giorgio de chirico's memoirs: annoying book which you should avoid unless you enjoy constant complaints about modern art, about de chirico counterfeits and general self-aggrandising. the first half is amusing with visits to apollinaire etc. but the rest is dull.
dominique vivant denon, voyage to egypt: fascinating account of the french expedition to egypt by this self-made diplomat, spy, erotic artist, collector/looter and later founder of the louvre. his were the first detailed sketches of the various monuments that were to form the basis of the description de l'égypte. amusing descriptions of expedition travails, the people and customs of egypt (then under rottoman rule) and the impression the ancient monuments caused on this aesthete. the expedition ends with napoleon's fleet defeated by admiral nelson..
curzio malaparte's kaputt and muss: kaputt is a very funny, very dark indictment of the war (and war in general) depicting various axis scenes near the end of the war, his best work (that i've read). malaparte was war correspondent of the corriere della sera, a very gifted writer with fascist leanings who fell afoul of mussolini who he describes in muss, a less successful (posthumous) novel of almost comical vehemence, published now to rehabilitate him in the eyes of the public (where no writer is allowed to have right-wing leanings, ever).