Short, weird and beautiful. The back cover has a quote by Kelly Link, which was appropriate, as this comic almost feels like something she could have written. But instead it was written and drawn by Carolyn Nowak, a true talent I am glad to have finally discovered!

Ryan North is a clever and inventive writer which a knack for pushing a fictional situation to the extremes of logical absurdity. In this book he mixes science fiction and Greek myths, specifically the myth of King Midas's foolish wish that everything he touch turns to gold. In this story, the touch was so powerful that every single part of planet Earth has been converted, killing the whole planet in the time of the ancient Greeks. Meanwhile, multiple other planets with intelligent life have developed enough technology to enable space travel. One of these societies, The Federation, is on a mission to dominate the rest. Three rebels from suffering planets band together to seek a rumored super weapon, the thing that killed Earth. They are surprised to find that the weapon is a perfectly preserved body, but they cut off one finger, intending to use its deadly force against the Federation home world. However, the Federation is hot on their heels and soon it becomes a dangerous race to see who can control more of Midas' body. The book is beautifully drawn and full of action, but not emotion. The characters debate the murdering of entire worlds extremely causally, and when whole worlds are indeed killed, seem barely to mourn them. As reader who worries daily about the potential death of all life on our planet, this aspect of the story didn't sit very well with me. But the book is fast-paced, and a younger (less environmentally stressed) reader would probably really enjoy it.

Smile began life as an autobiographical web comic before it was published by Scholastic. Telgemeier recounts the story of her childhood dramas with orthodontistry- and yes, they are dramatic. Part of the pleasure of this book for me was the fact its set in San Francisco- it was fun seeing familiar landmarks and skylines in the background.

Complicated thoughts about this book. It owes a lot to Alice in Wonderland, and I mean that both in a good way and a bad way. As in Alice, this book features a character falling down a rabbit hole into a whole new, magical, strange, beautiful, dangerous land. This land is full of tea, cats, owls, books, art, ruined architectural marvels, darkness, and decay. The lead character, grad student Zachary, meets various characters who shift in and out of the story, but the plot is loose and generally lacks urgency. Some readers will be perfectly content with this, and will be happy to wander the halls of the underground land for a long time, discovering interesting new tidbits. Other readers will chafe at the pacing and wonder when something is going to happen. I switched back from one to the other mood several times. The start of the book is especially slow, because every other chapter is a fairy tale, dividing up the sections about Zachary's New England J-term. Usually I love tales within tales, but the 1:1 ratio of story and interstitial material wasn't working for me. I was almost tempted to skip them and just read about Zachary, who is quietly gay, nerdy, and working on a thesis about story structures and game design when he finds a book in the library that contains a written scene from his own childhood. He follows a series of literary clues to figure out where the book came from, which eventually gets the story moving. Two movies I'd aesthetically compare this book to are Mirrormask and Labyrinth. If you loved those films, and like relaxing into a dreamy journey of a book, you might really love this one. But it didn't quite hit the spot for me.

The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer was one of the first books I read in 2015 and pretty much my first experience of Palmer's work. I love reading books about creative people because I'm fascinated by how many different ways there are to live a life that includes making art. Palmer's version includes a lot of bravery, and also a lot of hope.

Added in 2019: One of the things that had really stuck with me from this book from the first time was the insane amount of touring Amanda does over the course of the years related in it. I am such a home body; I like traveling, but I need long stretches at home to feel grounded and happy. But with my first book out this year, I am doing more travel than ever before. I had heard that the audiobook version was really good, because it is read by Amanda herself and includes the songs (which are only printed lyrics in the text version). I gave it a listen to try and gather some of that tour-stamina energy into myself. Hopefully it worked!

This book knocked my socks off. The starting scene, of a group of kids on bikes setting off down a dark road might suggest Stranger Things but a closer emotional match is probably Spirited Away. Ben is one of five boys from his school who decide that this year, after the autumn festival, they will follow the paper lanterns released into the river below their town to see where they go. An old folk song says they turn into stars and rise into the sky, but that can't be true, can it? Tagging after the group is Nathaniel, a nerd and an outsider. Ben's friends tease him and Ben is too uncomfortable to speak up in his defense. But one by one the others drop out until only Ben and Nathaniel are left on the mission to follow the river and the lights. The things they discover are weirder, scarier, more beautiful and more wonderful than either could have imagined- or what I, as the reader, had imagined. This book really went places I wasn't expecting and I loved that. The art is gorgeous- an energetic pencil line with digital colors heavy on blues and purples, except for a few warm yellow or active magenta scenes. I think I will end up buying this book because I want to keep looking at it!