Photo: Maggie Maurer from "Go (South)" by Martin Parr and styled by Eliza Conlon for SLEEK 63.
With all this time spent indoors, there’s no time quite like quarantine to settle down with a good book or magazine. So, we asked our favourite Berlin-based printed magazine and book store, Do You Read Me?! to curate a booklist to keep us occupied in these strange days of self-isolation. From autofiction to apartments, cookery to the end of capitalism, there’s something for every kind of reader.
Outline Trilogy by Rachel Cusk
“We recommend these novels to everyone we know. Rachel Cusk pulls off, in three slim volumes, an entirely new form of fiction that is emotionally intimate, intellectually rigorous and stunningly written, all at once.”
Dorothy Iannone: A Cookbook
“One of our favourite new discoveries this year is this beautiful cookbook that’s far more than just a cookbook. It’s a diary, a piece of art, a record of a joyous and turbulent lifestyle—and full of great recipes.”
Warhol: A Life As Art by Blake Gopnik
“Blake Gopnik’s tremendous biography of the man everybody thinks they know everything about is the perfect quarantine companion, exploding the myths and revealing startling new insights into the Pop art icon.”
Flaneur magazine—Fokionos Negri, Athens
“Maybe you’ve had your holiday plans disrupted, or perhaps you’re just sick of your flat already? Let Flaneur magazine whisk you away to the streets of Athens, even just for a little while. (For the real world-traveller, check out back issues including Rome, Moscow and Sao Paolo…!)”
Berlin Living Rooms by Dominique Nabokov
“Or maybe you quite like staying home. And maybe you’re a little bit nosy. We love this beautifully photographed tour through the private spaces of some of Berlin’s most interesting inhabitants, published by interior design gurus, Apartamento.”
Macguffin Issue 8: The Desk
“For everyone working from home, a new perspective on your new best friend: the humble desk. The brilliant design magazine Macguffin’s latest issue is filled with fantastic photography and fascinating texts.”
Plan and Play, Play and Plan: Defining Your Art Practice by Janwillem Schrofer
“A wonderful, practical book for anyone currently dealing with the challenge of reconciling their artistic practice with the realities of entrepreneurship by asking the essential question: “who am I, and what do I stand for?”
The Future of Capitalism by Paul Collier
“Now, more than ever, the foundations of capitalist society are under scrutiny. The current trend toward populism and divisiveness can leave you feeling despair, but this little book lays out a way forward that reminds us of our responsibility to each other, to an ethical society, and to a hopeful future.”
These publications and more can be purchased online at Do you read me?!