Category Archives: Books

Ottaviani & Wicks – Primates

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Primates: The fearless science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviano and Maris Wicks

Date read: 26 August 2016
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc 2016nfc

Cover image from Primates: The fearless science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Gladikas by Jim Ottaviano and Maris Wicks

Hardback, 140 pages
Published 2013 by First Second
Source: Deschutes Public Library [Teen Graphic Novel OTTAVIANI JIM]

I really enjoyed this book, as I have the previous two Ottaviano books I have read: Feynman and The Imitation Game [Sorry, no actual review of Feynman.]  I have pretty much all other of his books on my to read list now.

This book tells the story of three fearless women: Jane Goodall and her chimpanzee research, Dian Fossey and her research into mountain gorillas, and of Biruté Galdikas and her research on orangutans. The book has four sections, in that order, with the fourth being on the three of them together. [All links in this paragraph to Wikipedia.]

All three women were protégés of Louis Leakey and they all became preeminent ethologists although they all started with little in the way of formal academic “qualifications.” In fact, all three made discoveries—repeated, recorded observations really [which is what much “discovery” consists of]—that radically changed how we think of ourselves and some of our closest relatives, much less the behavior and intelligence—tool use, anyone?—of animals in general.

The book is considered a young adult book but I fail to see why that is the case. Anyone older can certainly learn a great deal from this book and also appreciate it at the same time. But I guess it alerts us to the fact that it is appropriate for that age group and that is cool.

An afterword from the author discusses the fact versus fictionalized narrative issues, while the book ends with a picture of all three renowned scientists together, a bibliography and a colophon.

The artwork is in one sense fairly simplified but it is also extremely effective at relating the story. What I mean is that facial and body expression is used more prominently than over-detailed extraneous visual details. Thus, much of the rest is as minimal as needed to effectively help move the narrative along. I think the artwork is exceptionally done overall!

Highly recommended! For every one.

This is the 43rd book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

This is the 21st book in my Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader

 

Abel – La Perdida

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La Perdida by Jessica Abel

Date read: 20-24 August 2016
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc

Cover image from Jessica Abel's graphic novel La Perdida

Hardback, ix, 275 pages
Published 2006 by Pantheon Books
Source: Deschutes Public Library [Graphic Novel ABEL JESSICA]

The description from Goodreads:

“From the Harvey and Lulu award–winning creator of Artbabecomes this riveting story of a young woman’s misadventures in Mexico City. Carla, an American estranged from her Mexican father, heads to Mexico City to “find herself.” She crashes with a former fling, Harry, who has been drinking his way through the capital in the great tradition of his heroes, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Harry is good—humored about Carla’s reappearance on his doorstep—until he realizes that Carla, who spends her days soaking in the city, exploring Frida Kahlo’s house, and learning Spanish, has no intention of leaving.

When Harry and Carla’s relationship of mutual tolerance reaches its inevitable end, she rejects his world of Anglo expats for her own set of friends: pretty-boy Oscar, who sells pot and dreams of being a DJ, and charismatic Memo, a left-wing, pseudo–intellectual ladies’ man. Determined to experience the real Mexico, Carla turns a blind eye to her new friends’ inconsistencies. But then she catches the eye of a drug don, el Gordo, and from that moment on her life gets a lot more complicated, and she is forced to confront the irreparable consequences of her willful innocence.

Jessica Abel’s evocative black–and–white drawings and creative mix of English and Spanish bring Mexico City’s past and present to life, unfurling Carla’s dark history against the legacies of Burroughs and Kahlo. A story about the youthful desire to live an authentic life and the consequences of trusting easy answers,La Perdida–at once grounded in the particulars of life in Mexico and resonantly universal–is a story about finding oneself by getting lost.”

This title won the 2002 Harvey Award for Best New Series per the inside back flap of the book cover. Verified at Wikipedia.

I thought it was alright, a bit too self-indulgent perhaps. No idea how I was supposed to think of Carla by the end, just another stupid American who lost her ideals, was changed in the process, and lost her self.

All of the other Americans in Mexico City kept together and were generally asses, while none of the many named Mexican characters had any real redeeming qualities either. Only the unnamed masses were held up as innocents, if you will.

Just not sure what I’m supposed to take away from it and I can’t find a lot of depth other than perhaps “people and life are messy,” and that isn’t very deep and has been told much better a thousand different ways before.

By the by, La Perdida translates to “the loss.”

This is the 42nd book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

 

Ottaviani & Purvis – The Imitation Game

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The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded by Jim Ottaviani & Leland Purvis (illustrator)

Date read: 15-16 August 2016
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc, 2016nfc

Cover image of The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded by Jim Ottaviani & Leland Purvis

Hardback, 234 pages
Published 2016 by Abrams ComicArts
Source: Central Oregon Community College Barber Library [QA 29 .T8 O772 2016]

 

I enjoyed this, just as I enjoyed Ottaviani’s Feynman, which I read in 2012. I also just marked most of his books as To Read in Goodreads.

“I still work as a librarian by day, but stay up late writing comics about scientists.”

I didn’t know he was a librarian too!

Aha! That’s right. “He now works at the University of Michigan Library as coordinator of Deep Blue, the university’s institutional repository.[1][2]” [per Wikipedia].

The book consists of some prefatory material, 222 pages of graphic novel, an author’s note a bit over a page long, an annotated 3-page bibliography and recommended reading, and 6-pages of notes and references.

The graphic novel proper consists of the following sections: “Universal Computing” (pp. 1-66), “Top Secret Ultra” [think Bletchley Park] (pp. 67-152), and “The Imitation Game” (pp. 153-222) [links are to Wikipedia].

Highly recommended! If you know about Turing, and have, like me, perhaps read his papers on universal computing and the imitation game (philosophy and applied computer science undergrad), then this is still a great resource with all of the notes and references to specific works that might be of particular interest to you.

If you know little to nothing about Turing then this is a great introduction. Far better even than the recent (2014) movie, The Imitation Game, with Cumberbatch and Knightley. The presence of actual citations and sources are the basis for this claim.

This is the 41st book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

This is the 20th book in my Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader

This is actually way past 20 nonfiction books for me this year; I simply have failed at reviewing quite a few, or finishing reviews, which is essentially the same thing. Many were started.

Martin, et al – Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, volumes three and four

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A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, volumes three and four by Daniel Abraham (adaptor), Tommy Patterson (art), Ivan Nunes (colors), Marshall Dillon (lettering); based on the novels by George R.R. Martin

Date read: 09 August 2016 and 09-10 August 2016
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc

Cover mage of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, volume three by Daniel Abraham , et al. Cover mage of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, volume four by Daniel Abraham , et al.

Hardbacks, 1 volume ea. (unpaged)
Published 2014 by Bantam and 2015 by Bantam
Source: Deschutes Public Library [Graphic Novel GAME OF THRONES V.3 & V.4]
Volume Three contains Issues 13-18 plus “The Making of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 3”
Volume Four contains Issues 19-24 plus “The Making of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 4”

Abstract v3

“In King’s Landing, Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, the Hand of King Robert Baratheon, is surrounded by enemies. Some are openly declared, such as Ser Jaime Lannister and his sister, Queen Cersei. Others are hidden in the shadows. Still others wear the smiling mask of friends. But all are deadly, as Eddard is about to discover. Nor is the enmity between Eddard and the Lannister siblings the sole source of friction between these powerful noble families. For Tyrion Lannister, the Imp, whose stunted, twisted body houses the mind of a genius, has but lately won his freedom from Lady Catelyn Stark, Eddard’s wife, who had accused him of attempting to murder her youngest son, Brandon. Now he seeks out his father, his restless thoughts bent on revenge. Far to the north, the bastard Jon Snow, newly sworn to the Night’s Watch, takes the first faltering steps toward a destiny stranger than he could ever dream, a destiny that will bring him face-to-face with unspeakable horrors from beyond the edge of the world. While across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen, wed to the great Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo, and pregnant with his child, a son prophesied to conquer the world, will see her own destiny take an unforeseen turn.”

Abstract v4

“The kingdom of the Stark family faces its ultimate challenge in the onset of a generation-long winter, the poisonous plots of the rival Lannisters, the emergence of the Neverborn demons, and the arrival of barbarian hordes.”

I find the different lengths of these abstracts/summaries from the WorldCat records hilarious. Volume one and two were the same but reversed; one was real short and two was lengthy like three above [see My review of the first two volumes is here.]

I enjoyed these also and am considering trying the TV series. No way in hell I’m reading all those thousands of pages in the novels though, especially since the dang story isn’t even finished. Had to do a lot of Wikipedia/library catalog poking to suss out what part of the full story, if you will, this was. It seems to be the first book, A Game of Thrones, of the series A Song of Ice and Fire.

I imagine these four volumes are a much more condensed adaptation than the TV show with its seven seasons or whatever. Oh, so only the first season covered the same material. Well then. That might be a good way to get more of the story without committing to all those pages. If I can take the graphic violence.

By the by, I am in no way against thousands of pages for a story, fiction or otherwise, but I am extremely selective, and extremely narrowly so, in choosing anything of that length to deal with. Too many other interests and diversions out there.

Recommended. If you are a fan of the novels and/or the show then have a look to see another take on adapting the same story and, if like me, you are not familiar with either then this provides a great entry.

This is the 39th and 40th book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

McCool & Guevara – Nevsky: A Hero of the People

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Nevsky: A Hero of the People : written by Ben McCool; drawn by Mario Guevara; colored by David Baron with Allen Passalaqua & Peter Pantazis; lettering by Shawn Lee. Based on the film Alexander Nevsky written & directed by Sergei Eisenstein.

Date read: 10 August 2016
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc

Cover image of McCool & Guevara - Nevsky: A Hero of the People

Hardback, 117 pages
Published 2012 by IDW
Source: Deschutes Public Library [Graphic Novel MCCOL BEN]

Summary:

“Alexander Nevsky is a medieval Russian hero-prince and saint, and passionate warrior; he is proud and honored to fight for his home nation of Russia. When the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire attack his beloved homeland, he assembles the Novgorod people (Russian people) for battle, and faces the invading forces to save his people from tyranny and oppression. Against the odds– and against the nobility of Russia, who wanted to appease the invaders– Alexander Nevsky and his people’s army fight the evil Teutonic Knights in a famous epic battle on the ice”–Excerpt from back of dust jacket.

I quite enjoyed this and have requested the DVD of the movie it is adapted from, Sergei M. Eisenstein’s 1938 Alexander Nevsky with score by Sergei Prokofiev. So much film history here that I know I’m missing 80% of it and that’s OK.

I can’t find anything that recommends it for mature audiences but it does have a fair bit of violence and gore, and a definite anti-religious—particularly anti-Catholic—theme to be aware of.

I thought the artwork was particularly effective, in all settings from cities to huge citadels to snow-covered expanses of  wilderness. I thought the story told was a powerful and important one in its own right, but I greatly appreciated the four pages of context at the end, “The Life and Death Drama Behind Alexander Nevsky,” which situated the story in a pre-WWII context, and the two page interview with film historian and Eisenstein specialist, Naum Kleiman, on Eisenstein’s place in film history.

Highly recommended!

This is the 38th book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

Arcudi, et al – A god Somewhere

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A god Somewhere by John Arcudi (writer), Peter Snejbjerg (artist), Bjarne Hansen (colorist), Wes Abbot (letterer)

Date read: 10 August 2016
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc

Cover image of A god Somewhere by John Arcudi (writer), et al.

Trade paperback, 193 pages
Published 2010 by WildStorm Productions
Source: Deschutes Public Library [Graphic Novel ARCUDI JOHN]
“Suggested for mature readers”—back cover.

“A mysterious disaster. Four lives torn apart. A world changed forever. This original graphic novel charts the arc of one man’s evolution from human to hero to—something else, as seen through the eyes of his family and his best friend.”—Back of cover.

I quite enjoyed this. The artwork was almost always effective and helped tell the story and move it along. The “mature reader” suggestion is well-earned as it is brutal at times, nor does it ever flinch from the things humans do.

Eric survives a freak accident but manifests powers and helps with the rescue and continues to be a hero. But then he isn’t so careful of collateral damage while doing good; then he’s not at all good and believing he’s a god. He becomes a god-like force of joyful destruction and then ….

Redemption? Maybe; maybe not.

Highly recommended. All of the main characters develop complex motivations and change dramatically over the course of the story.

This is the 37th book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

Martin, et al. – Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, volumes one and two

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A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, volumes one and two by Daniel Abraham (adaptor), Tommy Patterson (art), Ivan Nunes (colors), Marshall Dillon (lettering); based on the novels by George R.R. Martin

Date read: 09 August 2016 and 09-10 August 2016
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc

Cover of Martin, et al - Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, volumes two Martin, et al - Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, volume one

Hardbacks, 1 volume ea. (unpaged)
Published 2012 by Bantam and 2013 by Bantam
Source: Deschutes Public Library [Graphic Novel GAME OF THRONES V.1 & V.2]
Volume One contains Issues 1-6 plus “The Making of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1”
Volume Two contains Issues 7-12 plus “The Making of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 2”

Abstract v1

“The kingdom of the Stark family faces its ultimate challenge in the onset of a generation-long winter, the poisonous plots of the rival Lannisters, the emergence of the Neverborn demons, and the arrival of barbarian hordes.”

Abstract v2

“In this second volume, the action moves from the icy north, where the bastard Jon Snow seeks to carve out a place for himself among the bitter outcasts and hardened criminals sworn to service upon the Wall … to the decadent south and the capital city of King’s Landing, where Jon’s father, Lord Eddard Stark, serves as the Hand of King Robert Baratheon amid a nest of courtly vipers … to the barbarian lands across the Narrow Sea, where the young princess Daenerys Targaryen has found the unexpected in her forced marriage to the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo: love — and with it, for the first time in her life, power. Meanwhile, the dwarf Tyrion Lannister, accused by Lady Catelyn Stark of the attempted murder of her son, must call upon all his cunning to survive imprisonment in the dungeons of the Eyrie, where Lady Stark’s sister rules.”

[Abstracts from the records in OCLC Worldcat]

These are my introduction to A Game of Thrones; I have neither read the books nor seen any of the TV show. I enjoyed them and “The Making of …” bits in each of these collected volumes but the number of characters is beginning to get out of hand. The 3rd volume is waiting for me at the public library and the 4th is on its way.

I may try and get the DVDs of the HBO show so I can see Peter Dinklage playing Tyrion Lannister. I would think he’d be an utter hoot in that role. I am a bit concerned about the amount of utterly visual violence though.

Quite enjoyed but perhaps too many characters for me. And going to get worse. Oh well.

By the way, the graphic novels are not recreations of the HBO series but a completely separate adaptation that pretty much happened parallel to the TV show. They talk, in the first volume, about keeping an eye on what HBO did to solve certain problems and sometimes it worked for them but just as often they did/needed another solution.

Recommended for mature audiences.

These are the 35th and 36th books in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

DeConnick, et al. – Bitch Planet

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Bitch Planet, Book One:: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, et al.

Date read: 10 July 2016
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc

Cover image of DeConnick, et al. Bitch Planet, book one: Extraordinary Machine

Paperback, [156 pages]
Published 2015 by Image Comics [Originally published in single magazine form as Bitch Planet #1-5]
Source: Deschutes Public Library via Jefferson County [GRAPHIC Bitch V.1]

I enjoyed this quite a bit and would like to see where it goes but the next volume does not come out until 8 November. I will have no idea who the characters are anymore or what happened up till now in the story by then. Perhaps when a few more volumes come out (assuming they do) I will come back and revisit it.

Rated Mature as contains nudity, cursing, and violence. Its themes and subject headings are Women prisoners and Penal colonies. So think, Women in prison (exploitation) films and novels but within an exclusively patriarchal corporate political system.

As I said, I quite enjoyed it but personally I prefer there be more of a story published before I get into it.

There is already a fair bit of social commentary but these first 5 issues contained in this volume are still background for the story so not as much as would be possible in a developed world/context.

Recommended for fans of feminism, women in prison exploitation films, social commentary, and so on.

This is the 34th book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

 

Toboso – Black Butler III & IV

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Black Butler III and IV by Yana Toboso; translation by Tomo Kimura.
Date read: 06 June and 7-10 June 2016
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc

Cover image for Black Butler IIICover image for Black Butler IV

Paperback, 194 pages each
Published 2010 by Square Enix Co., Ltd. [First published in Japan 2008, same publisher] and 2011 [First published in Japan 2008, same publisher]
Source: Jefferson County Library via Deschutes Public Library [YG Black Butler (v.3) and [YG Black Butler (v.4)]

I wrote about I and II here.

My prediction was correct. I read III in one sitting but IV took almost 4 days; life did interrupt but I also simply was not motivated to finish it.

Via Goodreads:

Description of III:

“Terrorizing its populace, Jack the Ripper has shaken London to its very core. But when Sebastian Michaelis, singular butler of the Phantomhive house, lays bare the madman’s true identity, all that is left for him to do is eliminate the perpetrator in the name of the Queen and Phantomhive. But inhumanly efficient skills don’t guarantee victory when the opponent is just as supernaturally gifted! And though Sebastian may be able to save Ciel from physical harm in the battle that ensues, will the young earl ever recover from the emotional scars it will leave on his heart? “

Description of IV:

“London – the capital of the Great Empire – is once again under siege, as a string of bizarre attacks on British citizens returned from India sends rumours flying and casts a pall upon Queen Victoria’s rule. Sent in by Her Majesty, young Earl Phantomhive and his most capable butler, Sebastian, follow a trail that collides head-on with an Indian youth who claims to be a prince. And this prince possesses an extraordinary butler of his own! As an intense rivalry between the two butlers begins to form, will the kitchen be the dueling duo’s final battleground?!”

There are at least 7 more in English and more after that possibly only in Japanese still. Not worried abut it. It might be for you. Got repetitive—almost “monster-of-the-week” for me.

Sorry this isn’t really much of a review. Not caring about these much especially a week or more later.

This is the 32nd and 33rd book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups

This is the 11th and 12th book in my Books in Translation Reading Challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader, which means I have “completed” it. The max is 11-12 books for “Linguist.” I personally consider this a seriously low number but whatever. I hope and intend to read more translations but this gamified portion of my motivation no longer drives at this point.

Love – Bayou, volume two

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Bayou, volume two by Jeremy Love and Patrick Morgan
Date read: 06 June 2016
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Challenges: 2016gnc

Cover image of Bayou, volume two by Jeremy Love

Paperback, unpaged
Published 2010 by DC Comics
Source: Summit request [Portland Community College]

Based on what I can tell from both Goodreads and Amazon there are only 2 volumes of this, this being the last and published in 2010. That’s a shame as the story certainly wasn’t over. I would definitely read more of this story.

From both GR and Amazon:

“South of the Mason-Dixon Line lies a strange land of gods and monsters; a world parallel to our own, born from centuries of slavery, civil war, and hate. Lee Wagstaff is the daughter of a black sharecropper in the depression-era town of Charon, Mississippi. When Lily Westmoreland, her white playmate, is snatched by agents of an evil creature known as Bog, Lee’s father is accused of kidnapping. Lee’s only hope is to follow Lily’s trail into this fantastic and frightening alternate world. Along the way she enlists the help of a benevolent, blues singing, swamp monster called Bayou. Together, Lee and Bayou trek across a hauntingly familiar Southern Neverland, confronting creatures both benign and malevolent, in an effort to rescue Lily and save Lee’s father from being lynched. BAYOU VOL. 2 collects four new chapters of the critically acclaimed web comic series by Glyph Award nominee Jeremy Love.“

I really like this story and I like that it has mostly African-American characters and that most (all?) whites that show up are bad people. But Lee’s trying to save her white friend and her father. Life is fucking complex. I wish there were more.

My review of the first volume is here.

Recommended.

This is the 31st book in my 2016 9th Annual Graphic Novel/Manga Challenge Sign-Ups