Talking Pictures

Talking Pictures Images and Messages Rescued from the Past

Ransom Riggs2012
With the candid quirkiness of Awkward Family Photos and the confessional intimacy of PostSecret, Ransom Riggs's Talking Pictures is a haunting collection of antique found photographs—with evocative inscriptions that bring these lost personal moments to life—from the author of the New York Times bestselling illustrated novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Each image in Talking Pictures reveals a singular, frozen moment in a person’s life, be it joyful, quiet, or steeped in sorrow. Yet the book’s unique depth comes from the writing accompanying each photo: as with the caption revealing how one seemingly random snapshot of a dancing couple captured the first dance of their 40-year marriage, each successive inscription shines like a flashbulb illuminating a photograph’s particular context and lighting up our connection to the past.
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Reviews

Photo of Kim Tyo-Dickerson
Kim Tyo-Dickerson@kimtyodickerson
5 stars
Mar 1, 2022

The lost souls of photos, faded, vintage, polaroid, scribbled with cryptic messages and names, have obsessed Ransom Riggs from an early age. Here he collects some memorable and at times heartbreaking examples from his vast collection, which also inspired his dark supernatural fantasy 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' http://www.ransomriggs.com/miss_pereg... and the sequel 'The Hollow City' http://www.ransomriggs.com/hollow_cit.... The series/chapter in 'Talking Pictures' I can't get out of my mind is Janet Lee, clutching her Raggedy Ann doll through holiday photos and hospital stays. Her end is not in the realm of happily ever after, however this book has an authentic fairy tale quality of the Grimm sort. Riggs brings together fragmented lives into a wondrous, eerie whole.

Photo of Ingelin
Ingelin@ingelin
2 stars
Feb 7, 2023
Photo of Christian Huss
Christian Huss@curiousquill
5 stars
Feb 5, 2022
Photo of Mayra Melo
Mayra Melo@mayramelo
4 stars
Dec 10, 2021