Booklist 2009 # 57: Promethea vol. 1 by Alan Moore

Many consider Alan Moore to be one of the most celebrated graphic novel writer for his work on Watchmen. His style is characterized by the postmodern scalpel he applies to the traditional comic book genre of the super hero. For example, in Watchmen he reconsiders the nature of the super hero by depicting them as [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 51 – 56

I have finally sunk to the lowest of the low by offering capsule reviews instead of my normal in-depth posts.
51) Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West
Nathanael West writes in a surreal style different from the Modernists of his day. At times his surreal descriptions prove creative and unique,  while at other times they seem far-fetched and [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 50: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

American Born Chinese is the only graphic novel in history to be nominated for the prestigious National Book Award to date. The story takes the form of a triptych where three separate stories are connected by interrelated themes about belonging and coming to terms with your identity.
One story follows the monkey king, a powerful master [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 49: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

Frank Miller transforms the Batman mythos into thought-provoking literature with a conservative bent. He strikes the right notes with your typical comic book fan by including cameos by other superheroes such as the Green Arrow and Superman and well-known villains such as the Joker and Two-face, while managing to add provocative social commentary on the [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 48: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (trans. Constance Garnett)

Probably the hardest part of reading a Dostoevsky novel is all the names–the unfamiliar Russian names, the endless barrage of surnames and nicknames,  and the similarity of names (such as Petrovna and Petrovitch). Although entertaining, the novel drags out its central plot; the basic plot can be summarized as guy commits murder because of his [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 47: Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac (trans. Lowell Bair)

“In the pure and monotonous life of a young girl, there comes a delightful time when the sun shines it rays into her soul, when flowers express thoughts, when the throbbing of the heart communicates its warm fecundity to the brain and dissolves all ideas into a vague desire–a day of innocent melancholy and gentle [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 46: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Winner of the prestigious Newbury award, I enjoyed the book version of The Tale of Despereaux more than I did the movie, which I thought was okay. Kate DiCamillo writes in a voice that often treats her characters ironically and addresses the reader that reminds me a bit of Jane Austen. Her writing is quite [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 44: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

“I couldn’t see why, when people were hungry, some of them didn’t volunteer to be butchered so that the rest could eat . . . on Mars this is obvious—and an honor. I couldn’t understand why babies were so prized. On Mars our two little girls in there would be dumped outdoors, to live or [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 41-43: Select Plays By Terence (trans. Betty Radice)

“The happier Terence all the choir inspir’d,
His soul replenish’d. and his bosom fir’d;
But say, ye Muses, why this partial grace,
To one alone of Afric’s sable race;
From age to age transmitting thus his name
With the first glory in the rolls of fame?” – Phillis Wheatley
As the quote from African American poet Phillis Wheatley notes, Terence was [...]

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Booklist 2009 # 40: Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

“Doro discovered the woman by accident when he went to see what was left of one of his seed villages. The village was a comfortable mud-walled place surrounded by grasslands and scattered trees. But Doro realized even before he reached it that its people were gone. Slavers had been to it before him. With their [...]

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