Percival Everett is a Black man. And he does something very special in this book—his 1000th, I think, or something like that. He imagines what would hPercival Everett is a Black man. And he does something very special in this book—his 1000th, I think, or something like that. He imagines what would happen when time come for retribution. And it ain’t gonna look like Donald Trump imagines it. (view spoiler)[ The thing is, he’s so funny when he’s telling us what could happen. We’re snickering and really, it is pretty gruesome. But he’s got the whole security pyramid working on the case before they realize exactly what is happening, the FBI, the state police, the local cops…everybody is trying to figure out who is doing these killings.
The thing is, it isn’t just killings. It is mutilations, and inventive ways of killing that are each a little different across the country. To remind folks about Emmett Till, and to take their pound of flesh for what happened to him. But my goodness, to make that funny, one has to be some kind of writer. And Everett is that. (hide spoiler)]...more
The New York Review of Books has republished the Palmer Brown books that many people say they have never forgotten, having read them in childhood,The New York Review of Books has republished the Palmer Brown books that many people say they have never forgotten, having read them in childhood, 45 long years ago. The reprints are child-sized, about 4" x 6" and have lovely reproductions of the artwork that makes this collection so special.
In this story, a baby mouse wonders aloud over what she should get for Christmas for someone special (her mother) who seems to have everything. All kinds of things are considered until the mother helps her decide that to give one's love is the most precious gift of all. ...more
Sasaki’s photographs in the beginning of this book jolt one awake to what he means by minimalism. Some people are so radical that it makes the rest ofSasaki’s photographs in the beginning of this book jolt one awake to what he means by minimalism. Some people are so radical that it makes the rest of us look like hoarders. But by the end of this very simply-written and superbly-argued short book, most of the arguments we have for cluttering our space and complicating our lives are defeated.
One must recognize at some point that whatever dreams are mixed up in purchases we have made, the potential of the ideas quickly fade when not acted on immediately, as in when the objects are “saved” for something we vaguely anticipate in the future. In the minimalist outlook, objects should do some kind of worthwhile duty, even if that duty is to make us happy, or please our senses.
When objects become a burden, or chastise us by their silent immobility, collecting dust, literally taking up the space we need to breathe, we can give them away, throw them out, auction them off, or otherwise get them out of our lives so that some potential can grow back into our ideas. That means even books we bought with the intention to read but which make us sad every time we look at them.
But don’t take my word for it. Sasaki really does have an answer for every possible objection you may have. For instance, #37. Discarding memorabilia is not the same as discarding memories. Sasaki quotes Tatsuya Nakazaki: “Even if we were to throw away photos and records that are filled with memorable moments, the past continues to exist in our memories…All the important memories that we have inside us will naturally remain.” I am not convinced this is so at every stage of life, but think there is a natural life to what we need in terms of archival items. If your children don’t want it, you don’t need to keep all of it. Keep the ones that matter only.
Note that Sasaki recommends scanning documents like old letters that are important to you because you can’t go out and buy another if you find you were too radical in your culling. However, even the archival record becomes a burden when it becomes too large unless well-marked with dates, etc. He admits that letting go of those stored memories is a further step in true minimalist living.
The freedom one experiences when one owns fewer things is undeniable. Sasaki expresses the joy he experiences when he visits a hotel or a friend who uses big bath towels. He’d limited himself to a microfiber quick-drying hand towel for all his household needs, and enjoyed the lack of big loads of washing at home and using big thick towels while he was out: a twofer of happiness.
We are encouraged to find our own minimalism. Everyone has their own limits and definition. The author explains that #15. Minimalism is a method and a beginning. The concept is like a prologue and the act of minimizing is a story that each practitioner needs to create individually. We definitely don’t need all we have, and the things we own aren’t who we are. We are still us, underneath all the stuff. Some people will find this reassuring; others may find it disconcerting.
At the end of this small book, Sasaki reminds us the clarity that comes with minimalism. Concentration is easier. Waste is minimized. Social relationships are enhanced. You don’t need forty seconds in a disaster to decide what to take. You live in the now.
The translation of this book is fantastic, by Eriko Sugita. It does not read like a translation, but as an intimate sharing by someone who has been through the hard work of paring down one’s possessions so that his own personality shines through. It is a kind of gift. Even if one doesn’t throw a thing away (I heartily doubt that will be the case) after (or during) the reading of this book, the notions are seeds. Gratitude grows in the absence of things....more
At the midway point in this graphic novel I was still smiling. It sort of clipped me upside the head as I read, and though it drew blood, I still thouAt the midway point in this graphic novel I was still smiling. It sort of clipped me upside the head as I read, and though it drew blood, I still thought it might be a little cute. I didn't reallylike the story--it seemed a bit grim--but... I thought it was going to come around.
The authors (it would have to be two, one couldn't bear that dark vision alone, for long) are making a comment on man's seemingly infinite capacity for evil--really banal, thoughtless evil. It hurts, this vision, because sometimes it looks like it could be interpreted: Hateful redheads (wearing the red caps) with virtual spears yelling their frustration into the startled faces of those without the scarcity--the scarcity of everything, including education & opportunity, but also love, generosity & kindness, warmth, food...you know...what those of us who have, call "basics."
I don't believe in this vision. It may be hurtful to even entertain a performance of it in art. But I personally am not threatened. I feel sure that there is more to us--stop chewing on my sneakers, kitty!--there is more to us than looking after our own needs...No! you may not have my last crust of bread...Arg...did you stab me for the crust? You can have half, but you know we should get more from...though we may have to fight them for it...
You know how bad it is when I have already thought of these scenarios. ...more
Margaret Atwood has outdone herself in this re-staging of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. For those of you unsure whether or not you will grasp it, forget Margaret Atwood has outdone herself in this re-staging of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. For those of you unsure whether or not you will grasp it, forget that notion. The play, which is being performed scene by scene for film, is thoroughly explained by the director to the players who happen to be presently incarcerated...in the Fletcher Correctional Institute. Eventually, the screening of the play for an audience of government and prison officials is paralleled with a real-life enactment of the play featuring the inmates, a female dancer, and the play's director. Atwood kindly gives a short and snappy synopsis of Shakespeare’s original story after her own presentation to refresh our memories. If you have the book, you can read that first if you want.
The Director of the Fletcher Correctional Players, once a Duke who directed plays for Canada's prestigious Makeshiweg Theatre Festival, takes the role of Prospero himself. He loses his position at the theatre festival one year and is pushed out to sea in a small boat (rusty old car) where he washes up in a cave-like rental for some years before he decides to stage a comeback using the Fletcher Correctional Players.
The audio for this book is particularly good. Some of the Fletcher Players shorten and update Shakespeare into current rap rhyming lyrics. This seems so entirely appropriate since Shakespeare often did the same, not in such short meter, but to the same end. And as the Director/Duke points out, Shakespeare often appeared to modify and create character’s speeches on the spot in the theatre, depending on the skills of the person in the role.
The Director had a rule for inmates: they couldn’t swear at one another using the more commonplace four-letter words we are familiar with, but they were allowed to use Shakespeare’s own swear words, e.g., born to be hanged, whoreson, pied ninny, hag-seed, abhorred slave, red plague, etc. Caliban calls himself hag-seed, and though his role is central to this retelling, the real thrust of Shakespeare's story belongs to Prospero, who seeks revenge for his dismissal so late in life.
There is real tension in this re-telling, and readers are dying to know how it is going to work out. Prospero’s plan is an elaborate deception featuring magic, and in this case, eavesdropping and kidnapping within a prison environment. We are at the edge of our seats to know what Prospero has in mind and whether his chosen goblins can pull it off without losing the thread (or losing their parole).
The play is a big success, and after the production is all over, the Director/Duke/Prospero gives the players the opportunity to discuss the outcome of the play as they see it. This important part of Atwood’s presentation fills out our modern perception of the centuries-old play, as each of the main characters tries to explain what might have become of them after the action of the play as written has ended.
Perhaps not surprisingly, we get at least one unpleasant but realistic take on the journey back to power for Prospero. The Miranda role, in another’s telling, is a completely unexpected evolution along the lines of the action movie grande dames like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill or Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger.
But the most rewarding of the after-stories is the one presented by Caliban, the Hag-Seed himself, who escapes the play altogether and creates a new one. And this is why this book is called Hag-Seed. In the end, the story is not about that old revenge play The Tempest at all, but about the rolling ball of creation, and how it is impossible to stop its onward journey.
I had access to the paper copy of this book while I listened, which allowed me to get every nuance. If one must choose one, I think I would go with the audio, which is beautifully read by R.H. Thomson, and who has a string of screen and theatre credits to his name. Produced by Penguin Random House Audio, the production is also available as Whisper-sync from Audible. Hogarth produces the paper copy. Choose your weapon and let the show begin....more
This tiny little story is just long enough to get the young ones imagining the secret lives of kitties, ferrets, rabbits, foxes, and a whole host of nThis tiny little story is just long enough to get the young ones imagining the secret lives of kitties, ferrets, rabbits, foxes, and a whole host of neighborhood animals who are abroad in the fields at night. For those that have the series of Beatrix Potter you will recognize many now-famous characters of the blue-coated Peter Rabbit and the terrifying Mr. Tod the Fox, among others. You don’t want to miss this one. For those that dimly remember Potter's characters, this story has wonders made evident by the exquisitely expressive voice of Helen Mirren who shows us the very best way to read a bedtime story. Listening to this story will set you down in an England seemingly long gone, but completely alive nonetheless. It is a gem and well worth seeking out.
A short extract of Helen Mirren reading this story is posted on my blog....more
Joanna Basford, the biggest name in adult coloring books, has a spectacular new coloring book for adults called Lost Ocean: An Inky Adventure & ColJoanna Basford, the biggest name in adult coloring books, has a spectacular new coloring book for adults called Lost Ocean: An Inky Adventure & Coloring Book that brings to mind all manner of meditation mandelas, craft projects, color theories, visual recognition games, to say nothing of the wonders of the underwater world. The pictures are dense and detailed, far too complex for a child to manage, but perhaps just perfect for a teen or adult, perhaps even a much older adult, who wishes to try out a color palette, or concentrate on something unrelated to daily life.
Apparently the phenomenon of an adult coloring book market is large and growing, and Penguin provides a kit for groups of adults to work together on projects—a “community coloring club” is what they call these gatherings. They have also announced the release of a Coloring Club Kit which includes:
• Recipes for refreshments. • Playlist. Johanna Basford tells us she likes to draw to music by bands like The xx, and Florence and the Machine, “anything with too strong a beat interrupts the flow of the coloring.” We’ve compiled a special playlist to help unleash your creativity. • Ice Breakers to get your coloring club members chatting. • A special Q&A with the undisputed Queen of coloring books, Johanna Basford.
Truthfully, I was thinking these might be a good solution for adult community centers, but I can imagine a craftsperson finding the designs intriguing for color design. And finally, someone who needs design help generally might find inspiration here.
My sister is a docent at a seaside State Park that carries items like this in their museum store. Looks like a good seashore gift item generally, or a purchase a seaside Bed & Breakfast might find attractive. Keep your eyes peeled for this title in a bookstore near you this season, or buy it directly from the penguinrandomhouse.com website.
On my blog you will find a few sample pages and a giveaway posted until the book is released October 27. ...more
Both the writer, Brian K. Vaughan, and the illustrator, Fiona Staples, are such profusely talented collaborators that their work must be outstanding eBoth the writer, Brian K. Vaughan, and the illustrator, Fiona Staples, are such profusely talented collaborators that their work must be outstanding examples of the genre. Perhaps best of all, in the final pages of the hardcover version of Volume I Vaughan lets us in on the magic of creating graphic novels. Since the writer and illustrator both have unmatched imaginative and artistic skills, their generosity in sharing the techniques of creation seem unlikely to infringe upon their respective positions at the pinnacle of graphic novels.
Residents of a world are war with the residents of their moon. Their fight has drawn in residents of other locales throughout the galaxy to fight proxy wars on their behalf, “waged mostly by unlucky draftees or conscripts from other worlds.” The original enmity remained and fighting had gone on so long that offspring of the surviving combatants knew only to hate “those with horns” or “those with wings.” When Marko finds himself an “enemy combatant” and falls in love with his jailor, special agent Alana, they escape but must live on the lam.
The explicit images and language at the beginning of this book strangely do not label it “not for teens” because the language and temperament are all about teens and youthful idealisms. But it can be satisfying fare for adults as well because of the exquisite portraitures and expressions we recognize, and the heavy doses of physicality and fornication elicit something more than morbid curiosity.
“The opposite of war is not peace.”
Both Marko and Alana are devotees of a particular self-deprecating author, D. Oswald Heist, who churns out volumes of sci-fi bodice-rippers from a lighthouse on the on the planet of Quietus “to pay the bills.” Heist has a major following because his books have a philosophy and a worldview that his readership find enthralling.
I take Vaughan’s point. I don’t agree with it necessarily since the idea is (literally) sketched and not fully developed as a concept, but I see what he is about. But perhaps we should just take Vaughan’s graphic novels as the starting points for discussion in or outside the classroom. Surely just the awesomeness of the paired writing and drawing should be a subject of study: the difficulty of culling physical and verbal communication to their essence without losing the particular personality of the speakers.
Personally I was more taken with the visual component of Saga Vol I rather than the arguments presented in support of the anti-war philosophy, but I think together they make a marvelous combination. And I appreciated the To Be Continued section of the book in which the finesse, attention to detail, and the agonizingly slow process of creation, correction, and distillation is highlighted. Vaughan claims to be quoting Twain when he says “Try to feature at least one hideously enlarged pair of testicles in every story you tell” and he’s right—it adds to the overall drama. ...more
"It is hard to understand nothing, but the multiverse is full of it."
Were I a resident of Discworld, I am not entirely sure I wouldn’t be classified a
"It is hard to understand nothing, but the multiverse is full of it."
Were I a resident of Discworld, I am not entirely sure I wouldn’t be classified a goblin, a troll, or a dwarf. Terry Pratchett has created a satire so rich that we see our lives, successes, failures, and intentions reflected back at us. Pratchett can be biting, but he is never cruel. He retains an equanimity about human failure that inspires us to greater acts of idiocy and splendor.
Now the fortieth entry in the cycle of Discworld brings us the Rail Way by little tinkers who carried on tinkering. It changes everything! "…nothing…hurried to become something even faster."
I am sorry now I did not join Pratchett’s league of admirers earlier. He has a vast body of work on Discworld already that follows along with humankind’s stumbling activities and manages to illuminate our deepest held secrets and most agonizing social issues. Allusions to previous great works of literature and moments in history abound. Was there ever a more wise and humorous critic of our best and our worst tendencies?
A reader does not have to begin at the beginning with this series, though you may find yourself wishing to go back and delve into the riches of Pratchett's vision and humor. While these books can be read as delightful interludes 'twixt more serious fare, you may find yourself wishing there were more folks with Pratchett's understanding guiding our multiverse.
I was given the opportunity to listen to the Random House Audio version of this title narrated by the incomparable Stephen Briggs. He has narrated over thirty of Terry Pratchett’s books and has won numerous awards for his work. There is perhaps no better way to gain entry into the world of Ank-Morpork than listening to Stephen Briggs share his range of voices and interpretations of Terry Pratchett’s memorable saga. This is classic literature for our times. ...more
A couple of years ago I came upon a Norwegian bestseller just translated into English called Doppler by Erlend Loe. I loved that book and belly-laugheA couple of years ago I came upon a Norwegian bestseller just translated into English called Doppler by Erlend Loe. I loved that book and belly-laughed through much of it. A GR friend pointed out this earlier book published in Finland in 1975 and thought the themes were similar. They are, and Loe undoubtedly knew of Paasilinna and copied the idea but Loe also made it more outrageous.
A man, tired of his job and his wife and his life in general decides to leave everything behind and not return home from a business trip. He manages admirably bushwhacking in the woods, and relies on the generosity of strangers. He has adventures, finds outdoor work, enjoys life, all while carrying a hare with him as he goes.
Doppler used an elk instead of a hare to accompany the main character. Everything about this second iteration of the theme is out-sized and almost a parody of the first book, which is sweetly understated and sniggeringly funny rather than chortlingly funny. Norway's out-sized oil wealth among the populace in recent years makes Doppler all the more an anguished critique of the society.
Anyway, the first time reading a book like this can be a revelation, so I recommend one of them at least. The part of this book I liked best, perhaps, may have been the knowing Foreword by Pico Iyer in the 2010 Penguin edition in English. He seems to capture the wonder the first-time reader will experience by finding this book for the first time.
Either book can be read in an evening, and the copy of The Year of the Hare that I had looked like someone had enjoyed it at the beach. Good idea....more
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