Library books (that's a boring title, who would want to read that?)

Usually when I go to the library I take out a couple books on paintings. I look through them and pick out ones I like.

Last week I got:
Scenes of American Life put out by the Smithsonian, and
Only In America by Pierre Rosenberg

In SoAL most of the paintings are related to the Depression or the Works Progress Administration. They'll show WPA artists ina group studio, or coal miners walking home. Most are done in a way that datestamps them to that period.

One artist, Paul Cadmus, does a golf scene in that 1930s style that looks like colored pencil. It's the same style used on the booklet illustration for the Aimee Mann The Forgotten Arm LP.
As Kathy Griffin said Anna Nicole Smith said: "I don't like it".

There are some bright spots. "Skating In Central Park" by Agnes Tait, realistic but a little like American folk art. And Tyrone Comfort's "Gold Is Where You Find It"- a painting of a man drilling in a mineshaft.

The other book, Only In America has some good pictures but the text is annoying.

As the author says, the book is made up of 100 paintings that are unique to American collections and have no match in Europe.

Along with each selection there is text and it almost always says something like, "Why would I choose this painting over _____ by the same artist?" or "How could I include this over that...?"

It's filled with excuses, and who cares. It's clear- anyone would have some different opinions about which pictures to include and there'd be a lot of reasons as to why.

It's funny. Even the book's Introduction is titled "Why this book?"