Funny, I was getting into Kate Beaton's *excellent* webcomic Hark, a Vagrant! at the same time I was getting into the Decemberists, and I always felt like her art and your music went very well together.
recently gobbled up the entirety of Paper Girls (Brian K Vaughn), and that odd, spooky little book about some children in the 80s on the coast of OR dealing with some unearthed evil...
currently slowly wandering my way through The Glass Hotel (Emily St John Mandel) - it's good but slow going...
The Stars Did Wander Darkling; I also keep bouncing between Room to Dream and Lynch on Lynch (both nonfiction looks inside the brain of David Lynch). Room to Dream is novel in that the author writes a chapter on that period in David’s life and then David writes about the same period from his perspective, a sort of Rashomon of a biography!
I always love reading your thoughts on these books! Many of the books you mention go straight to the list for my book club. The most recent one we read was The House in the Cerulean Sea. Highly recommend to anyone out there who has not yet read it.
Going to read Denial - thanks for the recommendation. I've been reading non-fiction for the past year and now reading Direct by Kathryn Judge. Author did her homework on the impact of "middlemen" companies that drive our economy.
I remember, like, let's see...oh no, FIFTEEN years ago?? Yikes. Anyway, I remember around that time reading Kate Beaton's journal comics about working in the oil sands. I was just getting into webcomics, and this was when you generally had to go to a person's actual website regularly to see their new stuff. I believe she was still living out there at the time. Even then, it was so interesting and strange to me, an older teen, and now it's very interesting indeed seeing people react to those stories on such a large scale.
Thanks for the suggestions! I recently finished Waste by Catherine Coleman Flowers. Incredibly insightful book that brings to light how many Americans lack basic sanitation, often with cesspools of wastewater in their yards. Oftentimes these are poor communities of color. This book goes through her experiences post-Civil Rights movement and delves into how she became an environmental justice advocate. Not a super long read, definitely recommend.
I am finally getting around to reading The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. It's a lovely book. As a kid, I absolutely loved the Uncle Wiggily stories and have several collections that my parents gave me when I was around 6 years old. I can see that Garis must have gotten the idea from Grahame's book, which is very well written.
I just finished Gabrielle Zevin's 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,' and I can't stop myself from recommending it to everyone who isn't asking for recommendations.
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom is my main reading focus. This is a delicious dessert or beer of a read. I am savoring every page. It is a multiple award winner from 2018 and I recommend it highly.
To be honest, I finished the Aubrey-Maturin series (all 21 books!) last summer since starting it in 2014 and haven’t had the heart to really dig into anything since? Astonishing, as I used to be a voracious reader, but I just…miss those characters and haven’t been able to hold on to other attempts.
Have a soft plan to pick up some Hilary Mantell again, though- A Place of Greater Safety was super formative to Teenage Me and I’d like to explore that again, as well as Diane Duane’s exceptional Young Wizards series.
I loved, loved, loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation and am also not sold on Lapvona. But what about Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands? I enjoyed it - and there are striking similarities between it and Poison For Breakfast. I have been curious as to whether it was an inspiration for Lemony Snicket, or just a coincidence. You should definitely check it out if you are a Moshfegh fan. Speaking of Poison for Breakfast, I actually read it aloud to a group of precocious 5th graders last school year (I am a librarian) and we had a lot of fun with it. A strange choice for sure, but the kids appreciated the humor. It wouldn't recommend it to all of my students though (only the more twisted ones).
There was a time, many years ago, that I suspected you and Lemony Snicket were one and the same.
Funny, I was getting into Kate Beaton's *excellent* webcomic Hark, a Vagrant! at the same time I was getting into the Decemberists, and I always felt like her art and your music went very well together.
recently gobbled up the entirety of Paper Girls (Brian K Vaughn), and that odd, spooky little book about some children in the 80s on the coast of OR dealing with some unearthed evil...
currently slowly wandering my way through The Glass Hotel (Emily St John Mandel) - it's good but slow going...
The Stars Did Wander Darkling; I also keep bouncing between Room to Dream and Lynch on Lynch (both nonfiction looks inside the brain of David Lynch). Room to Dream is novel in that the author writes a chapter on that period in David’s life and then David writes about the same period from his perspective, a sort of Rashomon of a biography!
I always love reading your thoughts on these books! Many of the books you mention go straight to the list for my book club. The most recent one we read was The House in the Cerulean Sea. Highly recommend to anyone out there who has not yet read it.
Going to read Denial - thanks for the recommendation. I've been reading non-fiction for the past year and now reading Direct by Kathryn Judge. Author did her homework on the impact of "middlemen" companies that drive our economy.
I remember, like, let's see...oh no, FIFTEEN years ago?? Yikes. Anyway, I remember around that time reading Kate Beaton's journal comics about working in the oil sands. I was just getting into webcomics, and this was when you generally had to go to a person's actual website regularly to see their new stuff. I believe she was still living out there at the time. Even then, it was so interesting and strange to me, an older teen, and now it's very interesting indeed seeing people react to those stories on such a large scale.
Thanks for the suggestions! I recently finished Waste by Catherine Coleman Flowers. Incredibly insightful book that brings to light how many Americans lack basic sanitation, often with cesspools of wastewater in their yards. Oftentimes these are poor communities of color. This book goes through her experiences post-Civil Rights movement and delves into how she became an environmental justice advocate. Not a super long read, definitely recommend.
Keeping me afloat is your new book, David Bowie and a return to PIRANESI. https://kenpriebe.substack.com/p/picture-books-from-september
Many thanks for the suggestions!
I am finally getting around to reading The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. It's a lovely book. As a kid, I absolutely loved the Uncle Wiggily stories and have several collections that my parents gave me when I was around 6 years old. I can see that Garis must have gotten the idea from Grahame's book, which is very well written.
I just finished Gabrielle Zevin's 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,' and I can't stop myself from recommending it to everyone who isn't asking for recommendations.
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom is my main reading focus. This is a delicious dessert or beer of a read. I am savoring every page. It is a multiple award winner from 2018 and I recommend it highly.
Right now: white noise by Don Delillo
To be honest, I finished the Aubrey-Maturin series (all 21 books!) last summer since starting it in 2014 and haven’t had the heart to really dig into anything since? Astonishing, as I used to be a voracious reader, but I just…miss those characters and haven’t been able to hold on to other attempts.
Have a soft plan to pick up some Hilary Mantell again, though- A Place of Greater Safety was super formative to Teenage Me and I’d like to explore that again, as well as Diane Duane’s exceptional Young Wizards series.
I loved, loved, loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation and am also not sold on Lapvona. But what about Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands? I enjoyed it - and there are striking similarities between it and Poison For Breakfast. I have been curious as to whether it was an inspiration for Lemony Snicket, or just a coincidence. You should definitely check it out if you are a Moshfegh fan. Speaking of Poison for Breakfast, I actually read it aloud to a group of precocious 5th graders last school year (I am a librarian) and we had a lot of fun with it. A strange choice for sure, but the kids appreciated the humor. It wouldn't recommend it to all of my students though (only the more twisted ones).