As a fan of Maggie Nelson's writing, I was excited to pick this up. Parts of it were insightful and intriguing, others I found challenging. In particular, I didn't have context for some of the art in discussion. So while I'm always happy to hear Nelson's thoughts, I didn't always feel brought into the conversation. Nevertheless she's an always intriguing cultural commentator and I enjoyed this collection.

Nelson is a must-read author for me. I have enjoyed many of her books immensely and am working my way through the rest of her expansive catalogue. Her essays on art, history and culture are incredible, synthesizing a variety of references and viewpoints into a kaleidoscopic panorama of our moment in time. This collection presents a smattering of such works, being a perfect entry for a new reader of Nelson's work.

Have had to put this one down about halfway through. I enjoyed 'Argonauts' so requested this with that in mind, however I don't think I'm the correct audience for this. I didn't really enjoy reading reviews of books I haven't read or of art shows I'm unable to visualise. I am also not a huge fan of the 'conversations' between the author and other artists, I didn't really get much out of them. This might be a good read for a Maggie Nelson superfan or someone who more regularly reads intellectual and academic texts or has an interest in art criticism, but ultimately not for me.

Why do we read collections of essays? All kinds of reasons but probably because we have got some out of previous books by the author, because we want to find things out, and because we want pointers to other books, writers and leads to follow up. Maggie Nelson's collection of essays and conversations does all of these things and has some great lines: "I’ve been reading Schopenhauer, who is completely hilarious and, for some reason, more heartening to me than anybody even vaguely uplifting". She writes as well as art as anyone and, most importantly, manages to combine balance and passion in a way that few others can. The conversations - with key influences like Eileen Myles, Jacqueline Rose, and Wayne Kostenbaum - are fascinating too (although the exchange with Björk doesn't live up to its promise). I was entertained and learned a lot - what more could anyone want?