It’s been a long time since I’ve done a book review on my blog. Is it because more of the quilting world is online and not in print? Or because my bookcase with craft books is packed as tight as possible? It’s a good question! But here is a book I want to tell you about.

All the Beauty in the World was written by Patrick Bringley and published by Simon and Shuster Paperbacks in 2023. It’s about Patrick’s time as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. When his older brother died of cancer in his 20s, Patrick needed to get away from his office job at the New Yorker to find some head space to grieve. He found a job as a guard at the Met. He was there 10 years….and ti worked.

When I picked this book up in a bookstore, I was worried it might be focused on his loss. But that’s not the case. It’s about so much more. Patrick found himself surrounded by beauty with lots of time to reflect on the art and on life. And he made friends with the folks with varied ages and multiple ethnic backgrounds who work at the Met as a museum guards and who shared their wisdom with him.

So does this book have anything to do with quilting? It does! While he was working at the museum, there was a show of quilts from Gee’s Bend. I loved reading his take on these quilts. and more amazing, how he compares the process the women followed sewing these quilts to the process of Michelangelo painting a fresco. So great.

Not only did Patrick find the quiet and beauty he needed to grieve, his book brings a similar peace and quiet to the reader. And the line drawings by Maya McMahon of the art work at the Met are so beautiful.

I have a small collection of books that I keep to read and re-read over and over again. They are mostly biographies. This book is definitely getting added to that collection of special books.

Pick up a copy! See what Patrick says about quilters, and about life.