Okay, I really hate reviewing books, but I also want to keep track of the good fiction and comics stuff I’ve read lately, so here:
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Shortcomings by Adrian TomineNot my kind of story, not my kind of style, but a really well-executed, 100-page story. I think Tomine’s a terrific artist, and I love his sketchbooks and illustration work (his New Yorker covers are always great). This book deserves the attention it’s getting.
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The Cheese Monkeys by Chip KiddWent to see Chip Kidd talk a couple of weeks ago, so I read his first novel. It’s very funny and a quick read, and anybody who’s been through an art-school critique would appreciate the great classroom scenes. (Kidd modeled the fictional Winter Sorbeck off his own professor at Penn State, the graphic designer Lammy Sommese.) And since so much of the action takes place in the classroom, it sort of functions as a wacky introduction to graphic design. I recommend it. |
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Crickets #2 by Sammy HarkhamThis is a comic book. For $5, you get a bunch of stories, all of them pretty wild and pretty great. Sammy is one of my favorite cartoonists, and I’d been looking forward to this for a while. It didn’t disappoint. |
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Big Questions by Anders NilsenI’ve been following this series for a while. I found #3 last week in a bargain bin at my local Half Price books—it’s amazing how much Nilsen has grown as an artist. I buy everything he makes, and so should everyone else. |
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The Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas GurewitchThis is bathroom reading: most of the strips are the equivalent of a good dick joke. A good and hilarious dick joke. |
What causes you to hate reviewing books?
I have a very scavenger-like approach to reading: I can either use what I’m reading, or I can’t. It either feeds me, or it doesn’t.
I don’t really LIKE thinking too hard about whether a book was “good” or not.
It either moved me or it didn’t.
Obviously, I wasn’t a very good English major.
That isn’t to say I don’t like reading OTHER book reviews…