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Asterios comic7/8/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() In the meantime, we are enthralled by Mazzucchellis extraordinarily imagined world of brilliantly conceived eccentrics, sharply observed social mores, and deftly depicted asides on everything from design theory to the nature of human perception.Īsterios Polyp is David Mazzucchellis masterpiece: a great American graphic novel. Did Asterios do something to drive her away? What has happened to her? Is she even alive? All the questions will be answered, eventually. And we meet Hana: a sweet, smart, first-generation Japanese American artist with whom he had made a blissful life. But what is this escape really about?Īs the story unfolds, moving between the present and the past, we begin to understand this confounding yet fascinating character, and how hes gotten to where he is. Fun Home or Are You My Mother by Alison Bechdel. Ghost World, Ice Haven, or Wilson by Daniel Clowes. The colors chosen, as well as the shades and intensity chosen within the color, show a lot of thought put into them by the artist (and writer), David Mazzucchelli. Shortcomings and Killing Dying by Adrian Tomine. Asterios Polyp is all about style, but one of its most effectual techniques for me is its use of color. In a tenacious daze, he leaves the city and relocates to a small town in the American heartland. Sounds like we might have similar tastes, so here are my recommendations: This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki. Meet Asterios Polyp: middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer, whose life is wholly upended when his New York City apartment goes up in flames. ![]()
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Laura dean book7/8/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Valero-O’Connell’s ( Lumberjanes: Bonus Tracks, 2018, etc.) art is realistic and expressive, bringing the characters to life through dynamic grayscale illustrations featuring highlights of millennial pink. Tamaki ( Supergirl, 2018, etc.) explores the nuances of both romantic and platonic relationships with raw tenderness and honesty. As she struggles to fall out of love and figure out how to “break up with someone who’s broken up with me,” Freddy slowly begins to be drawn back into Laura’s orbit, challenging her relationships with her friends as she searches for happiness. After Laura breaks up with her for a third time, Freddy writes to an advice columnist and, at the recommendation of her best friend Doodle, (reluctantly) sees a psychic who advises her that in order to break out of the cycle of her “non-monogamous swing-your-partner wormhole,” Freddy needs to do the breaking up herself. ![]() Laura cheats on Freddy, gaslights and emotionally manipulates her, and fetishizes her. But while Freddy’s friends are always supportive of her, they can’t understand why she stays with Laura. A 17-year-old struggles to navigate friendship and finding herself while navigating a toxic relationship.īiracial (East Asian and white) high schooler Freddy is in love with white Laura Dean. ![]()
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Monsters ilsa j bick7/8/2023 ![]() ![]() Her first Star Trek novel, Well of Souls, was a 2003 Barnes & Noble bestseller.īefore she became an author, Bick was a child/adolescent and forensic psychiatrist. She's taken both Grand and Second Prize in the Strange New Worlds anthology series (19, respectively), while her story, "The Quality of Wetness," took Second Prize in the prestigious Writers of the Future contest in 2000. She has written for several long-running science fiction series, most notably Star Trek, Battletech, and Mechwarrior: Dark Age. Bick is an author of short stories, e-books and novels. JSTOR ( October 2007) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. ![]() This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. ![]()
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The old drift review7/8/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() 'Charming, heartbreaking and breathtaking' Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House Read more 'Extraordinary, ambitious, evocative, dazzling' Salman Rushdie So begins a cycle of unwitting retribution between three Zambian families as they collide and converge over the course of the century, into the present and beyond. Clark, foggy with fever, makes a mistake that entangles his fate with those of an Italian hotelier and an African busboy. In 1904, in a smoky room at the hotel across the river, an Old Drifter named Percy M. On the banks of the Zambezi River, a few miles from the majestic Victoria Falls, there was once a colonial settlement called The Old Drift. 'The great African novel of the twenty-first century' Tade Thompson, author of Rosewater An electrifying debut from the winner of the 2015 Caine Prize for African writing, The Old Drift is the Great Zambian Novel you didn’t know you were waiting for and the launch of a thrilling new talent ![]()
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The ashleys melissa de la cruz7/7/2023 ![]() ![]() Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas. ![]() Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat. ![]()
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Hunger by Knut Hamsun7/7/2023 ![]() ![]() I found this book to be unsettling and it has rattled around in my head weeks after finishing, which to me is a mark of a fantastic horror novel. ![]() It's like a horrifying car accident that you can't pull your eyes away from no matter how much you want to. The things he says and does and even thinks while facing starvation and humility are so jarring and off-putting, but at the same time entrancing. ![]() If you have ever faced anything similar (the humiliation that goes with being poor, hungry, and desperate), you will easily relate to the protagonist. There's nothing over the top gore-y but one of the reasons it's so impactful is that this is very true to life. And because this is told in first person, you have a front seat view of his descent. The reason why I thought it was horror: The protagonist faces extreme desperation and virtually loses his mind. This is told in first person and in a sometimes rambling and "stream of consciousness" style. In Hunger, we follow Hamsun's retelling of his impoverished youth where he faced tremendous mental and physical hardships. Written by Knut Hamsun, an influential and controversial writer, who has won Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 and also openly supported Hitler and Nazi ideology. Hunger Knut Hamsun Sult (1890 Hunger) is Hamsun's breakthrough novel about a young writer struggling to maintain his dignity while trying to survive in a desolate and lonely world. ![]() This is one of those non-horror books that easily could have been categorized as horror. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Reunions, and twice the drama of middle school.with a lot more glitter. The companion novel to Better Nate Than Ever, which The New York Times called “inspired and inspiring,” Five, Six, Seven, Nate! is full of secret admirers, surprise ![]() Now, as the countdown to opening night is starting to feel more like a time bomb, Nate is going to need more than his lucky rabbit’s foot if he ever wants to see his name in lights. ![]() It’s everything he ever practiced his autograph for! ButĪs thrilling as Broadway is, rehearsals are nothing like Nate expects: full of intimidating child stars, cut-throat understudies, and a director who can’t even remember Nate’s name. Now on Broadway as second understudy for E.T., Nate Foster keeps in close contact with his best friend, Libby, as he faces his nemesis, Jordan Rylance, and his own insecurities as the cast member with the least training and experience. Now on CD and as an audio download!Īrmed with a one-way ticket to New York City, small-town theater geek Nate is off to start rehearsals for E.T.: The Broadway Musical. In the sequel to Odyssey Award Honor Audiobook and Stonewall Honor Book, Better Nate Than Ever, Nate Foster’s Broadway dreams are finally coming true. The hotly anticipated follow-up to 2013’s Better Nate Than Ever, Federle’s forthcoming book once again centers on Nate Foster, a 13-year-old musical theater devotee who runs away from his Pennsylvania hometown to audition for E.T.: The Musical in New York. ![]()
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Night soldiers by alan furst7/7/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() He articulates the characters so well you really feel you know themĭid you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?Ĭertainly not laugh! Mainly rage at the sheer evil of the NKVD - first manifested when they removed the stray dog the students had sheltered (of course very minor misdeed by their standards, but indicative! - somewhat reminiscent of what happened in Catholic institutions, who patented the areas of spying and mind-control). What does George Guidall bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book? Naturally - our hero Christo! A man with a soul still alive despite his many tribulations ![]() (I had read the Malraux novel and never made head or tale of the divisions - also of course I didn't really care.) Certainly makes you understand what was going on in Spain during the Civil War - this had always been a bit of a mystery to me, between POUM, PUP, etc. What did you like most about Night Soldiers?Įxcellently paced - after a rather slow start. ![]()
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The slave kate aaron7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() I have to admit, picking up a slave story is always fraught with angst for me. Except… nobody can be in love with two people at once, can they? Seducing Kai has suddenly become more challenge than chore, and with his master’s encouragement, Tam finds himself falling for his new companion. But it’s hard to hate a man who cries himself to sleep, flinches at the slightest touch, and blushes beautifully when he’s kissed. For being his eventual replacement in their master’s bed. For being of the same race as the men who murdered his family. ![]() He wants to hate Kai for being unruly and ungrateful. Then Tam is ordered to purchase another slave. For six glorious months, he and his master get to be together. Tam’s dreams come true when his mistress walks out, leaving her husband behind. Naturally submissive, although with a petulant streak, he can’t help but fall in love with the master who treats him kindly. At twenty-seven, Tamelik has been a slave more than half his life, having witnessed his family being murdered in front of him when he was just a child. ![]()
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The valley of the lost secrets7/6/2023 ![]() Helgard Krause, Chief Executive of the Books Council of Wales said: “The Tir na n-Og Awards have been celebrating the very best books for children and young people in Wales since 1976, and the quality of the entries just keeps getting better and better.” “This feels extra-special as I’m very proud to be Welsh, and love setting my stories in the sort of valley community I know so well.” Lesley Parr said: “I’m absolutely landed (as we say in Port Talbot!) to have won a Tir na n-Og Award for my debut book. A book which will stay with you and you will want to return to the Valley again and again.” “Despite being a fictional name for the valley, the landscape and community are totally authentic, evocative and lovingly described. These additional puzzles make for an intriguing and utterly beguiling read. As the story develops items of relevance are added to the tree. ![]() At the start of each chapter there is a tree spreading out over the page. ![]() “David Dean’s beautiful cover and illustrations add something rather special to the book. You are drawn into this captivating story from the beginning, connecting immediately to the authentic characters. Simon Fisher from the judging panel said: “Lesley Parr has written a beautiful, tender and totally absorbing debut with characters to care about. ![]() |