To celebrate Chloe Malle’s first print issue of Vogue officially hitting newsstands, something else will soon hit the streets of New York City. Tomorrow, for one day only, two pop-up Vogue Libraries will appear outside Casa Magazines in the West Village and Iconic Magazines in Nolita, filled with books either included or referenced in the Spring issue. Think of the curation as a recommended reading list—a way to trace the layered work upon which the issue is built. And the book you choose is yours to keep.
In these pop-ups you’ll find copies of sci-fi writer Ursula K. LeGuin’s essay “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,” which close readers of the Rosalía cover story will know was of central importance to the singer as she worked on her album Lux. The essay presents an alternate view of our hunter-gatherer history, foregrounding the feminine act of collecting. “It was very interesting for me,” she says in the story, “because I felt so connected to this feminine approach.” Another touchstone for the singer, David Lynch, is also in the mix.
You’ll find more straightforward indications of what we’re all reading, too; namely copies of Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs, which we featured in the magazine and have eagerly been passing around the office. (“Did you finish it?” is a regular refrain when greeting each other in the morning.) There are also copies of Wuthering Heights, to mark the just-wrapped first Vogue Book Club (stay tuned for our exciting second title—coming soon!) and a travel story about where to stay on the Yorkshire moors; as well as copies of Roald Dahl’s The BFG, a lovely book by an author whose more mixed reputation is examined in Sarah Crompton’s piece on the new play Giant.
Here at Vogue we are always reading, not only to select what we think you, too, should be reading, but also because it helps us find new writers we love, or reminds us of those who might just be the perfect fit for an assignment. A few years back, we excerpted Alice Robb’s Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet (also in the pop-ups!) about the pressures of a career in ballet. So when we were thinking about “romantic beauty” as a trend both on the runways and on social media, she seemed like the right person to take it on. It’s harder to say precisely what made us think of Claire Messud, whose wonderful novel The Emperor’s Children is a must for anyone who wants to understand post-September 11 New York City (and is in the pop-ups), but we’re glad we did. She and Amanda Seyfried got on great—a chemistry you can feel in Messud’s profile of the actress.
There are other classics in the Vogue Libraries—like James Joyce’s Ulysses, referenced in Nathan Heller’s profile of Jonathan Anderson—as well as more general books about scent and sleep. It’s an eclectic and invigorating mix, just how we like it. Happy reading!