Death in a variety of colors. Also: baseball.

.

046) The Red Diary / The Re[a]d Diary by Teddy Kristiansen / Steven T. Seagle, finished April 28

The only thing I like more than a clever artistic experiment is a clever artistic experiment that results in great art.

Seagle had a copy of Kristiansen's book in a language he could not read. He wanted to publish it. But the publishing collective he was part of only allowed work by members. So he made up new words for the pictures, and the book as now available is both a legit English translation of the original and Seagle's made-up version, based on the sizes of the text blocks and the names he saw scattered throughout.

Astonishingly, both are good. If I had to choose I favorite, I might even choose Seagle's. But it's a tough call. Both are pretty great.

I'm intrigued by the experiment. I need to find a narrative artist willing to make an ambiguous visual story who will allow various writers to fill in the bubbles in various ways. Oh what fun we'll have.

Perhaps---as is demonstratively possible---we'll even make something good.

perhaps two weeks



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045) The Five Books of Jesus by James Goldberg, finished April 22

Excellent book. Read my review on AMV.

over a month



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044) The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, finished April 20

Haven't read this since college and the thing was not organized as I imagined it might be. I've been reading it along with my students and I think it's going to enter the regular rotation. We've had so much to talk about. I think next year we read this, THEN we read Hamlet. Just doing Hamlet is tough to handle. The comedies are a breeze and this one's so discomfiting that it's easy to generate conversation. Go, Shakes!

one workweek



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043) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Volume 6 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished April 18

(still holding off till I finish the final volume)

two or three nights



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042) Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game by John Sexton with Thomas Oliphant and Peter J. Schwartz, finished April 15

I loved this book. I loved the stories, I loved the organization, I loved the arguments. Granted, I reject a couple of the religious notions but, overall, I am sympatico. I rushed through the bulk of the book. Each night another inning. What a way to spend spring training!

Two paragraphs from near the end to set the theme:

. . . I have tried to show how many of the elements we find in baseball---faith, doubt, conversion, accursedness, blessings---are elements associated with the religious experience; that inside the game the formative material of spirituality can be found. In short, viewed through a certain lens, baseball evokes the essence of religion. If we open ourselves to the rhythms and intricacies of the game, if we sharpen our noticing capacity, if we allow the timelessness and intensity of the game's most magnificent moments to shine through, the resulting heightened sensitivity might give us a sense of the ineffable, the transcendent. (213 in the ARC)

In our times it s fashionable to force a choice between the worlds of science and religion, of the mind and the soul. Either/or. This, in my view, is a false dichotomy---and perhaps in this collection of baseball stories analyzed through a lens (and an intellectual tradition) usually reserved for the study of what are obviously religious experiences can cause some to see why. I embrace enthusiastically the joys of the intellectual life; but I reject the notion that, as a consequence, I must forfeit the wonders of a deeply transformative religious life. (215)

a couple monthsish



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041) The Hand of Glory by Stephen Carter, finished April 13

Read my review on AMV.

three days



Previously in 2013 . . . . :


Books 35 - 40

040) Leprechaun in Late Winter by Mary Pope Osborne, finished April 8
039) You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon, finished April 7
038) Illiterature: Story Minutes, Vol. I by Carol Lay, finished April 2
037) "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket, finished March 29
036) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 5 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 29
035) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 4 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 28

Books 26 - 34

034) The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons, finished March 24
033) What Shat That? by Matt Pagett, finished March 24
032) Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stones, finished March 22
031) Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, finished March 22
030) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, vol 3 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 13
029) The Princess Bride: Shooting Draft by William Goldman, finished March 11
028) The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith, finished March 5
027) Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Edgar Wright & Michael Bacall, finished March 5
026) Screenplay by Syd Field, finished March 3

Books 22 - 25

025) Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande, finished March 2
024) The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo, finished March 1
023) Moby Dick by Herman Melville, finished February 28
022) Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou & Alecos Papadatos & Annie Di Donna, finished February 22

Books 20 - 21

021) The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 22
020) The Princess Bride by William Goldman, finished February 20

Books 14 - 19

019) Magic Tree House #10: Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne, finished February 17
018) The Report Card by Andrew Clements, finished February 17
017) Justice (volume one) by AUTHOR, finished February 16
016) The Green Mile by Stephen King, finished February 15
015) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl, finished February 12
014) The Silver Cord: Book One ~ Nephilim by Kevin Kelly et al., finished February 7

Books 8 - 13

013) Teen Titans: The Prime of Life by JT Krul and Nicola Scott, finished February 2
012) Batman: Vampire by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones and John Beatty and Malcolm Jone III, finished February second
011) Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor by Isaac Asimov, finished January 26
010) Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Perfect Collection 1 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished January 22
009) The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 21
008) My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson, finished January 21

Books 1 - 7

007) Spacecave One by Jake Parker, finished January 19
006) The Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker, finished January 19
005) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished January 14
004) The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé, finished January 14
003) The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure by Hergé, finished January 11
002) Using the Common Core State Standards... edited by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., finished January 10
001) Jellaby by Kean Soo, finished January 8

This paper I'm presenting next weekend

.

I just realized I've never announced this. But I'm kinda busy at the moment. I'm gonna let this guy do it.

Five Sunstone stories

.

The latest issue of Sunstone was heavy with fiction from some great writers. Here are brief synopses and reviews.

The Opposite of Sound by Courtney Miller Santo

Synopsis

An overworked, overwhelmed mother with a habit of abandoning her children not quite long enough for them to notice, doesn't want to lose her injured son's affection---as per always---to her husband, who has never abandoned but has rarely been present.

Review

Fiction about this type of mother is trickling more and more into the greater milieu of Mormon fiction. And happily so. In the last ten years, Mormon women have asserted themselves and made their voices heard with a volume that would make Emmeline B. Wells proud. And this particular work of fiction is one of the stronger entries in the field. My only complaint---and it's not a complaint---is the smallness of the story. I would like this character to get a more epic treatment. But small victories in small moments---whether those moments do or do not later loom large---are what our lives are made of.

How They Get You by Josh Allen

Synopsis

A former Mormon, sick of friendly visitors with ulterior motives, lashes out at local bishops---only to find one bishop who welcomes the attack on his character.

Review

In this, the most challenging story of the set, Allen doesn't present easy answers. Perhaps the most compelling character is not the protagonist who attacks, but the bishop at the end, struggling with his own public image, who welcomes the attack, rejecting his righteousness through a paint-bearing proxy. A difficult to story to read, in that it's intensely honest, but that all that honesty does not comfort and does not suggest solutions.

Name by Heidi Naylor

Synopsis

A teenage girl in '80s Michigan brushes against the threat of sex and violence and finds comfort through the power of naming and names.

Review

Of all the characters in these five stories, I like Lisbeth the best. Perhaps I'm primed to like her---I work with teenagers at work and my wife works with them at church---but Lisbeth is an appealing mix of childlike vulnerability and adultlike strength. Through the simple and understated events of one evening, we watch her take a great step from the latter toward the former. But not in the typical way one expects from literature---though Lisbeth gains knowledge, she does not lose innocence. Not exactly. She is, if anything, created more innocent through new knowledge. And not simply because hard-won facts made her strong, but because she simply grew into a relationship with her Father. Behold. Thou are Lisbeth, and I am God.

One Glass Ball by Brett Wilcox

Synopsis

A mourning father visits troubled youth on an Alaska-island retreat and is forced to address not just his lost child, but his lost faith.

Review

I found this story too top-heavy with symbols and meaning and flashing arrows. Not that the characters were inadequately drawn or that the events related don't matter. No, my issue is that it's too pat---too crafted. The fictional world is as perfectly organized as an evangelical Eden. The difference is only that the pieces don't become evil upon the introduction of the devil, but hint holiness upon the introduction of the godly in the guise of evil. If that makes sense.

Willing to Work by Larry Menlove

Synopsis

A recently divorced Mormon woman on the skids either steps back to righteousness or takes another step toward debauchery when she picks up a handsome young homeless man.

Review

I find Menlove's work a bit hit or miss. (Good. Good. Bad.) This story, I'm happy to say, is one of his good ones. Brianna is a wonderfully pathetic character, and even though she's making mistakes which, at their best, only manufacture illusions of happiness, it's hard not to empathize with her or to side with her. Even though we can see how much she's been wronged, it's plain we do not see how much she has wronged others---her p-o-v won't allow that. But it doesn't matter. Her pain is real; her suffering is real. And no matter her motivations, what she does she does for the least of these. Brianna may be a tragic character, but we don't help her by feeling sorry for her. She's still a good person. She's just in pain. Maybe the next person she helps, and who helps her, will prove a further step toward healing.

2013 goals update

.As a general rule, I do not believe in New Year's Resolutions or similar claptrap. January first is a rather artificial means of life-markery. That said, doesn't mean I didn't spend a lot of money on our tenth anniversary dinner. Things like new years and multiples of ten are useful tools in celebrating the passage of time and carry emotional weight whether that makes sense or not.

Thus, although I haven't done so in years, I didn't resist when I felt an urge to make goals for 2013. How could it hurt?

My goals were:

1. Finish the rough draft of my novella-in-stories by the end of January and have it ready for publication by October.

2. Finish a rough draft of my current novel project by the end of the year.

3. Get five short stories not currently ready for publication ready for publication. (Whether currently roughed, begun, or unimagined.)

But I made these goals with the expectation that other things would come up. I thought though that I would be able to meet these three goals no matter what other compelling things came up.

So. Now that the year is almost a third over, how am I doing?

I finished the novella-in-stories rough a little late, but it's done. I haven't been working on the rewrite, which puts me behind expectations, but not impossibly behind. And I expect that at least two of the stories will stand well enough on their own that I can count them towards goal three as well.

Sadly though, although I had been working a tear on the new novel when the year ended, I've barely touched it since. This upsets me, but because my excuses are good, I'm not beating myself up. I've been thinking about it more or less constantly and anticipate being able to pick it back up when I wrap up some other projects.

In the meantime, I've donated enormous energy toward a large thingamathing I'm not prepared to announce yet, which is going well and is quite exciting and is---fun for a change---collaborative. I haven't begun work with my cowriter (and things could still fall entirely apart before that stage), but it's someone I've wanted to work with for years and things are looking pretty good at the moment.

And, even if this plan is never consummated (if you will), it hasn't been lost time. I've learned plenty from the work I've already done. I trust the time lost will be found again in improved skills and new routes of thinking.

Another surprise is the amount of poetry I've produced this year. I've only published one so far and may not successfully place any others (I'm not, shall we say, renowned as a poet), but I'm enjoying the sidetrack. I suspect there's a good poet inside of me somewhere, but he's usually taking odd jobs prettying up bits of prose. It's okay. Every poet needs a day job.

Thus I've begun supplementing my original goals.

That novella-in-stories takes place in the Byuck universe (as it were) and, if I spend my summer as I hope too, I should also be prepared to finally finish the byucky novel I started a few years ago and never finished: Curses & Llew. What I have already written is brilliant. Would be great to finish the darn thing.

I also hope to place at least one comic this year. I placed one in 2012---why not 2013?

Ambition. Always ambition.

(What he seems to really mean.)

I haven't had a haircut since this video was made. I could really use a haircut.

.

Lady Steed and I

.

Thanks to Miss Nemesis who just threw this photo up.

The leprechaun went to Iraq. Had tea with a mysterious child who never showed his face.

.

040) Leprechaun in Late Winter by Mary Pope Osborne, finished April 8

I'm happy to read these books to my kids. Partially because they're the books that finally got my oldest to read and partially because they're pretty good reads.

Plus, this one is the latest in a serious of small events encouraging me to read Lady Gregory.

evening



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039) You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon, finished April 7

You ever have that experience where, by the end of the first couple pages, you are absolutely confident that this writer will take you somewhere wonderful? That, based on these beautiful sentences, you're certain their pages and books will be just as beautiful?

That's what happened to me as I began Fallon's debut collection. I knew immediately she would not fail.

Now, I grant, sometimes those beautiful sentences can be deceiving and a book may wander around getting nowhere. But that didn't happen here. Each of the stories in You Know When the Men Are Gone delivers. They are not all truly excellent, but each is at least very good. Take "Remission" which I thought began and continued rather weakly but, in the end, was the only story to make me cry.

The stories in You Know When the Men Are Gone are about the men---and, more particularly, the families they leave behind---of the Iraq War. The stories are centered mostly, but not entirely, in Fort Hood where those families remain. And wait. And fear.

Fallon shows us wives and girlfriends and soldiers and commanders. Little moments and enormous moments. And them all with grace and beauty.

It's not a subject, I shamefacedly admit, I'm likely to assign myself. So I'm glad Lady Steed put it into my hands and told me to read it.

Be a more empathetic American.

Read this book.

a few weeks but mostly three days



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038) Illiterature: Story Minutes, Vol. I by Carol Lay, finished April 2

Although each story is only a one-page comics, this is one of the best short story collections I've read in a while. Each is a perfect, faceted jem of storytelling. I'm so upset I had never heard of Carol Lay before.

And it's not just the story telling in a generic way. The words are spare and rely as much on implication as what is said. The lines are clean and the inking is stark and feeling. (She should stick with b&w as a look at her website will show you.) And her sense of anatomy is so full and expressive, which I wasn't expecting when I judged her figures by her lower jaw = teeth styling.

Impossible to pick a favorite, but I have to show you something.

two or three weeks



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037) "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket, finished March 29

Although a fan of the Series of Unfortunate Events, I did not like Snicket's unauthorized autobiography and had no intention to read more novelgazing from the once-great agent. Then a student lent me his copy and I'm so glad I read it. Besides giving information about Snicket's organizational past, his trademark obfuscative wit is on display.

three or four or five weeks



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



036) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 5 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 29
didn't even start this one till after midnight

035) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 4 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 28
past midnight and into a new day

Holding off on further comment till I finish the final books in the series.

Previously in 2013 . . . . :

Books 26 - 34

034) The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons, finished March 24
033) What Shat That? by Matt Pagett, finished March 24
032) Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stones, finished March 22
031) Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, finished March 22
030) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, vol 3 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 13
029) The Princess Bride: Shooting Draft by William Goldman, finished March 11
028) The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith, finished March 5
027) Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Edgar Wright & Michael Bacall, finished March 5
026) Screenplay by Syd Field, finished March 3

Books 22 - 25

025) Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande, finished March 2
024) The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo, finished March 1
023) Moby Dick by Herman Melville, finished February 28
022) Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou & Alecos Papadatos & Annie Di Donna, finished February 22

Books 20 - 21

021) The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 22
020) The Princess Bride by William Goldman, finished February 20

Books 14 - 19

019) Magic Tree House #10: Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne, finished February 17
018) The Report Card by Andrew Clements, finished February 17
017) Justice (volume one) by AUTHOR, finished February 16
016) The Green Mile by Stephen King, finished February 15
015) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl, finished February 12
014) The Silver Cord: Book One ~ Nephilim by Kevin Kelly et al., finished February 7

Books 8 - 13

013) Teen Titans: The Prime of Life by JT Krul and Nicola Scott, finished February 2
012) Batman: Vampire by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones and John Beatty and Malcolm Jone III, finished February second
011) Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor by Isaac Asimov, finished January 26
010) Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Perfect Collection 1 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished January 22
009) The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 21
008) My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson, finished January 21

Books 1 - 7

007) Spacecave One by Jake Parker, finished January 19
006) The Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker, finished January 19
005) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished January 14
004) The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé, finished January 14
003) The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure by Hergé, finished January 11
002) Using the Common Core State Standards... edited by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., finished January 10
001) Jellaby by Kean Soo, finished January 8