The world is only as big as we are willing to read

.

063) Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, finished May 10

I took a class on Critical Race Theory in 2008 and it was not an easy thing to wrap my mind around. It was a challenge. And, in the end, it completely changed the way I understand my world---because it changed my understanding of how OTHERS see this world.

I get the sense that Coates's book has done this for many more people.

If you've missed it, it's a book-length letter to his son about being black in America. Which is a gross simplification but true enough for an itty-bitty review.

The intimacy with which he addresses his son and shares his life with his son allows us to step inside his perspective and view the world from that angle.

Coates is a great writer (I've bumped into him before). If you're looking to understand why you haven't understood, this is a pretty good place to start.

(Note: although his points are certainly true of African Americans, they are applicable to all of us no matter our [minority] identity if you redirection their facets to reflect upon you.)

at most two weeks



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062) Cover by Peter Mendelsund, finished May 10

Like his other book, this one threw some vocabulary at me I wasn't ready for. This just doesn't happen anymore, so I appreciate the humility.

I checked out this book primarily though to fill the ol' cistern in terms of beautiful book covers. I guess it did that, though I found it less instructive than Chip Kidd's books.

THAT SAID, I find Mendelsund a delightful guide. He's wonderful to listen to and he's filled with ideas I hadn't considered on my own. It's a stimulating book.

week plus



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061) Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia, finished May 8

This stark black and white comic has a punk feel in its lack of grays and ragged edges. And it reads like a cross between Black Hole and Peanuts. Teens out on their own doing rebellious teen things---yet no sense of adults at all. I was unclear whether the adults were actually gone or if we just weren't seeing them. Except for a brief interlude in the dog's point of view, no adults are seen during the entire book.

Meanwhile, bands are breaking up, lusters are hooking up, and bodies are piling up. What the hell is going on?

But because our protags are teens, they're focused on their next thrill and their torrenting emotions---they can't spend too much time worrying about missing adults and dead peers or they'll crack up.

The solution to the mystery doesn't come into focus until the end, but---twist or not---it's not some gotcha. The set up is natural and sensible and the reasons we the reader don't know what's going on likewise. So when the reveals fall upon us at the end we can only shake our head and say, oh. Yeah. That makes sense. Damn. Those poor kids.

a few weeks



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060) Age of Reptiles Omnibus, Vol. 1 by Ricardo Delgado, finished May 4

This began the same year Jurassic Park was released, but it never entered my consciousness. I suppose I must have seen them, but I have no memory thereof. This collected the stories from then until 2011---three in all---each terrific.

The dinosaurs are slightly anthropomorphized, but only in slight ways---enough movement in the eyes and mouth and shoulders to convey emotion---but essentially they are just realistic dinosaurs engaged in normal (slash-awesome) dinosaur activity.

It's beautifully rendered (shoutout to the colorists who caught the nuances of Delgado's art). I passed it off to my kids,
and the first got through it turning pages crazy quickly. Me, my reading was much slower. There may be no words, but there is much to read. I can't imagine just glancing and turning past the baby brachiosaur floating under the moonlight. That's intense stuff.

two or three days

Previously in 2017

57 – 59

059) Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, finished May 1
058) Little Tommy Lost: Book One by Cole Closser, finished April 28
057) Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett, finished April 24

53 – 56

056) Angel Catbird (vol. one) by Margaret Atwood, et al., finished April 21
055) The Dinner Club by Curtis Taylor, finished April 21
054) The Hotel Cat by Esther Averill, finished April 17
053) A Field Guide to Awkward Silences by Alexandra Petri, finished April 9

48 – 52

052) The Ghost by Robert Harris, finished April 7
051) Injection, Vol. 1 by Warren Ellis & Jordie Bellaire & Declan Shalvey, finished April 7
050) Letters to a Young Mormon by Adam Miller, finished April 2
049) Fences by August Wilson, finished March 30
048) Art Ops Vol. 2: Popism by Shaun Simon and a crapton of artists including a panoply of Allreds, finished March 29

44 – 47

047) The Natural by Bernard Malamud, finished March 28
046) Let Me Drown with Moses by James Goldberg, finished March 26
045) Kaptara Volume 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien by Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod, finished March 25
044) The Big Book of Exit Strategies by Jamaal May, finished March 22

40 – 43

043) Casanova: Acedia Volume 1 by Matt Fraction and Fábio Moon and Michael Chabon and Gabriel Bá, finished March 18
042) Wolfie & Fly by Cary Fagan, finished March 15
041) Cyrus Perkins and the Haunted Taxi Cab by Dave Dwonch and Anna Lencioni, finished March 13
040) An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, finished March 10

36 – 39

039) Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, finished March 9
038) In the Great Green Room: The Brilliant and Bold Life of Margaret Wise Brown by Amy Gary, finished March 5
037) Ritual and Bit by Robert Ostrom, finished March 3
036) Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman, finished March 3

33 – 35

035) Under Brushstrokes by Hedy Habra, finished February 24
034) Rapture by Sjohnna McCray, finished February 20
033) The Destroyer in the Glass by Noah Warren, finished February 19

29 – 32

032) Old Boy, Vol. 8 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 18
031) Ms. Marvel Vol. 6: Civil War II by G. Willow Wilson et al, finished February 18
030) White Sand by Brandon Sanderson & Rik Hoskin & Julius Gopez, finished February 18
029) Honest Engine by Kyle Dargan, finished February 17

24 – 28

028) Best American Comics 2016 edited by Roz Chast, finished February 16
027) Old Boy, Vol. 7 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 16
026) Old Boy, Vol. 6 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 12
025) Old Boy, Vol. 5 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 11
024) Old Boy, Vol. 4 by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 10

19 – 23

023) Ms. Marvel Vol. 5: Super Famous by G. Willow Wilson & Takeshi Miyazawa, finished February 9
022) Ms. Marvel Vol. 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson & Adrian Alphona, finished February 7
021) Ms. Marvel Vol. 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson & Takeshi Miyazawa & Elmo Bondoc, finished February 7
020) Ms. Marvel Volume 2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson & Jacob Wyatt & Adrian Alphona, finished February 6
019) Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson & Adrian Alphona, finished February 5

14 – 18

018) Curses by Kevin Huizenga, finished February 4
017) Precious Rascals by Anthony Holden, finished January 31
015 & 016) Anthem by Ayn Rand, finished January 31
014) Old Boy, Vol. 3 by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, finished January 30

9 – 13

013) On Jupiter Place by Nicholas Christopher, finished January 30
012) Old Boy, Vol. 2 by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, finished January 29
011) Old Boy, Vol. 1 by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, finished January 28
010) Summerlost by Ally Condie, finished January 27
009) Heat Wake by Jason Zuzga, finished January 24

4 – 8

008) How the End Begins by Cynthia Cruz, finished January 19
007) Delinquent Palaces by Danielle Chapman, finished January 19
006) Pilot by pd mallamo, finished January 19
005) Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, finished January 16
004) I Hate Fairyland Volume 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young et al, finished January 14

1 – 3

003) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, finished January 12
002) F in Exams: The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers by Richard Benson, finished January 10
001) States of Deseret by William Morris, finished January 10

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