A more recent comic collection by Tomine. Since I read Killing & Dying right after Summer Blonde, I necessarily compare the two. This collection is much more stylistically & artistically diverse than the earlier one. “Hortisculpture”is done in the style of a newspaper comic (or maybe the style of a Chris Ware or Daniel Clowes comic done in the style of a newspaper comic); “Intruders” has more of a Noir aesthetic. “Go Owls” & “Translated from the Japanese” are the stories that leave me the most wondering what was going on, although the mystery is definitely more straightforward in “Owls” (& part of me wonders if we are supposed to think the Dad did not actually see his daughter bomb at the open mic in “Killing & Dying”). The panels in most of these stories are usually smaller & feel busier than the earlier Tomine stories I've read. Unlike with the stories in Summer Blonde, I doubt anyone is going to wonder if these stories are autobiographical, although I suspect that “Hortisculpture” & “Translated From the Japanese” might actually be. 

Four tales of self-destructiveness from the forgotten time of the early 2000s. If I hadn't looked at the publishing date, I could have guessed the era from Neil's job editing the spicy classifieds & sex ads in the back of an alt-weekly, or maybe from Hillary calling a payphone... which people answer! Despite the familiar settings, all of these stories are deeply weird. It's hard to say which of these stories was the most bleak, but I'd have to say Hawaiian Getaway is my favorite. I did love the line in “Alter Ego”: “she told me. About Sacramento”, which allowed me to feel some dramatic excitement about my staid hometown. The endings of all of the stories were left ambiguous, but I can picture what I think the epilogues would all be. 

Entertaining comics biography of James Joyce, who I knew next to nothing about when I started reading this. I was struck by how much Joyce stayed unaffected from politics and the major historical events of his lifetime, especially in contrast to his brother Stanislaus. The book seems to show that Joyce was an incredibly lucky man (also in contrast to Stan), despite the setbacks he had earlier in his career, & his eye disabilities. Great events were swirling around him, he was always broke, but he managed to avoid the bullets and keep a roof over his & his family's heads, continue his writing, & keep the drinks flowing. To his credit, it seems Joyce was conscious of this luck. This book makes me want to read Ulysses & Finnegan's Wake, partly because the book hinted that Joyce didn't intend either book to be taken too seriously. Which is not to say that Joyce didn't take his work seriously, even though he constantly used it as an excuse for his constant bad behavior. Finally, I really enjoyed the artistic style. I liked the details,the characterization of the different personages, & the ways it depicted all these figures in motion. 

Shirley Jackson's very Gothic novel. Like Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is very difficult to put down. Similar to Hill House (and also the Shining), the house or “Castle” referenced in the title is perversely, kind of an inviting place. A place of safety, with a well-stocked pantry, where everything is where it should be makes it easy to ignore that it is a sick or cursed or evil place. This would have been a much more disturbing book to read during the height of shelter-in-place in 2020. It is a disturbing enough read in 2022! There is a lot packed into this book, I'm sure a second read would be very worthwhile. The afterward by Letham is amusing, but not super necessary. 

Less a travelogue than a work trip journal, Guy Delisle supervises outsourced animation work in Shenzhen special economic zone sometime in the late 90s. Some aspects of this book made me think of Factory Girls, which followed the lives of workers in the next town over, Dongguan. In addition to telling us about his time in Shenzhen, Delisle once more pulls the curtain back on some aspects of animation (similar to Pyongyang). Delisle spends his time working long hours, eating, trying to meet people, & being bored. I don't remember boredom, meting people, or eating being such big factors in Pyongyang. There are some cool cityscapes & views of late 90s Shenzhen. I was amused that Delisle shows himself reading & thinking about the account of the hostage who he would later write about in his book Hostage. 

Story of a Ravickian writer attempting to document the crisis in her town, Ravicka. Ana Patova Crosses a Bridge seems to me to be the easiest read of Gladman's Ravicka series, which is definitely not to say that everything (or anything) from the previous books (or even this book) is explained. Of Gladman's Ravika series, I like the style of this one the best; this book has the most quotable lines, & I found the images the most resonant. The shifting nature of time and place that's described in Ana Patova Crosses a Bridge reminds me of The Twilight World, & the hidden movements of Ravicka's buildings and spaces reminds me of China Mieville's short story "Reports of Certain Events in London". In each of these books, Gladman describes geography & architecture, but I'm always wondering what the geography & architecture is describing. 

Historical novel about Hiroo Onoda's 30 year war on Lubang, Philippines, told from the perspective of tropical jungle aficionado Werner Herzog. Like many a Herzog movie, Onoda's story is the story of a pointless & futile quest taking place in a tropical jungle. Like many a Herzog jungle protagonist of the silver screen, Onoda finds that as the hours, days, & years go by, he gets farther and farther from our experience of time, and further into a sort of dream time. He describes an experience of time that has no present, only past and future. Herzog occasionally mentions the anger some of the Lubang civilians had at Onoda for his shooting or shooting at some of them during his time on the island, noting that Onoda didn't like to talk about anyone who he may have shot. I believe it's worth noting that the other two Japanese soldiers who didn't surrender until the 70s, Shōichi Yokoi & Teruo Nakamura, didn't make nearly as much trouble for the local people as did Onoda & his team. Also tells how Philippine military and even some Lubang neighbors thought of Onoda as a sort of cryptid or mascot. Describes the various means that Onoda and his (at first) three fellow soldiers used to subsist in the jungle, to maintain their weapons in the jungle, to remain hidden from the efforts to find them, & finally to evade the conclusion that the war was over. A lot is packed into this short book. 

Mind-bending anthology of short stories in the cyberpunk Janelle Monaeverse. The first story, “The Memory Librarian”, is kind of cyberpunk noir. “Nevermind” is a cyberpunk anti-Mad Max. “Timebox” & “Timebox [Altared]” reminded me of the kind of story I'd find in an old science fiction anthology, that would be adapted into a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode. “Save Changes” gave me a Snowcrash or 90s cyberpunk movie vibe. Makes me want to listen to some more Janelle Monae music. 

Story of one season of the Basketball team of the fancy Catholic High School that Gene Luen Yang taught at for many years. Also kind of a memoir of a pivotal year in Yang's career. This is not a story about a plucky underdog. This is probably the least weird narrative I've read by him. The narrative gets a little bit meta at some point, but it doesn't constitute a huge mind-blowing twist. Also includes the history of Basketball, including evolution of women's basketball, & the special relationship Catholic schools have had with the sport. I had always assumed that my town's Catholic schools always beat all the other local schools for the same reasons they won at all the other sports: they are less constrained by lack of funding or having to draw from a particular school district. I was pleased to see my brothers in-law's alma mater Sac High make an appearance, & less pleased to see my old Mayor appear. Do not skip the endnotes. Among other things, they'll give you more of the story behind Sacto's former Mayor. 

Prequel to the His Dark Materials novels which kind of sets up the beginning of The Golden Compass. I was basically reading this to get to the next book & see what happens to the characters from the Golden Compass, but Pullman introduced a bunch of new characters for me to care about. I was surprised how invested I got in the new characters. Gets at least as weird & trippy as The Amber Spyglass, & has a high mysteriousness factor, which is probably an indication of what the rest of the series has in store. Can't wait to read the next book, although maybe I should have waited until the 3rd part of Book of Dust gets released to start reading this one.