’s take on the question “who is really in control?”. The narrative, which follows the protagonist Lise and documents the final hours of her life before she is brutally murdered, is at once rich and sterile. The events of the book are undoubtedly absurd, but presented to us so matter-of-factly it becomes uncanny. Spark approaches the central theme of the book – control – with humor and curiosity making for an enjoyable, if somewhat jarring, reading experience. Reading the book was a whirlwind that admittedly stuck with me for a few days after I finished it. I spent a lot of that time recovering from a kind of literary whiplash, induced by the novella’s fast pacing and unpredictable narrative and central character. I would love to re-read this book, and I get the sense that there’s more to be found with each read.
The entire book is a subversion of a typical murder mystery, but still employs recognisable structures, again adding to the uncanny elements of the novella. One of the most interesting elements of the book is the way Spark highlights the absurdity of everyday life, making a kind of Lynchian declaration that we are surrounded by the surreal all the time. This is most noticeable in the side characters, for example, the man Lise meets on the plane who follows a ‘macrobiotic’ diet, eating almost exclusively rice and having one orgasm a day as part of a healthy lifestyle. However, even these minor characters encourage readers to consider control, and the way modern society aims to exert control on us through concepts such as ‘The One’. Described as a ‘whydunnit’ by the author, the novella’s key meaning lies in figuring out why Lise’s murder happens, as opposed to by whom, prompting readers to think about who is in the driver’s seat? And if it isn’t me, then who is it?
Room to Dream by David Lynch and Kristine McKenna
Genre: Part-memoir/Part-biography
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fee’s thoughts: My comfort reading in the wake of David Lynch’s death continues with Room to Dream, his 2018 memoir-slash-biography co-written with Kristine McKenna. This is a hefty doorstop of a book offering an expansive look at Lynch’s life and work, including over a hundred interviews with his collaborators. These first-hand accounts, coupled with the book’s unusual dual-narrative, present a deeper, more intimate view of its subject than any traditional biography ever could. Kristine McKenna’s meticulously researched biographical chapters are each followed by Lynch’s own dreamlike, warm, humorous recollections and reflections. This structure, shifting between external facts and subjective memory, cleverly mirrors the dualities that define Lynch’s body of work.
McKenna traces Lynch’s journey from his childhood in Montana and Idaho to his years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and his emergence as an innovative and influential filmmaker, exploring Lynch’s multi-disciplinary approach to creativity, from his early days as a painter experimenting with sculpture, animation, music, and photography, to his filmmaking and his unpredictable career in Hollywood, to his belief in Transcendental Meditation as a gateway to inspiration. Catching the big fish. Lynch’s sections, by contrast, are characteristically idiosyncratic. He recalls events with a painter’s sensibility, emphasising mood, texture, and small but vivid details over rigid chronology. He recalls the suburban landscapes of his youth, Bob’s Big Boy chocolate milkshakes, and sheds a little light on his intuitive creative processes, emphasising his belief in learning to trust your intuition and let ideas emerge naturally.
We are also gifted candid insights into Lynch’s personal life and his multiple marriages. He’s been described as both difficult and deeply kind; exacting to work with, yet those who know him best speak of his decency and loyalty. The book doesn’t shy away from these contradictions, making for a compelling portrait of a man who exists both within and without Hollywood.
An essential read for Lynch fans or anyone with an interest in creative processes. If you’re in the mood to treat yourself (every day, once a day, give yourself a present!), I recommend you get your hands on both the physical copy of the book AND the audiobook. The hard copy is packed with candid black and white photos from Lynch’s archive, while in the audiobook McKenna and Lynch themselves narrate their respective sections of the text.
BOOM: Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art by Michael Shnayerson
Genre: Nonfiction
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hope’s thoughts: This book is fascinating. I have never been as engrossed in nonfiction as I have been with BOOM. Delving into familiar characters like Pollock, Castelli, and Gagosian, and lesser known drivers like Paula Cooper, Iwan Wirth and Robert Scull, Shnayerson cleverly maps the interactions and decisions these people made to uproot and remake the contemporary art market into what it is today.
A lot of the folk mentioned in BOOM are motivated by an unwavering passion for art, creativity, and innovation, but for others it comes down to one thing: money. This is a thrilling tale of sharp dealers, savvy collectors, and iconic artists. You’ll witness dealers poaching artists and orchestrating eye-watering prices, and artists being snuffed for cash on the secondary market – all for the sake of profit.
As a young artist, I found the (sometimes) humble beginnings (there were a lot of rich daddys and huge alimonies) and entrepreneurial spirit shown by many of the now-legends of the art world – dealer and artist alike – deeply inspiring. Whilst maybe not entirely replicable today, the idea of swaggering into Gagosian’s office, with little to offer but plucky courage and ambition, as he did with Castelli,is a delicious fantasy.
If you enjoy art, business, or are just looking for a cracking story that’s fast-paced and eye-opening, you’ve really got to read BOOM.
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