I haven't had anything to really write about since I made this lil' blog, but lately I've been reading some really good books, so I thought I'd share them here. The library has been indispensable for this - I don't know how I could manage without a library card. I waited for a little while so I could read Heather B. Armstrong's The Valedictorian of Being Dead. I saw it in Target, wrote the title down, and waited for it to show up after I requested it - the waitlist was longer than it was for City of Girls! I can't stop talking about this book. I often have to ask my friends if I have already told them about it, because I just loved it. This is the true story of Heather undergoing an experimental procedure for her treatment-resistant depression. It's funny and sad and I've already bought a copy to share with a friend.
I had only read Elizabeth Gilbert's nonfiction - Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic - but I did request City of Girls as soon as it came out. I wound up reading it on the Megabus on my way home from vacation. It is such a fun book that I was nervous about approaching the conflict in the story - I knew that soon the fun would take a dive and I was afraid of it. The conflict, however, was so unexpected for me that it also was just a grand good time in the scheme of things. I don't think that I was anticipating anything in this novel. It's a very quick read - I had to pass the time elsewhere on the rest of that bus trip! - but it's many things that I want in a novel: glitz, glamour, showgirls, sex, and wit. I think I went directly from this back into Anita Loos' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I don't care much to watch movies, but this would be a great movie just for the spectacle alone. If I hate movies, why read a book by a filmmaker? Because John Waters is a national treasure. I think I'm halfway through his latest, Mr. Know-It-All. It's so funny and just full of the most amazing and hilarious stories of test audiences, pitching to Hollywood executives, and the fine arts world. Every page is just an absolute joy, even if, like me, you would rather do anything else other than watch a movie. These last three are some books that I just picked up yesterday. I just recently read What It Is by Lynda Barry, which had some really lovely collage work, and then the library had Picture This, so I grabbed that up. I haven't finished this one yet. I really enjoy how similar these books are to one another - Lynda Barry has so many good pointers on how to keep going when you get stuck on the page, and drawing the alphabet is one, so there will be tiny alphabets throughout both What It Is and Picture This. (I keep trying to adopt this in my own sketchbook, where I'm also often stuck, and alphabets are so fun. You can make so many kinds of alphabets, or make yourself a little Ouija board in your sketchbook.) I love looking at Lynda's brush lettering, also. It's just gorgeous. Many of her books have some element of the yellow legal pad in them, and I remember doing a lot of comics on yellow legal pads when I was in my early 20's, so I went out and bought some legal pads last night. Sometimes you just need a little change in medium to break through artist's block - that's what I'm hoping for, at least. I love all of her little creatures and characters and her very astute observations on drawing - for example, that we all draw, but at some point we become afraid of it and stop. I picked up Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia on a whim. I think I saw the font on the spine and just took it back to my library carrel and I am so glad that I did. The cartooning is just stunning: very clean lines, great use of negative space/black and white. Even though the style is different, it reminded me of Jaime Hernandez's Love and Rockets. It's very slice of life - there are larger things happening in the world Liz Suburbia builds, but you're just kind of figuring things out along with Ben and her best friend, Otto, as they go through life in their strange town that is absent of parents. The ending gave me chills. Jillian Tamaki's Supermutant Magic Academy is just a total joy. I had a comic book of it from a Free Comic Book Day years ago, but it's better to just read the strips all at once. They are SO fucking funny that I was envious. I was taking pictures of pages and sending them to my friends and trying not to laugh too loud in the middle of the library. Well, that's about it for me. I've got to go get ready for work, but I'm glad I took yesterday off so I could go to the library and look at comics.
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AuthorArtist, essayist, divinity school dropout. Here for a good time, not for a long time. Archives
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