Evan Dorkin, “Circling the Drain”

Mandy lent me this, the second volume of compiled issues of Dork by Evan Dorkin. She knew my style, for sure. I definitely feel the ’60s and ’70s Mad Magazine influence on the drawings, and even though the book’s a jumble of short stories, drawn-out angstfests, one-liners and non sequiturs, it flows really well.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2003 (originally), 112 pp.
Obtained via: Mandy
Date started: 8.22.07
Date finished: 8.25.07
What I liked: Love the devil puppet and his “Invisible College of Secret Knowledge.” (The devil puppet commands the attention of entire rooms with his tales of “those unfortunate souls who have found themselves banished by man’s memory and blacklisted from his record books.” For example, the founder of the Kiss Navy and the “spaghetti baby.”) Love the stream of consciousness feel and stories from awkward adolescence.
What I didn’t like: All the murder. Not into it.
What I learned: Mr. Clean came out in 1988 after retiring from commercials.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby”

I’m slightly embarrassed to say this isn’t a reread. It was never assigned to me in high school, and I generally avoided literature classes in college. I picked up this copy in a library booksale a few years ago, but did not manage to get past the first few pages. All that flowery prose with no apparent purpose! Luckily, I pushed through, and by the fifth page I was absolutely hooked.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1925 (originally), 180 pp.
Obtained via: Booksale
Date started: 8.12.07
Date finished: 8.16.07
What I liked: Reading this book while getting set up in my turn-of-the-century apartment bordered on total immersion. I absolutely love the era — the 1920s — described in the book. Fitzgerald’s prose manages to still be so modern, and his choice of words is often pointed to the point of being laugh-out-loud funny.
What I didn’t like: Nothing worth mentioning.
What I learned: Life in the 1920s — excessive, influenced by war, revolving around money — seems very similar to life today.

Kurt Vonnegut, “Cat’s Cradle”

I can only partly claim to understand this whole thing after reading it, but the book jacket says “Cat’s Cradle” is a commentary on the madness of modern man. Main plot points: An inventor of the atomic bomb, a concoction called ice nine, a Latin American country called San Lorenzo where everyone is an adherent to a religion created by a calypso fan named Bokonon but also where being a Bokonist is punishable by death. It’s an exercise in absurdity and an absolutely fun read.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1963, reprinted 1998, 287 pp.
Obtained via: Borrowed from Marty
Date started: 7.02.07
Date finished: 7.31.07
What I liked: Using short chapters like these, any other author might have ended up with a choppy book, but Vonnegut makes it flow perfectly, and some of their titles were seriously laughter-inducing.
What I didn’t like: I can’t claim to dislike any part of this, but I think I’m going to need to read the whole thing again to fully appreciate the humor, which was heavily touted by my friend.
What I learned: A lot of words that I’ve added to a notebook I call my “prison dictionary.”