Beware, this book is not for swimmers only. Leanne Shapton is a graphic novelist, artist, designer of the op page of the NYT, the author of a brilliant book I fell in love with years ago, "Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry", shaped like an auction catalogue that describes a love affair and its subsequent breakup through the photos of the objects that have been exchanged by the couple. her new book Swimming Studies is much more than just a memoir, it’s a beautifully written book, a meditation on passion, obsession, failure, identity, (as a teenager Shapton trained for the Olympic trials. She swam five hours a day, six days a week: "I wasn't the best; I was relatively fast. I trained, ate, travelled, and showered with the best in the country, but wasn't the best; I was pretty good.") . The book is a mix of illustrations, photographs and yes, more catalogue-like descriptions: lists of different pool smells, photos of all her swimming costumes, water-colors of the same landscape seen from the same hotel window, a sequence of white and blue rectangles that represent differently shaped pools. Shapton’s voice is unique, insightful, graceful. As an artist she has been able to draw a parallel between art and water, training and creating, “Artistic discipline and athletic discipline are kissing cousins, they require the same thing, an unspecial practice: tedious and pitch-black invisible, private as guts, but always sacred.”. Her vivid descriptions of her body in water, of the pre down mornings getting ready to go to the pool, looking out at the pitch black snowy sky, will stay with me for a long time. Overall, I liked this book. There were parts I loved. I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting the author to write more about the joy of being in the water and the sensations one feels with swimming - and, not necessarily competitive swimming. As a swimmer (non-competitive), there is a reverence and peace I feel while swimming. I did enjoy the author's art which was scattered throughout the book and I may buy a hard copy of the book for that very reason.
What do You think about Bahnen Ziehen (2012)?
Personal, detailed and beautiful. Best book I have read this summer!
—Stargirl04
Loved the pool bits far more than the art bits.
—kburchett
