Currently reading
Vineland (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)
Tristes Tropiques
Richard III
The Dwarf
The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen
Labyrinths
Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery
Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics
Gravity's Rainbow
A Gravity's Rainbow Companion: Sources and Contexts for Pynchon's Novel
Egon Schiele. Landschaften. Englische Ausgabe: Landscapes
A wonderful book. Though known largely through his grotesque portraits, erotic drawings, and narcissistic self-portraits, the landscapes -- especially the trees and ruralscapes -- show a lyrical genius that is so moving. Schiele, it turns out, was a draughtsman of the first order. The prints, which are beautiful, are accompanied by a sparse and insightful commentary. In many places, including the townscapes, Leopold found and photographed the precise motif that Schiele was painting -- which makes for some fascinating comparisons. In discussing Autumn Trees I (1911), he provides an old print, plus a newer one -- to show how the original has decayed (partially through a poor restoration). And much else. Sometimes he simply notes that "the longer one looks at this drawing", the more one gets it.... The total absence of any pretentious bullshit, so common in some of these art books, is quite refreshing...
My favorites, both as regards the paintings and as regards the commentary, however, are Schiele's Trees.