on Keane

.

Keane's a great band. And their stuff lately sounds a bit like a cross between The Killers and Coldplay. So why aren't they huge?

Then I was watching Killers videos and noticing how darned handsome Brandon Flowers in and decided to do lead-singer comparison between the three bands. Behold:

Hmm.

on Advance Praise

.

[Now that we've begun bumping into postpublication praise, we should have that discussion on advance praise I promised.]

.

I suppose it's true I know a lot of people. But I don't know a lot of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelists anxious to blurb my first novel. Which is all for the better, because I suspect most of those blurbs are thrown out without, shall we say, much close reading.

Both the folks providing the backcover-printed advance praise for Byuck originally approached me and asked if they could read my book. Since that time I've gone on to work extensively with one of them and to be in continuous periodic contact with the other.

I might not exist to many people without the assistance of Moriah Jovan, without whom it's hard to say how much of my last-five-years career would even exist. I owe her immensely and now I owe her even more. But she first read Byuck before she knew me for the parasite I would become.

Laura Craner on the other hand is a coblogger over at A Motley Vision and her promotion of Byuck when she barely knew my name is a big part of the reason it's in print today.

So, without further ado:

With humor and affection, Theric Jepson creates a story that gleans the best from both the romantic comedy tradition and the literary LDS tradition. Snappy dialogue and quirky characters make Byuck an enjoyable read for book clubs and Mormon literature enthusiasts.

Laura Craner

If you ever wanted to know what would have happened if Godot had shown up, read Byuck, wherein coffee tables are transgressive and Billy Joel claims to be innocent. I LOL'd. For real. Not like you do online where you just kind of huff with a mouth twitch. No, I totally LOL'd. Woke up the cat.

Moriah Jovan

First interview, first review

.

So Scott Hales has both interviewed me re Byuck and become the first person to review the novel. This means everyone now knows how full of myself I am . . . and how justified I am in being so.

(You may all roll your eyes.)

Allow me to share the links:

Original (abridged) posting of the interview

Accompanying book-giveaway contest

Full posting of the interview

Review

Starting 2013 off right

.

007) Spacecave One by Jake Parker, finished January 19
006) The Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker, finished January 19

Jake's Kickstarter was a massive success and I suppose I get a little credit for that. I did not remember before opening my package that I had pledged at a level to get the sketchbook as well as the collection. (Honestly, I'm not sure I did but I'm too lazy to check. I'm not sure I would rather believe I gave Jake more money or that he gave me a book just because he loves me.)

(Also, I should maybe admit in case I'm coming off disingenuous, Jake gave me a bit of credit in the acknowledgements for talking him into making "The Star Thrower"---but that's a bit ridiculous since I totally underpaid him. You're a good sport, Jake! Thanks for playing! Someday I'll be actually worth your time monetarily!)

Anyway, we opened the package at which point I was constrained to read Antler Boy without delay. We read straight through all the stories, most if not all of which the boys had not heard before. And they loved each one.

Jake's a major talent.

But I think he'll be most pleased by the Big O's reaction.

After looking through Spacecave One, Biggo now wants to spend more time drawing.

He did the dishes so he could stay up late with his pencils and pens.

(If you're in Southern California, meet Jake.)

immediately



===========================================================

005) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished January 14

I had an ambivalent reaction to the first novel, and if I hadn't been lent this one at the same time, I would never have bothered seeking it out, cliffhanger or no. And given it took me almost six months to read the first fifty pages, I think we can safely say the only reason I finished the book is because the person who loaned it me is graduating.

Just as I did not care about the frame story in book one, I cared even less for the newly introduced main character. Not returning to our cliffhangered pilgrims for twenty pages? Bad form, Mr Simmons! Then making the new guy I don't care about more and more and more and more important. Grumph.

Anyway, in the end, I'm impressed with the book's ambition. It really does try to be about everything---life, death, technology, religion, god, God, the past, the future, poetry, politics, the universe---you name it. Like Asimov's Foundation series, the book is trapped firmly in the age it was written. The Hyperion Cantos is only twenty years old (compared to Foundation's sixty) but already it's showing its age. Granted, it is aging well---it sounds quite similar to a world that might be predicted in a novel published this year---but lists of ancient authors or composers or whatever that is composed primarily of the same people under discussion today just makes the occasional "future ancient" writer emphasize the artificiality of the whole thing. (This is just one example. The common use of Christian metaphors---important for the novel's message---by people in a world where Christianity has been near forgotten for centuries is another. I could list more, but why?)

If you like ambitious science fiction that tries to be about everything ever, read these books. And they do make sincere attempts at artistry with occasional success.

But I was more disappointed than pleased in the end.

(Incidentally, the books' covers are an example of my beef with faces I was just talking about. The Shrike, as pictured on the books, doesn't quite look like the Shrike as described in the book. Missing a couple arms for example. Yet all my mental images are defined first by the cover image. Fail.)

about six months but mostly in the last two weeks



===========================================================



004) The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé, finished January 14

Everything I say below about Tintin holds true here. Though this one seems a bit less polished. He got better!

bedtime



===========================================================

003) The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure by Hergé, finished January 11

I tried to get into Tintin as a kid and failed. I tried again more recently and failed. But Tintin's all the rage among the smartset these days and my nine-year-old is as taken as any of them. So all his younger not-yet-reading brothers pick them up and read them because the Big O can't stop laughing while he reads and talking them up when he doesn't. So I picked this one up and read it to them.

As for me, I'm still not quite sold. But reading it with enthusiastic kids certainly did wonders for my enjoyment.

two noncontiguous nights



===========================================================



002) Using the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts With Gifted and Advanced Learners edited by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., finished January 10

Note: This book was provided to me by the publisher free of charge

You might think---and you would be right---that as a teacher of English to advanced kids in a state moving to the Common Core that I would be open to listening to sound notions on how to move in this Exciting New Direction.

But alas, this committee-written book is just eighty-eight pages of stating the obvious followed by strings of jargon followed by some what's-hip-now-in-education. Plus charts not that different than are available everywhere.

Then there's the whole (poorly addressed) question of why should "advanced" kids require better instruction. This aspect will rankle anyone with the slightest liberal streak.

over a month



===========================================================



001) Jellaby by Kean Soo, finished January 8

I've been aware of this character for a long time---read some shorter works---and so I picked up this book (the first in a series) and checked it out. The quotes from Jeff Smith (!) and Scott McCloud (!) taste vaguely like friends-giving-favors, but the book was fine.

It's clearly heavily influenced by Calvin and Hobbes. And sure! who isn't of this generation of cartoonists? But Soo has deliberately made his book seems as C&H-like as possible. Check out some of these images:

You can see it, right? From the proportions of the kids to the gestures and expressions to the woods behind the house---everything points to Calvin and Hobbes. The first food Portia feeds Jellaby? A tuna sandwich. Case closed.

Portia is not much like Calvin though. She's more like Susie Derkins. And, being Susie, and this being a Modern Take on a Classic, the imaginary creature is real and we're embarking into a world of real magic and real adventure etc. Because, you know, can't beat Watterson at imagination so we'll have to beat him in the real world.

Other influences I think I noticed are Millionaire and Herriman---a deliberate nod to Crockett Johnson---etc. Good things all.

At the end of book one I'm not overwhelmed with desire to read on, but I suspect my kids will like it more than I do. The storytelling wasn't tight or sensible enough for my taste, but I do like some things Soo did. For instance:

Cool, right?

Anyway. A nice book but not worth suffering to find.

snatches of one evening

I am a Modern Mormon Man

.

[evidence]

Chief Keef

.

Thanks to Chief Keef, I've been listening to kids singing this every day for months now (don't roll over if you don't want to see lyrics both vulgar and stupid):

I gets lotsa commas
I can fuck yo mama
I ain't with the drama
You can meet my llama

I've flirted many times with writing about the horrifyingly obscene things I hear kids reciting in class (in class!) but this relatively (relatively!) benign one is what's stuck around the longest. Plus, it's spawned a bunch of YouTube parodies that are, for a generous definition of hilarious, hilarious.

Anyway, poor Chief Keef is headed to juvenile hall. He's on probation for pointing a gun at a police officer and part of his probation means no using guns. Which he did. On camera. For Pitchfork.

Idiot.

Anyway, part of the prosecution's evidence was Keef's music, which is, you know, violent and gross.

Keef's response?

. . . the person people are trying to make me out to be is not who I am.

I think "people" in this sentence is Chief Keef.

Nerd.

Let us sing of covers

.

Now that Byuck is available on paper, it's time to discuss its cover, work of the inestimable Matt Page.

The first thing you should know about Matt is that the man is a workhorse. He can generate ideas and polish them and throw them out in less time than your average designer can figure out how to turn on the espresso machine. I highly recommend him.

This post will be more narrative than salespitch, and as such we must go way back in time to 1999, when Byuck was just a few scenes from a barely-begun play---and I created my first image. I'm not going to look through boxes for a copy of this anthropormorphized Y with a B and an eye on one side and an UCK and an eye on the other side. Suffice it to say it was ugly. I was pleased with it though and showed it to this designer girl I knew who promptly vomited. Somehow she blocked it out and we married, with the side effect that I developed some taste. Lucky.

When [Publisher X] was on the cusp of publishing Byuck in 2007, I was mocking up covers and marketing plans for them. I was pleased with my designs from an aesthetic standpoint, but they failed to make any comedic statements and so were ultimately deadends.

Here's my favorite idea from the time, remade in Paint to negate any awesomeness.

Maybe throw a lacrosse stick against the fence, and voila!

But I'm sure you can see the issues here.

(Mountains' source.)

Picket fences are a controlling image from the book, but they don't really SAY much on their own. Or, rather, what such fences generally mean doesn't apply here. So it's a bust.

My other idea I couldn't draw to save my life: a ballpoint pen, a keyboard, and a lacrosse stick crossed like the swords behind a coat of arms.

Anyway, the whole publication fell through so I put those ideas to rest.

Fastforward almost five years to Strange Violin contacting me and, ultimately, to Matt Page being sent the manuscript.

Matt and I already had some history. He had refused to be part of the Sunstone comics issue no matter how I cajoled. He later regretted that which is part of why he did so much awesome work on Monsters & Mormons. Then add the incredible cover he did for Strange Violin's A Short Stay in Hell and I decided not to give him any suggestions and just see what he would come up with. Which resulted in this:

Which, even though there's nothing wrong with it, I didn't like? Why not?

Two main reasons. First, it looks too YA. But more importantly, due to philosophical/aesthetic reasons, Byuck's main characters are underdescribed. Dave and Ref only look like this to Matt. With the exception of what Ref's wearing, none of this is in the text.

I'm aiming for universality. So I underdescribe main characters as a matter of aesthetic necessity. Readers will fill in the blanks from two dots and a line.

And I don't want them beholden to what the cover says they look like.

You can tell I feel strongly about this.

Anyway, I mentioned the picket fence idea and Matt came up with this:

Mountains in the background was just one of the ideas I'd fittered with for the picket fence idea; Matt chose to add them on his own.

I never quite figured out what I didn't like about this cover---probably because I liked many thing about it---and Matt tried multiple other variations: more text, boxes, different fonts, etc. Here are a couple favorites:

At which point the publisher and I selected our favorite (basically the brown version of that last one) and we were ready to go to press.

Which is when Matt threw the entire concept out. Why? Because, he said, it was too suggestive of pioneer themes.

That's it! That's the problem! Mt Timp is utterly irrelevant to the story at hand! I mean, sure, at one point a couple characters go up Provo Canyon, but in general, no. Irrelevant. Misleading. It's not that kind of Mormon book.

Plus, what's funny about this? And Matt's a funny guy.

Most impressively, Matt came upon this insight when his brain was so fried

You know how sometimes you look at a word for too long it seems absurd and doesn't even look like a real word? Well this is the first time that has happened where I am actually right that it isn't a real word.

We had a long gchat and I shared some of my ideas. Before he came back with some takes on those though, he tried to sell us once more on faces.

But I wasn't budging though this cover I am actually quite fond of.

Finally we reached the conclusive set of options:

All of these were good. We ended up choosing the teal (albeit with a white border which worked better with the spine) though it's always hard for me not to choose orange when it's an option. But we were out of time and I was told I had used up my persnickety allowance.

I began broadcasting the image at this point (sometimes, I admit, the orange one) and it immediately started getting compliments. My favorite from Stephen Carter who said it looked like something out of McSweeney's catalogue. Which I take as high praise indeed. They're the best in the business, no question.

Before you look at the full cover, I'm constrained to point out the photo was not my idea. The publisher found it. Somewhere.

Be careful what you put on the intervebz, kids.

I think that covers the story of the cover.

In the end, we got something great.

With handcrafted type.

That says funny.

What more could a boy ask for?

Next time, I'll tell stories of that "advance praise" you can't quite read..

Lost Songs: “Love Is All Around” by Wet Wet Wet

.

When I started Lost Songs, I thought what would happen is I would catch myself singing a song I hadn't heard in at least three years then pause and write about it. What I didn't expect is that I would catch myself singing a song that hadn't even shown up on my internal jukebox in that long.

But that happened yesterday. I came out of the bathroom to an external hallway, my fingers slightly damp from being washed, and I heard a girl complain about how cold it was. And it was cold. The passing wind had latched onto my fingers. And I suddenly started singing:

I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes

Which to me will always be the Wet Wet Wet version first. I really dug this song when it came out. (Before you judge, remember: The whole world did.) I'm pretty sure I bought the album on tape, even, just before my mission.

I know, right?

Lost Songs: "Everybody Plays the Fool" by Aaron Neville

.

This is one of the songs from my teen years that had the right mix of sentimentality and earnestness and fun that kept me up listening to my clock radio hoping it would suddenly appear. I'm not ashamed. I still think it's a great song. And I don't think I can overstate how much I liked it its first couple years on the radio.

The funny thing is, in my imagination, Aaron Neville had always been a betuxed scrawny white guy. A cross between Harry Connick Jr and old Sinatra caricatures. So the first time I saw him---a ripped black guy in torn denim and pencil stache---that was a funny feeling. And I think it taught me something, though I don't want to read too much into the experience.

All that said, I still think that Aaron Neville is the king of the falsettos. Yes, yes, Frankie Valli and Barry Gibb can have honorable mentions, but as far as enjoyable to listen to (rather than just fun to sing along with), Mr Neville wins that race.

C'mon. You know you love him.

Maybe not this video, though.

How to get over it. . . .

.

I recently bumped up again against a Fob Bible review by Dallas Robbins that includes this paragraph:

“How to Get Over It, a public service message” is a running series throughout the book in which familiar tales are recounted with deadpan delivery. One is “The Joseph Method,” which begins, “Joseph, who later would use the stage name ‘Joseph of Egypt’ (and, much, much later, ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’), was sold into slavery by his brothers—to a bunch of hairy Ishmaelites no less” (65). It reminds one more of the “Shouts and Murmurs” section of the New Yorker, than of any sort of biblical fiction one might find at Deseret Book.

In case you don't know, these public-service messages' original provenance was Byuck.

Which you can buy.

And probably should.

Byuck now in paperback!

.

Sorry to interrupt your regulaly scheduled sabbath, but somehow Barnes and Noble has jumped the gun and has the book on paper before anyone else.

And?

And they're selling it at the unexpectedly low price of $7.97.

That won't last. I guarantee it.

Dally not.

Too few cooks preventing the broth

.

A few months ago, James Goldberg took apart a play by Mahonri Stewart. (It's not the only thing he dismantled, but unlike the other authors, Mahonri is the only one currenly active in the cultural corners of the Bloggernacle.) Chaos erupted. But whether you're one of Mahonri's agitprops or a conscientious objector to Mahonri's work (we've many in both camps, of course), James's main argument strikes me as undeniable.

. . . I don’t think most of us want Mormon Literature to be a playground game. I think we want to take craft seriously and take our role in society seriously---and that means we have to acknowledge that there are about a million things that can go wrong aesthetically or ethically with a piece. So unless Mormon writers are gods, there ought to be at least a few things in every story that we can and should call out and comment on.

For how else shall we grow?

I review a lot of Mormon art (this tag is not yet fully populated) (not all of these are reviews) and I've pulled punches then been lambasted for being mean and taken off the gloves and been ignored and offered plain criticisms and been thanked. I do not, however, think I've consistently met James's goal to be one of the "others . . . willing to call out . . . work in equal plainness." I haven't often been as specific as James in my diagnosis, so how useful is what I say?

And, as we saw from his post, not everyone really takes to that sort of precise criticism.

Which is a shame, because I think that's what we need more of.

Now let's move to Byuck as a plot point. Granted, it hasn't been available a month yet and the print edition has been delayed and the hardback's been cancelled and, granted, I'm a truly lousy marketer (esoteric to a fault!) so I have no room to start complaining about the paucity of reviews. And I'm not. I'm looking forward, not around.

Some points. First, who knows if anyone will ever read and review Byuck? Second, if they do, are they more likely to be one of those who love the book or one of those who find it offensive to all that is good and pure in life---and either/or, will the be usefully critical? Third, how worthy of attention is it anyway? I'm hardly the best judge of that. Fourth, would such a criticism be useful only to me or to us generally?

But I think the real issue (and we saw this in James's post) is that, as I am well ensconced among those most likely to write about the book, who can say who will be willing to say what, knowing I will hear?

This is a nonspecific-to-Byuck question I open to all.

Are we getting a little too inbred in MoLit? Do we have sufficient genetic diversity? Is there enough violence to ensure evolution?

I want you to tell me.

The final books of 2012

.

Holy smokes! The year is over! Caught me off guard so I'm publishing this a few days late.

082) Sing We Now of Christmas by Michael Young, finished December 29

Lady Steed noted that I was sighing a lot when I started reading this collection of Christmas tales. And she's right. I was. But as I read on, the overexplanations and overthetop cheesinesses of the book mattered less and I was able to just enjoy the purity of intent. A Christmas miracle!

The stories vary a lot in terms of skill, but that's not surprising since several included authors have published multiple novels and several included authors count this as their first publication. And sometimes the quality was confusing. One of my favorite stories was Ryan Larsen's take on the Wenceslas legend, but at the same time, its frame story was confused and inconsistent.

The book's proceeds go to charity so I don't want to be unkind. In short, I enjoyed the book very much. And I mostly kept to it's advent nature of a story-a-day (though I didn't get the final tale read until well after Christmas thanks to family and travel). I think it's a great way to structure a Christmas anthology and you should consider it for your own befrosted heart. Or contributing to the next edition. (I happen to know that slots are filling fast.)

about the length of time it was supposed to



===========================================================



081) What now, McBride? by Gary Lee Davis, finished December 27

About ten years ago I found a copy of this novella at the DI. With its crazy cover and protagonist named Nephi and conversion/romance story, it seemed such a snapshot of Mormon lit in 1982---or at least it backed up my assumptions---and I've always regretted not buying it.

We drove to my parents for the days after Christmas, where my dad presented me with the copy you see scanned here. He was excited by this find---a discard from the ward library---and wanted me to read it. It was cheesy and silly (in the second sense) but only 99 pages so I should totally share his experience.

So I did.

You can read more about it on A Motley Vision.

two days



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080) Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel, finished December 20

I did not anticipated the epic length of this book when I ordered it from the library.

You can click the image to read the first few chapters.

The advance praise from a healthy variety of luminaries made me hope for something I had been looking for.

Most of the great comix novels of the past decade have shared certain similarities. Jimmy Corrigan, American Born Chinese, Asterios Polyp, Blankets, Habibi, Duncan the Wonder Dog---all truly excellent books.

But they're all engaged in similar postmodern plays against time and narrative. So my first hope when I saw Sailor Twain's girth was that it would be a truly great novel in the traditional, storybound sense.

And I though it would be for most of the book.

Sailor Twain is truly epic and beautifully drawn. It drips with symbolic moments, but sometimes those moments drip off the side of the boat and I can't quite tell where they're headed. Take the matryoshka dolls, for instance. Great idea. Not quite sure where it's headed. And if Lafeyette's last love is his true love, then . . . what about the other six? And if that love is greater than all the others, then what the heck?

See, one of the primary themes under consideration in Sailor Twain is fidelity. Twain loves his wife, with whom he has a longstanding love, but is gradually seduced by the mermaid. And the novel can't decide whether that is tragic or awesome. But not in a pleasantly ambiguous way. In a confused sort of way.

Similarly, Lafeyette's been substituting sex for love but then love appears instantaneously? Isn't that the opposite of what we're getting (or not getting from Twain?).

One argument to make here is that Sailor Twain demands multiple readings to release its secrets. That may well be.

I'm satisfied waiting for Siegel's next book and seeing if he's figured out what he's trying to say.

All that said, I much of the novel and much of the story. In fact, it wasn't until the advent of deeper magic (which you think would be find in a story about mermaids fer gosh sake) and the plummeting collisions that constituted climax and finale and denouement and epilogue that I lost my way. A shame.

I really thought I was going to be pushing this book into your hands.

three or four days



Previously in 2012 . . . . :


Read the reviews of 71-74.
079) Nursery Rhyme Comics edited by Chris Duffy, finished December 14
078) The Truth about Fiction by Steven Schoen, finished December 11
077) Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch, finished December 3
076) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, finished December 2
075) Spawn: New Flesh by David Hine and Brian Haberlin, finished November 29

Read the reviews of 71-74.
074) Level Up by Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham, finished November 23
073) The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck by Rodolphe Töpffer, finished November 21
072) The Eternal Smile by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim finished probably November 21
071) The Clouds Above by Jordon Crane, finished probably November 19

Read the review of 70.
070) Byuck by Theric Jepson, finished November 17

Read the review of 68-69.
069) Pork Pie Hat by Peter Straub, finished November 16
068) Off Season ("The Author's Uncut, Uncensored Version!") by Jack Ketchum, finished November 14

Read the review of 67.
067) Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman, finished November 6

Read the reviews of 61-66.
066) Nurse Nurse by Katie Skelly, finished November 3
065) Best American Comics 2012 edited by Françoise Mouly, finished November 3
064) Everything We Miss by Luke Pearson, finished November 1
063) Amulet: Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi, finished October 30
062) Amulet: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi, finished October 25
061) iPlates: Volume One by Stephen Carter and Jett Atwood, finished October 22

Read the reviews of 57-61.
061) Amulet: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi, finished October 14
060) Amulet: The Stonekeeper's Curse by Kazu Kibuishi, finished October 13
059) Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi, finished October 10
058) Feedback by Robison Wells, finished October 9
057) Mormons in the Media, 1830-2012 by Jared Farmer, finished October 8

Read the review of 56.
056) The Garden of the World by Lawrence Coates, finished October 5

Read the reviews of 52-55.
055) The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake, finished September 27
054) Lote That Dog by Sharon Creech, finished September 25
053) Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech, finished September 24
052) Wormwood, Gentleman Corpse: It Only Hurts When I Pee by Ben Templesmith, finished September 24

Read the reviews of 49-51.
051) The Zabîme Sisters by Aristophane, finished September 20
050) Little Death by Thomas Kriebaum, finished September 16
049) God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut, finished September 11

Read the reviews of 44-48.
048) American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent, finished September 7
047) Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming, finished September 6
046) Simply Science by a number of authors and illustrators for All Aboard Reading, finished September 5
045) Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach, finished September 3
044) The Strange Case of the Walking Corpse: A Chronicle of Medical Mysteries, Curious Remedies, and Bizarre but True Healing Folklore by Nancy Butcher, finished August 27

Read the reviews of 40-43.
043) How to Analyze the Works of Stephenie Meyer by Marcela Kostihova, finished August 13
042) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, finished August 10
041) Captain America: Man Out of Time by Mark Waid and Jorge Molina, finished August 1
040) If You Believe in Mermaids . . . Don't Tell by A.A. Philips, finished July 28

Read the reviews of 37-39.
039) The Smartest Man in Ireland by Mollie Hunter, finished July 27
038) Blockade Billy / Morality by Stephen King, finished July 12
037) Dispirited by Luisa M. Perkins, finished July 9

Read the reviews of 34-36.
036) Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished July 2
035) A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck, finished June 27
034) Kampung Boy by Lat, finished June 22

Read the reviews of 29-33.
034) The Giant Joshua by Maurine Whipple, finished June 20
033) Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, finished June 18
032) Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart, "finished" June 18
031) Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese, "finished" June 15
030) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, finished June 9
029) Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick, finished early June

Read the reviews of 25-28.
028) Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, finished May 24
027) The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan, finished May 16
026) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, finished May 10
025) Dominant Traits by Eric Freeze, finished April 10

Read the reviews of 21-24.
024) The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, finished April 2
023) UNTITLED MS by Kyle Jepson, finished March 12, 2012
022) The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 4
021) The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, finished March 3

Read the reviews of 14-20.
020) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
019) Good-bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson, finished February 26
018) Madman 20th Anniversary Monster HC by [everybody], finished February 25
017) Billy Hazelnuts and Crazy Bird by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
016) Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, finished February 25
015) Habibi by Craig Thompson, finished February 20
014) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, finished February 15

Read the reviews of 12-13.
013) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, finished February 12
012) Black Hole by Charles Burns, finished February 11

Read the reviews of 6-11.
011) The Complete Peanuts: 1979-1980 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 4
010) Blankets by Craig Thompson, finished February 4
009) Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, finished February 2
008) The Millstone Necklace (forthcoming) by S.P. Bailey, finished January 31
007) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, finished January 27
006) Across a Harvested Field by Robert Goble, finished January 23

Read the reviews of 1-5.
005) Hark! a Vagrant! by Kate Beaton, finished January 21
004) The Death of a Disco Dancer by David Clark, finished January 12
003) Bucketfoot Al: The Baseball Life of Al Simmons by Clifton Blue Parker, finished January 9
002) Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestly, finished January 9
001) What of the Night? by Stephen Carter, finished January 5