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Recent reading
Jul. 26th, 2003 02:35 pmA few really good books I’ve read recently, some of the best things I’ve read in months, maybe years (spelling corrected):
The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter
I’d read this back in 1996 when it first came out, and been impressed. I’d forgotten enough of the details that a lot of it was fresh upon this rereading, and I’m glad because damn, it’s good. Carter has a great sense of language, the worldbuilding is clever and full of surprises, and the characters are believable and interesting.
Ripple: A Predilection for Tina, by Dave Cooper
I read this as it came out in Weasel, but it reads better in one big chunk. Also, this version is printed in blue ink on toned paper, with some elements in red. Anyway, this story of obsession, art, sex, and flesh is a major step forward for Cooper, with a coherent storyline (unlike the dream-logic stories of Suckle and Crumple, the two earlier books in the thematic triptych) and amazing penwork, not quite like anything he’s done before.
Blankets, by Craig Thompson
This finally came in at Cosmic last Wednesday! Blankets is a massive (over 400 pages) autobiographical graphic novel. It’s touching and insightful and funny, and I’m still trying to figure out how Thompson pulls off those drybrush lines. His sense of line and page remind me so much of Will Eisner that I’m surprised Eisner isn’t listed along with Thompson’s influences in the acknowledgments.
The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter
I’d read this back in 1996 when it first came out, and been impressed. I’d forgotten enough of the details that a lot of it was fresh upon this rereading, and I’m glad because damn, it’s good. Carter has a great sense of language, the worldbuilding is clever and full of surprises, and the characters are believable and interesting.
Ripple: A Predilection for Tina, by Dave Cooper
I read this as it came out in Weasel, but it reads better in one big chunk. Also, this version is printed in blue ink on toned paper, with some elements in red. Anyway, this story of obsession, art, sex, and flesh is a major step forward for Cooper, with a coherent storyline (unlike the dream-logic stories of Suckle and Crumple, the two earlier books in the thematic triptych) and amazing penwork, not quite like anything he’s done before.
Blankets, by Craig Thompson
This finally came in at Cosmic last Wednesday! Blankets is a massive (over 400 pages) autobiographical graphic novel. It’s touching and insightful and funny, and I’m still trying to figure out how Thompson pulls off those drybrush lines. His sense of line and page remind me so much of Will Eisner that I’m surprised Eisner isn’t listed along with Thompson’s influences in the acknowledgments.