The ugly history of beautiful things : essays on desire and consumption
Kelleher, Katy2023
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Katy Kelleher has spent much of her life chasing beauty. As a child, she uprooted handfuls of purple, fragrant little flowers from the earth, plucked iridescent seashells from the beach, and dug for turquoise stones in her backyard. As a teenager she applied glittery shimmer to her eyelids after religiously dabbing on her signature scent of orange blossoms and jasmine. And as an adult, she coveted gleaming marble countertops and delicate porcelain to beautify her home. This obsession with beauty led her to become a home, garden, and design writer, where she studied how beautiful things are mined, grown, made, and enhanced. In researching these objects, Kelleher concluded that most of us are blind to the true cost of our desires. Because whenever you find something unbearably beautiful, look closer, and you'll inevitably find a shadow of decay lurking underneath.
Main title:
Author:
Kelleher, Katy, author
Imprint:
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2023.©2023
Collation:
x, 262 pages ; 24 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-247) and index.
Contents:
The mercurial charms of the mirror: on seeing and being seenMouth full of petals, veins full of wax: on stealing, eating, praying, and playing with flowersBright blue, cursed cuts: on gemstones, worry stones, and her majesty the diamondSpiraling: on the ancient appeal of shells, pearls, and mollusk-made wondersLive fast, die pretty: on wearing war paint, faces full of lead, and the makeup of makeupDirty, sweet, floral, foul: the rank of backstory of perfumeryWomen and worms: The prismatic sheen of silk and its fairy-tale logicDeceptions and damnation: the molten glow of screens, the beauty of stained glass, and the treachery of spectaclesBone white, paper thing: on porcelain dishes, pale faces, and the complicated act of setting a tableThe exhalations of the earth: on marble statues, engineered stones, white lungs, and small lambs.
ISBN:
9781982179359 (hbk)9781982179359
Dewey class:
111.85
LC class:
BH301.C75
Language:
English
Added title:
Subject:
BRN:
539656
More Information:
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beaumaris Library | Adult Non Fiction - Society and Beliefs | 111.85 KEL | Available |