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Hold Still
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs | Sally Mann
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARThe New York Times, Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Vogue, NPR, Publishers Weekly, BookPage A revealing and beautifully written memoir and family history from acclaimed photographer Sally Mann. In this groundbreaking book, a unique interplay of narrative and image, Mann's preoccupation with family, race, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South are revealed as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her. Sorting through boxes of family papers and yellowed photographs she finds more than she bargained for: "deceit and scandal, alcohol, domestic abuse, car crashes, bogeymen, clandestine affairs, dearly loved and disputed family land . . . racial complications, vast sums of money made and lost, the return of the prodigal son, and maybe even bloody murder." In lyrical prose and startlingly revealing photographs, she crafts a totally original form of personal history that has the page-turning drama of a great novel but is firmly rooted in the fertile soil of her own life.
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sarahbellum
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Pickpick

If I had to pick one word to describe this book it would be: haunting. I started Hold Still back in 2018, made it halfway, and returned it to the library when I ran out of time. I‘ve thought about it ever since and finally finished it today. I love Mann‘s photography and my dad was a Southern artist, so I couldn‘t help but think of him throughout. My strong ties to VA had me feeling nostalgic reading her reflections. So many feels about this one!

sarahbellum Our puppy, Gus, couldn‘t resist cheesing for the camera 🐶 2y
TrishB 🐶♥️ gorgeous Doggo 2y
25 likes2 comments
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sarahbellum
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Weekend plans! I‘m making very good progress on the Trekkie pattern for my sister in law. My latest #audiostitching listen is All Creatures Great and Small. Trying to finish Hold Still finally- recently picked it up again after putting it down in 2018 🤦🏻‍♀️. Something about it makes it hard for me to read even though I‘m loving it. I think it‘s the nostalgia I have for my time living in Virginia in my 20s

wanderinglynn Ooh love that Star Trek pattern! 🖖🏻❤️ 2y
sarahbellum @wanderinglynn I found the pattern on Etsy. It‘s going to make a perfect Christmas gift for my sister in law 🙂 2y
BookmarkTavern Sisko my love! ❤️❤️ This is amazing! 2y
sarahbellum @ozma.of.oz Thanks! I‘m really pleased with how it‘s turning out. I loved stitching Sisko‘s facial hair ☺️ 2y
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

In Hold Still, photographer Sally Mann shares a bit of her own story alongside that of her family/ancestors. She includes photos, some of which are fairly confrontational. She has a wonderful voice and good sense of humor. I really enjoyed this!

GingerAntics Intrigued by confrontational photos. 2y
Hooked_on_books @GingerAntics It seems she really didn‘t shy from anything. She‘s interesting and inquisitive. 2y
GingerAntics I‘m going to have to try and get my hands on this book. I just read the description and WOW!!! 😮 2y
49 likes3 comments
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AlizaApp
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Pickpick

A memoir with photographs. I loved this look at Sally Mann‘s process, the stories behind some of her iconic photos, and the unconventional upbringing that led her to the artistic lifestyle.

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sherri
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I love when writers share about their journals!

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Samplergal
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This was recommended to me and I‘m glad it was. Quite enjoyable as I pack boxes. #NFNovember

Clwojick 1 pt 4y
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Mgruidae
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Visited #tatteredcover Colfax for #smallbusinesssaturday . I‘m finally going to read Dune, and I picked up that Sally Mann memoir hardcover for $10. Support your local bookstore ❤️❤️❤️

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melissa.drake
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1. Ghostwriter on PBS, So Weird on Disney...I always liked the paranormal stuff!
2. Hold Still by Sally Mann
3. Shrimp
4. Hopefully some more snow days for curling up under a blanket and reading 😆
5. Will do! #friyayintro @jesshowbooks

CaitlinR 1. Friendly Giant. 2. Running with Scissors. 3. Tomatoes. 4. Not wearing mittens 5. #friyaintro @jesshowbooks And thanks for sharing. 6y
17 likes1 comment
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sarahbellum
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What I‘ll be reading first in the new year! Trying to read down my #tbr list. #libraryhaul #reading #bookhaul #librarybooks #nowreading #bookstack

DivaDiane Zen is on my list too! 6y
9 likes1 comment
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mrozzz
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🎨😎🖍🤓📸☺️

#artandillustration #riotgram

This was an easy one for me since I have a whole shelf dedicated to art books. The bottom one (Bosco) is a book I received from my former boss (a painter) when I left for greener pastures.

I love photography and art theory.
I'm a big geek!!! 😁

emilyhaldi Love it!! 🖤🖤 6y
batsy I'm a geek in that way, too 😁 These all look great and I should look them up. John Berger's of Ways of Seeing is one of my essentials 6y
mrozzz @emilyhaldi ☺️🤘🏻 6y
mrozzz @batsy hehe 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 John Berger was like Day 3 on the curriculum in art school. Definitely an essential. I have no idea what happened my copy though.... 😕 (edited) 6y
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SGB
Mehso-so

As a fellow photographer, I was very interested in reading this book. But her most recent work in the "body garden" I found very disturbing. Kind of felt unclean after reading it.

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Moonchild_booknerd89
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Pickpick

I wish more classic photographers wrote books like this!

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emilygatlin
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I was looking for my copy of Arnold Lobel's Mother Goose to give my nephew for his 1st birthday and I FOUND THIS and didn't know I had it! FUN TIME! No Lobel though.

Notafraidofwords Ahhh I loved this book. I inhaled it! 7y
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killerlouise
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A little vacation reading. An engaging (so far anyway--it's long!) reflection on life and work.

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Lindy
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We don't talk much about what happens when we die. Years ago, sex was the unmentionable thing; now it's death.

Lindy Note: Chapter 23 (The Sublime End) shouldn't be read while eating. Mann gets permission to take photos at a body farm. Pragmatic and philosophical. 8y
LauraBeth This sounds like Southern Gothic at its finest 😀 8y
Lindy @LauraBeth I guess it is! Mann delves into her ancestral roots and finds "a payload of southern gothic." 8y
24 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Lindy
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Pickpick

Memoir with lots and lots of images, so audiobook (read by the author) comes with a pdf. Unfortunately, pdf is not compatible with my iPod, so I got a print copy from the library. Very enjoyable.

Reviewsbylola I just checked this out from my library today! 8y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders I always wonder why they would consider creating an audiobook for something that clearly wouldn't work in that format? #justthinkingoutloud. 😁 8y
Lindy @Penny_LiteraryHoarders Would you believe there are comics in audio format? 8y
ReadingEnvy I have this on my pile 8y
26 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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Lindy
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This postmortem readjustment is one that many of us have had to make when our parents die. The parental door against which we have spent a lifetime pushing finally gives way and we lurch forward, unprepared and disbelieving, into the rest of our lives.

SaraFair Beautiful pic. 8y
Lindy @SaraFair Thanks! From a flower show in the Netherlands where they were displaying new varieties for florists. 8y
31 likes2 comments
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Lindy
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Along with the purchase of the Encyclopedia Britannica, his parents had also bought, as library ornaments, the 54 Great Books of the Western World. They never suspected the subversive potential behind all that gleaming leather and gold.

OSChamberlain I would very much like to acquire a shrink ray so that I may shrink myself and live in that shelf 8y
EliseWhitmore Is this a picture of the Jefferson library? 8y
Lindy @EliseWhitmore It's a shelf at the wonderful Plantin-Moretus printing museum in Antwerp. 8y
36 likes3 comments
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Lindy
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Photographs supplant and corrupt the past, all the while creating their own memories.

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brendanmleonard
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TBR Tuesday with a very ambitious @24in48 stack! The Fever and The Girls are top of the stack even though they're near the bottom. And I need to get to the Fireman - all for the @Litsybookclub and the @WhoPickedThisBook club! Titles subject to change if I go on another poetry kick!

MMenefee Sally Mann's memoir is fabulous. 8y
brendanmleonard @MMenefee I'm excited to read it - been on a photography kick 8y
BekahB I really liked The Fever. Megan Abbott writes fantastic dark fiction. 8y
See All 10 Comments
JanuarieTimewalker13 I spy a surfing book😀 8y
Tav Ambitious! 8y
LukkiAnn What a pile 🙀✌🏻️👍🏻 8y
Sue Great stack! 8y
Carol Rad stack!!! 📚📚🙌 8y
BookishFeminist 😳😳 I will be very impressed if you make it through this stack. Great lineup!! 8y
ElizabethSensa Great choices! I enjoyed Sally Mann's book and photography immensely. Happy reading! 8y
111 likes2 stack adds10 comments
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NationalBook
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"Writing is so exhausting. I'd be drenched with sweat at the end of a paragraph." - Sally Mann, whose HOLD STILL was a Finalist for the 2015 National Book Award, in conversation with Lorin Stein at our Eat, Drink & Be Literary series at BAM.

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Arlyn
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Do images speak to you? This family history by the renowned photographer, Sally Mann, tells a fascinating story while describing how she got caught up in the overwrought politics of Art in the U. S. Wonderfully good!

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quietjenn
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Immediate plans - finish coffee, start book.

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molly
Pickpick

I loved this book, and not just because I used to live in the Virginia town where Mann has lived nearly her entire life. Her memoir is as meaty and complex as any Southern gothic novel.