Alan's War

I was all prepared to love Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope by Guibert. A new friend I met recently while volunteering recommended this book to me after sending this extraordinary link to me. The video shows how the author/artist uses ink washes to create his designs.

I was really captivated by the artistry, but quickly lost interest after reading several chapters. In my defense, I am not much of a memoir reader. Cope excelled in the army becoming an instructor and saw very little (if any) of the actual war. According to some reviews I have read on Amazon, the book does become more philosophical later on, but I never encountered that having quit earlier on.

While the art in Alan's war is fantastically rendered, I found the story flat.

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!!!

My Harry Potter lunchbox

Today is both Harry Potter's and J. K. Rowling's birthday! Harry should be 30 and J.K. is 45. In 1991, according to the books, Harry was eleven and entering Hogwarts. Therefore he was born in 1980. In Deathly Hallows, the epilogue occurred 19 years after the main action of the book. In the epilogue, Harry and Ginny's son Albus is eleven years old. So, this year Albus should be 4 years old.

Maggie is coming to Austin

Maggie Stiefvater (pronounced "steve otter") will be reading this Thursday at Bookpeople at 7:00 promoting her new book Linger. I read the beautiful and lyrical Shiver about a year ago and will definitely be there on Thursday to see what she is like in person. Because she keeps hitting #1 on the NY Times Bestsellers list, this event is going to be as Jane Austen would say "a crush." You can check out her blog here.

Gurney's Imaginative Realism

As an avid reader of James Gurney's blog, I keenly wanted to read his book Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist. Gurney is the creator of Dinotopia, a gorgeously rendered tale of a discovered world where dinosaurs and humans live in peaceful co-existence. He also worked for National Geographic for a number of years. Imaginative Realism is written in small vignettes no longer than three pages and contains lots of illustrations.

Most of the "lessons" have been covered on his blog, but I still picked up several useful hints. Apparently, Gurney extensively uses tone paper to study models before adding them to his larger designs. In addition, I had never heard of a mahl stick, but it's use (to keep one's hand from grazing the wet painting surface) is obvious.

Gurney's upcoming instruction book, Color and Light, is slated to be published in November. I am eager to read it!

Sabriel by Garth Nix

I am on page 87 and have decided to put Garth Nix's Sabriel down. : (

Regan recommended this book to me years ago, but it was only recently that I borrowed it from a friend. Several of my friends and my brother really enjoyed it. I imagine what is making it so slow is that Nix is world building (and it is an interesting world indeed), but it is too sluggish for me.

During her last year at school, the eponymous character receives word that her father is dead and sets out to find him. Sabriel and her father are necromancer. Necromancers in this world however, don't raise the dead, but put them to rest.

I wish I liked this book. : ( When there are so many other interesting books to read don't bother with this one.

Umbrella Academy

Both the story and art of the Umbrella Academy are unimaginative. I had read excellent reviews about the second volume on Amazon, but decided to pick up the initial volume first. Maybe if I had read the second I would have been impressed, but I wasn't.

Umbrella Academy takes the basic premise of superheroes and twists it. A host of children are all born at a certain time, most of whom die. Sir Reginald Hargreeves collects the children and raises them to be a force against evil. However, none of the children turn out to have superpowers and are leaden like we are all by petty worries. Honestly, though, I just didn't care about any of the characters, all of whom are stock and flat.

This series is endorsed heavily by Grant Morrison another graphic novel writer who is touted heavily, but who also leaves me cold.

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

When people ask me what my favorite book is (and they invariably do ask) I vacillate terribly. There have been too many choices and too many genres spread over my lifespan. The task spans out in front of me unwieldy and huge. I flounder.

But if someone where to ask to list my favorite graphic novels, that would be a much easier task. Sandman would be in my top choices, as would two of Alan Moore's novels--Watchmen and V for Vendetta. Fun Home, Fables, and Identity Crisis would clearly be on the list. As would Jimmy Corrigan and Mother, Come Home. What else?

As I was reading Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuccheli, I knew it was going to occupy a vaulted position within my top ten as well. The story opens with a fire pushing the eponymous character out into the world and into the main action of the story. At the beginning, AP is a stinker of a human being encompassing all the boorish qualities of a human being--self-absorbed, ego centric, trite, and full of himself--with a dichotomous, simplistic outlook on life. The narrative is told through a series of flashbacks.

There are several other main characters of note. At several points, the story is told by Asterios's dead twin brother. Asterios's mind also drifts back over to his ill father and to his strong care-taker mother. Hana, AP's wife, is an artist in her own right, but has been eclipsed throughout her life by a series of males--first her brother and later by her husband, who steals her ideas and sells them as his own.

Conflict arises when Hana finally starts receiving attention for her sculptures by a noted-choreographer, Willy Ilium . The impotent Asterios can't compete and eventually looses her. Even though the book starts of on a melancholy note, it is a pleasure to watch Asterios change and grow.

Mazzuccheli is not the first graphic novelist to employ images to graphically illustrate the differences between his characters, but he does it very well. Each of the principle characters are given their own individual color and line to dramatically demonstrate their differing points of view. Asterios Polyp was a pleasure to read.

I am looking forward to discussing this book with anyone who is interested.

There is an Excellent Episode on Books

this week on NPR's On the Media.

On Sunday mornings, the classic music station KMFA plays choral classics. "Ancient Classics" hosted by Sara Hessel is my least favorite of their shows. I find the endless wailing aggrevating. At the same time, when I first wake up I am not ready for the pitty patter of the rock stations or the mmmhmmmhhmmm of the soft jazz station. I turned on KUT, which is esoteric music, some local news, and blocks of time dedicated only to NPR.

This week NPR is re-airing their Book Show about the past, present, and future of the book industry. It is excellent and thought-provoking!

Gay Pride Books

There is an excellent post over on the Austin Public Library's blog about gay pride. It includes a list of well written books by lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender individuals. You can find that post here.



Side note: I met Micheal Cunningham once and would totally love to marry him if he was inclined towards my gender romantically. Sigh. A girl can dream...

The new Harry Potter

trailer can be found here!