Mr. Green answers all your questions regarding eco-consciousness, something akin to Slate’s Green Lantern.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2008, 216 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 7.18.08
Date finished: 7.19.08
What I liked: There were a few questions answered in here that I’d wondered myself—such as how to compost if you live in an apartment, and whether it really uses up more energy to turn on a CFL bulb every time you need it or to just leave it on, etc.
What I didn’t like: A lot of the running conversations in this book left me feeling like its only real purpose was to charge up readers with ammunition to be eco-consciouser-than-thou.
What I learned: People really sweat the small stuff.
July 19, 2008
The latest installment of the series I’ve been reading that takes place in a demilitarized Manhattan in the midst of a new civil war.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2008, 128 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 7.16.08
Date finished: 7.18.08
What I liked: This comic comes off as so much more serious after reading “Transmetropolitan” for a while. Even more depressing.
What I didn’t like: Feeling like I’d forgotten everything that happened since the last volume.
What I learned: Maybe I should start reading the individual comics rather than wait for the compilations.
July 19, 2008
Nan Astley, an oyster girl from a seaside town in Victorian England, falls in love with a masher—a girl who performs in music halls as a boy. She picks up and moves to London, where she joins the act, but success isn’t without its downfalls, and she has all sorts of crazy adventures.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1999, 472 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 7.6.08
Date finished: 7.15.08
What I liked: The research that went into this book shows. You’re transported straight into fin-de-siecle London and sucked into the life of Nan. The running themes of secrecy and persistence—as well as the skillful prose—kept me speeding through this book at lightning pace. Plenty of sex scattered throughout the book, as well as honest takes on love and betrayal.
What I didn’t like: Some parts were frustrating, but nothing that I outright disliked. I was put off by the first chapter, which seems to be all about oysters, but after you get through that it gets straight to the point.
What I learned: The definition of picaresque, and how many common phrases today originated in Victorian England.
July 18, 2008
The final eight volumes of the series I started zipping through earlier.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1999 to 2004, about 144 pp each
Obtained via: Pat
Date started: 6.18.08
Date finished: 7.3.08
What I liked: The renegade journalist fighting for justice, the feisty assistants saving his ass.
What I didn’t like: The especially gory stuff.
What I learned: How it all ends.
July 7, 2008
Found this in the new and notable section of my library. It focuses a lot on foods to make for babies and kids; I picked it up for the veggie-friendly recipes.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2008, 310 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 7.5.08
Date finished: 7.5.08
What I liked: All the ideas for meals using mainly vegetarian ingredients. Sometimes I get in a rut and keep making the same three dishes over and over again. So far I’ve tried the recipe for fresh vegetable spring rolls (p. 119). Pretty good!
What I didn’t like: The book skewed a little new-agey for me. Like this passage from the section about cooking whole grains:
Swirl the grains in the water with your hand. As you touch the grain, remember your gratefulness to the earth for providing this food.
What I learned: Lots about preparing fresh and whole foods. Got a lot of new items to add to my grocery list, and it inspired me to make a trip to the Findlay Market this Saturday.
July 6, 2008
I loved ZZ Packer’s piece in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago, and it prompted me to pick up her book of short stories from the library straightaway.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2003, 288 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 6.20.08
Date finished: 6.25.08
What I liked: Each one of these short stories is a universe unto itself. They draw you in from the very first line. For example:
By our second day at Camp Crescendo, the girls in my Brownie troop had decided to kick the asses of each and every girl in Brownie Troop 909.—”Brownies”
“Opportunities,” my father says after I bail him out of jail.—”The Ant of the Self”
Doris Yates stood in the empty sanctuary and wondered if the world would really end in a matter of hours.—”Doris is Coming”
The stories are often from the perspective of a black woman, which I haven’t encountered a lot of in my reading. You fall in love with each of the narrators a little—you empathize with their plights and understand their motives.
What I didn’t like: That each of these stories wasn’t a full book. Maybe I’d feel differently if this book was actually eight novels, but I’ll have to wait until ZZ Packer comes out with her novel.
What I learned: A lot.
June 25, 2008
“Transmetropolitan”’s been described as postcyberpunk, which is a new one on me but seems fitting. It’s a story about a journalist in search of truth in a grim future, in the same vein as “DMZ.”
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1998, 72 pp., and 1999, 208 pp.
Obtained via: Pat
Date started: 6.12.08
Date finished: 6.15.08
What I liked: The out-of-control technology of the future and all of the advertisements for it. The gonzo-journalism-gone-amok ethos of Spider Jerusalem, the main character.
What I didn’t like: I don’t usually go for superhero aesthetics in comics, so my dislike of the lettering is nothing new. The comic’s pretty gruesome, so I don’t recommend it for the weak of stomach.
What I learned: I’ve got another eight volumes to go.
June 15, 2008
“Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences” might be the funniest book I’ve read this year. Burns Florey recounts her own history with this mostly lost linguistic art and pulls up quotes on the subject from well regarded writers.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2006, 200 pp.
Obtained via: Free table at work
Date started: 5.28.08
Date finished: 6.6.08
What I liked: The quotes from Gertrude Stein and others. The dozens of numerated asides contain some of the funniest bits. I especially liked the explanation of the true meaning of “the lion’s share.” The more you know!
What I didn’t like: No complaints!
What I learned: Quite a bit, all very dorky.
June 6, 2008
Awesome collection of awkward-middle-school-girl vignettes in the same vein as Tammy Pierce is Unlovable, one of my all-time favorites.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2006, 240 pp.
Obtained via: Clifton Comics
Date started: 5.15.08
Date finished: 5.15.08
What I liked: Awkwardness level is off the charts!
What I didn’t like: Varying styles of drawing is a little confusing, but not bad!
What I learned: Everything will be OK.
May 17, 2008
Saw the movie first, and had to read the original graphic novel! This is a couple parts combined into one hefty volume.
THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2004, 344 pp.
Obtained via: Columbus, Ohio’s Book Loft
Date started: 5.10.08
Date finished: 5.10.08
What I liked: Satrapi’s stories of growing up a rebellious girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution is mesmerizing, funny and eye-opening. Her high school years spent in Vienna were a vivid reminder of what it’s like to be out of place in a foreign land.
What I didn’t like: No complaints! I totally want to hang out with Marjane Satrapi.
What I learned: Where kids got rock cassettes during the revolution, how people get through war with their sense of humor intact.
May 13, 2008
