Friends to Keep in Art and Life

I really enjoyed "Men to Avoid in Art and Life", but this new volume is waayy better. The captions and lines are funnier. But even more entertaining, the dialogue and the situations match up exceptionally well with the paintings, such that the art really sells the jokes. Not every single page is a winner, but there are lots of chuckles to be had here.

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

As a longtime fan of @punk_history on instagram, and a weirdo who likes to imagine the conversations art subjects may be having, I think this book is the perfect coffee table literature! The artwork chosen offers a wide variety of styles, and most importantly it's witty and relatable. Everyone has (or knows of) the friends depicted in FRIENDS TO KEEP IN ART AND LIFE, and this book is a fun way to appreciate traditional art/meme culture!

Thank you for the E Arc NetGalley. Any woman who has any sort of girlfriend knows this is exactly how conversations go, the bonus in this book is there is beautiful artwork to go with the snark. I laughed out loud as I am sure I’ve said at least 85% if these phrases. Very cute and perfect for that special friend in your life. Get her other book too!

Friends to Keep in Art and Life would be a perfect gift for your best gal pal! I loved this funny, quirky book, filled with funny quotes laid over classic art. Hilarious and very witty.

Like her first book, this one is hilarious. I love the mixture of art with the wit of the author. Some made me smile while others made me laugh so hard my neighbors probably heard me. If you are needing a gift for a friend or something to lift your spirits then this book could be what you are looking for. After reading the first book I started following Nicole on Instagram which I recommend everyone else does too because she posts many other little quips on it as well.

This is probably one of the most fun books I've ever read. The mini conversations and quotes are hilarious, particularly the ones on page 55 and page 79. It's a quick read, but will definitely put a smile on your face. The artwork used is perfect for each quote/conversation. The list at the end of all the artwork used is great, but a small description of each would have been a nice touch. Overall a short but sweet read.

Loved this! There a multiple images that I laughed out loud at and wanted to hang up or send to friends. I have always loved seeing these on the internet, and this author has done a marvelous job. The quotes are well matched, funny, and to the point.
This would be a great gift for a friend, or for anyone with a sense of humor who loves art.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for the ARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #FriendstoKeepinArtandLife #NetGalley

This is a unique meme, to pair classic artwork with modern, humorous conversations. It's nice to be introduced to the artwork with relatable conversations. Broken up into five sections of different female friendship styles, everyone can relate to some of the pithy images. However, I felt the first book was funnier/more relatable. I laughed occasionally with this book, but not as often. Still a funny concept, done well, and will most likely be relatable to most cis-females and some non-cis-females.

Clever, bawdy and full of sardonic quips, this precious pocket guide celebrates those ride-or-die female friendships that none of us could ever live without.

Flipping through nostalgic, classical masterworks fittingly paired with snarky, modern-day memes will leave you and your gal pals giggling like school girls.

NOT FOR THE WEAK OR FAINT OF HEART- these are raw, real and ridiculously inventive captions mixed with classical paintings that explore the OH SO TRUE inner-workings of the relationships we cultivate with other women,

Reading through this was a trip! I snorted SO many times, embarrassingly, because SERIOUSLY these were spot on. I even went into work the next day to laugh with my coworker about some of the exact stuff that was depicted in the WORK FRIEND section- especially with Todd and his personal microwave (IYKYK)!

If you're not a connoisseur of classic art and typically stare at paintings with your head tilted to the side because you have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON- THIS BOOK IS FOR YOUUUU, MY FRIEND!

What's better than paging through a book with pictures and snarky, quippy and RELATABLE meme style dialogue that will have you SNORTING with laughter? NOTHING, I TELL YOU!

Friends to Keep in Art and Life kept me thoroughly entertained and engaged -my partner kept looking over at me quizzically each time I got to a new page because he thought I was crazy for laughing so hard. If that doesn't tell you that you need to put this book on your radar, in your Amazon cart, on hold at your library, pre-ordered from your fav indie bookstore- I don't know what will.

THANK you to Netgalley and the publisher for the DRC, however all thoughts are MY OWN :-)

Perfect coffee table book to pay homage to our lovely female friends. I absolutely adore the art combined with spunky sayings.

Pros: I often dream of being an art historian, so I immediately wanted to read this book that is a modern, hilarious approach to featuring classical art in a meme-like way. My favorite part of this book is that its focus is on friendship! I feel that friendship is usually the relationship ignored in favor of featuring romantic relationships or family relationships. This book is obviously visually stunning as it features great works of art, and I think it would make a fantastic gift for all of my art-loving friends. I appreciated that the art credits section at the end not only named the work and the artist but also shared the location of the work of art!

Cons: None--this was fantastic. I want more books like this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Putting witty remarks between friends on classical paintings makes for hilarious chortling and guffawing. I laughed so hard—-I just couldn’t stop and my husband looked at me funny. Having studied art history it was even funnier.

One of my favorites was Before the Ballet by Edgar Degas at the National Gallery of Art in DC. I have seen it there. The caption here is “why did I let you talk me into this class……..I think I sprained my ankle…….”

I think everyone can identify with many of these witticisms. Celebrate friendship and get this book. Laughter is the best medicine.

I received an advanced copy for my honest opinion.

Hilarious and fun this will have you calling your girlfriends to chat shit, talk about nothing and laugh. I can’t wait to gift it to all my ladies!!!

This is a delightful little book. I've been a fan of Nicole Tersigni's Instagram for while. I absolutely loved Men to Avoid in Art and Life. This book is the same concept, but concerns female friendships. I like that Tersigni takes paintings created mostly be men and catering to the male gaze and flipping the narrative, giving these women agency and character. I hear her next book will be on motherhood and I can't wait.

I absolutely loved Nicole’s first book (Men to avoid in art and life) and this book is no exception. Funny and sarcastic and full of gorgeous art. Definitely recommend getting a copy of this for all of your lady friends in your life.

I loved the author's first book, Men to Avoid in Art and LIfe. It was so true, and so funny, I had trouble finding just one or two images to use as an example.

But this second book, I found one image that I laughed at, and the rest just didn't work for me. It was nothing I would have ever said to a friend, or had a friend do. The pictures didn't match the dialogue, the way her first book did.

It was, in all, a great disappointment, but it could just be me. Perhaps I don't have friends like this, and other people do. I guess others get sloshed at lunch time, and take magic mushrooms at work. I guess others talk about attacking boyfriends. It was just dialogue I have never heard anyone say in life.

<em> Thanks to Netgalley fro making this book available for an honest review.</em>

In “Friends to Keep in Art and Life,” writer Nicole Tersigni places cheeky captions over classic artwork of women in pairs and groups. The intended effect is not only to amuse but also to celebrate various kinds of companions—the workmate, the nurturer, the ride-or-die BFF, the fun friend, and the super honest confidante.

I found this book cute and amusing. I didn’t think it was laugh-out-loud funny, but it provided a nice break and allowed me to reflect on the great people in my life. It would be the perfect coffee table book to set out when you’re having a girls’ night in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. My review was posted online on June 14, 2022 to Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4785112402.

Thank you to Netgalley and Chronicle Books for giving me this ARC!

I stumbled on her first book without any notion of what I was in for. This time I knew what to expect and it did not disappoint. Not only are the captions hilarious, some of these paintings are so strange on their own. All in all, this was a riot. I may have also startled some of my pets by how loud my I laughed at a few of these. I can think of a few people who I need to purchase copies of this for! Can’t wait.

This was absolutely delightful. I highly recommend this fun and quick read! Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

View classic works of art from a modern, snarky perspective in a celebration of all the types of friends that make life great.

This is a fun book, although I didn't understand a lot of the jokes, Because it's in such short section, it would be a good book for places where you need a book you can pick up and put down in a few minutes.

Thank you to Chronicle Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this as a quick read, but it didn't make me laugh out loud. I also wanted more information about the paintings are why they were selected - without that context, I felt like something was missing. It's still a fun coffee table gift, but I would like to see more art information in future books.

3.5 Stars. This book takes classical art and places funny captions about women's friendships over the images. The captions are divided into work friends, nurturing friends, hide a body for you friends, up for anything friends, and super honest friends. Some of the captions were funny but I felt like I had seen others before. I love art history so this is what drew me to the book rather than the captions. I was pleased to find that I have been to all the museums where the paintings are on display. I can see this book being a great gift for a best girl friend, or something to crack open on a girls night. I don't see it a something I will return to again and again.

This book places funny captions on classical works of art. Essentially it is a book of created memes with the focus on women and friendships. I found the section categorized as ‘Up for Anything Friends” to be especially funny. I can see this as a gift for female friends or a funny book to check out from a library. It reads quickly and it isn’t something isn’t something that causes you to think too deeply. I love art and that was one the main draws for me. The humor was very hit or miss. I appreciate that there is a listing of all the art titles, artists and the museums where they can be seen in the credits of the book. While I’m not claiming to have seen every work featured, I have been to every museum. Thank you to NetGalley, Chronicle Books and the author for a temporary eARC in exchange for a review.

Let me start by saying that this book will be a home-run for some gals and their gal-friends, and I hope it finds its way to them because I know that if I were that sort of person, I would love this book to pieces.

It wasn't so much a home run for me, but that's only because I found it a little tiring how heavily it leaned into body humor and foul language. I like a good dirty joke as much as the next gal, but when it's page after page of swearing, it gets a little repetitive.

And indeed, some of the captions are extremely funny and well-done. The best ones were the ones where the caption relates specifically to the piece of art (for example, several naked women are cavorting in a park, while a fully-dressed friend tells them they've partied enough for one day, and it's time to check each other for ticks and gather up their bras so they can all head home). Another one that I loved: two women in an overgrown garden, one holding a lute and saying to the other "This song is called "You Are Buying Too Many Plants and This Is An Intervention." Relatable!

So this book is a bit of a mixed bag for me. But as I said at the top of my review, I want to be very fair, because for a certain demographic, this is going to be the best book ever - and I hope that they buy it and love it.

Extra kudos to the publisher for including a reference list of the paintings and artists' names at the back of the book. Unfortunately, this is rarely done in humor books that use classical art, and it always feel a little uncool to the original artist not to give them credit. This publisher has given full credit - and even listed the museum that houses the original piece. So huge shout-out to Chronicle Books on that front!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved #mentoavoidinartandlife so I had to check out the #advancedreaderscopy of #friendstokeepinartandlife and it did not disappoint. These books are the perfect gift for the #artlover girls in your life. Or the perfect gift for your bff 👯‍♀️ that needs some culture. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read you should be sure to buy when it’s published later this summer. 📚📚📚 #netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreview

This is a cute book, but not exactly what I imagined it to be. I didn’t finish reading it as it is not really for me, but I still think it’s a nice book for the right person.

I will read anything with Nicole Tersigni's name on it. I find her absolutely hilarious and 'Friends to Keep in Art and Life' is no exception. Nicole's sense of humor just calls to mine, which leads me to devouring her books in one sitting. I've already read 'Men to Avoid in Art and Life,' and this new book builds on the same premise of dialogue superimposed over classic works of art. The book was broken into four categories of friends, each one distinct and full of legendary gal-pals ready to tell you when bangs are not right for your face or clean you up after a night on the town. Outside of the funny little captions, the art chosen for the book is beautiful and equally so funny in the context Tersigni applies.

This is definitely going to be a go-to little side gift for any upcoming friend's birthdays.

LOLOLOLOL

(Can that be my whole review?) Anyhow, it's super funny and would make a great gift for a female friend.

I love this book! This is a hilarious, clever, wonderful book! After first reading quickly, I reread it slowly with the artist and title to more further understand. Highly recommended!!

Chronicle Books publishes such physically stunning books that I periodically peruse their publisher’s page in NetGalley. I was delighted when I found that this author had pulled together another Anne Taintor-esque collection - this time focused on female friendships - because I had given half a dozen copies of her previous collection to girlfriends for Christmas in 2020. Unfortunately, I didn’t think that book was appropriate to gift to all dozen or so ladies because of its darker sociological statement and occasional crudeness. But it definitely appealed to those recipients who matured in the age of memes and mansplaining.

Friends to Keep in Life and Art was approximately 90 pages of art from a wide variety of sources, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Rijksmuseum, and the Detroit Institute of the Arts. Each artwork was cleverly captioned in a bright color to reflect the aspect of female friendship suggested by the artwork. The female friendships were divided into five categories: the work friend, the up for anything friend, the nurturing friend, the hide a body for you friend, and the super honest friend.

The introduction on this book is so much better than the previous one! Short, sweet, to the point, and completely devoid of used tampon jokes. And the much better introduction paved the way to much better material. So much of it was so relatable that I was crying with laughter throughout and crying with sadness when my good time ended. Apparently I am that nurturing friend - the one with both safety pins and vodka in her purse - and most girls’ trips are the best girls’ trip ever!

Overall, this new installment on female friendship is completely devoid of the qualms that I had with the prior installment. I can’t wait for this to be published so I can share it with my female friends - and some of my male friends too!

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

These books are fun and funny. I picked up
The first one in a museum gift shop and so when I saw this one on NetGalley, I downloaded and read right away. A fun break and the perfect coffee table book.

I think this will make a good gag gift for your ride or die girlfriends. I laughed at a few, in particular "You're one more episode of Sesame Street from being on a episode of Snapped".

I always wonder what the context was for some classic art, and Tersigni's interpretations are fun.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

The epitome of a fun coffee table book. A nice book to share with a friend while you laugh out loud a Nicole Tersigni’s hilarious and insightful captions to enchanting historical artworks. I received this as an e-book but will absolutely be purchasing the hardcover as a gift for all of my friends. Thank you so much NetGalley for this ARC!

I read Nicole Tersigni’s “Men to Avoid in Art and Life” and had some good fun with it. When I heard she had another art book, but based on female friendships, I was definitely interested. I’m glad I checked it out. This book is definitely super funny and I absolutely giggled while reading. It reminded me of my friends through the years and that is worth five stars for me.

A hilarious collection of meme-worthy photos that are guaranteed to make you laugh. Gift this to your girlfriends or keep it on a coffee table/nightstand for an instant pick-me-up. This book would be best experienced in its physical form or on a color e-reader.

This is a cute and humorous little book. If you’re not familiar with the format, the book takes classic pieces of art and overlays a fictitious dialogue representing different sorts of friendships and interactions, and it does so in an amusing and snarky sort of way. Recommend if you’re looking for levity (or a gag gift), especially if you also enjoy art.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

My friends and I are huge fans of the authors previous work "Men to Avoid in Art and Life" so we were really excited to see that there's another version coming out. This one is just as funny (maybe even funnier), than the previous one. It's great for a laugh and discussion with friends, highly recommended!

This book is an utter delight! I was reading it in a room with others and they kept giving me side-eye because I was giggling so hard. I liked it even better than the first book.

Friends to Keep in Art and Life
by Nicole Tersigni

Classical Art Hilariously Captioned for Women’s Sensibilities

A new laugh-out-loud art book by humorist Nicole Tersigni, “Friends to Keep in Art and Life,” adds hilarious captions to over 90 famous paintings of women throughout the ages. Tersigni’s quips on each piece of art are snarky, snide, irreverent, and a new 21st-century feminist manifesto of fun! This is THE gift for ALL of your “girl” friends this year!

An example of Tersigni’s humor is one of my favorites in the book, example 85 in The Super Honest Friend Section. Milner Kellogg’s ‘Two Women in Italian Landscape’ has the following two-way captions:

“I’m thinking about getting bangs.”

“Remember when you got bangs in high school, and everyone called you Lord Farquaad?”

“Good point.”

Many other jokes are highly amusing; however, due to their slightly off-color nature, readers should enjoy them on their own. Overall, is a fast and fun read that you’ll repeatedly share with all of your friends.
========================///=======================
Title: “Friends to Keep in Art and Life”
Author: Nicole Tersigni
Genre: Arts & Photography | Humor | Non-Fiction (Adult)
Publication Date: 06 September 2022
Publisher: Chronicle Books

STAR RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Book Maven’s Journal—Reviews for Word Connoisseurs

Reviews are posted promptly on NetGalley, GoodReads, and Twitter; then, upon publication, also to appropriate sales channel sites.

#FriendsToKeepInArtAndLife @Chronicle Books #NetGalley @ NetGalley
@TwitterBooks #TwitterBooks @BookRiot #BookRiot @maven_book

My sincere thanks and appreciation goes to NetGalley, Author Nicole Tersigni, and Publisher Chronicle Books for this Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) for review.

This book of memes pairs famous works of art with hilarious captions illustrating different types of friends (Work Friend, the Nurturing Friend, the Hide a Body for You Friend, the Up for Anything Friend, and the Super Honest Friend). Not only did it provide me with some much-needed laughs, it introduced me to some artists I was not familiar with. What's not to love? It's a quick "read" (there's not much reading required), but I look forward to going back to savor both the wit and the beauty of the art. #FriendstoKeepinArtandLife #NetGalley