My first attempt at writing on this Blog. The book is The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, a Canadian author of American parentage. I enjoyed the book. For me it was hard to put down and I was sorry when I had finished. The story follows a young African girl, Aminata Diallo, from 1745 to London in 1802. She is taken from her home into slavery, transported to North Carolina, sold to a Jewish man from New York, lived through the American Revolution, went to Nova Scotia, back to Africa and then to London England. While in the United States she marries and has two children.
"This is the magnificently told journey of a free African girl turned into a woman and a slave. It is authoritative and brilliant. You feel you are turning pages of history, the pages of truth." Austin Clarke, author of the Polished Hoe.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
nell to bairds
Looks like I am on the Baird Book Blog.
Today, Cecil and I went down to the Farmer's Market and he bought a self-published fantasy book by David Korinetz. We''ll see if it is any good, stayed tuned.
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Watchmen
Wicked Awesome, teens, adult, deep thoughts, great story line, everything but not an easy reader, take some time and give it its due, read the images.
On another note, it continues to perplex and confound me how little seems to be known in literary circles about comics. As Harvey Pekar stated: "comics are words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures" Pekar is well known in the genre of being the writer of American Splendor, though he is not an artist.
One of the side bar links took me to an article in the NY Times in which G.G. Gustines reviews A.D.: After the Deluge, by Josh Neufeld, a graphic novel about Hurricane Katrina and in New Orleans. It is written from the author's personnal experience. Gustines seems to think that this is a new type of writing for the genre of comics, which is an uninformed view, especially considering that he is a professional book reviewer. He states that After the Deluge is: " the latest example of the expansion of the graphic format to include non-fiction and reportage as well as superheroes and fantasy."
This negates any book told in the sequential art form that does not fit his 4 categories. Pitiful writing Mr. Gustines. He has obviously no idea of the scope and breadth of the genre, nor its history. I think Alison Bechdel wrote Fun Home as an autobiography; I think faithful followers of the BBB know that Nakazawa's work is reportage and autobiographical, as is Joe Sacco's; I think David B. is world famous because of his excellent work about his life and his epileptic brother (Epileptic, Pantheon); I am very sure that Larry Gonick did several very famous books in comic form about world history, making the subject fun and accessible; Has he not heard of Art Spiegelman for goodness sakes? I think he won a Pullizter Prize for Maus. His latest work is In the Shadow of No Towers. I wonder if George Gene Gustines can figure out what that's about. Chester Brown's Louis Riel?
Of course there are lots more but my ranting drains me, oh well, thanks for tuning in.
Checkout The Watchmen, its fiction, its great.
CMB
On another note, it continues to perplex and confound me how little seems to be known in literary circles about comics. As Harvey Pekar stated: "comics are words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures" Pekar is well known in the genre of being the writer of American Splendor, though he is not an artist.
One of the side bar links took me to an article in the NY Times in which G.G. Gustines reviews A.D.: After the Deluge, by Josh Neufeld, a graphic novel about Hurricane Katrina and in New Orleans. It is written from the author's personnal experience. Gustines seems to think that this is a new type of writing for the genre of comics, which is an uninformed view, especially considering that he is a professional book reviewer. He states that After the Deluge is: " the latest example of the expansion of the graphic format to include non-fiction and reportage as well as superheroes and fantasy."
This negates any book told in the sequential art form that does not fit his 4 categories. Pitiful writing Mr. Gustines. He has obviously no idea of the scope and breadth of the genre, nor its history. I think Alison Bechdel wrote Fun Home as an autobiography; I think faithful followers of the BBB know that Nakazawa's work is reportage and autobiographical, as is Joe Sacco's; I think David B. is world famous because of his excellent work about his life and his epileptic brother (Epileptic, Pantheon); I am very sure that Larry Gonick did several very famous books in comic form about world history, making the subject fun and accessible; Has he not heard of Art Spiegelman for goodness sakes? I think he won a Pullizter Prize for Maus. His latest work is In the Shadow of No Towers. I wonder if George Gene Gustines can figure out what that's about. Chester Brown's Louis Riel?
Of course there are lots more but my ranting drains me, oh well, thanks for tuning in.
Checkout The Watchmen, its fiction, its great.
CMB
Saturday, August 22, 2009
David Sedaris
Even though I said I would document books I read this past year since I became a librarian, which is not a long period of time, I cannot list off the top of my head what I have read. When I remember I must record it immediatley or loose it, which is what happened here. I read it in the fall of '08.
Sedaris is a very entertaining writer. I have only read Me Talk Pretty One Day but I think all his stuff is similar. He writes stories from his own life, everyday happenings that are not unlike what most of us experience but somehow in the hands of a skilled author end up being rather amusing. On his homepage, it mentions that he: "lifts the corner of everyday life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface." His stories are referred to by others as essays, which I guess differentiate his political and social commentary from his growing up and family stories.
He is a little like Garrison Keelor or Stuart McLean in that tradition of story telling although considerably more caustic and without the type of radio show that make Keelor and McLean such identifiable personnas such as they are in 'The Prairie Home Companion' and 'The Vinyl Cafe,' respectively. However Sedaris is a recognisable public figure due to his many appearences on TV and radio talk shows, items on Youtube.com and work for the NY Times (he became kind of famous on the NPR).
This is certainly adult reading, not for content but for style; I feel you'll relate better with more life experience. I think Me Talk Pretty One Day is a good intro to Sedaris because it is an interesting and alternative style of an autobiography, full of charm, wit, and humour.
CMB
Wow, I remembered how to 'insert link' and went a little link crazy in this one!
Sedaris is a very entertaining writer. I have only read Me Talk Pretty One Day but I think all his stuff is similar. He writes stories from his own life, everyday happenings that are not unlike what most of us experience but somehow in the hands of a skilled author end up being rather amusing. On his homepage, it mentions that he: "lifts the corner of everyday life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface." His stories are referred to by others as essays, which I guess differentiate his political and social commentary from his growing up and family stories.
He is a little like Garrison Keelor or Stuart McLean in that tradition of story telling although considerably more caustic and without the type of radio show that make Keelor and McLean such identifiable personnas such as they are in 'The Prairie Home Companion' and 'The Vinyl Cafe,' respectively. However Sedaris is a recognisable public figure due to his many appearences on TV and radio talk shows, items on Youtube.com and work for the NY Times (he became kind of famous on the NPR).
This is certainly adult reading, not for content but for style; I feel you'll relate better with more life experience. I think Me Talk Pretty One Day is a good intro to Sedaris because it is an interesting and alternative style of an autobiography, full of charm, wit, and humour.
CMB
Wow, I remembered how to 'insert link' and went a little link crazy in this one!
Friday, August 21, 2009
How to use this blog
OK its a trick, if you are here then you are using it! Did you see the stuff to the right side of the page? There are 3 headings which you may click on and see wonderful things about literacy, novels and books. They are hot inked and changing so you don't always have to see the same boring articles.
Maybe you'd like to read George Pelecanos' best list. He is pretty funny. Or USAToday's Best Seller list in the 'book's heading. So many choices for fun, and you know what they say: nothing beats fun for a good time!
Maybe you'd like to read George Pelecanos' best list. He is pretty funny. Or USAToday's Best Seller list in the 'book's heading. So many choices for fun, and you know what they say: nothing beats fun for a good time!
http://www.fallsapart.com/
It seems as though I can not use the usual cut and paste key strokes on Blogger, so I put the URL in the title line. Here is Sherman Alexie's site.
Have you read any Sherman Alexie? I like his writing a lot. I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and now am reading the short story set called The Toughest Indian in the World.
Diary is a YA novel and as is all his writing, I assume, based on real experiences in the Seattle-Spokane region and on his life as a Spokane and Coeur d'Lane American Indian. I loved this book. It is full of humour, wit, and cleverness of all description.
Toughest is really great adult fiction, and I think some of the stories are worthy of study, especially the one of the title name. After this I think I'll read Indian Killer (can you sense a theme by the titles?) since we happen to have it here in my house although I'm not sure if anyone has read it.
CMB
Have you read any Sherman Alexie? I like his writing a lot. I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and now am reading the short story set called The Toughest Indian in the World.
Diary is a YA novel and as is all his writing, I assume, based on real experiences in the Seattle-Spokane region and on his life as a Spokane and Coeur d'Lane American Indian. I loved this book. It is full of humour, wit, and cleverness of all description.Toughest is really great adult fiction, and I think some of the stories are worthy of study, especially the one of the title name. After this I think I'll read Indian Killer (can you sense a theme by the titles?) since we happen to have it here in my house although I'm not sure if anyone has read it.
CMB
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