Paul's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 07 Aug 2022 04:24:18 -0700 60 Paul's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Trump 1473523 For more than a half century, David Levine has taken on the most powerful men of the free world with only his pen and a bottle of India ink. That pen has proved to be mightier than the sword as Levine skewered, illuminated, satirized and condemned every president of the 20th century, as well as the most significant presidents from colonial times and the Civil War era. His drawing of Lyndon Johnson revealing a scar in the shape of Vietnam is considered one of the most recognized (and most copied) of the Vietnam era. His devastating wit and delicately cross hatched drawing have exposed the venality of the Nixon administration, the phoniness of the Reagan years, the duplicity of the Clinton era, and the evil of the Bush cabal. Nine administrations have come and gone during Levine's tenure, and with a new one on the horizon, the artist remains, unbowed, unfazed, and unrelenting.
Now for the first time, the best of Levine's five decades of portraits of American Presidents and their administrations are gathered in a comprehensive and visually dynamic book. From John Adams to George Bush; from John Quincy Adams to George W. Bush; from the Great Emancipator to the Great Society, Levine has captured them all including present day candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.]]> Harvey Kurtzman 1560978309 Paul 0 to-read 4.00 2009 Trump
author: Harvey Kurtzman
name: Paul
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Harlot's Handbook: Harris's List]]> 3209320 158 Hallie Rubenhold 0752443844 Paul 3
And then there's the times when it's stated that a certain woman in "kept" by somesuch man, but goes on to say that the lady is open for visits when that man is out of town. How, uh, interesting it would be to read that passage, if you were "that man."

And one passage where a woman is said to have so much education that she has actually achieved a semblance of intelligence. A semblance. Sigh.

But a jolly read nonetheless...a look at the time of the Grande Horizontales, written with a fair degree of mirth and with more respect for women than most literature of the time, and quite willing to take jibes at the list's very readers, the so-called Gentlemen of Sport. ]]> 3.96 2005 The Harlot's Handbook: Harris's List
author: Hallie Rubenhold
name: Paul
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2008/04/24
date added: 2020/08/19
shelves:
review:
What a strange little book. Basically a "who and how much" guide to the ladies of the evening, published in the 18th century. My most immediate thoughts on the book center on the many times that the author (of those long ago pamphlets) would say that such and such woman required say, five pieces of coin for her favors, but will accept 2 or 3 rather than lose the business. Cad! You've effectively lowered her price!

And then there's the times when it's stated that a certain woman in "kept" by somesuch man, but goes on to say that the lady is open for visits when that man is out of town. How, uh, interesting it would be to read that passage, if you were "that man."

And one passage where a woman is said to have so much education that she has actually achieved a semblance of intelligence. A semblance. Sigh.

But a jolly read nonetheless...a look at the time of the Grande Horizontales, written with a fair degree of mirth and with more respect for women than most literature of the time, and quite willing to take jibes at the list's very readers, the so-called Gentlemen of Sport.
]]> <![CDATA[Neon Lit: Paul Auster's City of Glass]]> 450 Neon Lit: Paul Auster's City of Glass deftly illustrates why comics is a perfect format for exploring fictions about text: the words become visible objects of the story.]]> 144 Paul Karasik 038077108X Paul 2
Like Watchmen, this book spends an inordinate amount of time being clever, and that cleverness is an impediment to the story. There are only so many clever things to do with the art before a reader starts to look to the cleverness, and look away from the story. The "cleverness quotient" on this work was exceeded by about page twenty...past that point it was art for art's sake, rather than art for the story's sake. It was like a child doing yet another trick, screaming "Look at me, look at me, look at me!"

Shame, really, because Mazzucchelli is one of my "giants" of the comic art form, but here, like Alan Moore did in Watchmen, he's just exercising his art form, rather than exercising the story. ]]> 4.09 1994 Neon Lit: Paul Auster's City of Glass
author: Paul Karasik
name: Paul
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1994
rating: 2
read at: 2008/12/06
date added: 2018/11/28
shelves:
review:
I first read this years ago, and my memory of it was as a 4 or 5 star book, but this time I'm going to drop it to 2. My thoughts on this reading was that it read a lot like reading Alan Moore's Watchmen, which most people would think is a compliment, but I don't.

Like Watchmen, this book spends an inordinate amount of time being clever, and that cleverness is an impediment to the story. There are only so many clever things to do with the art before a reader starts to look to the cleverness, and look away from the story. The "cleverness quotient" on this work was exceeded by about page twenty...past that point it was art for art's sake, rather than art for the story's sake. It was like a child doing yet another trick, screaming "Look at me, look at me, look at me!"

Shame, really, because Mazzucchelli is one of my "giants" of the comic art form, but here, like Alan Moore did in Watchmen, he's just exercising his art form, rather than exercising the story.
]]> Van Gogh Complete Paintings 1059714 740 Rainer Metzger 3822815888 Paul 3 art
The first is unfortunately inherent in van Gogh's work, and that is how printed facsimiles of his paintings never come close to the full register of color and sheer power of the originals. I was again and again taken by how his paintings, in this book, fail to really move me, while those same paintings in real life cause my breath to quicken and my heart to beat stronger, and I honestly feel better about humanity as a whole after seeing Vincent's work. But, on these pages? Ehhh.

Still, that's not a reason to dock stars from the rating. I can hardly expect Taschen to include an original Van Gogh painting with each book, and even if they did it would probably put the retail price a biiiiiiiiit out of my range.

My real problem with the book itself is another inherent problem, this one inherent to art books as a whole. I am simply bored to death of people telling me what Vincent van Gogh (or any other artist) was trying to achieve.

This is an example of the interior writing, with the author here speaking of van Gogh's cornfield paintings.

"It was in order to offer the cornfield as a source of strength, as consolation in the despondency that inevitably accompanies suffering, that van Gogh painted his enclosed fields. For the time being, the dark horizon of sorrow is lost to view. The field and the horizon as metaphors of the simultaneity of comfort and grief as (when incorporated into paintings) central motifs in the pictures where van Gogh went furthest in locating paradox in spatial principles."

Wha?

There is only one type of artist who would ever step back from a canvas and, with an air of satisfaction, pronounce, "This painting is where I've gone the furthest in locating paradox in spatial principles." That type of artist is known, to me, as, "An Artist Who Needs A Smacking."

And yet the above example is but a small snippet, chosen at random. Such writing permeates the book, and is the chief reason why, about 20% of the way into the book, I began to skip large passages. Then, about 60% of the way into the book, I began to leap even larger passages. By the end of the book I was merely flipping through the pages, looking at the pretty pictures.

But, for all that, the picture sure are pretty. ]]> 4.33 1988 Van Gogh Complete Paintings
author: Rainer Metzger
name: Paul
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at: 2008/09/12
date added: 2017/11/05
shelves: art
review:
While it's nice to peruse a compendium of my favorite artist's work, there were two major problems with this work.

The first is unfortunately inherent in van Gogh's work, and that is how printed facsimiles of his paintings never come close to the full register of color and sheer power of the originals. I was again and again taken by how his paintings, in this book, fail to really move me, while those same paintings in real life cause my breath to quicken and my heart to beat stronger, and I honestly feel better about humanity as a whole after seeing Vincent's work. But, on these pages? Ehhh.

Still, that's not a reason to dock stars from the rating. I can hardly expect Taschen to include an original Van Gogh painting with each book, and even if they did it would probably put the retail price a biiiiiiiiit out of my range.

My real problem with the book itself is another inherent problem, this one inherent to art books as a whole. I am simply bored to death of people telling me what Vincent van Gogh (or any other artist) was trying to achieve.

This is an example of the interior writing, with the author here speaking of van Gogh's cornfield paintings.

"It was in order to offer the cornfield as a source of strength, as consolation in the despondency that inevitably accompanies suffering, that van Gogh painted his enclosed fields. For the time being, the dark horizon of sorrow is lost to view. The field and the horizon as metaphors of the simultaneity of comfort and grief as (when incorporated into paintings) central motifs in the pictures where van Gogh went furthest in locating paradox in spatial principles."

Wha?

There is only one type of artist who would ever step back from a canvas and, with an air of satisfaction, pronounce, "This painting is where I've gone the furthest in locating paradox in spatial principles." That type of artist is known, to me, as, "An Artist Who Needs A Smacking."

And yet the above example is but a small snippet, chosen at random. Such writing permeates the book, and is the chief reason why, about 20% of the way into the book, I began to skip large passages. Then, about 60% of the way into the book, I began to leap even larger passages. By the end of the book I was merely flipping through the pages, looking at the pretty pictures.

But, for all that, the picture sure are pretty.
]]> <![CDATA[The Clockwork Dynasty (Clockwork Dynasty, #1)]]> 32671298 An ingenious new thriller that weaves a path through history, following a race of human-like machines that have been hiding among us for untold centuries, written by the New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse.

Present day: When a young anthropologist specializing in ancient technology uncovers a terrible secret concealed in the workings of a three-hundred-year-old mechanical doll, she is thrown into a hidden world that lurks just under the surface of our own. With her career and her life at stake, June Stefanov will ally with a remarkable traveler who exposes her to a reality she never imagined, as they embark on an around-the-world adventure and discover breathtaking secrets of the past...

Russia, 1725: In the depths of the Kremlin, the tsar's loyal mechanician brings to life two astonishingly humanlike mechanical beings. Peter and Elena are a brother and sister fallen out of time, possessed with uncanny power, and destined to serve great empires. Struggling to blend into pre-Victorian society, they are pulled into a legendary war that has raged for centuries.

The Clockwork Dynasty seamlessly interweaves past and present, exploring a race of beings designed to live by ironclad principles, yet constantly searching for meaning. As June plunges deeper into their world, her choices will ultimately determine their survival or extermination. Richly-imagined and heart-pounding, Daniel H. Wilson's novel expertly draws on his robotics and science background, combining exquisitely drawn characters with visionary technology--and riveting action.]]> 309 Daniel H. Wilson 0385541783 Paul 5
What most struck me about the book is the sense of wonder and grandeur that is shared by Elena and Peter and, obviously, author Wilson himself. Not just in the big picture, but the small intricate details of what makes "life." I could probably wax poetic about how that's the clockwork behind life itself, the small gears that make up all of our individual identities, but I'm not much of a poet and I couldn't do justice to what Wilson himself did over the course of the novel. Basically, the book did what I wanted it to do: transported me to a different world that was sometimes wonderful, sometimes horrifying, populated by characters that were always fascinating. ]]> 3.67 2017 The Clockwork Dynasty (Clockwork Dynasty, #1)
author: Daniel H. Wilson
name: Paul
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/07/28
shelves:
review:
Solid romp through several different ages, but I didn't get lost, thanks to Wilson's strong sense of place and characterization.

What most struck me about the book is the sense of wonder and grandeur that is shared by Elena and Peter and, obviously, author Wilson himself. Not just in the big picture, but the small intricate details of what makes "life." I could probably wax poetic about how that's the clockwork behind life itself, the small gears that make up all of our individual identities, but I'm not much of a poet and I couldn't do justice to what Wilson himself did over the course of the novel. Basically, the book did what I wanted it to do: transported me to a different world that was sometimes wonderful, sometimes horrifying, populated by characters that were always fascinating.
]]> Hal Foster 1175423 206 Brian M. Kane 1887591486 Paul 4
I am one picky S.O.B. when it comes to art, and about all I can say with regards to Foster is that his figures were sometimes a bit stiff. That's it. If you gave me a checklist of "Ten Thousand Things That Make A Great Artist" then I'd mark Foster as a master in the other 9999 skills.

He even, from this book, seems to have been a great guy, and one not afraid to laugh at himself.

I can remember once ALMOST buying an original panel from Prince Valiant. I wish that I had: people with one third the skill of Foster can still be rightfully considered geniuses.
]]> 3.75 2001 Hal Foster
author: Brian M. Kane
name: Paul
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/09
date added: 2016/01/03
shelves:
review:
An engaging blend of a scholarly review, combined with an abundance of rarely seen material from one of the greatest masters of comic strip and / or illustrative art.

I am one picky S.O.B. when it comes to art, and about all I can say with regards to Foster is that his figures were sometimes a bit stiff. That's it. If you gave me a checklist of "Ten Thousand Things That Make A Great Artist" then I'd mark Foster as a master in the other 9999 skills.

He even, from this book, seems to have been a great guy, and one not afraid to laugh at himself.

I can remember once ALMOST buying an original panel from Prince Valiant. I wish that I had: people with one third the skill of Foster can still be rightfully considered geniuses.

]]> Letters of Oscar Wilde 2208985 958 Rupert Hart-Davis Paul 4 4.00 1962 Letters of Oscar Wilde
author: Rupert Hart-Davis
name: Paul
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2006/06/01
date added: 2015/10/07
shelves:
review:
The best collection I've seen of Oscar Wilde letters. Perhaps some more in-depth biographical grounding regarding the recipients / writers of some of the letters might have been nice, but then again, since the book already runs 950 pages, space was at a premium.
]]> <![CDATA[We Have Always Lived in the Castle]]> 89724 Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret.

Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features an afterword by Jonathan Lethem.]]> 152 Shirley Jackson 0143039970 Paul 5
What I found so wonderful about this novel was the consistency of Merricat's insanity. Too often an author will distill the essence of insanity into the chaotic, and this is rarely a truism. Insanity is more often an overly-demanding focus, a hitch in a character, a mannerism that has growth as a cancer. Merricat (who I cannot help but to picture as beautiful, with long and lustrous black silken hair---despite all stated references to the contrary)loves to be left alone (that is, alone with her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian) and she loves her superstitions. Her superstitions I found charming, and the lengths she will go to in order to remain alone, well, that is the crux of this novel.

Merricat, silly Merricat, one day I will go into the village and distribute much-needed and much-deserved vengeance on your only somewhat illusory tormentors, and then I will go off (I dare not approach your house---such is forbidden) to await you on the moon. ]]> 3.93 1962 We Have Always Lived in the Castle
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Paul
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2008/04/22
date added: 2014/01/13
shelves:
review:
Ah Merricat, silly Merricat, I do believe I love you. I'm drawn to interestingly insane women, and though of course you would poison me in the end, what a maddening and mysterious time I would first have. You are high on my list of literary loves. At least ones I dare speak of.

What I found so wonderful about this novel was the consistency of Merricat's insanity. Too often an author will distill the essence of insanity into the chaotic, and this is rarely a truism. Insanity is more often an overly-demanding focus, a hitch in a character, a mannerism that has growth as a cancer. Merricat (who I cannot help but to picture as beautiful, with long and lustrous black silken hair---despite all stated references to the contrary)loves to be left alone (that is, alone with her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian) and she loves her superstitions. Her superstitions I found charming, and the lengths she will go to in order to remain alone, well, that is the crux of this novel.

Merricat, silly Merricat, one day I will go into the village and distribute much-needed and much-deserved vengeance on your only somewhat illusory tormentors, and then I will go off (I dare not approach your house---such is forbidden) to await you on the moon.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (The Mysterious Benedict Society, #2)]]> 2159225 Children
You must not come
STOP
Dangerous

The Mysterious Benedict Society is back with a new mission: to go on a mind-bending international scavenger hunt designed to engage their individual talents. As they search for all the clues and riddles Mr. Benedict has hidden for them, Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance faces an unexpected challenge that will reinforce the reasons they were brought together in the first place and require them to fight for the very namesake that united them.

Join
The Mysterious
Benedict
Society
At your own
Risk]]> 440 Trenton Lee Stewart 0316057800 Paul 3
I'd like to see more actual intelligence put down on the page as well. The four children are supposedly super intelligent, but Sticky's contributions are generally of the "he's super well read, so he just knows things," and Constance actually DOES "just know things" in this novel. Kate is the brawler, rather than a really marvelous mind, leaving only Reynie where we as readers can witness the process of him figuring anything out. And that process mostly takes two avenues---that of either being ridiculously easy or ridiculously opaque, so we never get to travel along with the process. As the "intelligence" factor of these books (and children) is integral to the plot, I'd like to see the author spend more time creating the puzzles, and putting substance behind them.

So---a fair addition to the series, but mostly just a promise of better things to come. ]]> 4.21 2008 The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (The Mysterious Benedict Society, #2)
author: Trenton Lee Stewart
name: Paul
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2008/04/14
date added: 2014/01/12
shelves:
review:
A slow starter. When the author ties together a whole complete book, then he'll really have something, but the first book in this series was a strong starter and then trailed off, and this 2nd book is a slow starter and a poor (far too abrupt) finisher, but the middle section of the book really delivers.

I'd like to see more actual intelligence put down on the page as well. The four children are supposedly super intelligent, but Sticky's contributions are generally of the "he's super well read, so he just knows things," and Constance actually DOES "just know things" in this novel. Kate is the brawler, rather than a really marvelous mind, leaving only Reynie where we as readers can witness the process of him figuring anything out. And that process mostly takes two avenues---that of either being ridiculously easy or ridiculously opaque, so we never get to travel along with the process. As the "intelligence" factor of these books (and children) is integral to the plot, I'd like to see the author spend more time creating the puzzles, and putting substance behind them.

So---a fair addition to the series, but mostly just a promise of better things to come.
]]> <![CDATA[Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, #4)]]> 91478 For the 1st printing edition of this ISBN, see here.

HARRY DRESDEN -- WIZARD

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment

Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can't pay his rent. He's alienating his friends. He can't even recall the last time he took a shower.

The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man.

And just when it seems things can't get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can't refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him--and hopefully end his run of bad luck. All he has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen's right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen's name.

It seems simple enough, but Harry knows better than to get caught in the middle of faerie politics. Until he finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case. No pressure or anything...]]> 446 Jim Butcher 0451458923 Paul 3
But....

This is definitely the lesser of the 1st four books. I'm muchly bothered by the severe escalation of the power scale in this book, as Harry is now immersed in an all-out war between faeries that threatens to change the very fabric of reality. This goes a LOOOOOONG way towards Dresden entering the class of the Not Very Special At All...which is something to be avoided.

And Dresden's habit of being in way over his head got a little tedious, especially as the character kept actually talking about being in over his head too many times, and how it would eventually mean his end. Yes...it would. And when I'm on the 40th or 50th instance of "Dresden only has a one-in-a-thousand chance of survival!" I start to wonder about the man making those odds, and I also start to yawn. And when Dresden puts down Yet Another Foe Against Whom He Has No Chance, I start to get reeaaalll sleepy.

Also......(spoiler alert!!)...........I have been trying very very hard to just enjoy these novels and look at them as fun gothic horror/adventure, and NOT somebody's idea of a kickass gaming night put down on paper, the kind of thing where someone acceded to the wishes of their gamer friends who kept saying, "Dude! Our campaign mega-rocks! You should write a BOOK about it and make our sweeeeeeet characters FAMOUS!" That became impossible to do at the end of this book, which ends with....(yikes)....Harry Dresden setting down to a table in an apartment, with a group of young werewolves, to eat pizza, drink soda, and....yes...have a role-playing gamer session. Yep...a wizard sits down with werewolves to have a roleplay session. Awesome. I feel like I'm sixteen again. Except, you know, I'm not. ]]> 4.26 2002 Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, #4)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Paul
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 2008/08/24
date added: 2014/01/09
shelves:
review:
Before I start gnawing on the book, let me first say that I enjoy Butcher's writing overall. He does good character, a romping pace, and makes me care about his protagonists. In fact, Butcher's a good enough writer that he enters the "good enough to realize his mistakes, which makes it so frustrating when he misses them" category. So...yes...he's quite good.

But....

This is definitely the lesser of the 1st four books. I'm muchly bothered by the severe escalation of the power scale in this book, as Harry is now immersed in an all-out war between faeries that threatens to change the very fabric of reality. This goes a LOOOOOONG way towards Dresden entering the class of the Not Very Special At All...which is something to be avoided.

And Dresden's habit of being in way over his head got a little tedious, especially as the character kept actually talking about being in over his head too many times, and how it would eventually mean his end. Yes...it would. And when I'm on the 40th or 50th instance of "Dresden only has a one-in-a-thousand chance of survival!" I start to wonder about the man making those odds, and I also start to yawn. And when Dresden puts down Yet Another Foe Against Whom He Has No Chance, I start to get reeaaalll sleepy.

Also......(spoiler alert!!)...........I have been trying very very hard to just enjoy these novels and look at them as fun gothic horror/adventure, and NOT somebody's idea of a kickass gaming night put down on paper, the kind of thing where someone acceded to the wishes of their gamer friends who kept saying, "Dude! Our campaign mega-rocks! You should write a BOOK about it and make our sweeeeeeet characters FAMOUS!" That became impossible to do at the end of this book, which ends with....(yikes)....Harry Dresden setting down to a table in an apartment, with a group of young werewolves, to eat pizza, drink soda, and....yes...have a role-playing gamer session. Yep...a wizard sits down with werewolves to have a roleplay session. Awesome. I feel like I'm sixteen again. Except, you know, I'm not.
]]> <![CDATA[The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3)]]> 18122
But how can he go looking for Lord Asriel when Lyra is gone? Only with her help can he fathom the myriad plots and intrigues that beset him.

The two great powers of the many worlds are lining up for war, and Will must find Lyra, for together they are on their way to battle, an inevitable journey that will even take them to the world of the dead...]]> 465 Philip Pullman 0440238153 Paul 1





Now, having read the first book (5 stars) and the second book (3 stars) I had some hope for this book. But, this book was an excruciating head-hammering look at an author making all the wrong moves.

1: Lyra's sublimation to Will becomes utterly complete. Hell, women are supposed to bend to men, aren't they? Lyra quit taking a step without fearing it would cause Will to raise his eyebrow.

2: Lyra's mother (who had been SUCH a wonderfully evil character) and father both find ultimate redemption in their love for Lyra. Whoopee. In fact, EVERYBODY finds redemption in this novel. Everybody. The evilest creatures in existence, the harpies in the lands of the dead, are transformed by Lyra's music in about 3 pages, and become her stalwart and forever allies. Cripes.

3: Lyra and Will gettin' it on! Yeah, hello? We knew from point one that Lyra and Will would eventually get busy...did it have to be Sex That Saves the Universe? Cosmic Humping That Restores the Fabric of All Reality? Wait, was I supposed to be taking LSD when I read that part? Damn, dude, you should have packaged a tab with the book!

4: More damn characters. More damn MAIN characters. Suddenly we've got Important People on Bugs. Pullman continues to pull in so many disparate characters and plot threads that EVERYTHING is diluted into a big stinky morass.

5: Theology aspect. One of the reasons I was attracted to this series was because of Pullman's strongly anti-religious take...the man wrote a blurb for Dawkins' "God Delusion" for freak's sake. So, umm, why was this book sooooo religious? The dust? Well, the dust is all-knowing, even of the future. And there is indeed a land of the dead. So, we have afterlife, and pre-ordainment, in an anti-religious book? Sweet, how does that work? Well, it doesn't. Angels are flying around, and they're the good guys. No, wait, they're the bad guys. Well, no matter, I mean, there IS a god, but he didn't make all creation. That was, apparently, maybe, the dust. Seems to me that if you're praying to dust, rather than God, it doesn't make any difference. Religion is religion, and this was a religious book.

6: Easy ending. Okay...I saw most aspects of the ending coming from about 700 pages to go. Couldn't Pullman throw me some surprises beyond How Damn Long He Took to Get Around To It?

7: Easy ending, take 2: Let's see, Will and Lyra fight against God and All the Angels, against the pull of their own daemons, against not only all creation, but all of creation on multiple universes, they lose friends to bullets, explosions, souls ripped out, and a myriad other ways as legions of people die to either protect them personally, or what they stand for, the two of them travel to the freakin' Lands of the Dead in order to remain together, and they eventually get it on in all sorts of transcendant-garden-of-eden ways, restoring the entire multi-verse with the Glory of Their Hot Sweaty Action, and then....

and then...

and then an angel says, "Oh, you guys can't stay together, cuz a some bad stuff would happen then."

And in ONE PAGE they say, "Jeepers, that's too bad. Any way around it?"

Angel says "Nope."

And they don't even try. It's just ta-ta, been good knowing you.

That's it.

Well, trilogy, it actually hasn't been so good knowing you. ]]> 4.11 2000 The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, #3)
author: Philip Pullman
name: Paul
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2000
rating: 1
read at: 2007/12/01
date added: 2014/01/08
shelves:
review:
Okay....first...make no mistake, this review contains spoilers.






Now, having read the first book (5 stars) and the second book (3 stars) I had some hope for this book. But, this book was an excruciating head-hammering look at an author making all the wrong moves.

1: Lyra's sublimation to Will becomes utterly complete. Hell, women are supposed to bend to men, aren't they? Lyra quit taking a step without fearing it would cause Will to raise his eyebrow.

2: Lyra's mother (who had been SUCH a wonderfully evil character) and father both find ultimate redemption in their love for Lyra. Whoopee. In fact, EVERYBODY finds redemption in this novel. Everybody. The evilest creatures in existence, the harpies in the lands of the dead, are transformed by Lyra's music in about 3 pages, and become her stalwart and forever allies. Cripes.

3: Lyra and Will gettin' it on! Yeah, hello? We knew from point one that Lyra and Will would eventually get busy...did it have to be Sex That Saves the Universe? Cosmic Humping That Restores the Fabric of All Reality? Wait, was I supposed to be taking LSD when I read that part? Damn, dude, you should have packaged a tab with the book!

4: More damn characters. More damn MAIN characters. Suddenly we've got Important People on Bugs. Pullman continues to pull in so many disparate characters and plot threads that EVERYTHING is diluted into a big stinky morass.

5: Theology aspect. One of the reasons I was attracted to this series was because of Pullman's strongly anti-religious take...the man wrote a blurb for Dawkins' "God Delusion" for freak's sake. So, umm, why was this book sooooo religious? The dust? Well, the dust is all-knowing, even of the future. And there is indeed a land of the dead. So, we have afterlife, and pre-ordainment, in an anti-religious book? Sweet, how does that work? Well, it doesn't. Angels are flying around, and they're the good guys. No, wait, they're the bad guys. Well, no matter, I mean, there IS a god, but he didn't make all creation. That was, apparently, maybe, the dust. Seems to me that if you're praying to dust, rather than God, it doesn't make any difference. Religion is religion, and this was a religious book.

6: Easy ending. Okay...I saw most aspects of the ending coming from about 700 pages to go. Couldn't Pullman throw me some surprises beyond How Damn Long He Took to Get Around To It?

7: Easy ending, take 2: Let's see, Will and Lyra fight against God and All the Angels, against the pull of their own daemons, against not only all creation, but all of creation on multiple universes, they lose friends to bullets, explosions, souls ripped out, and a myriad other ways as legions of people die to either protect them personally, or what they stand for, the two of them travel to the freakin' Lands of the Dead in order to remain together, and they eventually get it on in all sorts of transcendant-garden-of-eden ways, restoring the entire multi-verse with the Glory of Their Hot Sweaty Action, and then....

and then...

and then an angel says, "Oh, you guys can't stay together, cuz a some bad stuff would happen then."

And in ONE PAGE they say, "Jeepers, that's too bad. Any way around it?"

Angel says "Nope."

And they don't even try. It's just ta-ta, been good knowing you.

That's it.

Well, trilogy, it actually hasn't been so good knowing you.
]]> <![CDATA[The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear (Zamonia, #1)]]> 62032 Captain Bluebear tells the story of his first 13-1/2 lives spent on the mysterious continent of Zamonia, where intelligence is an infectious disease, water flows uphill, and dangers lie in wait for him around every corner.

"A bluebear has twenty-seven lives. I shall recount thirteen and a half of them in this book but keep quiet about the rest," says the narrator of Walter Moers’s epic adventure. "What about the Minipirates? What about the Hobgoblins, the Spiderwitch, the Babbling Billows, the Troglotroll, the Mountain Maggot� Mine is a tale of mortal danger and eternal love, of hair’s breadth, last-minute escapes." Welcome to the fantastic world of Zamonia, populated by all manner of extraordinary characters. It’s a land of imaginative lunacy and supreme adventure, wicked satire and epic fantasy, all mixed together, turned on its head, and lavishly illustrated by the author.]]> 704 Walter Moers 1585678449 Paul 1
Really, the book is no more than a catalog of happenstance. I did THIS, and then THIS happened, and after that I went to THIS weird place where I did THIS weird thing. Multiply that by some 700 pages and you have a snorefest. Was it wildly inventive? Yes it was. Were there interesting characters? Certainly. What about magically intriguing settings and worlds? Oh yes, they abounded within.

But was there any point at all? No, there wasn't. It was no more than a collection of ramblings from which a book could be developed, if the writer had thought to be a author rather than a note-taker.

I suppose the most concise review I can give for this book is this---On my copy of the book, pages 561-576 were all bound together, not having been properly cut apart when the book was printed. It made it impossible to read the pages without separating them. The book's previous owner didn't bother to do so.

I didn't either. ]]> 4.27 1999 The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear (Zamonia, #1)
author: Walter Moers
name: Paul
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1999
rating: 1
read at: 2008/05/24
date added: 2014/01/06
shelves:
review:
Ehhh. If I would have been the editor on this book I would have cut out about, oh, 400 pages. And I would have asked if maybe, just maybe, we could work some STORY into the novel.

Really, the book is no more than a catalog of happenstance. I did THIS, and then THIS happened, and after that I went to THIS weird place where I did THIS weird thing. Multiply that by some 700 pages and you have a snorefest. Was it wildly inventive? Yes it was. Were there interesting characters? Certainly. What about magically intriguing settings and worlds? Oh yes, they abounded within.

But was there any point at all? No, there wasn't. It was no more than a collection of ramblings from which a book could be developed, if the writer had thought to be a author rather than a note-taker.

I suppose the most concise review I can give for this book is this---On my copy of the book, pages 561-576 were all bound together, not having been properly cut apart when the book was printed. It made it impossible to read the pages without separating them. The book's previous owner didn't bother to do so.

I didn't either.
]]> <![CDATA[St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves]]> 47085 St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves introduces a radiant new writer.]]> 246 Karen Russell 0307263983 Paul 5 3.80 2005 St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
author: Karen Russell
name: Paul
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2014/01/04
shelves:
review:
This is a book of short stories with abrupt and uncertain endings. I don't like short stories. I don't like abrupt and/or uncertain endings. I gave this book five stars. I guess that says something about the quality of Russell's writing.
]]> Skim 2418888 Skim is an extraordinary book—a smart and sensitive graphic novel of the highest literary and artistic quality, by and about young women.

"Skim" is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls' school. When Skim's classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself, the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. As concerned guidance counselors provide lectures on the "cycle of grief," and the popular clique starts a new club (Girls Celebrate Life!) to bolster school spirit, Skim sinks into an ever-deepening depression.

And falling in love only makes things worse...

Suicide, depression, love, being gay or not, crushes, cliques, and finding a way to be your own fully human self—are all explored in this brilliant collaboration by cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki. An edgy, keenly observed and poignant glimpse into the heartache of being young.]]> 143 Mariko Tamaki 0888997531 Paul 3 research-and-or-pleasure
That said, I'm very much interested in seeing what the author does next, because what IS here on the pages has great value, it's just that I thought there should be more. And it takes longer to be a good writer than it takes to just be a writer...good writing takes an ability to sit down with your past projects and feel how they worked, see how they could have worked differently. Good writing is fueled by comments from your readers and your peers, and of course it takes the Grand Insolence of ignoring any feedback you don't like.

As for the art, Jillian Tamaki does a beautiful job, but I would have liked to see a range of portrayed emotions besides "sullen." Even the smiles seemed sullen. Still, oh, such beautiful linework. Again, I'm eager to see what comes of the next project.

Also, whichever of them (author Mariko Tamaki or artist Jillian Tamaki) chose to use "apply" as an actual sound effect (when putting on underarm deodorant) is brilliant. ]]> 3.77 2008 Skim
author: Mariko Tamaki
name: Paul
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2008/04/28
date added: 2013/12/17
shelves: research-and-or-pleasure
review:
For a story about emotions and connections, I felt rather unconnected to Skim, the title character. Maybe it was because author Mariko Tamaki went a little too overboard in making Skim an "every girl" character. Sure, she had some petulant goth / wicca leanings, but within those categories she felt a little too much like she was always playing a role. Maybe that's what bothered me with the story as a whole---it was always by the numbers, there was always the proper event happening at the proper time, and the events were always peopled by the proper characters.

That said, I'm very much interested in seeing what the author does next, because what IS here on the pages has great value, it's just that I thought there should be more. And it takes longer to be a good writer than it takes to just be a writer...good writing takes an ability to sit down with your past projects and feel how they worked, see how they could have worked differently. Good writing is fueled by comments from your readers and your peers, and of course it takes the Grand Insolence of ignoring any feedback you don't like.

As for the art, Jillian Tamaki does a beautiful job, but I would have liked to see a range of portrayed emotions besides "sullen." Even the smiles seemed sullen. Still, oh, such beautiful linework. Again, I'm eager to see what comes of the next project.

Also, whichever of them (author Mariko Tamaki or artist Jillian Tamaki) chose to use "apply" as an actual sound effect (when putting on underarm deodorant) is brilliant.
]]> <![CDATA[Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame]]> 50466 Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame is poetry full of gambling, drinking and women. In this selection of poems written between 1955 and 1973, Charles Bukowski writes realistically about the seedy underbelly of life.]]> 232 Charles Bukowski 087685191X Paul 3
When I moved cross country I dumped all the books I didn't need, but somehow my collection of Bukowski books survived, despite how I hadn't picked them up for years. I suppose I found them too much a part of a certain period of my life, lounging by rivers with coeds, reading poems about how all women are whores and all men are bastards, and all of it seeming very deep, and then we'd dash off somewhere to have sex, and then read more poems. What kind of women is seduced by Bukowski poems? Odd ones indeed. But all the best men and women are odd, so it's nice to have a method of sorting them out.

So...the poems in this particular book? All over the place. There are some raw gems, but there are also some drunken meanderings. Some impassioned calls for understanding, and also some desperate attempts to get published. But the humanity of Bukowski shows through in all of them, and this book has done much to remind me why Buk is the only poet that I don't think is a waste of paper. ]]> 4.12 1974 Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Paul
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1974
rating: 3
read at: 2008/09/21
date added: 2013/12/12
shelves:
review:
Good lord, I'm reading Bukowski again. Soon I'll be growling at those around me, cursing for no damn good reason, telling everyone to go to hell, and perhaps I'll be a bit more pure for all that.

When I moved cross country I dumped all the books I didn't need, but somehow my collection of Bukowski books survived, despite how I hadn't picked them up for years. I suppose I found them too much a part of a certain period of my life, lounging by rivers with coeds, reading poems about how all women are whores and all men are bastards, and all of it seeming very deep, and then we'd dash off somewhere to have sex, and then read more poems. What kind of women is seduced by Bukowski poems? Odd ones indeed. But all the best men and women are odd, so it's nice to have a method of sorting them out.

So...the poems in this particular book? All over the place. There are some raw gems, but there are also some drunken meanderings. Some impassioned calls for understanding, and also some desperate attempts to get published. But the humanity of Bukowski shows through in all of them, and this book has done much to remind me why Buk is the only poet that I don't think is a waste of paper.
]]> <![CDATA[The Cone Sisters of Baltimore: Collecting at Full Tilt]]> 2310189
This richly illustrated biography documents their lives from a unique perspective: that of their great-niece, who wrote this book with her daughter. Ellen B. Hirschland and Nancy Hirschland Ramage delve into Claribel’s and Etta’s world, following the sisters through letters and personal stories as they travel to meet some of the artists whose works would turn their adjoining apartments into a gallery. They bought art by Manet, Gauguin, and Cézanne, as well as of Picasso and Matisse, whom they came to know well. The sisters� experiences in Paris from 1901 through the 1920s provide an exceptional view of the bright artistic ferment in the city at that time. They were two Victorian women from Baltimore buying avant-garde masterpieces, attending salons with friends Gertrude and Leo Stein, and building a collection that would initially enrage the conservative people around them. Only with time would their keen eyes and unwavering taste prove them right.

]]> 352 Ellen B. Hirschland 0810124815 Paul 4
And quite fascinating to see just how much a part of their lives the Cone sisters considered art to be. The many photograps of their average sized apartment crammed full of art (Matisse, Picasso, Gauguin, etc.) were absolutely amazing.

Amazingly, I even came to respect Matisse and Picasso as artists, which I did not so very much do before reading this book. I've long held a "fine art died circa 1895" opinion, but now can admit (oh so begrudgingly) that Picasso's early period was fine, and that Matisse's early and mid periods had strength and value as well.

Oh...some modern arts are quite enjoyable as well (John Currin. Lisa Yuskavage. Dave Cooper. Ryden before he became a self parody) so I suppose I should disclaimer this area and say that fine art, for me, now died circa 1920, but has recently been perhaps somewhat reborn.

But I'm digressing. This was a charming book, and the sisters were obviously charming women, and educated and emancipated and damned powerful creatures. I really didn't know of them before reading this book, but now I wish I could have attended a few of their salons and walked through their apartments, agape and stupefied. ]]> 4.20 2008 The Cone Sisters of Baltimore: Collecting at Full Tilt
author: Ellen B. Hirschland
name: Paul
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2008/07/17
date added: 2013/12/07
shelves:
review:
Thoroughly enjoyable look at art and art collecting. One historical aspect that always fascinates me is groups of artists or intellectuals hanging out together, so a book that includes two sisters vacationing with Alice Toklas and Gertrude Stein while buying artwork from their friends, Matisse and Picasso, is right up my alley.

And quite fascinating to see just how much a part of their lives the Cone sisters considered art to be. The many photograps of their average sized apartment crammed full of art (Matisse, Picasso, Gauguin, etc.) were absolutely amazing.

Amazingly, I even came to respect Matisse and Picasso as artists, which I did not so very much do before reading this book. I've long held a "fine art died circa 1895" opinion, but now can admit (oh so begrudgingly) that Picasso's early period was fine, and that Matisse's early and mid periods had strength and value as well.

Oh...some modern arts are quite enjoyable as well (John Currin. Lisa Yuskavage. Dave Cooper. Ryden before he became a self parody) so I suppose I should disclaimer this area and say that fine art, for me, now died circa 1920, but has recently been perhaps somewhat reborn.

But I'm digressing. This was a charming book, and the sisters were obviously charming women, and educated and emancipated and damned powerful creatures. I really didn't know of them before reading this book, but now I wish I could have attended a few of their salons and walked through their apartments, agape and stupefied.
]]> <![CDATA[Nell Kimball: Her Life as an American Madam]]> 460260 296 Nell Kimball 002575050X Paul 5
Also, for a book written so long ago, I was amazed at how forthright the language was. There was no "We went into the boudoir and spoke to the butterflies" in this book. People were fucking, pure and simple, and I like how Nell never shied away from what she wanted to say.
]]> 4.43 1970 Nell Kimball: Her Life as an American Madam
author: Nell Kimball
name: Paul
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1970
rating: 5
read at: 2008/02/15
date added: 2012/09/06
shelves:
review:
This one came as a complete surprise to me. I picked up a ratty ol' copy for free, and was hooked basically from the start. Nell's very simple outlook on life humanity, and on sex (if nature allows it, I won't say different) had me nodding in sympathy or amusement. Her experiences are varied, and this memoir is charged with humanity at all levels, and as she herself says, people are like an upside-down cake, and people that are supposed to be the top, sometimes aren't, and vice versa.

Also, for a book written so long ago, I was amazed at how forthright the language was. There was no "We went into the boudoir and spoke to the butterflies" in this book. People were fucking, pure and simple, and I like how Nell never shied away from what she wanted to say.

]]> Magic: 1400s�1950s 6801167 magicians have always been conduits to a parallel universe of limitless possibility � whether invoking spirits, reading minds, or inverting the laws of nature by sleight of hand. Long before science fiction, virtual realities, video games and the internet, the craft of magic was the most powerful fantasy world man had ever known. As the pioneers of special effects throughout history, magicians have never ceased to mystify us by making the impossible possible.
      This book celebrates more than 500 years of the dazzling visual culture of the world’s greatest magicians. Featuring over 1,000 rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings in one 650-page volume, it traces the history of magic as a performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s. Combining sensational images with lucid and incisive text, Magic explores the evolution of the magician’s craft, from medieval street performers to the brilliant stage magicians who gave rise to cinematic special effects; from the 19th century's Golden Age of Magic to groundbreaking daredevils like Houdini and the early 20th century's vaudevillians.
Ěý±Ő±Ő> 637 Noel Daniel 3836509776 Paul 0 to-read 4.67 2009 Magic: 1400s–1950s
author: Noel Daniel
name: Paul
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/07/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her]]> 84917 314 Melanie Rehak 015603056X Paul 0 to-read 3.76 2005 Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
author: Melanie Rehak
name: Paul
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Somewhere Within the Shadows (Blacksad, #1)]]> 546807 56 Juan DĂ­az Canales 1596878177 Paul 4
Recently, though, I ran across the graphic novels at Periscope Studios, where I work, and since they're hard boiled detective fiction, and that's what I was in the mood for, I brought them home and read them.

And, yeah, they're fantastic.

Juan Diaz Canales hits all the right chords for detective fiction. The world weary hero, the dame who needs saving, the sub-characters with possible hearts of gold, and so on and so forth. The stories are solid, and would have sold me all by themselves.

But the art is the real selling point. Guarnido is a flat out genius. He's the most impressive artist I've seen for a long time in the industry, and the man can both cartoon and illustrate, which are really two different fields. He folds them both together here, and does so with a seamless artistry that gives me a big ol' Art Boner. When he cuts loose with a background scene, it is genius. I'm not at all one to throw that word around, but it fits Guarnido, so I'll use it again. Genius. ]]> 4.25 2000 Somewhere Within the Shadows (Blacksad, #1)
author: Juan DĂ­az Canales
name: Paul
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2009/02/07
date added: 2012/03/29
shelves:
review:
Okay, okay... I'm sold. For a couple of years I've been hearing about how good the Blacksad graphic novels are, but the world is made out of hype and I'm tired of chewing it, so I wasn't biting this time.

Recently, though, I ran across the graphic novels at Periscope Studios, where I work, and since they're hard boiled detective fiction, and that's what I was in the mood for, I brought them home and read them.

And, yeah, they're fantastic.

Juan Diaz Canales hits all the right chords for detective fiction. The world weary hero, the dame who needs saving, the sub-characters with possible hearts of gold, and so on and so forth. The stories are solid, and would have sold me all by themselves.

But the art is the real selling point. Guarnido is a flat out genius. He's the most impressive artist I've seen for a long time in the industry, and the man can both cartoon and illustrate, which are really two different fields. He folds them both together here, and does so with a seamless artistry that gives me a big ol' Art Boner. When he cuts loose with a background scene, it is genius. I'm not at all one to throw that word around, but it fits Guarnido, so I'll use it again. Genius.
]]> <![CDATA[The Censor's Library: Uncovering the Lost History of Australia's Banned Books]]> 13520453 Kama Sutra to Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Joyce’s ±«±ô˛â˛ő˛ő±đ˛őâ€�the censor’s library was kept to negate the function of libraries: 793 boxes kept safe and intact for six decades. Through courtroom dramas and internecine bureaucracy, stolen libraries and police raids, authorial scandals and moral panics, this is a provocative account on a subject that continues to attract heated debate.]]> 432 Nicole Moore 070223916X Paul 0 to-read 3.94 2012 The Censor's Library: Uncovering the Lost History of Australia's Banned Books
author: Nicole Moore
name: Paul
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Voyeurs Inc., Vol. 1 508709 200 Hideo Yamamoto 1569315094 Paul 3
The art manages to move the story forward, and for the most part stays away from being too comedic, a direction which the story is now demanding.

]]> 2.83 Voyeurs Inc., Vol. 1
author: Hideo Yamamoto
name: Paul
average rating: 2.83
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/20
date added: 2012/03/21
shelves:
review:
Much better than the first (unnumbered) volume. Many characters from the first volume have been discarded or have undergone immense changes, and are moving away from being straight stereotypes.

The art manages to move the story forward, and for the most part stays away from being too comedic, a direction which the story is now demanding.


]]> <![CDATA[Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X]]> 130002
Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait generated the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. Sargent had painted one strap of Gautreau's dress dangling from her shoulder, suggesting either the prelude to or the aftermath of sex. Her reputation irreparably damaged, Gautreau retired from public life, destroying all the mirrors in her home.

Drawing on documents from private collections and other previously unexamined materials, and featuring a cast of characters including Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner, Strapless is a tale of art and celebrity, obsession and betrayal.]]> 262 Deborah Davis 158542336X Paul 0 to-read 3.93 2003 Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X
author: Deborah Davis
name: Paul
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/03/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Digital Diaries 912536 256 Natacha Merrit 3822838365 Paul 2
So, now it's four years later, and I'm giving it two stars. What's up with that? What's changed?

Somewhat, it's that in the intervening years the world has been deluged with digital photography in every medium, including erotica, and with any deluge comes a boredom factor. This material no longer seems fresh or new or particularly daring, and the philosophies expressed in the short writing segments do nothing to break from an endless litany of similarly vapid comments I can find on any porn-angst chat list, should I so wish to visit them.

And, more to the point, with that shine off, I was able to take a more thoughtful look at this work, and I find it lacking in humanity. Erotica (for me) demands personality, and this book is primarily an endless montage of close-ups, no different than a porn shoot. There are quite a few naughty bits, to be sure, but very few people.

And there was another missing ingredient that I couldn't put my finger on until the very last photo of the book, which is shot from (presumably) a hotel window, overlooking a city.

Yeah...a city. A place. THAT'S what the book was lacking for me. Context. It was pretty much the only photograph in the entire book that established anything close to an environment.

Without character, without context, without humanity, the scope of this book becomes as much medical as it does erotic. ]]> 3.65 2000 Digital Diaries
author: Natacha Merrit
name: Paul
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at: 2008/10/15
date added: 2011/12/07
shelves:
review:
I can remember first looking at this book four years ago, not long after it was published, and if I'd rated it at the time I would have given it four stars, at least.

So, now it's four years later, and I'm giving it two stars. What's up with that? What's changed?

Somewhat, it's that in the intervening years the world has been deluged with digital photography in every medium, including erotica, and with any deluge comes a boredom factor. This material no longer seems fresh or new or particularly daring, and the philosophies expressed in the short writing segments do nothing to break from an endless litany of similarly vapid comments I can find on any porn-angst chat list, should I so wish to visit them.

And, more to the point, with that shine off, I was able to take a more thoughtful look at this work, and I find it lacking in humanity. Erotica (for me) demands personality, and this book is primarily an endless montage of close-ups, no different than a porn shoot. There are quite a few naughty bits, to be sure, but very few people.

And there was another missing ingredient that I couldn't put my finger on until the very last photo of the book, which is shot from (presumably) a hotel window, overlooking a city.

Yeah...a city. A place. THAT'S what the book was lacking for me. Context. It was pretty much the only photograph in the entire book that established anything close to an environment.

Without character, without context, without humanity, the scope of this book becomes as much medical as it does erotic.
]]> The Emigrants 455781 The Emigrants has been acclaimed as "one of the best novels to appear since World War II" (Review of Contemporary Fiction) and three times chosen as the 1996 International Book of the Year. The poignant and acclaimed novel about the beauty of lost things, while the protagonist traces the lives of four elderly German/Jewish exiles.

The Emigrants is composed of four long narratives which at first appear to be the straightforward accounts of the lives of several Jewish exiles in England, Austria, and America. The narrator literally follows their footsteps, studding each story with photographs and creating the impression that the reader is poring over a family album. But gradually, Sebald's prose, which combines documentary description with almost hallucinatory fiction, exerts a new magic, and the four stories merge into one. Illustrated throughout with enigmatic photographs.]]> 237 W.G. Sebald 0811213668 Paul 0 to-read 4.12 1992 The Emigrants
author: W.G. Sebald
name: Paul
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/10/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Impressionism 2226004 320 Staff of Realites Paul 3 3.88 1971 Impressionism
author: Staff of Realites
name: Paul
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1971
rating: 3
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2011/04/18
shelves:
review:
By no means an in depth book, but it did run an enjoyable line between history of the Impressionists, of Impressionism, and their paintings. Goes a little more into the "pre-history" than most non scholarly works, and I appreciated that.
]]> <![CDATA[The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)]]> 6101718
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.]]> 402 Lev Grossman 0670020559 Paul 0 currently-reading 3.53 2009 The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)
author: Lev Grossman
name: Paul
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/03/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)]]> 127455 Ocean's Eleven, and entirely enthralling...

An orphan's life is harsh � and often short � in the island city of Camorr, built on the ruins of a mysterious alien race. But born with a quick wit and a gift for thieving, Locke Lamora has dodged both death and slavery, only to fall into the hands of an eyeless priest known as Chains � a man who is neither blind nor a priest.

A con artist of extraordinary talent, Chains passes his skills on to his carefully selected "family" of orphans � a group known as the Gentlemen Bastards. Under his tutelage, Locke grows to lead the Bastards, delightedly pulling off one outrageous confidence game after another. Soon he is infamous as the Thorn of Camorr, and no wealthy noble is safe from his sting.

Passing themselves off as petty thieves, the brilliant Locke and his tightly knit band of light-fingered brothers have fooled even the criminal underworld's most feared ruler, Capa Barsavi. But there is someone in the shadows more powerful � and more ambitious � than Locke has yet imagined.

Known as the Gray King, he is slowly killing Capa Barsavi's most trusted men � and using Locke as a pawn in his plot to take control of Camorr's underworld. With a bloody coup under way threatening to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the Gray King at his own brutal game � or die trying...

]]> 499 Scott Lynch 0553804677 Paul 0 currently-reading 4.28 2006 The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)
author: Scott Lynch
name: Paul
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/03/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Celts (A Corto Maltese adventure / Hugo Pratt)]]> 856738 140 Hugo Pratt 1860462715 Paul 5 Corto Maltese work is my favorite of all his works...though I should take this moment to gently chide (you effin' BASTARDS!!!) English publishers over how little of his work has seen print in the only language I speak or read.

The Corto Maltese material, for me, is evocative of just the type of dreamy adventure that I wish my life had been filled with. I wish I could live in a world of Pratt's women. It would be worth the occasional bullet wound. And Corto himself is one of the great characters in fiction: deeply rich without being overly complex. Determined to fight to his last breath, but, if he loses, it's only life, eh?

Ahhh...I love this stuff so much that I can even explain my attraction to the material. The best I can say is that it feels right. And it feels like the work of a man who would have produced the exact same material even if he'd never had a single reader. ]]> 4.13 1971 The Celts (A Corto Maltese adventure / Hugo Pratt)
author: Hugo Pratt
name: Paul
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at: 2009/01/06
date added: 2009/12/08
shelves:
review:
Hugo Pratt has long been my favorite creator in the world, and his Corto Maltese work is my favorite of all his works...though I should take this moment to gently chide (you effin' BASTARDS!!!) English publishers over how little of his work has seen print in the only language I speak or read.

The Corto Maltese material, for me, is evocative of just the type of dreamy adventure that I wish my life had been filled with. I wish I could live in a world of Pratt's women. It would be worth the occasional bullet wound. And Corto himself is one of the great characters in fiction: deeply rich without being overly complex. Determined to fight to his last breath, but, if he loses, it's only life, eh?

Ahhh...I love this stuff so much that I can even explain my attraction to the material. The best I can say is that it feels right. And it feels like the work of a man who would have produced the exact same material even if he'd never had a single reader.
]]> <![CDATA[The Ultimates, Volume 2: Homeland Security]]> 488388 192 Mark Millar 078511078X Paul 3
Or, put in another way... during this time period, the Millar and the other writers were seducing the readers. Later, the writers of the Ultimates line were just flat out masturbating. ]]> 4.11 2006 The Ultimates, Volume 2: Homeland Security
author: Mark Millar
name: Paul
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2009/04/18
date added: 2009/07/18
shelves:
review:
Very solid storytelling here. This was the best time period for the first run of the Ultimates line... when the characters, while cast in new and grittier roles, still held true to the base nature of being heroes. Not too long after this book, the stories began to spiral out of control, and the entire line became an exercise in seeing how far the characters could be taken before the peasants (the reading class) rightfully rose up to overthrow the pompous aristocracy of the Writing class.

Or, put in another way... during this time period, the Millar and the other writers were seducing the readers. Later, the writers of the Ultimates line were just flat out masturbating.
]]> <![CDATA[Achewood volume 1: A Momentary Diversion on the Road to the Grave]]> 81549
All strips from October 1, 2001 - June 3, 2002. Also includes a collection of interviews, recipes and a short story by Ray. 187 pages.

[]]]> 138 Chris Onstad Paul 2 4.60 2002 Achewood volume 1: A Momentary Diversion on the Road to the Grave
author: Chris Onstad
name: Paul
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 2009/02/02
date added: 2009/06/29
shelves:
review:
Ahh. I just don't get the flurry of fandom over Achewood. When it's good, it's really good, but the percentage of time when it's good just doesn't get it done, in my book. Maybe I need to get on some really good recreational drugs and try again?
]]> <![CDATA[Encyclopédie De La Bande Dessinée Érotique]]> 6316888
La première version de cette encyclopédie, très remarquée par la critique, est parue en 1997. Depuis, deux autres éditions ont vu le jour, toutes aujourd'hui épuisées et les ventes totales dépassent les 15 000 exemplaires.
Cet ouvrage majeur d'érudition et de charme a réhabilité un genre maudit : la bande dessinée érotique, toujours montrée du doigt par l'ordre moral et aujourd'hui menacée de disparition. Quatorze ans après la première édition, de nouveaux talents sont apparus, des genres autrefois mineurs � tel le manga � se sont imposés, les publications ont gagné en diversité et en qualité.

Avec 400 pages, plus de 1000 illustrations et un index de plus de 3000 entrées, la nouvelle édition de l' Encyclopédie de la bande dessinée érotique guide l'amateur dans le dédale des images et des scénarios les plus sulfureux et fait un point objectif, scrupuleusement documenté, sur cet univers sans tabou.]]> 302 Henri Filippini 2842710827 Paul 4
I particularly enjoyed seeing what element of femininity these artists employed. So many of them reduce the erotic to mere cheesecake shots, or even porno shots, and then there are artists like Crepax, Frollo, Saudelli, Rene Giffey and others who choose (rightly) to stress the sensuality of women, rather than the sexual attributes. Because of this, these artist can draw a woman fully clothed, simply going about their daily lives, and have more inherent eroticism than many of these other artists can achieve when their characters in the more traditionally "erotic" pastimes.

My only regrets with this book is that is isn't more complete, both in the number of artists (though there are already a couple hundred) and in the bibliographies of their work. But as far as a quick introduction to an extremely talented group of libertine artists, this does fill the bill. ]]> 3.00 1999 Encyclopédie De La Bande Dessinée Érotique
author: Henri Filippini
name: Paul
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2009/02/22
date added: 2009/03/05
shelves:
review:
A nice overview of the best erotic cartoonists from a worldwide standpoint. It's always amazing to see how little great art makes it over here to the states, whether that is comic art, comic strips, or as in this case erotic art.

I particularly enjoyed seeing what element of femininity these artists employed. So many of them reduce the erotic to mere cheesecake shots, or even porno shots, and then there are artists like Crepax, Frollo, Saudelli, Rene Giffey and others who choose (rightly) to stress the sensuality of women, rather than the sexual attributes. Because of this, these artist can draw a woman fully clothed, simply going about their daily lives, and have more inherent eroticism than many of these other artists can achieve when their characters in the more traditionally "erotic" pastimes.

My only regrets with this book is that is isn't more complete, both in the number of artists (though there are already a couple hundred) and in the bibliographies of their work. But as far as a quick introduction to an extremely talented group of libertine artists, this does fill the bill.
]]> Backflash (Parker, #18) 619824 292 Richard Stark 0892966629 Paul 4
Which makes the novels rather pleasant to read. I don't always have to identify with a main character, or even really consider him as a protagonist. I don't necessarily want Parker to succeed at the end of the book. These aren't really heist novels... they're crime novels, and Parker is a hardened criminal who I genuinely don't like, but whose adventures I enjoy. ]]> 4.08 1998 Backflash (Parker, #18)
author: Richard Stark
name: Paul
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2009/02/15
date added: 2009/03/05
shelves:
review:
Once again I'm amazed at how the author can so thoroughly change the tone of his writing between his Parker novels (written as Richard Stark) and his Dortmunder novels, written as Donald Westlake. It's something I struggle with in my own works, because I have a general mirth that comes through in all my writings. But while Dortmunder is a rascally and bumbling felon you wouldn't mind hanging out with, Parker is a complete an utter asshole. He's just a evil git.

Which makes the novels rather pleasant to read. I don't always have to identify with a main character, or even really consider him as a protagonist. I don't necessarily want Parker to succeed at the end of the book. These aren't really heist novels... they're crime novels, and Parker is a hardened criminal who I genuinely don't like, but whose adventures I enjoy.
]]> Voyeurs, Inc., Vol. 3 1016420 208 Hideo Yamamoto 1569316503 Paul 4
The character interplay is at its best in the whole series in this book, which is unfortunately the last. Whenever I'm walking through a city, and I have one of those moments when I realize "Damn... there are people in every one of these houses!" and then I wonder what's going on behind all those closed doors... it's this series that pops to mind. ]]> 3.44 2002 Voyeurs, Inc., Vol. 3
author: Hideo Yamamoto
name: Paul
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2009/02/13
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:
The creepiest stalker in the history of graphic novels rules this book that starts when the saddest of all the clients for Voyeurs Inc. hires them to get the goods on his true love, who frankly ain't worth all that.

The character interplay is at its best in the whole series in this book, which is unfortunately the last. Whenever I'm walking through a city, and I have one of those moments when I realize "Damn... there are people in every one of these houses!" and then I wonder what's going on behind all those closed doors... it's this series that pops to mind.
]]> <![CDATA[Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery, Vol. 1]]> 869865 552 Len Wein 1401207863 Paul 3
Damn, these were some godawful stories. Many of them have no point. Many of them have Scooby Doo endings. Many of them have shock endings that I'm shocked I wasn't supposed to see coming. None one of these stories is worth the toilet paper it takes to wipe a gnat's ass. I hereby spit on these stories.

Ptui!

Good art, though. ]]> 3.85 2006 Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery, Vol. 1
author: Len Wein
name: Paul
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2009/02/11
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:
There are some seriously great artists amongst the stories in this book, and I have to say that it's not hard to picture all of them getting together, having a few fingers worth of whiskey, extolling each other's artistic talents, perhaps watching a burlesque show together, and then loading up some revolvers to go out hunting the chumps who wrote these stories.

Damn, these were some godawful stories. Many of them have no point. Many of them have Scooby Doo endings. Many of them have shock endings that I'm shocked I wasn't supposed to see coming. None one of these stories is worth the toilet paper it takes to wipe a gnat's ass. I hereby spit on these stories.

Ptui!

Good art, though.
]]> Arctic-Nation (Blacksad, #2) 1593072 56 Juan DĂ­az Canales 1596878185 Paul 4
Wish we could get that guy on American comics. And by "American comics" I mean "American comics written by Paul Tobin."]]> 4.38 2003 Arctic-Nation (Blacksad, #2)
author: Juan DĂ­az Canales
name: Paul
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2009/02/09
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:
A little lesser in quality than the first book, owing to how Canales puts a bit too much story into this short graphic novel... the conspiracy is a bit too far reaching, the betrayals too frequent, and the coincidences coming at too fast a clip. For all that, it's a fun ride, story-wise, and once again the real hero of the graphic novel is Guarnido's art, which is effective at both the personal and grand levels.

Wish we could get that guy on American comics. And by "American comics" I mean "American comics written by Paul Tobin."
]]> Voyeurs, Inc., Vol. 2 802060 208 Hideo Yamamoto 1569315671 Paul 3 3.22 2001 Voyeurs, Inc., Vol. 2
author: Hideo Yamamoto
name: Paul
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2009/02/02
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:
Yamamoto tried to make a creepy tale of a twisted father with more than a little sexual attraction towards his daughter, and damn if he didn't pull it off. This thing is just creepy. I mean, yeah, the subject matter alone is creepy, but the father in question is downright eerie in his attempts to get what he wants. It's an unsettling little tale, and Yamamoto's characters are finally coming to full life. Too bad this is the second-to-last volume in the series. I would really have liked to see how this thing developed.
]]> <![CDATA[The Ultimates 2, Volume 1: Gods and Monsters]]> 488384
Collecting: The Ultimates 2 1-6]]> 144 Mark Millar 0785110933 Paul 4
And when it's played right, it's a damn big bulge of fun. Too often, though, it's played for shock value. Let me be clear of one of my philosophies... shock value is THE WORST WRITING TOOL IN THE WORLD. Why? Because shock value demands to be topped. If it's shocking for Goody 2-Shoes to talk back to a lady, and then he does it, then the next time he has to punch the girl. And the time after that is worse, and then time after that is even more horrible, because the "shock" has to keep building, or else it's no longer shocking. This is why some beloved characters are now being actually raped and devoured, because damn, the writer and his audience needs to have their "shock" fix. It's all just an ego ride for a writer. "I'm the guy who did THIS," or "Can you believe that I did THAT?"

Big whoop. A good writer sits back and says, "Can you believe I just pulled off a cohesive story with believable concentration?" or, translated in other words, "Can you believe how my collected trade will continue to sell, long after your own shock value trade is out of print and in the quarter bins?" Take that, shock value.

Oops. Ranted. This volume pretty much stays away from the shock value school of writing. It's dark, there are twists, and some characters go beyond what I would have thought, but they do so for believable reasons within rational human guidelines. And I enjoyed it. ]]> 4.03 2005 The Ultimates 2, Volume 1: Gods and Monsters
author: Mark Millar
name: Paul
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2009/02/05
date added: 2009/02/22
shelves:
review:
I really enjoy this stuff. The Ultimates line is a perfect venue to take classic heroes and make them for mature audiences, realigning their origins, motivations, relationships, etc. It's basically a great big grim "What If" series with its own continuity.

And when it's played right, it's a damn big bulge of fun. Too often, though, it's played for shock value. Let me be clear of one of my philosophies... shock value is THE WORST WRITING TOOL IN THE WORLD. Why? Because shock value demands to be topped. If it's shocking for Goody 2-Shoes to talk back to a lady, and then he does it, then the next time he has to punch the girl. And the time after that is worse, and then time after that is even more horrible, because the "shock" has to keep building, or else it's no longer shocking. This is why some beloved characters are now being actually raped and devoured, because damn, the writer and his audience needs to have their "shock" fix. It's all just an ego ride for a writer. "I'm the guy who did THIS," or "Can you believe that I did THAT?"

Big whoop. A good writer sits back and says, "Can you believe I just pulled off a cohesive story with believable concentration?" or, translated in other words, "Can you believe how my collected trade will continue to sell, long after your own shock value trade is out of print and in the quarter bins?" Take that, shock value.

Oops. Ranted. This volume pretty much stays away from the shock value school of writing. It's dark, there are twists, and some characters go beyond what I would have thought, but they do so for believable reasons within rational human guidelines. And I enjoyed it.
]]> <![CDATA[Glamour International Volume 17: American Good Girl Art 1900-1950's]]> 6253967 108 Glamour International Paul 4 4.50 1991 Glamour International Volume 17: American Good Girl Art 1900-1950's
author: Glamour International
name: Paul
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/30
date added: 2009/02/13
shelves:
review:
I've been using this book as a reference guide for years. It's really not a book to sit down and read, but it is a joy to flip through, and each artist has a through listing of where their art appeared. An invaluable guide for connoisseurs of women and art, both.
]]> <![CDATA[Nobody Runs Forever (Parker, #22)]]> 209201
In the rural northwestern corner of Massachusetts, Parker and a pal plan to steal an armored car. But the human element gets in the way. From a nervous ex-con and his well-intentioned sister to a bank manager's two-timing wife and a beautiful, relentless cop, too many people have their hands too close to Parker's pie. Then a bounty hunter, who just happens to be hunting the man who never left the Cincinnati meeting, joins the fray.

Parker can see this job turning bad, yet he can't let go of the score. And when guns go off and the heist goes down, the perfect plan will explode with a sound and fury all its own. For Parker, there's always the choice of turning from fight to flight-even if there's nowhere to run...]]> 304 Richard Stark 0892967986 Paul 3
So it feels more real to me. Since my friends and I need six days advance notice and a wealth of contingency plans to go out for dinner, I'm always a little leery of gritty caper novels where everything connects neatly.

This caper ain't neat, and that makes it keen. ]]> 3.94 2004 Nobody Runs Forever (Parker, #22)
author: Richard Stark
name: Paul
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/28
date added: 2009/02/03
shelves:
review:
A solid entry into the "Parker" novels. I like that it's more slice of life than a caper novel, wherein everything runs brilliantly and there's always a contingency plan. The heist in this book is anything but smooth, because it's run by criminals, and not only are criminals people (who have an astounding ability to screw up the simplest of plans) but they're criminals, who have a bit of a problem with the whole concept of a team effort.

So it feels more real to me. Since my friends and I need six days advance notice and a wealth of contingency plans to go out for dinner, I'm always a little leery of gritty caper novels where everything connects neatly.

This caper ain't neat, and that makes it keen.
]]> Naughty Knotty Woody 6018369 94 Wallace Wood 1560973196 Paul 3
In the course of this book, that love of the female sex comes through, and the results are joyous romps filled with some of Wally's best artwork. If the entire book was of a similar caliber, I'd be rating this work much higher.

Unfortunately, the book also has a selection of Woody's hack works... the "slap it on a page and get a paycheck" material. Worse, Woody's bitterness comes through in these works, both in his failed relationships, and in his inability to turn a career filled with brilliance into a brilliant career.

This book, therefore, is a walk through the light and the dark of Wood's id and ego, his light and dark, and it is at times a rather dark and scary stroll. ]]> 3.71 1998 Naughty Knotty Woody
author: Wallace Wood
name: Paul
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/18
date added: 2009/01/24
shelves:
review:
Wally Wood, easily one of my all time favorite artists, always wore his libido out on a limb. He loved being with women, and he loved drawing them.

In the course of this book, that love of the female sex comes through, and the results are joyous romps filled with some of Wally's best artwork. If the entire book was of a similar caliber, I'd be rating this work much higher.

Unfortunately, the book also has a selection of Woody's hack works... the "slap it on a page and get a paycheck" material. Worse, Woody's bitterness comes through in these works, both in his failed relationships, and in his inability to turn a career filled with brilliance into a brilliant career.

This book, therefore, is a walk through the light and the dark of Wood's id and ego, his light and dark, and it is at times a rather dark and scary stroll.
]]> Short Cuts, Vol. 1 1536881 136 Usamaru Furuya 1591160316 Paul 4 3.75 1998 Short Cuts, Vol. 1
author: Usamaru Furuya
name: Paul
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/17
date added: 2009/01/21
shelves:
review:
Well illustrated and wryly humored look at Japan's cultural obsession with ko-gals and other schoolgirls. Doesn't come across as preachy at all, which I appreciated, because my take on the "Japanese schoolgirl" phenomenon is basically the same as every other (honest) persons: namely, that such obsessions are rather odd, combined with more than an inkling of "but they sure are pretty."
]]> Voyeur 591652 232 Hideo Yamamoto 1569313660 Paul 2 3.41 1999 Voyeur
author: Hideo Yamamoto
name: Paul
average rating: 3.41
book published: 1999
rating: 2
read at: 2009/01/17
date added: 2009/01/21
shelves:
review:
Not a good first effort for this series, but I have read the other volumes, and it DOES get much better. In this first volume, Yamamoto flails around far too often, trying to establish the boundaries of what he's trying to say, both in terms of what he's trying to say, and in what manner (serious, wacky, preachy) he wants to say it. As a result, the characters come across as rather unbelievable prototypes for much better characters to come.
]]> Heartbroken Angels, Vol. 2 1568293 144 Masahiko Kikuni 1569316279 Paul 2 3.55 2001 Heartbroken Angels, Vol. 2
author: Masahiko Kikuni
name: Paul
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 2009/01/17
date added: 2009/01/21
shelves:
review:
Another ho-hum volume of the series. Basic short strips with shock humor, but too often letting the "shock" portion stand alone, without the humor.
]]> Heartbroken Angels, Vol. 1 1568292 184 Masahiko Kikuni 1569314373 Paul 2 3.25 2001 Heartbroken Angels, Vol. 1
author: Masahiko Kikuni
name: Paul
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 2009/01/16
date added: 2009/01/21
shelves:
review:
I purchased this when it first came out, and rather remember it being hilarious. Now, rereading it, something's changed. I'm not sure if my own sense of humor has developed, or if this brand of yucko / shock humor has just become so much more prevalent that I know have a better measuring stick on how to judge this particular work, but I anyway now found myself flipping through this volume at high speed, rarely so much as smiling, and quite content with my decision to sell off the book.
]]> <![CDATA[You're Sitting on My Eyelashes]]> 6122041 112 Whitney Darrow Jr. Paul 3 dream to them, which is in someways odd because they were so often a look at humanity if the veil was lifted rather than dropped into place. Often his jokes are simply a man or woman stating what many of us are thinking, but what society won't allow us to say out loud. One example that comes to mind is an older portly gentlemen putting a string of jewels around a curvaceous young woman's neck while saying, "They're from the bottom of my heart, Gwendolyn. I hope you won't hock them."

Although, now that I think of it, as I write this, maybe the lush dream quality IS perfect for Darrow, because many of his cartoons also deal with people who are out of place, having either stepped into the wrong level of society, or simply wandering around naked. It's amazingly hard to find your proper place in the world if you have a propensity for walking around naked in public. Sometimes that's a pity. Other times, not so much. ]]> 3.50 1943 You're Sitting on My Eyelashes
author: Whitney Darrow Jr.
name: Paul
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1943
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/15
date added: 2009/01/21
shelves:
review:
Darrow's cartoons always possessed a lush quality to them, as if they had a slight hint of dream to them, which is in someways odd because they were so often a look at humanity if the veil was lifted rather than dropped into place. Often his jokes are simply a man or woman stating what many of us are thinking, but what society won't allow us to say out loud. One example that comes to mind is an older portly gentlemen putting a string of jewels around a curvaceous young woman's neck while saying, "They're from the bottom of my heart, Gwendolyn. I hope you won't hock them."

Although, now that I think of it, as I write this, maybe the lush dream quality IS perfect for Darrow, because many of his cartoons also deal with people who are out of place, having either stepped into the wrong level of society, or simply wandering around naked. It's amazingly hard to find your proper place in the world if you have a propensity for walking around naked in public. Sometimes that's a pity. Other times, not so much.
]]> Sizzling Platter 1147811 hardcover 118 Peter Arno 0715612697 Paul 4
More, Arno's wit matched the strength of his pen, so that his cartoons are ones that can make me smile wryly, picturing myself in a parlor with Arno himself, observing this or that foible of the human condition from some portly man or curvaceous woman, simply nodding knowingly to each other while having a spot of tea, with just a touch of vodka. ]]> 4.40 1949 Sizzling Platter
author: Peter Arno
name: Paul
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1949
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/16
date added: 2009/01/21
shelves:
review:
Arno was rather a genius. It's amazing to me how some people can spend laborious hours on a piece of art, painstakingly trying to capture some subtle emotion that is forever eluding them, but then there are artists such as Arno, who can capture that emotion with a few deft swipes of his brush... so few swipes that a human face is barely delineated, and yet that perfect emotion is present.

More, Arno's wit matched the strength of his pen, so that his cartoons are ones that can make me smile wryly, picturing myself in a parlor with Arno himself, observing this or that foible of the human condition from some portly man or curvaceous woman, simply nodding knowingly to each other while having a spot of tea, with just a touch of vodka.
]]> The Compleat Sally Forth 2123225 160 Wallace Wood 1560972912 Paul 4
Which is all the more amazing considering that while Wood, to all accounts, certainly did think girls were pretty, he didn't enjoy the smoothest of lives, being wrought with self-doubt, alcoholism, and a stroke that eventually led to him putting a gun to his head.

I like to think that works like Sally Forth were solace to Wood. Certainly more of his talent showed through in these pages than in the pages of Cannon, which he was producing during the same time period. It's clear that Wood was having fun here, and it translates to enjoyment for the reader. ]]> 4.15 1998 The Compleat Sally Forth
author: Wallace Wood
name: Paul
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/12
date added: 2009/01/17
shelves:
review:
Whimsy of a sexual nature, played for sheer fun and enjoyment. Oddly, erotica is rarely presented as fun in nature: themes of tension, perversity, fear, domination and even outright hatred are more commonplace than simple frivolity, but Wood does an outstanding job of keeping a smile on the reader's face at all times, with the sexual nature of the work being only an avenue to Wood's true message of "Damn, ain't girls pretty? And ain't life fun?"

Which is all the more amazing considering that while Wood, to all accounts, certainly did think girls were pretty, he didn't enjoy the smoothest of lives, being wrought with self-doubt, alcoholism, and a stroke that eventually led to him putting a gun to his head.

I like to think that works like Sally Forth were solace to Wood. Certainly more of his talent showed through in these pages than in the pages of Cannon, which he was producing during the same time period. It's clear that Wood was having fun here, and it translates to enjoyment for the reader.
]]> <![CDATA[Crogan's Vengeance (The Crogan Adventures #1)]]> 5516288 189 Chris Schweizer 1934964069 Paul 3
Needs to smooth out some of his transitions, as there were probably seven or eight sections of the book that leapt about a little too precipitously, including one that may well have just been a missing page?

Also, the book could have used some tonals, as Schweizer's style of artwork can tend towards the flat when too much is crammed into a panel.

Overall, though, a very promising start. ]]> 3.79 2008 Crogan's Vengeance (The Crogan Adventures #1)
author: Chris Schweizer
name: Paul
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/09
date added: 2009/01/13
shelves:
review:
I'm intrigued to see how this series develops, as this first volume concerns a pirate, but the overall series is to deal with the Crogan family throughout history...rogues and adventurers all. It's a massive undertaking that Schweizer has set his sights upon, and this first volume really has a lot of promise for the future.

Needs to smooth out some of his transitions, as there were probably seven or eight sections of the book that leapt about a little too precipitously, including one that may well have just been a missing page?

Also, the book could have used some tonals, as Schweizer's style of artwork can tend towards the flat when too much is crammed into a panel.

Overall, though, a very promising start.
]]> <![CDATA[What's The Worst That Could Happen? (Dortmunder, #9)]]> 2634451 546 Donald E. Westlake 0786208627 Paul 4
I'm never quite sure if Westlake wrote the Dortmunder novels so that his readers could have fun reading them, or just so that he could have fun writing them, but it works for me either way. ]]> 4.83 1996 What's The Worst That Could Happen? (Dortmunder, #9)
author: Donald E. Westlake
name: Paul
average rating: 4.83
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/08
date added: 2009/01/13
shelves:
review:
The Dortmunder novels always remind me of P. G. Wodehouse novels, except with criminals instead of the landed gentry. Everyone is a damned bumbling fool, and everything is always taking a side trip through Calamity, but in the end the boy gets the girl, or in this case the crook gets the money.

I'm never quite sure if Westlake wrote the Dortmunder novels so that his readers could have fun reading them, or just so that he could have fun writing them, but it works for me either way.
]]> The Great Women Cartoonists 136566 Robbins, Trina 160 Trina Robbins 082302170X Paul 4
Growing up, I could count the number of female cartoonists in the American comic book industry on one hand. In fact, I could do it on two fingers: Marie Severin and Ramona Fradon. Done.

But Trina, when I originally read this book, opened me up to a whole new world of artists in both the comic strip and comic book industry, and many of them are now among my favorite creators. I have more than a passing interest in female comic cartoonists, being married to one (Colleen Coover) myself, so books of this type are all the more treasured. And, as I've said before, Trina Robbins is about the only person doing books of this type, so if she gets something wrong here and there, I can still give her the nod.

This book is just as valuable a reference book (which isn't to say it doesn't serve well as an entertaining read) as it did when I first read it, years ago. It's interesting to see how Trina's picks for the women cartoonists of the future turned out (not so well) but the main body of the work has passed the test of time, as have so many of the female cartoonists discussed within. ]]> 3.92 2001 The Great Women Cartoonists
author: Trina Robbins
name: Paul
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/07
date added: 2009/01/13
shelves:
review:
This is my favorite of all Trina Robbins's works, though I'm very much looking forward to her upcoming book on Nell Brinkley. It's a good mix of introductory material and art to some of the comic book industry's forgotten (and not forgotten) women cartoonists, and what's amazing is that it's a much richer history than I would have originally believed.

Growing up, I could count the number of female cartoonists in the American comic book industry on one hand. In fact, I could do it on two fingers: Marie Severin and Ramona Fradon. Done.

But Trina, when I originally read this book, opened me up to a whole new world of artists in both the comic strip and comic book industry, and many of them are now among my favorite creators. I have more than a passing interest in female comic cartoonists, being married to one (Colleen Coover) myself, so books of this type are all the more treasured. And, as I've said before, Trina Robbins is about the only person doing books of this type, so if she gets something wrong here and there, I can still give her the nod.

This book is just as valuable a reference book (which isn't to say it doesn't serve well as an entertaining read) as it did when I first read it, years ago. It's interesting to see how Trina's picks for the women cartoonists of the future turned out (not so well) but the main body of the work has passed the test of time, as have so many of the female cartoonists discussed within.
]]> <![CDATA[Achewood volume 7: Kiss My Ass, Bitch. I'll Be At Duane's]]> 81578
Volume VII contains all strips from August 1, 2005 to December 21, 2005. Book includes the full Cartilage Head series, Jaime the Science Friend, Little Nephew's Honda Civic Suicide Threat, the 2005 visit from Showbiz, and that one where diabetes is not invited to Ray's pizza party. Also includes these rare or print-only a hard-ass camping story from Ray and Beef's youth ( replaced the planned recipes, which are being saved for a new cooking project), transcript of Nice Pete's Commencement Address for 2006 High School Graduates, a dirty story from Lyle as told to Vlad and then transcribed by Beef, the collected "Ray's Puzzle Korners" (with new Puzzles). Approximately 144 pages.

[]]]> Chris Onstad Paul 3 4.78 2005 Achewood volume 7: Kiss My Ass, Bitch. I'll Be At Duane's
author: Chris Onstad
name: Paul
average rating: 4.78
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/06
date added: 2009/01/13
shelves:
review:
Extreme fluctuations between brilliance and the mundane.
]]> <![CDATA[Kelly Green 3: The Million Dollar Hit]]> 6091496 48 Stan Drake 2205065769 Paul 4 quite as stupid and/or reckless as she does in the first two volumes. Also, while the coloring is quite garish, simply being garish is a substantial upgrade from the 1st two volumes.

One minor problem with this volume is that large amounts of it take place up in the frozen north. Now, I've got nothing against the frozen north, but the "Kelly Green" episodes (which were originally printed in short installments) had the same problem as the classic Wally Wood "Sally Forth" strips...namely, that each and every episode had to "prove" its adult audience by getting some T & A onto the page. Wally was quoted how that was always interfering with the story...even to the point that in one episode Sally just rips her own clothes off for no particular reason. In the "Sally Forth" strips, Wood could have fun. In these Kelly Green graphic novels, though, the themes were mystery, action and suspense, so convincing reasons had to be scripted for Kelly to get down to her bra and panties, or less.

Now...let me tell you, they realllllly stretched in this one. I feel bad for Starr and Drake, but it's their own fault: once you set a story in the land of snow and ice, you're going to have problems with the pretty girls doffing their jeans. Oh well, it all worked well enough, and when beautiful women want to drop their jeans I can usually accept pretty much any reason. I'm just that way. ]]> 3.58 1983 Kelly Green 3: The Million Dollar Hit
author: Stan Drake
name: Paul
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/04
date added: 2009/01/12
shelves:
review:
Probably the best of the three "Kelly Green" graphic novels that I've read, as Kelly doesn't act quite as stupid and/or reckless as she does in the first two volumes. Also, while the coloring is quite garish, simply being garish is a substantial upgrade from the 1st two volumes.

One minor problem with this volume is that large amounts of it take place up in the frozen north. Now, I've got nothing against the frozen north, but the "Kelly Green" episodes (which were originally printed in short installments) had the same problem as the classic Wally Wood "Sally Forth" strips...namely, that each and every episode had to "prove" its adult audience by getting some T & A onto the page. Wally was quoted how that was always interfering with the story...even to the point that in one episode Sally just rips her own clothes off for no particular reason. In the "Sally Forth" strips, Wood could have fun. In these Kelly Green graphic novels, though, the themes were mystery, action and suspense, so convincing reasons had to be scripted for Kelly to get down to her bra and panties, or less.

Now...let me tell you, they realllllly stretched in this one. I feel bad for Starr and Drake, but it's their own fault: once you set a story in the land of snow and ice, you're going to have problems with the pretty girls doffing their jeans. Oh well, it all worked well enough, and when beautiful women want to drop their jeans I can usually accept pretty much any reason. I'm just that way.
]]> <![CDATA[Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster]]> 6077395
Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster showcases rare and recently discovered erotic artwork by the most seminal artist in comics, Joe Shuster. Created in the early 1950s when Shuster was down on his luck after suing his publisher, DC Comics, over the copyright for Superman, he illustrated these images for an obscure series of magazines called Nights of Horror, published under the counter until they were banned by the U.S. Senate. Juvenile deliquency, Dr. Fredric Wertham, and the Brooklyn Thrill Killers gang all figure into this sensational story.

The discovery of this artwork reveals the 'secret identity' of this revered comics creator, and is sure to generate controversy and change the perception of the way we look at Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and Jimmy Olsen forever. The book includes reproductions of these images, and an essay that provides a detailed account of the scandal and the murder trial that resulted from the publication of this racy material.

"Jeepers, Mr. Kent!" - USA Today
 "Eye-opening……a compelling feat of literary sleuthing." - Publishers Weekly
"A shocking expose" - National Enquirer
"Startling. . . this fascinating collection adds a new dimension to a hidden history.� - Miami Herald
"Secret Identity is an incredible find of historic significance to comics art�. - Library Journal]]> 162 Craig Yoe 0810996340 Paul 0 to-read 3.83 2009 Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster
author: Craig Yoe
name: Paul
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2009/01/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One, Two, Three... Die! (Kelly Green, #2)]]> 6064320 48 Leonard Starr 2205069527 Paul 3

Another solid book with just a couple problems keeping it from four stars. Once again, the coloring is a crime, with its only consistency being how much it obscures Drake's amazing artwork.

Secondly, at least one too many deaths in this installment. Starr and Drake collaborated to make this a gritty, dark strip, but SOME people can still live, or else it's hard to ever get into the characters. Any character not established in the 1st volume is pretty much marked for death. Sad, too, because some good characters were introduced in this volume.

Lastly, the "obvious" villain is sooooo quite obviously not the villain, while the "guy who can't be the villain" soooo obviously is. ]]> 3.59 1983 One, Two, Three... Die! (Kelly Green, #2)
author: Leonard Starr
name: Paul
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/02
date added: 2009/01/03
shelves:
review:
Couple spoilers below, so tread lightly.


Another solid book with just a couple problems keeping it from four stars. Once again, the coloring is a crime, with its only consistency being how much it obscures Drake's amazing artwork.

Secondly, at least one too many deaths in this installment. Starr and Drake collaborated to make this a gritty, dark strip, but SOME people can still live, or else it's hard to ever get into the characters. Any character not established in the 1st volume is pretty much marked for death. Sad, too, because some good characters were introduced in this volume.

Lastly, the "obvious" villain is sooooo quite obviously not the villain, while the "guy who can't be the villain" soooo obviously is.
]]> <![CDATA[The Go-Between (Kelly Green, #1)]]> 258085 52 Stan Drake 2205065742 Paul 3 could show Kelly in the nude, the story often bends in order to allow this. So Kelly is forever changing clothes, or being caught unawares by someone walking in on her, etc. Sometimes these work within the flow of the story, and sometimes it just seems like Kelly has a compulsive need to get naked.

But the story is solid, beside the occasional "lets get naked" bump, and of course Stan Drake's artwork is (duh) by Stan freakin' Drake, so it's very accomplished material. That said, much of Drake's work is horribly undermined by the colorist, who places flat planes of color where there should be detail, and often uses color as a gaudy heightening effect in areas best left alone.

The colorist is not credited in this volume, and it scares me to think that they still might be out there, lurking, just waiting to color again. Is anyone safe?!?]]> 3.54 1980 The Go-Between (Kelly Green, #1)
author: Stan Drake
name: Paul
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/01
date added: 2009/01/03
shelves:
review:
A more than passable comic action strip, but somehow the freedom that the creators enjoyed became a kind of restraint. Since Starr and Drake could show Kelly in the nude, the story often bends in order to allow this. So Kelly is forever changing clothes, or being caught unawares by someone walking in on her, etc. Sometimes these work within the flow of the story, and sometimes it just seems like Kelly has a compulsive need to get naked.

But the story is solid, beside the occasional "lets get naked" bump, and of course Stan Drake's artwork is (duh) by Stan freakin' Drake, so it's very accomplished material. That said, much of Drake's work is horribly undermined by the colorist, who places flat planes of color where there should be detail, and often uses color as a gaudy heightening effect in areas best left alone.

The colorist is not credited in this volume, and it scares me to think that they still might be out there, lurking, just waiting to color again. Is anyone safe?!?
]]> The Great Women Superheroes 1079272 207 Trina Robbins 0878164812 Paul 3 shoots and misses when she writes a book, she is very often shooting in an area where no other writers are aiming, and that makes her incredibly valuable. There are scores of women cartoonists who would be forgotten without Trina's historical records in such books as this one, and that makes Trina herself a treasure. Thanks, Trina.

Now, that said...she often needs to slow down in her research. Tomboy, for instance, was not a Marvel Comic's character, and there are numerous other similar mistakes throughout the book.

Also, Trina is a dedicated feminist, which is fantastic, except when she pushes the bar too far. This most often causes her problems when she upgrades women cartoonists simply because they are women, rather than for the quality of the work they produced. Worse, she often takes the erroneous stance that to push feminism is to denigrate masculinity, and often does so with a far too broad sweep of her pen. One classic example is when, in defense of critics saying that early issues of Wonder Woman have a lot of bondage, she writes it all off by saying male writers (as if they were the ONLY gender to point out the inherent bondage of early Wonder Woman comics)do not take into account that the Amazons are women, who show their emotions, and hug.

Then, she follows this with..."On the other hand, American men are notoriously afraid of being considered homosexual, and never touch each other except when playing sports."

Gee, Trina. Generalize much? And how's your "judge / jury / executioner" position working out for you? You at least seem to enjoy the job.

Secondly...you're blind. And it's not uncommon in your writings. I'm not sure WHY you decided to take a multi-page stand that early Wonder Woman comics DON'T have a lot of bondage, but the merest bit of open eye research will disprove that.

A quick flip through my Wonder Woman archives reveals two nice examples. In Woman Woman # 3, the Amazons celebrate "Diana Day" by dressing up like deer, and are then "hunted" by the other Amazons, who symbolically shoot down the "deer," tie them up, then hang them by their wrists, strip them of their deer costumes and place them (all very willingly) in giant pies, from where they must spring up on the dining table and do a dance to serve their hunters.

Gosh. No subtext there. In that SAME issue is a story of slave girls who, when freed of their chains, absolutely refuse to work or play until the chains are replaced. They LOVE being slaves. And how does Wonder Woman solve this dilemma? Is it by giving a stirring speech about freedom? Well, no. Instead, there is a panel of a wistful Wonder Woman, with birds singing in the background, and Wonder Woman is thinking, "If girls want to be slaves there's no harm in that. The bad thing for them is submitting to a master or to an evil mistress like Paula. A good mistress could do wonders for them!"

Honestly. There ISN'T any subtext there. Because it's OUTRIGHT STATED.

Ahhh...there's more, but why go on. This book is worth checking out because a lot of forgotten super-heroines get their moment in the sun, and Trina's writings, as I noted to begin with, are also always worth the price. They're a little raw in areas, but Trina is doing the industry a great service with her work. ]]> 3.92 1996 The Great Women Superheroes
author: Trina Robbins
name: Paul
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/31
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves:
review:
There are a lot of problems with this book, but before I talk about the problems I think it's very important to point out that while Trina often shoots and misses when she writes a book, she is very often shooting in an area where no other writers are aiming, and that makes her incredibly valuable. There are scores of women cartoonists who would be forgotten without Trina's historical records in such books as this one, and that makes Trina herself a treasure. Thanks, Trina.

Now, that said...she often needs to slow down in her research. Tomboy, for instance, was not a Marvel Comic's character, and there are numerous other similar mistakes throughout the book.

Also, Trina is a dedicated feminist, which is fantastic, except when she pushes the bar too far. This most often causes her problems when she upgrades women cartoonists simply because they are women, rather than for the quality of the work they produced. Worse, she often takes the erroneous stance that to push feminism is to denigrate masculinity, and often does so with a far too broad sweep of her pen. One classic example is when, in defense of critics saying that early issues of Wonder Woman have a lot of bondage, she writes it all off by saying male writers (as if they were the ONLY gender to point out the inherent bondage of early Wonder Woman comics)do not take into account that the Amazons are women, who show their emotions, and hug.

Then, she follows this with..."On the other hand, American men are notoriously afraid of being considered homosexual, and never touch each other except when playing sports."

Gee, Trina. Generalize much? And how's your "judge / jury / executioner" position working out for you? You at least seem to enjoy the job.

Secondly...you're blind. And it's not uncommon in your writings. I'm not sure WHY you decided to take a multi-page stand that early Wonder Woman comics DON'T have a lot of bondage, but the merest bit of open eye research will disprove that.

A quick flip through my Wonder Woman archives reveals two nice examples. In Woman Woman # 3, the Amazons celebrate "Diana Day" by dressing up like deer, and are then "hunted" by the other Amazons, who symbolically shoot down the "deer," tie them up, then hang them by their wrists, strip them of their deer costumes and place them (all very willingly) in giant pies, from where they must spring up on the dining table and do a dance to serve their hunters.

Gosh. No subtext there. In that SAME issue is a story of slave girls who, when freed of their chains, absolutely refuse to work or play until the chains are replaced. They LOVE being slaves. And how does Wonder Woman solve this dilemma? Is it by giving a stirring speech about freedom? Well, no. Instead, there is a panel of a wistful Wonder Woman, with birds singing in the background, and Wonder Woman is thinking, "If girls want to be slaves there's no harm in that. The bad thing for them is submitting to a master or to an evil mistress like Paula. A good mistress could do wonders for them!"

Honestly. There ISN'T any subtext there. Because it's OUTRIGHT STATED.

Ahhh...there's more, but why go on. This book is worth checking out because a lot of forgotten super-heroines get their moment in the sun, and Trina's writings, as I noted to begin with, are also always worth the price. They're a little raw in areas, but Trina is doing the industry a great service with her work.
]]> Bird 1: The Tattoo 1720739 Carlos Trillo 1569716315 Paul 3
All in all, I'd definitely pick up the 2nd volume if given a chance. ]]> 3.25 2001 Bird 1: The Tattoo
author: Carlos Trillo
name: Paul
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/30
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves:
review:
I always love Trillo's brusque no-nonsense characters. His women are aware of their sexuality, and can revel in it without it being the end-all to define their characters. His men are aware of the futility of life (at least the lives that Trillo has cast them within) and still plod resolutely forward. His villains have reasons, rather than roles.

All in all, I'd definitely pick up the 2nd volume if given a chance.
]]> El Gaucho 1050883 144 Milo Manara 1561631299 Paul 3
Pratt's story is moving and complex, and Manara's art is lively and energetic, but the two never quite mesh. Manara's art doesn't truly have the range that was needed for the story...a Manara woman is always dripping with eroticism, and Manara men are always noble and handsome, and this story would have been better fit by a darker and grittier artist, like a Jordi Bernet.

So, while story and art in this graphic novel are both quite accomplished, they remain separate. ]]> 3.50 1991 El Gaucho
author: Milo Manara
name: Paul
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/28
date added: 2009/01/02
shelves:
review:
Hugo Pratt is in my opinion the greatest comic book creator of all time. Milo Manara is one of the best artists. They were great friends, and often collaborated, usually quite successfully. This really isn't one of those successful times.

Pratt's story is moving and complex, and Manara's art is lively and energetic, but the two never quite mesh. Manara's art doesn't truly have the range that was needed for the story...a Manara woman is always dripping with eroticism, and Manara men are always noble and handsome, and this story would have been better fit by a darker and grittier artist, like a Jordi Bernet.

So, while story and art in this graphic novel are both quite accomplished, they remain separate.
]]> Somerset Holmes 1313765 128 Bruce Jones 0913035106 Paul 1
Stinker.

I just hate the type of story where EVERY LAST PERSON met by a protagonist is part of some vast conspiracy crusade against them. Not even halfway through this book it became clear that if Somerset had parachuted from an airplane onto a moving train, then ramped a motorcycle off the train's moving engine, drove that motorcycle on a random route across four state lines, then stopped into a diner at three in the morning, then the diner's waitress would be a Specially Trained Killer who was just waiting for Somerset to arrive.

Goddamn. This book sucked.

Also...a note to All The Writers In The World---here's the grand total of scenes I need to see/read wherein a woman in lingerie gets half raped by an assailant but eventually (or quickly) starts to like him---

Zero. ]]> 3.67 Somerset Holmes
author: Bruce Jones
name: Paul
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2008/12/27
date added: 2009/01/01
shelves:
review:
No.

Stinker.

I just hate the type of story where EVERY LAST PERSON met by a protagonist is part of some vast conspiracy crusade against them. Not even halfway through this book it became clear that if Somerset had parachuted from an airplane onto a moving train, then ramped a motorcycle off the train's moving engine, drove that motorcycle on a random route across four state lines, then stopped into a diner at three in the morning, then the diner's waitress would be a Specially Trained Killer who was just waiting for Somerset to arrive.

Goddamn. This book sucked.

Also...a note to All The Writers In The World---here's the grand total of scenes I need to see/read wherein a woman in lingerie gets half raped by an assailant but eventually (or quickly) starts to like him---

Zero.
]]> The Hunting Party 2323307 88 Pierre Christin 1852862890 Paul 3
Bilal's artwork is beautiful, though. As always. ]]> 4.08 1983 The Hunting Party
author: Pierre Christin
name: Paul
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/25
date added: 2008/12/26
shelves:
review:
Perhaps a bit overly ambitious for the format, or at least for the page count. A good fifty percent of the work does no more than set up the characters in the plot, rather than advancing the plot itself, and that becomes both tedious, and somewhat confusing.

Bilal's artwork is beautiful, though. As always.
]]> Miss Fury 6039140 Tarpe Mills Paul 3
It's fairly sexy at times, and I have great regard for Tarpe Mills, because I know how female artists were treated at the time period, so she had an extra weight on her shoulders, and still produced readable, if somewhat clunky material.

And, since I admitted I was giving an extra star due to the era the comic strips were produced, I should throw in that I probably mentally deleted one, due to the way over the top hyperbole of the introduction, which makes the strip sound like the most fondly remembered comic strip of all time, and Tarpe Mills as a "master storyteller" (umm, no) and her art as which "many feel has not been equaled before or since"...a statement which sends me into extreme "WTF" mode.

Lastly, unconnected to anything else, "Tarpe" is a great name. ]]> 3.73 2011 Miss Fury
author: Tarpe Mills
name: Paul
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/24
date added: 2008/12/25
shelves:
review:
If this was current material, I'd probably only give it two stars, but I believe you have to give a nod to the birth of any industry, when creators are just beginning to understand how to best use the medium.

It's fairly sexy at times, and I have great regard for Tarpe Mills, because I know how female artists were treated at the time period, so she had an extra weight on her shoulders, and still produced readable, if somewhat clunky material.

And, since I admitted I was giving an extra star due to the era the comic strips were produced, I should throw in that I probably mentally deleted one, due to the way over the top hyperbole of the introduction, which makes the strip sound like the most fondly remembered comic strip of all time, and Tarpe Mills as a "master storyteller" (umm, no) and her art as which "many feel has not been equaled before or since"...a statement which sends me into extreme "WTF" mode.

Lastly, unconnected to anything else, "Tarpe" is a great name.
]]> The Spider's House 438083 The Spider’s House is possibly Bowles’s best, most beautifully subtle novel.]]> 424 Paul Bowles 0876855451 Paul 3



While I found the writing in The Spider's House to be some of Bowles's very best, two main (and somewhat related) problems kept me from giving this more than an average rating.

It was the narrative shifts that I found problematic. Normally, I'm all in favor of narrative shifts, but Bowles made two main mistakes. The first was the slight introduction of Stenham, coming in at no more than 12 pages, and ending with what amounts to a cliffhanger.

So far, no problem, as long as we get back to him in due time.

But, we don't. In fact, it's well over a hundred pages before we return. That's the 2nd problem: it wasn't so much a narrative shift, as a narrative dismissal. By the time Bowles returned to Stenham, I'd largely forgotten who he was. It took quite a few pages for him to distinguish himself again. In the meantime, the character of Amar was used as a stand-in for explanations of Moroccan culture and the country's unease over arrogant French rule. Because Amar was little more than a vehicle used to talk on these subjects, I never warmed to him as a character at all, not until he was, hundreds of pages down the road, interacting with Stenham and Polly.

And a word about Polly. She doesn't enter the book until well over halfway through, and when she does Stenham sees her as something that instantly brightens the cafe, causing all the beautiful scenery to suddenly become no more than background for this splendid creature. Stenham might as well have been talking about himself, because it's not until Polly arrives (again, hundreds of pages into the book) that Bowles's writing really picks up steam, engaging in the plot rather than simply explaining it. Indeed, it's absolutely true that, as Stenham thinks, everything established before Polly is simply background.

I suppose this is all a long-winded way of saying, "Cut out about two-thirds of the initial "Amar" segment, and I would have given this book four stars, easily."]]> 4.11 1955 The Spider's House
author: Paul Bowles
name: Paul
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1955
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/22
date added: 2008/12/24
shelves:
review:
Spoilers ahead...so be wary on these seas.




While I found the writing in The Spider's House to be some of Bowles's very best, two main (and somewhat related) problems kept me from giving this more than an average rating.

It was the narrative shifts that I found problematic. Normally, I'm all in favor of narrative shifts, but Bowles made two main mistakes. The first was the slight introduction of Stenham, coming in at no more than 12 pages, and ending with what amounts to a cliffhanger.

So far, no problem, as long as we get back to him in due time.

But, we don't. In fact, it's well over a hundred pages before we return. That's the 2nd problem: it wasn't so much a narrative shift, as a narrative dismissal. By the time Bowles returned to Stenham, I'd largely forgotten who he was. It took quite a few pages for him to distinguish himself again. In the meantime, the character of Amar was used as a stand-in for explanations of Moroccan culture and the country's unease over arrogant French rule. Because Amar was little more than a vehicle used to talk on these subjects, I never warmed to him as a character at all, not until he was, hundreds of pages down the road, interacting with Stenham and Polly.

And a word about Polly. She doesn't enter the book until well over halfway through, and when she does Stenham sees her as something that instantly brightens the cafe, causing all the beautiful scenery to suddenly become no more than background for this splendid creature. Stenham might as well have been talking about himself, because it's not until Polly arrives (again, hundreds of pages into the book) that Bowles's writing really picks up steam, engaging in the plot rather than simply explaining it. Indeed, it's absolutely true that, as Stenham thinks, everything established before Polly is simply background.

I suppose this is all a long-winded way of saying, "Cut out about two-thirds of the initial "Amar" segment, and I would have given this book four stars, easily."
]]> Factotum 497199
Charles Bukowski's posthumous legend continues to grow. Factotum is a masterfully vivid evocation of slow-paced, low-life urbanity and alcoholism, and an excellent introduction to the fictional world of Charles Bukowski.]]> 205 Charles Bukowski 0876852630 Paul 3
I sort of enjoy watching him crash his life endlessly. I enjoy, in this book, knowing that he won't keep a job for very long. This book is little more than a history of his employment, and it's amazing to watch him leap from desperately needing a job to survive, straight into leaving bosses no choice but to fire his lousy ass. Many times I wanted to jump into the book myself, merely to cheer on one of his employers who was rightfully firing his punk ass.

But...his writing is honest enough to keep it interesting. And there are enough car crashes to keep the pages turning. I maintain that Bukowski never really says much that is poignant, because his words rarely rise about simple truths...the poignancy comes from him being one of the very few people who has the guts to say it, rather than keep it all bottled inside, lest we be judged. ]]> 3.95 1975 Factotum
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Paul
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1975
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/20
date added: 2008/12/22
shelves:
review:
I can never quite decide if Bukowski's shitty (and well-deserved) early life led him to be a great writer. Are the old axiom's about a hard life creating great art true? There are certainly quite a few good artists (from all mediums) who came from good lives, and there are without a doubt more hard-luck stories than there are great artists, so I inevitably fall to thinking that Bukowski could have been a better writer if his life had been better, but that I might not want to read him.

I sort of enjoy watching him crash his life endlessly. I enjoy, in this book, knowing that he won't keep a job for very long. This book is little more than a history of his employment, and it's amazing to watch him leap from desperately needing a job to survive, straight into leaving bosses no choice but to fire his lousy ass. Many times I wanted to jump into the book myself, merely to cheer on one of his employers who was rightfully firing his punk ass.

But...his writing is honest enough to keep it interesting. And there are enough car crashes to keep the pages turning. I maintain that Bukowski never really says much that is poignant, because his words rarely rise about simple truths...the poignancy comes from him being one of the very few people who has the guts to say it, rather than keep it all bottled inside, lest we be judged.
]]> <![CDATA[Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms]]> 608883 103 Fumiyo Kouno 0867196653 Paul 0 to-read 4.03 2004 Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms
author: Fumiyo Kouno
name: Paul
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Napoleon's Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped]]> 2615564 256 Tony Perrottet 0061257281 Paul 0 to-read 3.73 2008 Napoleon's Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped
author: Tony Perrottet
name: Paul
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/12/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Emmanuelle, Bianca and Venus in Furs]]> 118798 464 Guido Crepax 3822863017 Paul 3 greatly. If I were to rate Emmanuelle as a separate work, I'd give it at least four stars.

Bianca, on the other hand, I would give one. And feel generous.

Venus In Furs. Maybe two.

The difference isn't so much the art, although it does contribute, as I feel Crepax most loved working on Emmanuelle, and that some of that devotion shows in the work---but the real difference is how the other two stories, Bianca in particular, are really nothing more than a series of bizarre encounters, none of them with any eroticism or cohesion, just fragments of thought. Bianca mostly feels like somebody decided to write an erotic story, sat down to read a bunch of classic erotic stories to get in the mood, touched his pen to paper, and then did forty eight pounds of hashish before he began writing.

Sometimes that works.

Sometimes...not. ]]> 4.01 2000 Emmanuelle, Bianca and Venus in Furs
author: Guido Crepax
name: Paul
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/15
date added: 2008/12/15
shelves:
review:
This is a compendium of three works, and their individual quality varies greatly. If I were to rate Emmanuelle as a separate work, I'd give it at least four stars.

Bianca, on the other hand, I would give one. And feel generous.

Venus In Furs. Maybe two.

The difference isn't so much the art, although it does contribute, as I feel Crepax most loved working on Emmanuelle, and that some of that devotion shows in the work---but the real difference is how the other two stories, Bianca in particular, are really nothing more than a series of bizarre encounters, none of them with any eroticism or cohesion, just fragments of thought. Bianca mostly feels like somebody decided to write an erotic story, sat down to read a bunch of classic erotic stories to get in the mood, touched his pen to paper, and then did forty eight pounds of hashish before he began writing.

Sometimes that works.

Sometimes...not.
]]> Sausagey Santa 60186
Santa isn't the jolly old elf he's been described as in Children's stories. He's a bit more grotesque than that. His eyes are pimento-stuffed olives, his teeth are walnuts, and his body is made of sausages.

One snowy Christmas Eve, while visiting the Fry family, Sausagey Santa is attacked by an evil force that is driven to destroy Christmas forever. It is an anti-Christmas spirit that loathes everything having to do with children and Jesus. After it steals his magic bag of presents, Santa calls upon Matthew Fry and his wife, Decapitron (a brutish warrior woman with a strange Christmas fetish and a candy cane sword), to help get it back and save Christmas for everyone.

It's the greatest sausage-spewing, elf-raping, zombie-killing, Transformer-fucking, reindeer-exploding, snowman-battling, adventure-rocking, bizarro Christmas story OF ALL TIME!!!]]> 112 Carlton Mellick III 1933929561 Paul 0 to-read 3.74 2006 Sausagey Santa
author: Carlton Mellick III
name: Paul
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Veeps 2970436 296 Bill Kelter 1603090037 Paul 4
Or you might have found me weeping at...well, pretty much the same thing.

You might have even have found me in shock over how Sarah Palin probably WOULDN'T have been the Worst Vice-President Of All Time.

Or you might have found me saddened over how often both the American presidency and vice-presidency go to people who, politically speaking, weren't savvy enough to get out of the way in time.

But, mostly, if you snuck up on me while I was reading this, you'd have found me curious as to why you were in my bedroom, or my bathroom. ]]> 3.80 2008 Veeps
author: Bill Kelter
name: Paul
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2008/12/13
date added: 2008/12/14
shelves:
review:
This book gave me mood swings. If you would have snuck up on me, during my reading, you might have found me chuckling at the inanity of veep after veep who was woefully unqualified to hold any government position, let alone be one heartbeat away from the presidency.

Or you might have found me weeping at...well, pretty much the same thing.

You might have even have found me in shock over how Sarah Palin probably WOULDN'T have been the Worst Vice-President Of All Time.

Or you might have found me saddened over how often both the American presidency and vice-presidency go to people who, politically speaking, weren't savvy enough to get out of the way in time.

But, mostly, if you snuck up on me while I was reading this, you'd have found me curious as to why you were in my bedroom, or my bathroom.
]]> <![CDATA[American Elf: The Collected Sketchbook Diaries, Vol. 3]]> 2970451 192 James Kochalka 1603090169 Paul 4
I felt bad about the Kochalka family's "neighbor" troubles. I've had a meth dealer for a neighbor, so I have empathy. Never had any cars firebombed though. How charming!

Sometimes I worry that Jame's fat mouth will get him into trouble, but he seems to get in the face of people who deserve it, so "hurrah" for him.

And, as usual, reading the Kochalka sketchbook diaries make me feel a little more human, and a little more happy with humanity as a whole. That makes them extremely valuable. ]]> 4.32 2008 American Elf: The Collected Sketchbook Diaries, Vol. 3
author: James Kochalka
name: Paul
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2008/12/12
date added: 2008/12/13
shelves:
review:
This volume just as lovely as the first two. Was surprised to see that it was in color, though. Not sure it justified the added expense, from a publishing standpoint. Still, they were even more lovely, this way.

I felt bad about the Kochalka family's "neighbor" troubles. I've had a meth dealer for a neighbor, so I have empathy. Never had any cars firebombed though. How charming!

Sometimes I worry that Jame's fat mouth will get him into trouble, but he seems to get in the face of people who deserve it, so "hurrah" for him.

And, as usual, reading the Kochalka sketchbook diaries make me feel a little more human, and a little more happy with humanity as a whole. That makes them extremely valuable.
]]> <![CDATA[Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)]]> 2802421 304 Jad Adams 1845116844 Paul 2
That's all very fine and good, but this book is supposed to be about absinthe, and whenever one of the "names" is introduced, the reader is subjected to a biography of that person that goes WAY overlong. If I wanted to read a book about van Gogh (and I often do) then I will pick up a book about van Gogh...not a book about absinthe. It can often run 10, 20, 30 or more pages where absinthe is hardly mentioned at all, and that was very problematic for me. It was even more frustrating when these sections would sometimes end with summations along the lines of, "So, in closing, it seems like absinthe had little to no effect on the art / writings of artist / writer X."

Then why we you talking about them?

For so long?

All in all, this is a very good 150 page book. But it's 250 pages. ]]> 3.79 Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)
author: Jad Adams
name: Paul
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2008/12/06
date added: 2008/12/07
shelves:
review:
As one of the other reviewers points out, this book largely focuses on the fin de siècle through the lens of absinthe culture, discussing the effects of absinthe on such critters as Baudelaire, Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, etc.

That's all very fine and good, but this book is supposed to be about absinthe, and whenever one of the "names" is introduced, the reader is subjected to a biography of that person that goes WAY overlong. If I wanted to read a book about van Gogh (and I often do) then I will pick up a book about van Gogh...not a book about absinthe. It can often run 10, 20, 30 or more pages where absinthe is hardly mentioned at all, and that was very problematic for me. It was even more frustrating when these sections would sometimes end with summations along the lines of, "So, in closing, it seems like absinthe had little to no effect on the art / writings of artist / writer X."

Then why we you talking about them?

For so long?

All in all, this is a very good 150 page book. But it's 250 pages.
]]> Petey & Pussy 4747781 Petey and Pussy, John Kerschbaum’s new graphic novel, reads very much like a Looney Tunes cartoon—if all of the anthropomorphic animals were kvetching, balding, foul-mouthed misanthropes. Each character is articulate (and, in fact, can speak directly to humans, well enough to order a beer) but still recognizably have the traits associated with their respective species: Pete, the dog, is happy-go-lucky; Pussy, the cat, is self-centered; and Bernie, the bird, is high-strung and constantly a-twitter. Together, they are the pets of a sweet old lady whose obliviousness to the lunacy unfolding around her is second only to her own hygienic repugnance. The Sisyphean struggles of the characters is brought to the fore—the cat is compelled to try and catch the mouse, the bird struggles to escape his cage—as the trio engage in slapstick adventures that are simultaneously given an edge and made hilarious by a twisted combination of mundane realism and insouciant gross-out humor.
Kerschbaum cheerfully includes all the blood and guts that are left out of the cartoons, and lovingly renders his motley crew in a densely textured urban setting. And like the animated cartoons it echoes in an oddly surreal way, when the mayhem dies down, the characters come to the realization that their identities� are defined by the way they relate to the others, and that one’s opponent might be one’s truest friend when both face a true threat.]]> 129 John Kerschbaum 1560979798 Paul 5
Because...DAMN...this stuff is funny. Petey and Pussy are both hilarious, but it's poor Bernie the bird that steals the show. Kerschbaum's art is beautiful, and as before I spent my reading time shrinking ever inward at the gloriously horrible predicaments on the page, but at the same time laughing until my intestines came out my nose.

I've pretty much resolved never to give five stars in my reviews, but dammit, anything less and I couldn't sleep at nights. ]]> 3.49 2008 Petey & Pussy
author: John Kerschbaum
name: Paul
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2008/12/04
date added: 2008/12/07
shelves:
review:
When I read the 1st Petey & Pussy comic, I laughed for weeks. Also, I cringed for weeks. Even now, years later, some of the lines can make me laugh, so when I saw that a book was coming out, a book that contained not only the original Petey & Pussy comic, but a wealth of new material, I jumped on it like Oscar Wilde on a towel boy.

Because...DAMN...this stuff is funny. Petey and Pussy are both hilarious, but it's poor Bernie the bird that steals the show. Kerschbaum's art is beautiful, and as before I spent my reading time shrinking ever inward at the gloriously horrible predicaments on the page, but at the same time laughing until my intestines came out my nose.

I've pretty much resolved never to give five stars in my reviews, but dammit, anything less and I couldn't sleep at nights.
]]> Curses 154237 "One of the brightest, most interesting new comix authors to appear in the last five years." -Time.com

Delving into mythology, belief, and spirituality,Kevin Huizenga's short stories are based on the lives of familiar characters confronting the textures of mortality in unique and sometimes peculiar ways. Huizenga fuses the most banal aspects of modern culture with its most looming questions in a consistently genial style. Lighthearted, but with a healthy dose of nineteenth-century spine tingling, the narratives presented in Curses are insightful portrayals of reality. Huizenga's central character in his comics is Glenn Ganges, a seemingly middle-class man living in the suburbs whose blank-eyed wonderment at everyday experiences brings together such diverse aspects of our world as golf, theology, late-night diners, parenthood, politics, Sudanese refugees, and hallucinatory vision, into a complete experience as multifaceted as our own lives.

Huizenga is regarded by many as one of the most promising young cartoonists of his generation, whose artistic talent, singular writing, and studied substance prove the versatility of his skill. Curses collects his work from Kramer's Ergot and The Drawn & Quarterly Showcase, his award-winning and nominated comic-book series Or Else, and Time magazine; it is the most extensive selection of his comics to date in a single volume.

]]> 144 Kevin Huizenga 1894937864 Paul 2 28th Street in particular, which showcase how good he can be at times, but the book also overwhelmingly showcases how he can't ever put his finger on an ending, and so simply runs on until everything completely runs out of gas and, far worse from my side, the book also stresses how he would apparently be more comfortable illustrating religious pamphlets. The last story (barring a short afterward story) in particular, was an endless discussion of religious philosophy that actually overrode my love for Huizenga's illustrations and made me quit. ]]> 3.85 2006 Curses
author: Kevin Huizenga
name: Paul
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2008/12/02
date added: 2008/12/02
shelves:
review:
Huizenga has always been a cartoonist who strives to make me NOT like his material, despite his always engaging and straightforward cartooning style. This book has some works, 28th Street in particular, which showcase how good he can be at times, but the book also overwhelmingly showcases how he can't ever put his finger on an ending, and so simply runs on until everything completely runs out of gas and, far worse from my side, the book also stresses how he would apparently be more comfortable illustrating religious pamphlets. The last story (barring a short afterward story) in particular, was an endless discussion of religious philosophy that actually overrode my love for Huizenga's illustrations and made me quit.
]]> Music and Eros (Temporis) 5135999 256 Hans-Jürgen Döpp 1859956793 Paul 2 two stars based on a combination of art and writing, and I gave the art four stars, so what does that mean about the writing?

Yep... negative two stars.

What's my problem with it? Mostly that it seems like a college thesis. Or a high school thesis. Excerpts are the name of the game, and the excerpts are often PAGES long, so the book itself has no voice whatsoever, no message of its own. The whole theme is supposed to be about Music and Eros, and neither music nor love-making do well as excerpts.

Like...."Pardon me, Sophia, but I'm an 'excerpt' lover, so I'll stop by later and immediately tweak your nipples, then leave."

or...

"Hey! I made you a mix tape. It's got fifteen seconds each of all my favorite songs!"

Yeah....neither one works, and this book didn't either. There's no cohesion to the book, no passion to the writing, and losing passion when writing about eros is unforgivable. ]]> 3.50 2008 Music and Eros (Temporis)
author: Hans-Jürgen Döpp
name: Paul
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2008/12/02
date added: 2008/12/02
shelves:
review:
I'm giving this book an overall two stars based on a combination of art and writing, and I gave the art four stars, so what does that mean about the writing?

Yep... negative two stars.

What's my problem with it? Mostly that it seems like a college thesis. Or a high school thesis. Excerpts are the name of the game, and the excerpts are often PAGES long, so the book itself has no voice whatsoever, no message of its own. The whole theme is supposed to be about Music and Eros, and neither music nor love-making do well as excerpts.

Like...."Pardon me, Sophia, but I'm an 'excerpt' lover, so I'll stop by later and immediately tweak your nipples, then leave."

or...

"Hey! I made you a mix tape. It's got fifteen seconds each of all my favorite songs!"

Yeah....neither one works, and this book didn't either. There's no cohesion to the book, no passion to the writing, and losing passion when writing about eros is unforgivable.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mousehunter (Mousehunter Trilogy, Book 1)]]> 4267172 448 Alex Milway 057123433X Paul 3
The writing is fairly nicely done, though, and as this book clearly sets up another volume, or perhaps a full series, I would have little reservation about picking up the next book to see how it, and Milway, develop. ]]> 3.92 2007 The Mousehunter (Mousehunter Trilogy, Book 1)
author: Alex Milway
name: Paul
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/12/01
date added: 2008/12/01
shelves:
review:
Basic premise of the book was very original, but Milway allowed that premise to carry too much of the book. EVERY character was in some way wrapped up with hunting mice. EVERY single person in the world was in some way a part of the mouse trade. EVERYTHING was wrapped up with the mice. As a result, characters often seemed to be a reflection of each other, and the storyline became a bit predictable.

The writing is fairly nicely done, though, and as this book clearly sets up another volume, or perhaps a full series, I would have little reservation about picking up the next book to see how it, and Milway, develop.
]]> Pauline's 2864619 295 Pauline Tabor 0879630086 Paul 4
But, if you can write such things, if you've lived such things, then I suppose it's far easier to tell someone what you think, because you've faced humanity in all its forms, have seen it again and again, and the sex hangups that we all have (I number mine, and stack them beneath the drawing board, and in the basement storage area) have become so commonplace to you that it's no longer even an item of interest...then you have the ability to look past it without judging. I suppose that's what attracts me to books of this sort.

Also...I have a romantic yen for the true brothels of yesteryear, the soiree society that no longer exists, where life in the brothel parlor was as important an aspect as any of the bedrooms, where culture counted, poise was praised, and laughter was a key ingredient. Today's culture is that of focusing on the sex, rather than the woman. No wonder that it's seen with such shame.

Ahh...shame; you are the obstacle that trips us all.

Good lord...I do wander.

But...this book. Yes. It's good. Pauline Tabor has a few unfortunate opinions here and there (such as when she states her opinion on women's lib, which includes how men should feel free to "clout their wives" more often, and a few rather outdated phrasings for minority races) but all in all she's a charming woman who's lived an interesting life full of shotguns and snowstorms and humanity peeled clean. ]]> 3.87 1971 Pauline's
author: Pauline Tabor
name: Paul
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/30
date added: 2008/12/01
shelves:
review:
Tabor ran a brothel in Bowling Green for some forty years, and her matter of fact look at humanity is anchored in what she learned during that time. I often find books by those who have worked in the sex trade to be the most insightful, because the authors have been largely stripped of their fear of offending. Even here, in this review, I wonder about the limits of what should be said, but Tabor can nonchalantly tell stories of men who pay women to, ummm (see...I hesitate!) do their duty upon crackers, so as to provide an enticing meal. Yuck!

But, if you can write such things, if you've lived such things, then I suppose it's far easier to tell someone what you think, because you've faced humanity in all its forms, have seen it again and again, and the sex hangups that we all have (I number mine, and stack them beneath the drawing board, and in the basement storage area) have become so commonplace to you that it's no longer even an item of interest...then you have the ability to look past it without judging. I suppose that's what attracts me to books of this sort.

Also...I have a romantic yen for the true brothels of yesteryear, the soiree society that no longer exists, where life in the brothel parlor was as important an aspect as any of the bedrooms, where culture counted, poise was praised, and laughter was a key ingredient. Today's culture is that of focusing on the sex, rather than the woman. No wonder that it's seen with such shame.

Ahh...shame; you are the obstacle that trips us all.

Good lord...I do wander.

But...this book. Yes. It's good. Pauline Tabor has a few unfortunate opinions here and there (such as when she states her opinion on women's lib, which includes how men should feel free to "clout their wives" more often, and a few rather outdated phrasings for minority races) but all in all she's a charming woman who's lived an interesting life full of shotguns and snowstorms and humanity peeled clean.
]]> <![CDATA[Beerspit Night and Cursing : the Correspondence of Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli, 1960-1967]]> 50499 380 Charles Bukowski 1574231502 Paul 3 BEFORE he realized he wasn't going to get in her pants, and then the letters after that sad realization.

At first Buk is a praise-horse that Sheri can ride around, and he hardly chides her at all on her incredibly pretentious writing style (which can best be described as a cell phone text message of some 2000 words) and even goes along with her when (c'mon, Buk!) she starts honestly talking about visits from the Great God Pan, who simply MUST be the one that's moving her incense candles and divining sticks around. After all, she hears the lutes!

But Bukowski plays right along with it, now and then mentioning that the two of them should meet.

Here....I'll out my gender. Ladies, when we men say, "Your ideas are very fascinating and we should meet up to discuss them," what we really mean is, "Your ideas might well be fascinating, but I really haven't been paying attention. We should have a lot of sex."

After they've been writing to each other for a few years, though, a different Bukowski takes control. This is the guy who knows only tragedy can possibly occur if the two of them were to meet, and hell, Sheri's getting kind of old anyway, and Buk isn't sure a woman is any better than a beer, so why go through all the effort? At this point Buk no longer cares too much if he needs to call bullshit on what Sheri is talking about. So he does it. A lot.

Of course...Sheri wasn't stupid, either. And she had the luxury (oh, you women!) of ALWAYS calling Buk on his own bullshit, which of course he had in spades. His bullshit, and his sporadic control of it, is what made him a good writer.

All in all, a fairly interesting look at a correspondence between a beautiful woman who was an ugly writer, and an ugly man who was a beautiful writer. ]]> 3.79 2001 Beerspit Night and Cursing : the Correspondence of Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli, 1960-1967
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Paul
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2008/11/29
date added: 2008/12/01
shelves:
review:
Fascinating because of the two clear divisions in the book. The letters Bukowski wrote to Martinelli BEFORE he realized he wasn't going to get in her pants, and then the letters after that sad realization.

At first Buk is a praise-horse that Sheri can ride around, and he hardly chides her at all on her incredibly pretentious writing style (which can best be described as a cell phone text message of some 2000 words) and even goes along with her when (c'mon, Buk!) she starts honestly talking about visits from the Great God Pan, who simply MUST be the one that's moving her incense candles and divining sticks around. After all, she hears the lutes!

But Bukowski plays right along with it, now and then mentioning that the two of them should meet.

Here....I'll out my gender. Ladies, when we men say, "Your ideas are very fascinating and we should meet up to discuss them," what we really mean is, "Your ideas might well be fascinating, but I really haven't been paying attention. We should have a lot of sex."

After they've been writing to each other for a few years, though, a different Bukowski takes control. This is the guy who knows only tragedy can possibly occur if the two of them were to meet, and hell, Sheri's getting kind of old anyway, and Buk isn't sure a woman is any better than a beer, so why go through all the effort? At this point Buk no longer cares too much if he needs to call bullshit on what Sheri is talking about. So he does it. A lot.

Of course...Sheri wasn't stupid, either. And she had the luxury (oh, you women!) of ALWAYS calling Buk on his own bullshit, which of course he had in spades. His bullshit, and his sporadic control of it, is what made him a good writer.

All in all, a fairly interesting look at a correspondence between a beautiful woman who was an ugly writer, and an ugly man who was a beautiful writer.
]]> Water for Elephants 43641
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.]]> 368 Sara Gruen 1565125606 Paul 3


This review is going to sound more negative than it really is. I did finish the book, which I don't do with books I'm not enjoying, and I did give it three stars, but frankly one of the stars was for effort, not quality.

What most surprised me about this book was how unoriginal it was. I'd heard such good things about how it keeps readers at the edge of their seats, and how it was a bold new story, etc.

But really, this seems like the type of novel most enjoyed by people who don't read very much.

Because the "old-timer telling the circus story" has been done a million times.

As has the "lowly helper with a heart of gold who falls in love with the popular beauty queen" story.

And it goes hand in hand with the "beautiful woman married to a cruel and despotic man" treatment.

Each part of the novel, from how Jacob's parents die in a car accident, which takes him from a promising career, and how his "rich" parents turn out to be in debt because they were overly helping their neighbors, and how Jacob makes friends at the circus, and his fumblings with the carnival prostitute, every detail comes in tagged for its proper position.

Dwarf enemy who turns into a friend when Jacob uses his veterinary skills to help the dwarf's sick dog? Check.

Almost lose virginity but get drunk and puke on prostitute? Check.

Horrible husband mistreats animals? Check.

Jacob and Marlena do not cuckold husband until AFTER he catches them doing something nice for him, but he misreads it as an assignation, and beats the wife? Sure...it's here.

Animals get their revenge on the bad guy? Of course.

Ahh...it's all here. But, I'll give Gruen this....she didn't overly complicate the writing, which I appreciate. So if you're a longtime reader who's starved for something good to read, you could do worse. But if you're a beginning reader who hasn't ever been exposed to any form of literature before....then check out this "fresh, new, exciting portrayal of circus life." ]]> 4.11 2006 Water for Elephants
author: Sara Gruen
name: Paul
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2008/11/27
date added: 2008/12/01
shelves:
review:
Oh, be wary. Spoilers ahead.



This review is going to sound more negative than it really is. I did finish the book, which I don't do with books I'm not enjoying, and I did give it three stars, but frankly one of the stars was for effort, not quality.

What most surprised me about this book was how unoriginal it was. I'd heard such good things about how it keeps readers at the edge of their seats, and how it was a bold new story, etc.

But really, this seems like the type of novel most enjoyed by people who don't read very much.

Because the "old-timer telling the circus story" has been done a million times.

As has the "lowly helper with a heart of gold who falls in love with the popular beauty queen" story.

And it goes hand in hand with the "beautiful woman married to a cruel and despotic man" treatment.

Each part of the novel, from how Jacob's parents die in a car accident, which takes him from a promising career, and how his "rich" parents turn out to be in debt because they were overly helping their neighbors, and how Jacob makes friends at the circus, and his fumblings with the carnival prostitute, every detail comes in tagged for its proper position.

Dwarf enemy who turns into a friend when Jacob uses his veterinary skills to help the dwarf's sick dog? Check.

Almost lose virginity but get drunk and puke on prostitute? Check.

Horrible husband mistreats animals? Check.

Jacob and Marlena do not cuckold husband until AFTER he catches them doing something nice for him, but he misreads it as an assignation, and beats the wife? Sure...it's here.

Animals get their revenge on the bad guy? Of course.

Ahh...it's all here. But, I'll give Gruen this....she didn't overly complicate the writing, which I appreciate. So if you're a longtime reader who's starved for something good to read, you could do worse. But if you're a beginning reader who hasn't ever been exposed to any form of literature before....then check out this "fresh, new, exciting portrayal of circus life."
]]> <![CDATA[The Push Man and Other Stories]]> 53178 A collection of short stories from the grandfather of Japanese alternative comics.

Legendary cartoonist Yoshihiro Tatsumi is the grandfather of alternative manga for the adult reader. Predating the advent of the literary graphic novel movement in the United States by thirty years, Tatsumi created a library of literary comics that draws parallels with modern prose fiction and today's alternative comics.

Designed and edited by one of today's most popular cartoonists, Adrian Tomine, The Push Man and Other Stories is the debut volume in a groundbreaking new series that collects Tatsumi's short stories about Japanese urban life. Tatsumi's stories are simultaneously haunting, disturbing, and darkly humorous, commenting on the interplay between an overwhelming, bustling, crowded modern society and the troubled emotional and sexual life of the individual.
]]> 224 Yoshihiro Tatsumi 1896597858 Paul 4
What's really amazing is that this array of similarly themed stories, in terms of emotion, have such a broad spectrum of characters. Sure, they're all down-and-outers, but for different reasons, leaving different lives. Too many authors I've encountered have an entire character in mind, and that characters is just plugged into the necessary plot.

Oh? I need a depressed and sexually repressed character? Time to dust off Character S-3!

But Tatsumi's character remain individuals, and because of this the whole book is satisfying, not just the individual stories. ]]> 3.98 1969 The Push Man and Other Stories
author: Yoshihiro Tatsumi
name: Paul
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/25
date added: 2008/12/01
shelves:
review:
What am amazingly bleak read. Sixteen short stories, and at best they end with an uplifting "I'm not quite as worthless and hopeless as I'd feared!" message.

What's really amazing is that this array of similarly themed stories, in terms of emotion, have such a broad spectrum of characters. Sure, they're all down-and-outers, but for different reasons, leaving different lives. Too many authors I've encountered have an entire character in mind, and that characters is just plugged into the necessary plot.

Oh? I need a depressed and sexually repressed character? Time to dust off Character S-3!

But Tatsumi's character remain individuals, and because of this the whole book is satisfying, not just the individual stories.
]]> <![CDATA[Small Favor (The Dresden Files, #10)]]> 927979 THE New York Times Bestseller

Harry Dresden's life finally seems to be calming down -- until a shadow from the past returns. Mab, monarch of the Sidhe Winter Court, calls in an old favor from Harry -- one small favor that will trap him between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and that will strain his skills -- and loyalties -- to their very limits.]]> 423 Jim Butcher 0451461894 Paul 4 ]]> 4.43 2008 Small Favor (The Dresden Files, #10)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Paul
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/23
date added: 2008/11/30
shelves:
review:
More frenetic goodness. Butcher's pacing and characterization continues to mature, which is saying something after ten novels. But, he has patience, and skill, and knows how to keep a reader turning the pages.

]]> <![CDATA[White Night (The Dresden Files, #9)]]> 91475
Someone is targeting the members of the city’s supernatural underclass—those who don’t possess enough power to become full-fledged wizards. Some have vanished. Others appear to be victims of suicide. But now the culprit has left a calling card at one of the crime scenes—a message for Harry Dresden.

Harry sets out to find the apparent serial killer, but his investigation turns up evidence pointing to the one suspect he cannot possibly believe guilty: his half-brother, Thomas. To clear his brother’s name, Harry rushes into a supernatural power struggle that renders him outnumbered, outclassed, and dangerously susceptible to temptation.

And Harry knows that if he screws this one up, people will die—and one of them will be his brother...]]> 407 Jim Butcher 0451461401 Paul 4
I've kind of given up writing detailed reviews for the Dresden series. If I've made it to Book Nine, I think that says something. You don't date a girl nine times unless there's an attraction.

Please be advised that the previous analogy should in no way be construed as me linking myself and author Jim Butcher with any form of dating, as he is (A) not a woman and (B) needs a haircut. ]]> 4.38 2007 White Night (The Dresden Files, #9)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Paul
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/15
date added: 2008/11/29
shelves:
review:
Old characters revisit the series, and don't muck things up. That in itself is impressive, because too often in such writings the old characters seem thrust into a plot where they're superfluous, but Butcher works them into the plot in a natural manner.

I've kind of given up writing detailed reviews for the Dresden series. If I've made it to Book Nine, I think that says something. You don't date a girl nine times unless there's an attraction.

Please be advised that the previous analogy should in no way be construed as me linking myself and author Jim Butcher with any form of dating, as he is (A) not a woman and (B) needs a haircut.
]]> <![CDATA[The Acme Novelty Date-book, Vol. 2: 1995-2002]]> 630114
Straggling behind the mild 2003 success of cartoonist Chris Ware's first facsimile collection of his miscellaneous sketches, notes, and adolescent fantasies arrives this second volume, updating weary readers with Ware's clichéd and outmoded insights from the late twentieth century.

Working directly in pen and ink, watercolor, and white-out whenever he makes a mistake, Ware has cannily edited out all legally sensitive and personally incriminating material from his private journals, carefully recomposing each page to simulate the appearance of an ordered mind and established aesthetic directive. All phone numbers, references to ex-girlfriends, "false starts," and embarrassing experiments with unfamiliar drawing media have been generously excised to present the reader with the most pleasant and colorful sketchbook reading experience available. Included are Ware's frustrated doodles for his book covers, angry personal assaults on friends, half-finished comic strips, and lengthy and tiresome fulminations of personal disappointments both social and sexual, as well as his now-beloved drawings of the generally miserable inhabitants of the city of Chicago. All in all, a necessary volume for fans of fine art, water-based media, and personal diatribe. This hardcover is attractively designed and easy to resell.
]]> 208 Chris Ware 1897299184 Paul 4
What was left was a wealth of incredible illustrations, and a wealth of Ware whining about his art, his life, and anything that came to mind. The guy is as bad as Brunetti, at times, but for some reason I find it funny with Brunetti, but sad with Ware. I'd give up a mistress for half of Ware's talent, and once I had that half-share of talent I'd let everyone know that I was the Greatest Artist to Ever Grace Earth with His Illustrative Genius but Ware spends most of the book complaining about what a failure he is. I found myself vacillating between thinking that Ware should spend less time whining and more time art-ing, and wondering if it was these delusions of failure that fuel his genius in the first place.

Still...genius it is, and I'll slap four stars on the table. ]]> 4.20 2007 The Acme Novelty Date-book, Vol. 2: 1995-2002
author: Chris Ware
name: Paul
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/17
date added: 2008/11/29
shelves:
review:
My main problem with this book is its size. I would have had to get out a magnifying glass in order to read a lot of the cartoon text from Ware's sketchbook pages, and it simply wasn't worth the effort, so many of the intricate cartoons were left unread.

What was left was a wealth of incredible illustrations, and a wealth of Ware whining about his art, his life, and anything that came to mind. The guy is as bad as Brunetti, at times, but for some reason I find it funny with Brunetti, but sad with Ware. I'd give up a mistress for half of Ware's talent, and once I had that half-share of talent I'd let everyone know that I was the Greatest Artist to Ever Grace Earth with His Illustrative Genius but Ware spends most of the book complaining about what a failure he is. I found myself vacillating between thinking that Ware should spend less time whining and more time art-ing, and wondering if it was these delusions of failure that fuel his genius in the first place.

Still...genius it is, and I'll slap four stars on the table.
]]> <![CDATA[The Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole]]> 1036854 Jack Cole 1560975598 Paul 4
Book could have used some attribution as to where the cartoons were from, and I could have used a more in-depth look at Cole himself, but for an introductory look at the man and his cartoons, this book does a pretty good job.

And I still like to know why Jack killed himself. Idiot. ]]> 4.23 2004 The Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole
author: Jack Cole
name: Paul
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/16
date added: 2008/11/29
shelves:
review:
A pleasant look at a man whose work constantly amazes me. His woman have such a vitality, a zest for life, and Cole could capture (or insinuate) emotion with a few deft lines. A real talent when most artists draw for hours and never reach any character depth.

Book could have used some attribution as to where the cartoons were from, and I could have used a more in-depth look at Cole himself, but for an introductory look at the man and his cartoons, this book does a pretty good job.

And I still like to know why Jack killed himself. Idiot.
]]> <![CDATA[Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, #8)]]> 91474
As Harry adjusts to his new role, another problem arrives in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend is the only suspect in what looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob....]]> 547 Jim Butcher 0451461037 Paul 4 4.39 2006 Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, #8)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Paul
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/13
date added: 2008/11/29
shelves:
review:
It's book 8, and Butcher actually seems to be getting better, juggling his characters with more skill, using his breakneck pace to better advantage, and expanding the relationships of his main characters without losing their basic personalities. Really, I'm kind of impressed. Sure, it's fluffy action writing, but it's damn good fluffy action writing.
]]> <![CDATA[Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7)]]> 17683
Luckily, however, he's not alone. Although most people don't believe in magic, the Chicago P.D. has a Special Investigations department, headed by his good friend Karrin Murphy. They deal with the . . . stranger cases. It's down to Karrin that Harry sneaks into Graceland Cemetery to meet a vampire named Mavra. Mavra has evidence that would destroy Karrin's career, and her demands are simple. She wants the Word of Kemmler - and all the power that comes with it. But first, Harry's keen to know what he'd be handing over. Before long he's racing against time, and six necromancers, to get the Word. And to prevent a Halloween that would truly wake the dead.

Magic - it can get a guy killed.]]> 528 Jim Butcher 045146091X Paul 4
What can you say about a book when you're reviewing the 7th one in the series? I mean, obviously you've thought the ride was worth it. ]]> 4.41 2005 Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Paul
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/14
date added: 2008/11/26
shelves:
review:
One of the more imaginative books of the series, and some really nice character intro's...or actually fleshing out of some characters who had been barely touched upon previously.

What can you say about a book when you're reviewing the 7th one in the series? I mean, obviously you've thought the ride was worth it.
]]> <![CDATA[A Loud Humming Sound Came From Above]]> 2215048 165 Johnny Strike 0977895203 Paul 4
Then, because I was caught without anything to read, I flipped through the book a second time and became more engrossed. I think it was because I started to equate these stories with chapter installments from the old pulp magazines, and once I quit worrying about the lack of endings (which, in my mind, were in the next issue of Astounding Stories, or Weird Tales, or other classic old pulp magazines) I was able to enjoy the writing for what it was. So, yeah, I like this book now.

Oddly, I'm writing two reviews today, and the other one is for Bat-Manga, where I crab incessantly about how the stories are incomplete, and how that really bugged me. Why is it okay with me this time? I don't know. I suppose I must either be overly complex, or simply a cretin. ]]> 3.59 2007 A Loud Humming Sound Came From Above
author: Johnny Strike
name: Paul
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2008/11/12
date added: 2008/11/26
shelves:
review:
I was initially attracted to this book because of the Richard Sala cover and interior drawings, as I'm a huge fan of his work. I read the book in about four hours, and wasn't initially impressed, as many of the stories are incomplete chapters. The writing is good, but stories can end abruptly.

Then, because I was caught without anything to read, I flipped through the book a second time and became more engrossed. I think it was because I started to equate these stories with chapter installments from the old pulp magazines, and once I quit worrying about the lack of endings (which, in my mind, were in the next issue of Astounding Stories, or Weird Tales, or other classic old pulp magazines) I was able to enjoy the writing for what it was. So, yeah, I like this book now.

Oddly, I'm writing two reviews today, and the other one is for Bat-Manga, where I crab incessantly about how the stories are incomplete, and how that really bugged me. Why is it okay with me this time? I don't know. I suppose I must either be overly complex, or simply a cretin.
]]> <![CDATA[Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan]]> 2841732
In 1966, during the height of the first Batman craze, a weekly Japanese manga anthology for boys, Shonen King , licensed the rights to commission its own Batman and Robin stories. A year later, the stories stopped. They were never collected in Japan, and never translated into English. Now, in this gorgeously produced book, hundreds of pages of Batman-manga comics more than four decades old are translated for the first time, appearing alongside stunning photographs of the world’s most comprehensive collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys.

This is The Dynamic Duo as you’ve never seen with a distinctly Japanese, atomic-age twist as they battle aliens, mutated dinosaurs, and villains who won’t stay dead. And as a Jiro Kuwata, the manga master who originally wrote and drew this material, has given an exclusive interview for our book.

More than just a dazzling novelty, Bat-Manga! is an invaluable, long-lost chapter in the history of one of the most beloved and timeless figures in comics.]]> 352 Chip Kidd 0375714847 Paul 3
I've read an interview with Chip Kidd where he made it sound like the 60's publisher (which is still going strong) would have files of all the originals, but that it just wasn't worth the expense of traveling to Japan in order to get them, and he didn't feel like they'd trust the mail (or even him) enough to send the originals to the states. To me, though, that sounds like a lack of effort on the part of Kidd and the publisher. I don't like being essentially told "Yeah, we could have made the book better, but it wasn't worth it to us."

They have phones in Japan. And really good copy machines. And this neat way to send digital files. Heck...David Mazzucchelli is probably still living in Japan...drop a dime and give him a call. He'd help.

But, beyond this bitching, the book was indeed an enjoyable read. And of course with Chip Kidd at the helm, it was really nice put together, although sometimes suffering from Kidd over-designing. He's so good at designing books that sometimes he can't slow his own momentum.

Mostly, this book pleased me because the writers clearly weren't immersed in the Bat-Man mythos since childhood, and that meant that Bats and Bruce were sometimes just pulling wackiness out of thin air, an "anything goes" atmosphere that I found charming. ]]> 3.85 2008 Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan
author: Chip Kidd
name: Paul
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2008/11/10
date added: 2008/11/26
shelves:
review:
I know that these Japanese Bat-Man books are incredibly rare, but I would have liked the publication of this book to have been put off until a few more originals were dug up, mostly so that the included stories could be completed. Many of the stories in this collection have no beginnings (or sometimes middles, other times endings) because the proper installment wasn't located.

I've read an interview with Chip Kidd where he made it sound like the 60's publisher (which is still going strong) would have files of all the originals, but that it just wasn't worth the expense of traveling to Japan in order to get them, and he didn't feel like they'd trust the mail (or even him) enough to send the originals to the states. To me, though, that sounds like a lack of effort on the part of Kidd and the publisher. I don't like being essentially told "Yeah, we could have made the book better, but it wasn't worth it to us."

They have phones in Japan. And really good copy machines. And this neat way to send digital files. Heck...David Mazzucchelli is probably still living in Japan...drop a dime and give him a call. He'd help.

But, beyond this bitching, the book was indeed an enjoyable read. And of course with Chip Kidd at the helm, it was really nice put together, although sometimes suffering from Kidd over-designing. He's so good at designing books that sometimes he can't slow his own momentum.

Mostly, this book pleased me because the writers clearly weren't immersed in the Bat-Man mythos since childhood, and that meant that Bats and Bruce were sometimes just pulling wackiness out of thin air, an "anything goes" atmosphere that I found charming.
]]> Darconville's Cat 193408
Darconville’s Cat is a novel about love and hate. Among other matters, it deals with delicate tensions between Life and Art, the Ideal and the Real, God and Satan, and, above all, with the crises and conflicts between Man and Woman, the tragic implications of which reach all the way back to the Primal Fall.

Its chapters embody a multiplicity of narrative forms, including a diary, a formal oration, an abecedarium, a sermon, a litany, a blank-verse play, poems, essays, parodies, and fables. It is an explosion of vocabulary, rich with comic invention and dark with infernal imagination.

Alexander Theroux restores words to life, invents others, liberates a language too long polluted by mutters and mumbles, anti-logic, and the inexact lunacies of the modern world where the possibility of communication itself is in question. An elegantly executed jailbreak from the ordinary, Darconville’s Cat is excessive; funny; uncompromising; a powerful epic, coming out of a tradition, yet contempo- rary, of both the sacred and the profane.]]> 720 Alexander Theroux 0805043659 Paul 0 no-reason-to-finish
Does this book have big words because it's uber-literate, with connotations and messages that can only be conveyed with seven-syllable words?

Or...


Does this book have big words because the author wants to SEEM uber-literate, but is actually only being pretentious, and waving these big words around in the manner of an exhibitionist displaying his genitalia?

With this book, I chose the latter, and quit. ]]> 4.21 1981 Darconville's Cat
author: Alexander Theroux
name: Paul
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at: 2008/11/01
date added: 2008/11/15
shelves: no-reason-to-finish
review:
When I pick up a book with a more-than-usual assortment of big words, I have to make a quick decision.

Does this book have big words because it's uber-literate, with connotations and messages that can only be conveyed with seven-syllable words?

Or...


Does this book have big words because the author wants to SEEM uber-literate, but is actually only being pretentious, and waving these big words around in the manner of an exhibitionist displaying his genitalia?

With this book, I chose the latter, and quit.
]]> <![CDATA[Top Hats and Flappers: The Art of Russell Patterson]]> 157595 Rare book 176 Russell Patterson 156097737X Paul 4
Prior to reading this book, I had high regard for Patterson. His women are always so full of life and the spark of femininity. He's like John Held Jr. with better line work. After reading the book, I still feel the same way, but I've gained a newfound respect for Patterson's design work, especially in the 1st and 2nd boom periods of his career.

All in all, a nice book, with a pleasing mixture of text and illustrations. I could have used a little more attribution as to where the illustrations were from, but that was only a minor bump in an otherwise well constructed package. ]]> 4.20 2006 Top Hats and Flappers: The Art of Russell Patterson
author: Russell Patterson
name: Paul
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/30
date added: 2008/11/15
shelves:
review:
Well, I like girls. And I like illustrations. From this, one could reasonably assume that I like illustrations of girls, and that assumption is spot on.

Prior to reading this book, I had high regard for Patterson. His women are always so full of life and the spark of femininity. He's like John Held Jr. with better line work. After reading the book, I still feel the same way, but I've gained a newfound respect for Patterson's design work, especially in the 1st and 2nd boom periods of his career.

All in all, a nice book, with a pleasing mixture of text and illustrations. I could have used a little more attribution as to where the illustrations were from, but that was only a minor bump in an otherwise well constructed package.
]]> <![CDATA[The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills]]> 141527 208 Charles Bukowski 0876850050 Paul 2
So, while these poems have some of Buk's rawest emotions in them, the messages are dulled by incoherency, by lost beats, by thoughts that start up halfway through and then transform into other thoughts before finishing. Worse, Buk often seems to sense these problems himself, and forces "poetry" into the mix in a desperate attempt to solve them. It doesn't work, because he's never at his best when trying to be a poet (no one is) but rather when he's simply recording his life and thoughts in the form of poetry---one of those supposedly subtle distinctions that's actually miles wide. ]]> 4.13 1969 The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Paul
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1969
rating: 2
read at: 2008/10/24
date added: 2008/11/15
shelves:
review:
Definitely one of Buk's lesser lights. He's at his best when he's skirting the edge of drunkenly rambling about his life, but during this period, perhaps (in fact, almost assuredly) because he was so affected by Jane's death, the edge is not so much skirted as it is toppled from.

So, while these poems have some of Buk's rawest emotions in them, the messages are dulled by incoherency, by lost beats, by thoughts that start up halfway through and then transform into other thoughts before finishing. Worse, Buk often seems to sense these problems himself, and forces "poetry" into the mix in a desperate attempt to solve them. It doesn't work, because he's never at his best when trying to be a poet (no one is) but rather when he's simply recording his life and thoughts in the form of poetry---one of those supposedly subtle distinctions that's actually miles wide.
]]> Creepy Archives, Vol. 1 2849538 240 Archie Goodwin 1593079737 Paul 0 to-read 4.11 2008 Creepy Archives, Vol. 1
author: Archie Goodwin
name: Paul
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/11/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pornographer of Vienna 1167602 Rare Book 312 Lewis Crofts 1905847122 Paul 3
This time I didn't avoid it, and so I course could not avoid the reasons I normally avoid these things in the first place, and that's that they either have too little character (because the author didn't want to in any way foster a false look at the subject) or else they have too MUCH character, because the author HAS developed a false look at the subject. So, it's a no win situation, and, not surprisingly, readers don't win with this novel either.

There are times, instances, though, where I felt some connection with Egon's fervor, and the decadence of Klimt, so everything wasn't a total loss, and if someone were to do a fictionalized biography of Otto Dix than I'd probably make the same mistakes all over again.
]]> 3.67 2007 Pornographer of Vienna
author: Lewis Crofts
name: Paul
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/10/20
date added: 2008/11/03
shelves:
review:
My thoughts waver on this book. On one hand I'm happy to have any material on Egon Schiele, an artist whose work I adore, and of which there's not nearly as much material as there could/should be. On the other hand, this is a fictionalized biography, and that is something I normally would dive in a razor-filled ditch to avoid.

This time I didn't avoid it, and so I course could not avoid the reasons I normally avoid these things in the first place, and that's that they either have too little character (because the author didn't want to in any way foster a false look at the subject) or else they have too MUCH character, because the author HAS developed a false look at the subject. So, it's a no win situation, and, not surprisingly, readers don't win with this novel either.

There are times, instances, though, where I felt some connection with Egon's fervor, and the decadence of Klimt, so everything wasn't a total loss, and if someone were to do a fictionalized biography of Otto Dix than I'd probably make the same mistakes all over again.

]]> Dangling in the Tournefortia 70883 288 Charles Bukowski 0876855257 Paul 4
I often wonder how often Buk himself stated these thoughts out loud. It's very easy to confess your hatred and desires (and the combination of the two) to a beer can: did he do it in real life? I mean, I know he could be an asshole in real life...but could he do it and still be a poet?

Doesn't really matter. He did it here and I like it. And it soothes me to know that I'm not alone. ]]> 4.05 1981 Dangling in the Tournefortia
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Paul
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1981
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/17
date added: 2008/11/03
shelves:
review:
A very solid time frame for Bukowski. He was at the top of his writing powers, and letting his poems run free, without forcing them or thinking he had to be a Poet rather than a poet. His poems here have a great deal of pain, a rather greater amount of pride, and the brash simplicity of his thoughts echo that subset of my own thoughts that are probably best left unstated.

I often wonder how often Buk himself stated these thoughts out loud. It's very easy to confess your hatred and desires (and the combination of the two) to a beer can: did he do it in real life? I mean, I know he could be an asshole in real life...but could he do it and still be a poet?

Doesn't really matter. He did it here and I like it. And it soothes me to know that I'm not alone.
]]> <![CDATA[Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom]]> 40145
Leonard S. Marcus has culled an exceptional collection of letters from the HarperCollins archives. The letters included here are representative of the brilliant correspondence that was instrumental in the creation of some of the most beloved books in the world today. Full of wit and humor, they are immensely entertaining, thought-provoking, and moving in their revelation of the devotion and high-voltage intellect of an incomparably gifted editor, mentor, and publishing visionary.]]> 406 Ursula Nordstrom 0064462358 Paul 4 children's books came into being. Works by authors like Sendak and Shel Silverstein, and books like Harriet the Spy and Charlotte's Web abound here in the Nordstrom letters, with the authors' careers forming, and the books themselves being jiggled back and forth until both editor and author felt they were just right.

Nordstrom had a very cajoling style to her editing, but also quite a force coming through her words. She would plead, or she would demand, sometimes begging and ordering within the same sentence.

I was particularly amused by the letters where she was stroking the writer's egos, because that's sometime any writer, myself included, needs to hear at times. And I was likewise amused by how Nordstrom was an editor of children's books, but HATED her authors to have children of their own, because she felt those little rug-rats took too much of her authors' precious time. A funny, spirited woman. I wish she could have been my editor. ]]> 4.38 1998 Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom
author: Ursula Nordstrom
name: Paul
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/11
date added: 2008/11/03
shelves:
review:
An interesting read to see, from the editor's point of view, how some of the most famous children's books came into being. Works by authors like Sendak and Shel Silverstein, and books like Harriet the Spy and Charlotte's Web abound here in the Nordstrom letters, with the authors' careers forming, and the books themselves being jiggled back and forth until both editor and author felt they were just right.

Nordstrom had a very cajoling style to her editing, but also quite a force coming through her words. She would plead, or she would demand, sometimes begging and ordering within the same sentence.

I was particularly amused by the letters where she was stroking the writer's egos, because that's sometime any writer, myself included, needs to hear at times. And I was likewise amused by how Nordstrom was an editor of children's books, but HATED her authors to have children of their own, because she felt those little rug-rats took too much of her authors' precious time. A funny, spirited woman. I wish she could have been my editor.
]]> Burma Chronicles 3023792 263 Guy Delisle 1897299508 Paul 4
And the simple art was charming. Exactly the right amount of visual information for a chronicle of this type. ]]> 3.88 2007 Burma Chronicles
author: Guy Delisle
name: Paul
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/12
date added: 2008/10/19
shelves:
review:
What I most love about this book is how political it WASN'T. DeLisle, considering the area he was living in, could have spent this entire book rightfully decrying a horrible and violent government, but instead choose to focus on daily life, the heat, the locals love for his cute baby, the rains, and a hundred other aspects of simple human life. Politics, of course, inevitably come into the mix, but when they do I felt so grounded by the "human" establishment that the politics had actual impact...rather than just a series of "X" and "O" movements.

And the simple art was charming. Exactly the right amount of visual information for a chronicle of this type.
]]> Iriacynthe 5126786 46 Jean-Claude Servais 906717016X Paul 5
Amazingly, the work has held up, and my opinion is unchanged. How rare! It so often seems that my "likes" of the past are now the "why did I like thats" of the present.

As far as I can tell, this is the only translated work by Servais. Pity. ]]> 3.54 1982 Iriacynthe
author: Jean-Claude Servais
name: Paul
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at: 2008/10/10
date added: 2008/10/18
shelves:
review:
I first read Iriacynthe over a decade ago, and remember at the time liking it's simple story, the sensuousness of the art and characters, and the general feel of decadence as both peril and salvation.

Amazingly, the work has held up, and my opinion is unchanged. How rare! It so often seems that my "likes" of the past are now the "why did I like thats" of the present.

As far as I can tell, this is the only translated work by Servais. Pity.
]]> You Can't Get There from Here 692301 A very funny, very deadpan, and very poignant comedy of romance, featuring the classic romantic trio of the mad scientist, the monster, and the bride of the monster.]]> 64 Jason 1560975989 Paul 3
I did have some sympathy for the characters, but only because of the broad general terms he portrayed them in (betrayed, humiliated, attacked, etc.) rather than any meaningful characterization. Not a good lead in to Jason's works, but not a terrible addition to them. ]]> 3.68 2004 You Can't Get There from Here
author: Jason
name: Paul
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2008/10/08
date added: 2008/10/16
shelves:
review:
Definitely one of Jason's lesser works, and it could have used more editing, as the storyline becomes jagged in some areas. In this case I think it was largely a case of Jason too rigorously sticking to his "silent" theme, and a portion of the story suffered for it. Oddly, he does break the silence by having one character subset speak, so I wish he would have just gone all out and let narrative suffuse the entire work. It would have helped.

I did have some sympathy for the characters, but only because of the broad general terms he portrayed them in (betrayed, humiliated, attacked, etc.) rather than any meaningful characterization. Not a good lead in to Jason's works, but not a terrible addition to them.
]]> Spaghetti Bros 1 3418635 204 Carlos Trillo 1600102492 Paul 4
How does Trillo do this? I must know.

I wish to steal his craft from him. ]]> 3.76 1993 Spaghetti Bros 1
author: Carlos Trillo
name: Paul
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/06
date added: 2008/10/16
shelves:
review:
Completely likable stories about a very unlikable cast. Trillo does his usual fine job (his range and consistency really are amazing)in establishing a world (and here, a family) where nobody is really very good, where all the women are beautiful, where all the men are ill-mannered and vicious louts, and yet it all comes together into art.

How does Trillo do this? I must know.

I wish to steal his craft from him.
]]> <![CDATA[The Best of Jordi Bernet's Clara]]> 2037924 95 Jordi Bernet 0966938151 Paul 0 to-read 4.37 2006 The Best of Jordi Bernet's Clara
author: Jordi Bernet
name: Paul
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/10/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wheres Dennis? The Magazine Cartoon Art of Hank Ketcham]]> 1720845 Dennis the Menace creator Henry "Hank" Ketcham also spent nearly a decade as a gag cartoonist for major New York magazines like Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post. In these gag cartoons, which were primarily published between 1942 and 1950, one can already see the endearing troublemaker that would become the protagonist in his long-running strip. (In fact, in his Dennis the Menace cartoons, Ketcham reused some of the gags and images almost verbatim.) Influenced by Virgil Partch and other artists he met during his early days at Disney animation and as an artist banging on doors in New York, Ketcham's trademark visual humor and unerring line work are also very evident in these pre-Dennis cartoons.


Like many young cartoonists of his era, Ketcham spent much of WWII drawing. As a Navy man, he created food conservation and "Jap-bashing" posters during the day, and at night, he moonlighted as a magazine gag cartoonist producing primarily war-themed gag cartoons, including the regular feature "Half Hitch" for the Saturday Evening Post. At the end of his tour, he turned down a chance to return to a guaranteed job at Disney. As it turned out, the siren song of magazine cartooning, which at the time was considered one of the pinnacles of the applied arts, proved just too strong. For the next five years, he was a regular contributor to True, Colliers, and the Saturday Evening Post. On the rare occasion, he even made it into The New Yorker, whose ranks at the time included Peter Arno, James Thurber, and Charles Addams.


Collected for the first time are hundreds of Ketcham's long forgotten magazine cartoons. Together they provide a rare glimpse into what would later become one the most beloved comics to grace the comics pages.]]> 200 Hank Ketcham 1560978538 Paul 4 Dennis the Menace strip. Ketcham is one of those artists that I undersold for years. True, I felt fondly for him, but only because the Dennis strips were such a part of my childhood, getting the Sunday paper, devouring the comic strips, and in the Des Moines Register the Dennis strips were always first...the top of page one, so they're lodged in my memory.

It wasn't until a couple years back when Fantagraphics began releasing the complete Dennis the Menace strips that I discovered what a fabulous artist Ketcham was, and also what a looker his mom was originally.

Over the years, though, and certainly by the time I began reading the strip, Ketcham tamed down the strip and opened up the artwork to appeal to a wider audience. Can't blame him for that, but I still like the early stuff the best, and the material in this book is as early as it gets. ]]> 3.74 2007 Wheres Dennis? The Magazine Cartoon Art of Hank Ketcham
author: Hank Ketcham
name: Paul
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2008/10/04
date added: 2008/10/16
shelves:
review:
A short but enjoyable package, and it was interesting to see Ketcham's work before he began his Dennis the Menace strip. Ketcham is one of those artists that I undersold for years. True, I felt fondly for him, but only because the Dennis strips were such a part of my childhood, getting the Sunday paper, devouring the comic strips, and in the Des Moines Register the Dennis strips were always first...the top of page one, so they're lodged in my memory.

It wasn't until a couple years back when Fantagraphics began releasing the complete Dennis the Menace strips that I discovered what a fabulous artist Ketcham was, and also what a looker his mom was originally.

Over the years, though, and certainly by the time I began reading the strip, Ketcham tamed down the strip and opened up the artwork to appeal to a wider audience. Can't blame him for that, but I still like the early stuff the best, and the material in this book is as early as it gets.
]]>