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.
First, kaboom.
Then, ew.
Then, tzzzzzt.
Then, huh.
Then, hmm.
Then, yawn
.
091) After the Blast by Zoe Kazan, finished August 30
My search for the perfect dystopia play continues, this time with a play that is not only excellent but makes sense for the classroom. (play the first)
Little things make a difference when translating a play into the classroom. For instance, this one has scenes. Excellent. I really like the text to have clear places to pause. That's helpful.
This one deals with a lot of issues today's kids care about (eg, the environment, tech invading our minds, etc) without much preaching. And I think it will spur positive disagreement in the classroom, which is always good.
I have to apply for the relevant grant this weekend, so if I don't make it through the other two plays by then (it'll be tight), we have a winner.
(Read the first few pages here.)
one day
092) The Nether by Jennifer Haley, finished August 31
This play took a while to really start working but boy does it work. But no way am I picking it. It deals with the intersection of pedophilia and onlineness and it's just not something teenagers are capable of dealing with. And even if they were, I wouldn't ask them to.
The play is literature so it's not making a case, but I think the likely takeaway of a simple read is that we should let pedophiles do anything they want virtually so real children stay safe. I've heard worse arguments, but I don't need that becoming dinner-table conversation. That will do none of us favors.
The play does cool things with chronology and dives into this icky stuff in ways I've never seen before. The production notes make a casting suggestion for a chilling reason.
Anyway, three down, one to go.
I can't find sample pages, but surprisingly the entire thing is on IA.
forty-five minutes into a second day
093) Mr Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn, finished August 31
This one is more postapocalyptic than dystopian, but that's just one reason it's out. The crosstalk and naturalistic dialogue would be hard to pull off in class.
The story takes place shortly after the apocalypse as characters sit around a campfire trying to remember an episode of The Simpsons and ends a couple generations later as that episode is reperformed, having evolved into something like a passion play.
Conceptually, very cool. And I can see this working well on stage. But on the page? With people lacking experience in reading plays? Nah. Bad choice.
Again, no sample pages but yes the whole darn thing.
one day
094) The Voynich Manuscript ed. by Raymond Clemens, finished September 4
After reading a recent article in The Atlantic about the famous manuscript, I followed its advice and found a copy of this book. It's weird to say I "read" this book when most of the pages are a reproduction of a book NO ONE can read, but I turned all the pages and then I read all the scholarly essays that made up its final signatures.
The manuscript itself? Very cool
The essays? Interesting.
The mystery? Barely touched upon.
I'm not sure I ever want it solved. It's good for uncertainty to remain in this world. We moderns are a little to confident in our own knowing, don't you think?
almost three weeks
095) Brass Sun by Ian Edgington and I. N. J. Culbard, finished September 5
I read the first lil comic book in this series and liked it so much I had to find this collection. Unfortunately, the strength of the work peter out as time goes on. Up top, we're introduced to a fascinating world with a fascinating (and fittingly metaphorical) problem: this solar system is actual literal clockwork—and it's winding down. And unless our hero can figure out how to wind it back up, it will come to a stop. Life is already freezing to death, planet by planet, and their sun cools down.
The set up for adventure puts a young woman in charge of saving everything for reasons that are far from logical but exciting enough it's easy not to notice until much much later when the book starts collapsing under the weight of it's own worldbuilding, when long sections are just people giving exposition forcing us to admit how dang cool the worldbuilding is and how much effort the writer put into doing it. Story falls by the wayside.
A similar thing happens with the art. The backgrounds and robots and monsters are cool. But the main characters can be difficult to tell apart in some angles.
Anyway, it's very cool, but I doubt we'll be talking about it in twenty years.
a couple weeks
096) Termush by Sven Holm, finished September 7
This is a postapocalyptic Danish novel that juuuust breaks a hundred pages and barely has enough to fill them. It's more of a long short story than even a novella, really. I was considering it for the dystopian-novel list I use in AP Lit but there aren't sufficient dystopian elements and what's there? Hard to tell what's going on. It's a very slight book. Students would be flummoxed by it, I suspect.
about a week
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2024 × 10 = Bette Davis being Bette Davis
001) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 1
002) The Complete Peanuts: 1977 – 1978 by Charles M. Schulz , finished January 6
003) The Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman et al, finished January 10
004) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 17
005) Touched by Walter Mosley, finished January 19
006) Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer, finished January 20
007) Evergreen Ape: The Story of Bigfoot by David Norman Lewis, finished January 24
008) What Falls Away by Karin Anderson, finished February 1
009) Peanuts Jubilee: My Life and Art with Charlie Brown and Others by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 3
010) Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished February 3
011) Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, finished February 3
012) The Return of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, February 9
013) Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke, February 10
014) A Charlie Brown Religion: Exploring the Spiritual Life and Work of Charles M. Schulz by Stephen J. Lind, finished February 10
015) 1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction by Joseph M. Spencer, finished February 10
016) Dendo by Brittany Long Olsen, finished February 11
017) The Ten Winners of the 2023 Whiting Awards, finished February 12
018) The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life edited by Andrew Blaune, finished February 17
019) Do Not Disturb Any Further by John Callahan, finished February 17
020) Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke, finished circa February 19
021) 2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction by Terryl Givens, February 24
Let's start with the untimely deaths
022) The Life and Death of King John by William Shakespeare, finished February 28
022) Mighty Jack and the Goblin King by Ben Hatke, finished February 29
023) Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, finished March 4
024) Millay by Edna St. Vincent Millay, finished March
025, 026) The Life and Death of King John by William Shakespeare, finished March 6, 8
027) Murder Book by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, finished March 11
028) A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
029) The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett and Paul Kidby, finished March 15
030) Karen's Roller Skates by Ann M. Martin and Katy Farina, finished March 18
Four comics could hardly be more different
031) The Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman et al, finished March 18
032) The World of Edena by Mœbius, finished March 23
033) Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith, finished March 23
034) Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished March 23
Jacob says be nice and read comics
035) Jacob: A Brief Theological Introduction by Deidre Nicole Green, finished March 24
036) Starter Villain by John Scalzi, finished March 27
037) Mister Invincible: Local Hero by Pascal Jousselin, finished March 30
038) The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, finished March 30
039) Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh, finished April 1
040) The Super Hero's Journey by Patrick McDonnell, finished April 5
041) The Stranger Beside Me: Updated Twentieth Anniversary Edition by Ann Rule, finished April 9
042) Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy, finished April 13
043) Enos, Jarom, Omni: a brief theological introduction by Sharon J. Harris, finished April 25
044) The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, finished April 27
045,046,049) The Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht, finished April 29, 30; May 3
047) The Children's Bach by Helen Garner, finished April 30
048) No. 1 with a Bullet by Sehman/Corona/Hickman/Wands, finished May 2
050) Over Seventy by P. G. Wodehouse, finished May 7
051) The Happy Shop by Brittany Long Olsen, finished May 16
052) Shades of Fear, finished May 21
053) Love Poems in Quarantine by Sarah Ruhl, finished May 21
And a vibrator makes it five dozen.....
054) The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, finished May 25
055) Mosiah: A Brief Theological Introduction by James E. Faulconer, finished May 26
056) Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirstin Bakis
057) 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 1
058) Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary by Timothy Snyder, finished June 4
059) Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 6
060) The Next Room, or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 8
And with Ursula, 69
061) The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty, finished June 10
062) Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham, finished June 11
063) Mulysses by Øyvind Torseter, finished June 11
064) Between the River and the Bridge by Craig Ferguson, finished June 12
065) Cranky Chicken by Katherine Battersby, finished June 12
066) Mile End Kids Stories by Isabelle Arsenault, finished June 12
067) Tiny Titans: Field Trippin' by author, finished June 14
068) Brief Theological Introductions: Alma 1–29 by Kylie Nielson Turley, finished June 16
069) Words Are My Matter: Writings on Life and Books by Ursula K. Le Guin, finished June 16
Numbers 70 through 75
070) Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth by A. O. Scott, finished June 17
071) Alice, Let's Eat by Calvin Trillin, finished June 20
072) My Lovely Vigil Keeping by Carla Kelly, finished June 21
073) Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre, finished July 9
074) The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne, finished July 11
075) Best. Movie. Year. Ever. How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery, finished July 16
Comics soup and rice
076) I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 by Lauren Tarshis and Corey Egbert (et al), finished July 16
077) Skull Cat and the Curious Castle by Norman Shurtliff, finished July 18
078) Epileptic by David B., finished July 19
079) Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld by Shannon and Dean Hale, and Asiah Fulmore; finished July 30
080) Fadeaway by E. B. Vickers, finished August 2
081) You're Dad by Liz Climo, finished August 4
082) Meanwhile...A Comic Shop Anthology, finished August 5
Lobsters are vermin you eat
084) Lobster Is the Best Medicine by Liz Climo, finished August 7
085) Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and Leuyen Pham, finished August 12
086) Alma 30–63: A Brief Theological Introduction by Mark A. Wrathall, finished August 18
087) The Pearl by John Steinbeck, August 20
088) The Woman in the Woods and Other North American Stories, finished August 20
089) Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber, finished August 23
090) Radiant Vermin by Philip Ridley
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