Just Makes Me Want to Read More Books...Grr

Ok so there are 50 books covered in this book (every mini essay is splendid and recommended reading for all bibliophiles), and I have read a grand total of 16. Which means I must choose at least 1 out of 34 to read when I am finished Moby Dick. Of course that answer will be Ulyssess, mostly cuz I want to see if Alaina is paying attention. Other books/plays that I will consider include: The Postman Aways Rings Twice, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Waste Land. The best essays were on Cinderella, Catch-22, and Around the World in 80 Days. 

Young Lovecraft is Awesome

Most excellent fun with echoes of Poe and Lovecraft, himself. Picture the horror master as a child honing his craft. I listened to Metallica's "The Call of Ktula" in his honour.  

Kill the Guy WIth the Lame Idea Instead

A world where Will is god and all his characters want to end his rule. Lame. Just Lame. Lame art. like its educational plus edgy. Neither is true. 

Just not the same...

One of my favourite comics as a child, ruined here by someone with lame art sense and the idea that war comics need to be more realistic. POPPYCOCK GIVE ME THE REAL SGT. ROCK.

Jinchalo....code for WTF?

No words. No really, no words. Supposedly like Korean folk-tales. Just weird if you ask me.

DAY-us-ex-MAH-kin-ah..say it with me children

An excellent comic set in New York post-9/11. Mayor Hundred can talk to machines due to a Spideyesque accident (or was it?). This is very original comic book fun. The best character is either Kremlin or the hero himself. 

The Most Important Batman Story

This is the most compelling work of the late 20th century comic book world. A retired Batman drawn out to save his city in ANY way possible. This is Frank Miller's shining moment (though his run on Daredevil was pretty impressive too, and is the touchstone for the Netflix drama...but I digress). The edgy comics of the 21st century would not exist without this at times brutal comic. It is very possibly the most important story in the canon of the Bat. 

Hey Mister, redux

Like the other Hey Mister collection, but with too many stories about the author. 

Matt Kindt...probably the reason I will begin reading comics again.

Matt Kindt is a genius. His comic book spy stuff, with all its puzzles and weird clues, is great. This alone can be read, or cut up to make a puzzle piece/map come to life. Really cool, really intricate...I need to read more comics. Plus get glasses, my glasses suck. 

HAHA So Politcally Incorrect They Took Him Out of the Newspapers

I always loved Andy Capp. I used to read all of Les, my step-dad's, copies. I think I loved him cuz he played soccer and was always drunk. The wife abuse part did not register, but let's be real...some of this is hilarious. I can't imagine what would happen if I started putting some these cartoons on the Facebook. 

Reading the Bible Backwards....Is your name real Mr. Priest?

Great cover. The idea of backward masking on vinyl. Stupid, scary Satan. Anyway, to this book of poems. The title poem has promise, if a little too obvious, but the MEME poems are AWFUL and ANNOYING. For example, "faith to faith" instead of "face to face" and so on. Lame. I did like "Cain Enabled" but I have always had a soft spot for the first murderer. "Not a Mosaic" about Canada is pretty ok, too, And "New Words for Neologism" sees Priest playing with words, as Poets and Priests are wont to do. The latter love poems seemed tacked on. Final reflection...not likely a book I'll read again, but I may grab a poem or two for school.

MOBY DICK....the grandest of American Novels...

Wait for it...Coming soon, a breakdown of the first 400 pages....OMG where to start. I think this quote about Ulysses might sum up Moby Dick. "The paradox of Ulysses is that one needs to read it to understand 20th century literature, but one needs to read 20th century literature to build up the stamina to read Ulysses". I think the same can be said of Melville's work, except in place of the 20th century it should be all literature that came before it. Early on it seems likely that one cannot trust this Ishmael as a reliable narrator. Oh he knows stuff, but can he be trusted. Time will tell. The best character at the beginning is, of course, Queequeg. Melville's writing is filled with paradox (Ahab, "an ungodly, godlike man"), allusion (too numerous to mention), and clever word play ("try pot luck at the Try Pots (restaurant)"). There is a narrative shift early on (well chapter 28) but it is more of an experiment than full-on modernism. Though the mid-novel play might be a precursor to modernism, I think. Well, maybe. In Chapter 42 there is a brilliant run-on sentence (Alaina would clearly disapprove) and a nod to Coleridge and his albatross. And a run on WHITE. Most importantly, kill the white whale. By Chapter 49 it seems likely that Ishmael has done very little whaling. Funny quote, "but that would be too long a story" Well funny for me re: discussions in the staff room. 

Initially Written Off...Then Re-Evaluated

As the title of this entry would suggest, I was none too impressed with my initial reading of this collection of poetry. Sometimes I am bang on right, sometimes, not so much. I'll stand by the bland feeling I got from Part I here, but Part II (the Little Commentaries poems) is awesome. I like "On Abstract Expressionism" {of course, then I had to go read about some painters}, "On First Line" {creative writing class anyone?), and "On Satisfaction" {about lists and things}. Part III's "Trying" reminded my of Brecken's Bathtub poems. 

A Poet First...Always. RIP.

So my Grandma won a copy of this as a writing prize back in 1974. I of course was smart enough to grab it long ago, Thanks Grandma. Anyway, my favourite poem in here has always been "Fingerprints". All the best poems here, at least for me, remind me of old girlfriends. Clearly my nostalgia makes me more than a little Twee. "Snow is Falling" is clearly my Tracy poem. 

I Sure Own Some Random Stuff

I don't usually read weird, oddly perverse, black and white comics...but when I do it's Hey, Mister. Young Tim is mostly creepy, and always horny. Mister is a drunk. Aunt Mary is the best character. She does NOT suffer fools gladly, except when she is kicking the crap out of them. 

One Tough Read

As used here with controlled repetitions, the [Fibonacci] sequence gives the whole an almost medieval sense of restriction. Abstracted cold war fears and post-'70s ecological concern and alienation give way to litanies of real world outrages ... which culminate in a post-nuclear holocaust nightmare, with birds and children somehow having survived in caves. The scenario may seem dated, but the threats remain very real, and Christensen's poetic appeal for sanity and humanity remains an abstracted call to action

Wow...I read it, but did not realize how intense it really was. So I re-read it again. And will probably have to again one day.