Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I read a book. The not-so-sad truth is most mooks don’t read. When we do, it’s usually on the Internet. A meme, perhaps a tweet, maybe a short news story or cool science article at best. For most of you readers, a Mook Life post is the most you’ve read outside of forced school work. Half the visitors probably never read the articles and just scroll through the photos anyway… This is why our new installment about books will focus on photo books and ‘zines.
If you love our website and enjoy our photographic content, I strongly suggest the following literary gems…
The first book is called Orchard Beach: The Bronx Riviera. It’s entirely shot by a magnificent photographer named Wayne Lawrence (make sure to peep his other galleries on his site). All the photos were taken at Orchard Beach, where the Bronx residents spend summer weekends away from the hot concrete. Wayne delivers 152 pages of pure beauty, highlighting the diversity of NYC through razor-sharp portraits representing the unforgettable Bronx flavor found on this stretch of sand. An honest testimony of our peaceful coexistence, which overlooks ethnic backgrounds and challenges stereotypes associated to working-class mooks. A few of us actually went to the signing/photo expo in the Bronx Museum when this book dropped. Glad to own a signed copy and looking forward to his future projects.
The second literary classic I would like to bring to your attention is a ‘zine called Screw York City by Sean Maung. This is a sixty-page black and white ‘zine with tons of mooked-out content such as strippers, ‘hood portraits, RIP walls, street parades, posse shots and much more. Every turn of the page a new surprise awaits, never leaving you disappointed. That gritty 35mm B&W feel tops it all of with an official seal. I think this one, unfortunately for you, is already sold out. Don’t have les yeux and look out for future projects by Sean as well as other dope photo ‘zines on the Hamburger Eyes.
Last but definitely not least, we have this wonderful zine called CO$T PREVENTION. There is nothing soft about this ‘zine other than the fact that it’s called a ‘zine. It touches a very wide range of mook-related subjects such as bum naps, epic graffiti, street life, and much more. Sixty pages of unfakable, DDV, HD visions. This issue also features a section by Edwin De La Rosa. ‘Nuff said.
Hope you enjoyed this educational post and hopefully it will push some of you to invest in books that you can enjoy for many years to come. Let me also point out that having interesting books at your crib increases your chances of scoring by 69{ed1b542e18a3fdb29a343f0bf5604cce6e71819c6df381e846b4d07cb9d1dc18}. If ever any of you have similar book or ‘zine projects, feel free to send us a copy so we can write a review and show you some love. ‘Nuff respect to all the photographers and printers. See you on the flip side…
(c) MOOK-LIFE – Read entire story here.