Optic Nerve (by Maria Gainza)

Oh, this is wonderful.

Maria Gainza is an Argentinian writer and art critic who weaves memoir-like vignettes with stories of the lives and works of various artists. At every chapter I would stop to look up the artist and their work, and it enhanced my reading to have the visual in front of me. This is so assured, so confident, so beautiful. I can't recommended it highly enough, especially if you're interested in art and art criticism. I have to also give kudos to the translator; I love the style of the writing and I'm sure a bad translation could have flattened it.

For my "will this make the shortlist" pondering, I would say I am not sure. I think it should, it's easily one of the best books I've read this year, but maybe it's one of those books that speaks to me more than others. So who can say?