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036) Bad Kitty Camp Daze by Nick Bruel, finished May 24
Nick Bruel is, for my money, one of the best comic writers now working. He's hilarious! I laugh while I read the Bad Kitty books!a brief moment
They don't take long at all to read. Pick one up and marvel at their use of narrator or irony or characterization. Just do it.
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037) I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris, finished May 24
This is another bit of for-kids comedy that I, an adult, loved. Loved. I wouldn't say it's "better" or "worse" than Shel Silverstein, but it's in that tradition without feeling like a beholden knockoff. This is original stuff, excellently executed, with illustrations by Lane Smith. Lane Smith!two days about a week apart
The variety of cleverness in this book is vast, so even if you don't like each poem, you will certainly find ones you do. Also watch for an utterly original take on the concrete poem. And some genuinely sweet poems to leaven the comedy, including the beautiful "The World's Best Offer" and "Under My Dragon's Wing."
I do not, however, understand the page-numbering gag. I suspect that is an inside joke.
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038) The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua, finished May 30
I love this book.months
It was exciting and funny---a feast for the eyes and the mind. The most enjoyable foot- and endnotes I've read in many a long year (arguably even better than Cuppy's, who used them more as factual punchlines than chatty firesides).
Padua has written a history book skeleton clothed in the flesh of one of the most rollicking works of steampunk joy I've ever read. She's set up clearly navigable lines between fact and fiction; she introduces fascinating people I've never heard of and only thought I knew.
Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage demonstrate a remarkable and admirable working relationship and a keen friendship---and all while being of different sexes.
In short, I love this book. And any kid, girl or boy, who is (or should be) interested in math or engineering or feats of the mind should have it placed in their hands. Like, now.
To give you a flavor, here's the intro lifted from the book's website:
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039) Princess Leia by Mark Waid et al, finished May 30
weekish
I asked the library to provide me this on the strength of Vader Down and it's post-story advert for this book.
It's not as good.
But it was an enjoyable enough read.
It takes place right after A New Hope as Leia sets off on a personal mission to collect surviving Alderaanians before the Empire can, as a matter of principle, wipe them out. It's a nice mix of idealism and violence. Leia's final speech is a bit chintzy, but, to my surprise, when it was repeated, I was moved. I'm such a sucker.
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040) Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral, finished June 12
I like the idea of a book told entirely through ephemera. Selfies and IMs, etc. That's fine. Might have been nice if the story itself were less of a cliche. Young prodigy! Boy next door just arrived from abroad! Forbidden love! Disapproving parents! Artists acting out! Mysterious disappearance! Who's really mad?in-store
You know.
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041) Everything You Need to Know About a Mission by Ralph Thomas, finished June 13
I heard about this book from Mike Laughead with whom I did our Kickstarter. He had just bought a copy but for him it was a return to something he had loved long ago. I'd never heard of it before.day+
I mostly liked it. Some stuff feels aged---or at least, seems pre-Raising the Bar, but maybe my experiences were unusual? The only part that really bothered me was the Sister jokes. These are the sorts of stereotypes that irritated me as a missionary too, and thanks to the changing dialogue over sexism, now I know why. It's not just that it's unfair and unkind and stupid. It's that it's men making these jokes. Sisters should have the chance to make jokes about sisters. (Now they do. Too bad you missed the Kickstarter.)
Anyway, gripes about datedness aside, I'll let me kids read this. Anything that normalizes missionary work is positive. But Dendo's still the standard.
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042) The Invisibles by Grant Morrison et al, finished June 14
I'm assuming this did not sell well and that's why it ended when it did. The other possibility is that Morrison realized he had no idea where he was going with this. The Invisibles themselves ever quite come together or make sense. The series is at its strongest when it's telling short stories essentially disconnected from the philosophically bloated main throughline.weekish
Oh wait. I just looked it up. It keeps going beyond this collection.
I don't think I'll read on.
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043) The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe, finished June 15
This is a beautifully written book. Both Lady Steed and I picked it up and turned to the first page only to be immediately hooked. This is the preview off Amazon (click to enlarge):months
It's a terrific story, as good as its writing. And the next two stories are just as enrapturing, though I am embarrassed to admit I did not realize until well into story number three that these stories were all connected, taking place on the same two planets. Embarrassing. But nothing about the format of the book made me think that would be the case!
This edition includes an insightful afterward that points out thematic similarities between the stories and heightening the ambiguity.
In short, this is a nuanced, intelligent, beautiful, challenging, troubling, wonderful novel. It's evidence of science fiction's capacity for excellence. Hand it to any naysaying friends.
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044) Material Volume 1 by Ales Kot & Will Tempest & al., finished June 23
Each spread is a piece of one story. One's about a college professor (sometimes in his classroom, sometimes engaging with his computer, sometimes engaging with his daughter); one's about a black kid in Chicago who's spent time at Homan Square. A man recently returned from an in-error stint Guantanamo Bay. An actress looking to make a comeback. The story (if you want to call it that) flips back and forth between these different stories which as just as simple as I've suggested but also much more complicated. There is no satisfactory resolution to any of them, though the fourth chapter, which ends the collection, can pass as a series of ending in the lit-mag sense.week or more
It does say Volume 1 in big bold letters on the cover, so I could assume more volumes were intended. But I can see no evidence that more are forthcoming.
I'm glad it took me a while from finishing the comics to finishing the book. The work has settled into my mind and I find it more satisfying now that when I initially finished it.
My favorite part, however, are the four essays at the end of the volume. (I assume one per original comic book?) These, written by Fiona Duncan, Jarett Kobek, Sarah Nicole Prickett, and Bijan Stephen are jewels of the essay art dealing with topics tangential (or key) to the stories of the comics. Also, shoutout to Spencer Ackerman's introduction with colored the way I read the comics, probably for the better.
In short, thought-provoking. Whether it's as smart as it thinks it is, I'm unsure, but the thoughts were worth having and the company was good.
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045) Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav, finished June 30
two daysSo I recently tried to read a Rupi Kaur book. It was ... hard to read. Not so much because its about rape and abuse and people treating women badly but because it just didn't have much to say about such things. So unrelenting awfulness without artistry to give it form? No thanks.
Which I know is easy for me to say. And I'm not knocking people who love Kaur's work. She's clearly saying stuff that needs to be said, but it's just a moderately refined version of what we sometimes sniff and dismiss as high-school poetry. Big emotions and tiny metaphors. You probably know what I mean. (You probably wrote some yourself. In high school.)
This is kind of the problem with Love & Misadventure as well, although---for all the falling in love (almost always paired with an inevitable breakup), Leav's work has some charm. Some prettiness. Some efforts to play with language.
The poetry is much like her paintings---beautiful barely pubescent girls being sexy adult women.
This collection came out five years ago and she hasn't stopped. Her most recent came out just this year. I'm curious is her work has done some growing up in this half decade....
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046) The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins, finished July 7
Moments of Billy Collins brilliance, but also a few moments that seem like they've been sitting in his book of clever ideas for sometime and he just decided he might as well get the poem over with. But I say this as a fan. It's a bit of a parental thing, perhaps, too. When I first started writing poems that weren't terrible, they had a strong Billy Collince influence (obvious example), and he's one of the few writers whose voice I hear when I read their work. And so I come to a Billy Collins book expecting every poem to be a home run. Or at least an amusing bloop single, and that's not fair.about a week
That said, to repeat, this collection does have a few moments of brilliance. And I don't begrudge the man the occasional copout for a joke. That's one of the lines he's been pushing his entire career. Take a classic like "The Lanyard": it's only a couple rewrites away from being damn fine standup. Yet instead it's a beloved poem that makes people cry.
This collection has a couple throughlines that make the poet's age apparent. A lot of stuff about time---it passing, how much is gone, appreciating the now, looking forward. Stuff about family (including two poems about imaginary siblings to fill the hole now that the parents are gone). More than enough ars poetica, including some grumpyoldman pieces.
He's earned it.
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047) Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier Vol. 1: The Man On The Wall by Ales Kos, finished July 7
Having been intrigued by Material (above), I went to the library site and put one of his Kot's mainstream works on hold. "Mainstream" might be a stretch. The panel design, the art, the story---none of this is easy to just step into and understand. It's complex---in part because of how it builds on Marvel lore, but also because it's just trying to do a lot. Multiple dimensions, fighting artistic styles, a character who knows he's a character, you name it.one evening
It was fine.
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048) Monster Verse: Poems Human and Inhuman edited by Tony Barnstone & Michelle Mitchell-Foust, finished July 10 (twelve days)
049) Poems Dead and Undead edited by Tony Barnstone & Michelle Mitchell-Foust, finished July 10(twelve days)
First, props to the Everyman Pocket Library for having such great-looking, little, carryable, delightful books.
Here's a nice set of sonnets that are on facing pages in the Monster book:
I like both of these very much.
You'll note that one of these sonneteers is also one of the volumes' editors. Only one from him per book, which is true, if I'm not mistaken, of every included poet excepting Shakespeare who was doubled up both times.
Both books are arranged sensibly into three sections. The first two sections are clearly defined, and the third is kind of a hodgepodge of poems that often could have been included in either book. The final poems in both books is a fun send off (respectively, Seuss and Silverstein).
I'm curious what their editorial process was like. For instance, how did they find the poets in their early twenties, some of whose included work is apparently showing up here for the first time? My assumption is that they're friends of the editors (matching my assumption that the other Barnstone is a brother to an editor), but I don't know.
That said, I delighted in the range of poems---all over the world and back thousands of years (the oldest poem, a 4000+ Egyptian work, was excellent in translation), with some perfect poppings up of classics ("Second Coming"), unexected but in retrospect obvious choices from classic authors ("The Conqueror Worm") and some excellent work I've never seen anthologized before by well known writers ("The Witch of Coos").
All in all, much enjoyed.
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050) Mary's Monster by Lita Judge, finished July 11
This is a biography in verse of Mary Shelley. Much of the "verse" is actually just prose with linebreaks, but the poems do occasionally rise to the name. The images are striking and often excellent, even if all the characters have the same face. That negative positivity aside, it's a terrific book. The prologue made we worry we were in for another YAy blehfest, but it didn't take long for the book to rise above that opener. And yes, sure, sometimes I couldn't tell a new character apart from the old characters, but overall, this is lovely---and it helped me finetune some of the detail's of Mary's life I sort of knew, made some astute observations (the book was published anonymously, drawing a nice line between author and creature), and taught me some things I did not know (it was Mary's stewardship that assured Percy's place in the firmament). Here's one of my favorite spreads:today
At times Judge borrows from classic works of art. My favorite was Mary holding the creature ala another Mary holding her Son, but here's another:
Mary is a fascinating person, from her high ideals and stupid adolescence and impossibilities (don't worry---losing her virginity on her mother's grave is here although none of the sex is at all graphic) to her groundedness and grief and survival. Maybe her wild life is why she's starting to get to much attention (not so many gothic castles in Jane Austen's life story), but no question she deserves it.
But maybe we should all try reading another of her books? Y'think?
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The other books of 2018
1 – 4
001) Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Book 3 by Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze & al., finished January
002) The Complete Peanuts 1950-2000 by Charles M. Schulz & al., finished January
003) The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, finished January 10
004) El Deafo by Cece Bell, finished January 12
5 – 9
005) Cleopatra in Space: Target Practice by Mike Maihack, finished January 13
006) Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve by Ben Blatt, finished January 15
007) Glister by Andi Watson, finished January 18
008) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 20
009) The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien, finished January 21
10 – 11
010) The Vision by Tom King et al., finished January 23
011) Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds, finished January 24
16 – 16
012) Anthem by Ayn Rand, finished February 8
013) The City in Which I Love You by Li-Young Lee, finished February 14
014) Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle, finished February 21
015) It Needs to Look Like We Tried by Todd Robert Petersen, finished March 7
016, 017) Fences by August Wilson, finished March 8
18 – 20
018) The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, finished March 13
019) Star Wars Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to a Galaxy Far, Far Away by Tim Leong, finished March 22
020) Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen, finished March 25
21 – 25
021) M Is for Malice by Sue Grafton, finished March 28
022) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany; finished March 31
023) It All Started with Hippocrates: A Mercifully Brief History of Medicine by Richard Armour, finished April 6
024) Don't Bump the Glump by Shel Silverstein, finished April 14
025) Coriolanus by Wm Shakespeare, finished April 16
26 – 32
026) The Trouble with Reality by Brooke Gladstone, finished April 24
027, 28) Coriolanus by William Shakespeare, finished April 26
029) The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost, finished April 28
030) Twisted Tales from Shakespeare by Richard Armour, finished April 28 or April 29 depending on when midnight happened
031) Bless The Child: A Romance of Redemption and Glory in the Ancient World by David J. West, finished May 1
032) The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy, finished May 3
32 – 34
032) Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, finished May 9
033) Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami, finished May 9
034) Vader Down by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato, finished May 18
35
035) The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition edited by Grant Hardy, finished May 23
39 – 50
036) Bad Kitty Camp Daze by Nick Bruel, finished May 24
037) I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris, finished May 24
038) The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua, finished May 30
039) Princess Leia by Mark Waid et al, finished May 30
040) Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony & Rodrigo Corral, finished June 12
041) Everything You Need to Know About a Mission by Ralph Thomas, finished June 13
042) The Invisibles by Grant Morrison et al, finished June 14
043) The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe, finished June 15
044) Material Volume 1 by Ales Kot & Will Tempest & al., finished June 23
045) Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav, finished June 30
046) The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins, finished July 7
047) Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier Vol. 1: The Man On The Wall by Ales Kos, finished July 7
048) Monster Verse: Poems Human and Inhuman edited by Tony Barnstone & Michelle Mitchell-Foust, finished July 10
049) Poems Dead and Undead edited by Tony Barnstone & Michelle Mitchell-Foust, finished July 10
050) Mary's Monster by Lita Judge, finished July 11
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
* the most recent post in this series *
_____________________
final booky posts of
2007 = 2008 = 2009 = 2010 = 2011 = 2012 = 2013 = 2014 = 2015 = 2016 = 2017
* the most recent post in this series *
_____________________
final booky posts of
2007 = 2008 = 2009 = 2010 = 2011 = 2012 = 2013 = 2014 = 2015 = 2016 = 2017
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