Recommended Reading / 36.

Every Monday, words to start the week. 

This week, from The New York Times: thoughts on the continued relevance of one of my all-time favorite artists, Nina Simone. Writes Salamishah Tillet: "The feminist writer Germaine Greer once declared: 'Every generation has to discover Nina Simone. She is evidence that female genius is real.' This year, that just might happen for good...Simone is not simply an alternative to today's image of an oversexualized or overmanufactured female artist, but the idol most suited for the multilayered identity politics of our social movements." Read more, here.

Photo by Jack Robinson / courtesy of Getty Images.

Three more, just because:
-Writers' favorite words, from clot to clart to whiffle-whaffle.
-Getting googly-eyed at the Frieze Art Fair.
-I love illustrator Christoph Niemann's thoughts on the importance of creative inefficiency: "Sometimes you look at something and you think, that is awesome, and then the next day you look at it and you are horrified. Sometimes I do something three times over and think, this is terrible, and then I go back and find there’s some strength in there. You need the second day to realize the strength in something. On the one hand, I wish I didn’t waste so much time, but on the other, I really try and savor the inefficiency. I can be efficient with my work day and technology and everything, but one thing you must not – and cannot – be efficient with is creating. Once you start thinking about what works faster or better, you start ruling out mistakes, and that’s really awful. So I really try to be as inefficient as possible."

More recommended reading, here. Have a lovely Monday — and happy summer solstice! I spent the weekend on Long Island in the rain — a perfect beginning. (Also, new POV coming tomorrow this week — many apologies for the delay!)