Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
Really pushes the boundaries of the graphic novel by expressing memory and emotion through color and form. While the plot/story line isn't enthralling, the characters are people you'd like to know, if only to avoid them, and the drama is enough to make you cringe.

4.5/5

Hard Boiled

Hard Boiled Frank Miller and Geof Darrow
Um. Action-packed robot violence without much explanation. Basically the world is set up, you get tossed around in it for a while, then it's over. I understand it's meant to be a series but as a stand-alone book it doesn't do much other than shock. I'll give it a high score because the art is superb.

4/5

30 hrs later - Hard Boiled is still with me. It's haunting the edges of my conversations. It has entered my dreams.

Ida by Gertrude Stein

Ida by Gertrude Stein is difficult to tackle with words. While much of it captured the human condition/being a woman, much of it missed. Stein is so hard to like or dislike. So many of the sentences miss while the ones that strike, strike hard. It is tiring to read once you stop but enthralling while you're in it. Maybe I'm on too much cough medicine. Maybe Stein is elusive. Probably both.

4.5/5

My Favorite Books Ever

Top Five
- Lolita Nabokov
- Unbearable Lightness of Being Kundera
- Catcher in the Rye Salinger
- Slaughterhouse 5 Vonnegut
- Wuthering Heights Bronte

Honorable Mentions
- Grendel Gardner
- American Gods Gaiman
- Lève Ta Jambe Mon, Poisson Est Mort! Doucet
- Woman in White Collins

Flight Vol. 2

Flight Volume 2 was just sitting on the graphic novel shelf at work waiting to be read. And read it I did. While not every short-story comic compilation can appeal to everyone, this book was full of adorable, heart wrenchingly wonderful stories. There aren't too many words in most of them making it a quick read. I recommend it to anyone who likes anything.

5/5

Good Omens by Gaimen and Pratchett

The first 90 pages I was confused. In many parts after I was confused. Perhaps it is because I am an American. Perhaps it is because it didn't make any sense. I don't know. The funny parts were funny and the story overall was interesting to read. I wouldn't take back the fact that I've read the book but I probably wouldn't read it again. Maybe I've just come to expect too much from Neil.
3/5

Grendel by John Gardner

December, approaching the year's darkest night, and the only way of the dream is down and through it.
The trees are dead.
The days are an arrow in a dead man's chest. Snowlight blinds me, heartless fire; pale apocalyptic. The creeks are frozen; the deer show their ribs.
I find dead wolves- a paw, a scraggly tail sticking up through snow.
The trees are dead, and only the deepest religion can break through time and believe they'll revive.

And so it goes, on and on poetically heartbreaking, gut wrenching, philosophy questioning prose. John Gardener's Grendel is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. He takes the oldest, most monsterous monster of history (Beowulf's Grendel) and narrates his psychological transfiguration through time, his observances of man's futility, and contemplations of his own strange existence. He never apologizes for what he is though he is tormented by his separation from the on-goings in the meadhalls. It becomes easy to despise the efforts of mankind, especially through the dragons viewpoint.

The dragon has a Tralfamadorian sense of time and knows all that is to come as well as all that has happened. The dragon knows of his own death and tells Grendel of the men he scares, "You improve them! You stimulate them! You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last.... you are mankind, or man's condition." It goes without saying that I freaking love the dragon. I cannot wait to read more of Gardner's work.

6/5

Beowulf

Inspired by John Gardener's Grendel (which I will finish soon) I picked up this graphic novel version of Beowulf. Since I, pathetically, have never read the original story, I figured any adaptations will suffice for now. I was wrong. Not only is the "Based on the Screenplay" graphic novel so far from the original story that I assume it would be unrecognizable to the trained eye, but the art, the dialogue, and the originality all suffer greatly. Does that sentence make sense? It sucked.
.5/5

Youth in Revolt by C. D. Payne

I was so excited by this book that I almost started writing the review for it half way through. It's a good thing I didn't because the second half paled in comparison to the first. The beginning of the book was believable enough, cracking me up every couple of pages. I have only laughed so much when reading Tucker Max. But then the book takes a strange turn, as if Payne got Nick into so much shit that he simply couldn't dig him out again. So instead of be turned in and face the consequences and give the story some solidarity or grounding, Payne pushes it even farther, turning Nick into a cross-dressing convict in hiding. This Mrs. Doubtfire twist goes on entirely too long, hundreds of pages in fact. Then, in the end, Nick is still wanted by the FBI and has resolved to pretend to be a woman for the rest of his life even though he doesn't have transcripts or anything for school. But don't worry, because he's got the girl. My other complaint, or at least concern is the unrealistic nature of his love for Sheeni. He chases this girl for almost a year and puts his reputation, his future, and his life on the line for her when she gives him little hope of them ever actually being together. Well, that's my rant about it. The character Nick Twisp is incredibly self-sufficient, unworried about consequences and exactly how you wish you were as a teen. He is intelligent, self taught, witty, and hilarious. If only it didn't turn into such a circus in the end, I'd have to say this book was perfect.

4/5

The Squirrel Machine

The Squirrel Machine by Hans Rickheit is eerie, beautiful, and concerning. Two fictional brothers grow up comfortably on their dead father's inheretance. They become inventors and dreamers, creating controversial musical machines out of animals. Among dream sequences and strange meetings with other characters, The Squirrel Machine is weird, weirder, and weirdest. I reccomend this book to the curious, eccentric, and queer readers among us. The art is detailed and moving. While the characters and plot remain less developed than I'd like, Rickheit makes up for it with the boys' found and made attempts at art.

5/5

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Violent, crude, and full of men, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is 700 pages of interesting plot developments and situational twists. The world is strange, full of eternal structures built by the species before man existed. The men are simply homosapien, I think. The only discrepancy I found was in the description of their facial hair as "beards." The book was almost too... shall I say "boyish" for me. Locke's girlfriend was away across seas. The only other girls were vicious twins and brutal whores. While I wouldn't have stuck through this book on my own, I'm glad I read it for the book club, which is tonight. I will update this if I find any other striking ideas.

3.23/5

The Lightening Thief

The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan is a classic hero's journey style kids book. It stands apart because it incorporates mythological history and makes the Olympian pantheon easy and fun to understand. At times extraordinarily humorous and fast-enough moving, the book is really a success. I look forward to reading the other books in the series.

3.5/ 5

The Mistborn Trilogy by Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson has proven to me that yet again I do not need dragons to love a fantasy world. (Though they are preferred) The trilogy follows a young girl named Vin through her heroic adventures to overthrow the final empire and become the wife of the new emperor. Vin is a "special young lady" with mistborn powers. Mistborns, in case you're not aware, have the power to burn all 16(?) alchemical metals in their stomachs. By swallowing different alloys or pure metals, mistborns can gain all kinds of things like strength, perception, and the ability to push or pull their bodies against other metals in their surroundings. The characterization is successful, as is the world-building. There was a bit too much fighting for my tastes but I read it all without any boredom. I didn't even have to skip sections. I can proudly say I read all +2200 pages. Also, the ending was a beautiful perfect bow.
Mistborn: The Final Empire
The Well Of Ascension
The Hero of Ages

I give this series a 4/5- low if only for personal taste.

Poetry

Here are a few of the books I have read for Dan Beachy-Quick's Recent Poetry of the United States class.
Forest Gander Eye Against Eye 4/5
H. L. Hix Legible Heavens 3/5
Lyn Hejinian Saga/ Circus 5/5
Peter Gizzi The Outernationale 5/5
Claudia Rankine Don't Let me be Lonely 4.75/5

Graveyard Book by Gaiman

After reading American Gods I was both skeptical and excited to pick up this "kids" book by Neil Gaiman. The illustrations were pleasant little interludes, without giving up too much of what different characters or scenes looked like. My only complaints are that Bod was too lovable a character, that the story got wrapped up too well in the end, and that it's over now. Also, occasionally, I didn't feel there were enough details at crucial points when the story was moving quickly. For instance, I'd read the same page twice to find out what exactly was going on and still be none the wiser. Despite these small shortcomings, the book held my heart closely.
4.25/5

Bite Me: A Love Story

Alright, Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore is, for me, right now, unreadable. It's not released yet and you'd think my panties would be all wet for a new author who is adored by many's brand new book but they're not.
Maybe I'm being a stuck-up asshole. Maybe I just can't go from Kundera to Moore. I got 20ish pages in and just... couldn't go on. After I realized that "kayso" wasn't a person and simply stood for "okay, so..." I slapped myself in the forehead and decided to give it a hundr- no, fifty page shot. Then I got to page 20.
Here is a taster (I hope this is legal):
I know! Oh-my-fucking-god-ponies-in-the-barbeque! I know! It just goes to show you, like Lord Byron says in the poem: 'Given enough weed and explosives, even a creature of most sophisticated and ancient dark power can be undone by a few stoners.' I'm paraphrasing. It may have been Shelley.

So, that's page 13. And it is very. very. funny but in a very. mindless kind of way. I will attempt Lamb eventually.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera

Balancing sentimentality with philosophy, Kundera creates a vivid insight to a world more real than the one beyond the pages. The thoughtful, rarely laborious prose reads as a quickening heart in hardening ribs until the pages themselves have become each valuable objects and I was left turning them one-by-one with care and wonder. How can we sell this masterpiece through the same cash register as the quickly forgotten mysteries and hot pink love-after-college attempts at "books?"

Moral of the story: Don't ignore book suggestions.

5/5

The Impostor's Daughter Laurie Sandall

Sandall did a decent job of telling her story through the graphic novel medium. A lot of work went into the drawings and the consistency of the story but unfortunately, Sandall comes up short of her art. A tabloid-loving semi-junkie atheist turning to god and rehab could be a good story if it weren't glossed over so much. It's like she's trying to prove that she is an adult to her readers.

2.5/5

South of the Border West of the Sun Haruki Murakami

Well, well, well Mr. Murakami. Written by anyone else this book would have been utter trash but in his hands, Murakami creates the strangest characters who are simply normal. There are no talking sheep men, no magical coincidences, just real life and only a small existential break with death and voids and it's good that way. After reading Murakami I'm always stuck with thinking what it'd be like to be a man. What is it like to be a Japanese man? A man at that. As for plot, there wasn't really any. It was just a good book. It wasn't too long or too short. I can't put my finger exactly why I liked it so nor do I have any reason to speak against it. Maybe if the author hadn't been established in my mind prior to reading the book, I wouldn't have liked it as much. It's always hard to say.

4/5

The Road Cormac McCarthy

This is the first book I have read by him. It was loaded with religious intonations and undertones. I was impressed that he didn't break the format/ style of the book even though it would have been easy to. He kept the same distance from the characters the whole time and I admire the book a lot for that. It was a very easy read and I don't really see any reason why it shouldn't be compared to the difficulty and (sort of) subject matter of The Giver by Lowry. Of course, The Road is more graphic. It deals with dead bodies and cannibalism and.. okay so they shouldn't be compared. But it was an easy read and I'm excited for the movie to come out.
4/5

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
O.M.G.
Etc.
Neil Gaiman is my hero. This book struck me so vividly and solidly. Ohhhh I have no words for my adoration.
5/5

The Walking Dead by Kirkman and Moore

The Walking Dead Kirkman and Moore

We have all asked ourselves the simple question:
HOW WILL THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE BEGIN?
Well, for Kirkman and Moore it’s simple. They don’t know. Because our main character simply wakes from a coma in a deserted hospital and begins his new life in the zombie-filled new age. (Yes, exactly like in the movie 28 Days Later) As much as I’m quick to dismiss the situational zombie clichés, there are interactions and situations you’ve never considered. As a zombie survivalist, you’ll be pleased to know that our hero is almost a joy to follow. He makes all the right decisions and seems relatively sane. His adventure takes us to the survivors who have set up barracks and mini-societies. While the situation isn’t new, the human interactions are what drive this series. Infidelity, danger, and fear for the children are the true issues in the books as well as, of course, survival.

3.999/5

(as a side note, I have only read the first two books of the series and can't testify to how the rest of the books hold up!)

Imagine a fine day in which every human is simply going along with business as usual when suddenly... all the men on the planet, animals included, suddenly start coughing up blood and die.





You might be wondering, is this some wacky dream you had, Nicole?
The answer is: NO! IT'S A GREAT GRAPHIC NOVEL CALLED

Y: THE LAST MAN by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra

...and as if gang of new 'Amazons' burning down the sperm banks and whats left of the government having cat fights wasn't enough excitement for you there is of course, a lone survivor.
From bra scoffing lesbians to men get told, "not even if you were the last man on earth..." you will love this book because, in short, it is awesome.

I give it 4.5/5

<3 Nicole

originally written for http://oldfirehousebooks.blogspot.com/

Metamorphosis by Kafka

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Peter Kuper

The animation was interesting. I am not an expert on this story and have not, admittedly, read it in many years so I cannot attest to its "correctness" as an adaptation. Though, the story is told well enough with art that assists. This book should do well as a dumbed-down version- as an expression that is more easily accessible.

3/5

Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan

Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan

4.75/5

Not as deep as I was expecting. I thought there would be more bloodshed considering that it was based and focused on Israeli suicide bombings but I really liked the human relationships displayed. The ending is clever.

Chicken with Plums Marjane Satrapi

Not as good as Persepolis, of course, but an interesting read. I wonder what the movie will be like since it's such a short story. Maybe they will embellish a lot?

Vacation!

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

3.5/5





Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton

1/5

The Stranger Albert Camus

I find it strange that I am reading Crime and Punishment while I read this book. They are so similar yet so different. They are both foreign, one Russian, the other French, and the cultural differences exist but at the base of things it is the same. Murder, consequence, and law. Kafka's The Trial comes to mind from Czechoslovakia(?) There have always been men committing murders. Another story I thought of was Bradbury's "Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" where the murderer's conscience is so full of strife he is caught at the scene of the crime!
They are not happy books, including The Stranger, yet they all present one of the oldest crimes. I suppose I should read more murder mystery to get more "literary" exposure to the topic. I cannot speak on that genre. But for the literary works, the minds of these great writers when faced with murder break down from thought. But not in The Stranger. This is not an eloquent evaluation of the book. This is merely me working through it! It was fantastic, an easy read, and a wonderful insight to a character with very few descriptors to slow it down. It's almost as if Camus just knew what was going to happen, wrote it down, and then gave it to me to read. It is perfect.
5/5

When I Was Puerto Rican Esmeralda Santiago
3/5

Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy Susanna Knoop

I had to read this one for class. It was so bad that I don't even want to talk about how bad it was. Thank god I returned it and got my $20 back. I didn't want to hear about a scandal I'd never heard about and didn't care about not to mention celebrity culture of the early 2000s. I didn't personally notice this but a classmate mentioned Knoop's tense changing. Maybe I'm burnt out on memoir's. Maybe I'm just mean. 1.5/5



A Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood

This is the second book of Atwood's that I have read. She impresses me quite a bit though she isn't the best ever. With this story I struggled to get involved. Only much farther than halfway does she give the details of the story that are essential to the reader's interest. The story is hard to get into otherwise because the prose is so internal and intimate. Without those details we're detached from Atwood's distopia. Overall, it served its purpose and I'm glad that I read it. I'm sure it will be one of those books that stays with me. Serena Joy's character is too good to forget. 4/5

A Wild Sheep Chase Haruki Murakami

Apparently a prequel to Dance Dance Dance which is one of my favorites of his. Also, now I'll need to read Pinball, 1973 since apparently that is the first in the Trilogy of the Rat. Overall, the book had some great points. It dwelt on seclusion and the fragility of the mind but like all of Murakami's characters, no one loses it internally. They accept the magical, mystical bullshit going on and just choose "not to talk about it." Maybe it's a cultural thing. 3.5/5

Cat's Eye Margaret Atwood

Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich

Pawn of Prophesy David Eddings

The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
Tess of the D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy (second time)
The Sign of Four Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Doll House Henrik Ibsen
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemmingway

Spring Break:
Lost by Gregory Maguire 1/5
Fast Food Nation* by Eric Schlosser 3.5/5
Mister Pip Lloyd Jones 2/5

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn Stephanie Meyer
Wuthering Heights Charlotte Bronte
North and South Elizabeth Gaskell