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Book Nook: July 2023

Summer reading sounds like the dream, but it’s also hard to squeeze in some pages with all the time spent outside and huffing bbq fumes. Still managed to get some quality reads in though!


Making Comics by Lynda Barry ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was a bit confused by this book at first. I picked it up and flipped through the first few pages at Drawn & Quarterly and was intrigued by the philosophy behind drawing that Barry took and the academic exploration of the question “How old does someone have to be to make a bad drawing?”. The layout of it looked as if a medieval manuscript was rendered by 14-year-old in 2003 and I knew I needed to know more about this conversation between high and low art. I ordered it at the library to read completely - but was confused when suddenly the academic fix turned into…a class syllabus? I kept going though, and I’m glad I did because it turned into an illustrated class outline with a whole lot of ideas for daily visual journalling, character exercises, and graphic story development. You can use it chronologically as a self-study lecture or you can flip through at random and use it to spice up your personal art practice. I ended up loving it so much that I struggled to give it back to the library in time. I wished I’d had longer so I could try out the exercises she described, but maybe I’ll just have to buy my own copy!


We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama ⭐⭐⭐

China annexes Tibet and a family is exiled from their homeland along with their community; generation after generation is grafted onto lands that are not their own, each searching for peace and justice while most only find hardship. Though fiction, Lama’s prose was eloquent and full of pain, describing deep truths in the trauma experienced by Tibetans. There were so many moving parts to this story, and for the most part they came together well, expressing the anger, confusion, and disconnect from a culture others have tried to erase. My main struggle was that it felt unfocused. Perhaps this mirrors the uprootedness experienced by Tibetans, but it also made the narrative lag and stall while skipping over sections I wished had been explored more deeply. It had all the ingredients that I normally enjoy - international perspectives, insight into different cultures, politics, history, art, philosophizing about identity - but it didn’t coalesce for me. It focused on a very specific event, and yet from that event came a prism of light casting many narrative paths that were all half-followed, none satisfyingly explored. Compared to The Vanishing Half, which brought together many themes under the umbrella of its main premise, I guess I was expecting more. Ultimately, I wanted to like this more than I did.


Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Designer Ingrid Fetell Lee explores the elements that bring us joy and the myriad ways we can include them in our life. I was worried this would be a self-help style book full of platitudes, but it came to me highly recommended. Not only that, her TED Talk on the subject is one of the more memorable ones I’ve seen so I figured I’d give it a shot. Though it did have some moments of “just add bubbles to your life and you’ll feel better”, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Lee did her research and brought in ideas from anthropology, evolution, neuroscience, international histories, and art along with her personal anecdotes to lend her findings credibility. It’s no dissertation, but it certainly gave a lot of fascinating food for thought and has had me being more mindful about the little things. I appreciated her approach not only to multidisciplinary explorations of joy - I particularly enjoyed the architecture section - but also how multicultural her examples were. Given that a lot of the examples came from people in places of privilege, however, I would have liked a little more of an address to the ways such examples of joy could be accessed among varying economic situations. Perhaps this is a bit nitpicky and cynical of me though. Let me go dedicate a drawer to confetti.


Ducks by Kate Beaton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spanning her two years spent in Alberta’s oil sands, famous cartoonist Kate Beaton illustrates her experiences with misogyny, isolation, and environmental destruction in her personal quest to pay off crippling student loans. Hark! A Vagrant was one of the first webcomics that I followed, and I was excited to read a full-length graphic novel by Beaton, but oh boy was I not prepared for this emotional rollercoaster (or perhaps “plunge” is a better word since a rollercoaster implies it goes up at points). Not that I expected a book about the oil sands to be a cheerful read, but Beaton doesn’t shy away from communicating some pretty devastating content. Reading it feels like a constant process of being tempered into hard iron, as she must have been while living the experiences. I absolutely loved the vignette-style peeks into different moments. There’s definitely continuity, but the breaks between moments feel like flashes into memory and contribute to the slow grind of the passage of time. The illustrations were simple but the visual narrative of it was persistently compelling. I found myself thinking about it every moment between reads and for long after finishing it. Highly, highly recommend.

Here’s a great interview with the author if you’re interested.

Trigger Warnings: Sexual assault.


Creativity Inc. (The Expanded Edition) by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Between the fact that this book is by one of the founders of Pixar and the tagline is “Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration”, I was expecting it to be about the creation process and how artists and writers develop their stories - which it both was and wasn’t. Ed Catmull claims that this isn’t his memoir or even a history of the company, but it functions as both through the lens of a management how-to guide. At first I was a little surprised, maybe even a bit disappointed, but as it progressed, I was fascinated at the perspective it offered at the intersection of technology, creativity, and the evolution of a business from an unsuccessful start-up haemorrhaging money to a company that became such a storytelling powerhouse that it managed to take a flailing Disney Animations Studio under its wing and set it on the right course. I doubt that everything in this book transpired with as much grace and emotional intelligence as Catmull presents, but if every manager organized their business in the way that Catmull suggests, then the world would feel a lot less like an evil corporation and there would be a lot more happy employees. That said, I do wish he’d acknowledged the place of privilege he and Pixar were coming from - even in the early days - and how that affected the organizational liberties that could be put into place. Maybe it doesn’t matter that much since the advice he gives is a broad-strokes approach and therefore much of it can be adapted. I enjoyed reading it in any case, not least of all because I learned so much about the behind-the-scenes on so many of the classic films of my childhood. Beyond that, I’m curious about using some of the perspectives in my own practice - if only to manage myself and my own creation process.


Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A biologist volunteers for an expedition into the mysterious “Area X” and encounters a sequence of events that has her reevaluate not just the nature of reality, but the reality of nature itself. This is 10000% my kind of science fiction and I loved everything about it from the tone to the point of view to the striking language used to describe an even more striking landscape. I haven’t seen the movie, though from what I understand there are barely any narrative similarities and that makes a lot of sense for something with such a slow burn. The most compelling thing about this novel is in the narrator’s voice: how she observes, the way she assesses her experiences, and the growing distrust in her own perception. It’s the kind of story that can only be told through the medium of literature and I very much appreciated the marriage between form and function. If you like biology, Lovecraftian horror, and POV novels, get on this right now. I can’t wait to dive into the rest of the trilogy.

Trigger Warnings: Violence, body horror, death, allusions to suicide, murder.


And that’s a wrap on July! Thought these reviews were on point? Don’t agree with something I said? Let me know in the comments below! I am but a humble reader whose opinions can’t possibly represent the myriad complexities of these books and would to hear your own thoughts.

Happy reading!

Tags: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Book Reviews, Audiobooks, BIPOC Authors, LGBTQ+, Horror, Sci-Fi, Speculative Fiction, Social Sciences

Book Nook: June 2023

I love reading Indigenous and Native American lit any time of year, but I really took advantage of National Indigenous History Month and dove into some books that have been on my list for a while! I was planning on also reading more LGBTQ+ lit, but time ran out - or more accurately, I restarted the process to get my driver’s license so I had to divert fun reading time to study reading time as I reviewed the SAAQ road manuals! (Not reviewing those beyond “please proofread, gouvernement du Québec”.)

Anyway, take a look at what I had my nose stuck in!


Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Young Readers Edition by Anton Treuer ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The title says it all! Presented like a Q&A session, the chapters are divided by topic with bite-sized answers that make it very easy to read and reference. This might be why it was considered the “young readers” edition, but otherwise I’m not sure what makes it specific to this age demographic (the regular version was only a third of the length). The amount of information in this book makes it an invaluable resource for anyone in any age group and demographic looking to brush up their knowledge about Native Americans. I especially appreciated the attention to explaining the differences between the Native American experience in the US vs. Canada, which is an area that I’ve always been curious about. My only critique is that though much of it was researched, a notable portion of it relied on secondary sources (such as Charles C. Mann’s 1491) and there were some sections where it was made clear that the answers were personal opinion but that I wished had had some research to explore varying positions on the subject. Still, Treuer did an excellent job mantling the daunting task of consolidating the myriad experiences of native peoples into a digestible primer. This should be essential reading to every person living in the Americas (and beyond!) to better understand the land we live on.


Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism by Noenoe K. Silva ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I put off reading this one for a while because I was afraid it would be so tremendously depressing - and it was, at least in the beginning. As it delved deeper into the history of the Hawaiian resistance however, the fight for cultural, political, and land rights was both enthralling and empowering. The audiobook version was excellent and I loved hearing the language come to life in the many poetry, lyric, and letter excerpts read by Kaipo Schwab. I finished the book with a deep appreciated and respect for the Hawaiian peoples and wish I hadn’t taken so long to get around to it. To be clear, it’s a highly academic read that’s extremely thorough in its research so it might come across as a little dry if that’s not your thing, but this is such an important read and is very much worth taking the time to absorb. At the least, be sure to read up about Queen Lili'uokalani, the last sovereign of Hawaii, who led a truly impressive life of resistance with a dignity we could all learn from.


The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson ⭐⭐⭐

The story of a Dakota woman severed from her culture through forceable placement into the foster care system, The Seed Keeper weaves past with present to illustrate the complex damage of intergenerational trauma and broken family lines. I thought the choice to juxtapose industrial farming with traditional seed keeping was very fresh and allowed the book to communicate some heavy critiques of both the way we use our land in agriculture and the fact that it’s stolen land in the first place through the shorthand of this metaphor. The character trajectories also felt very genuine, and I especially liked the way the children were portrayed: trying to assimilate to the dominant white culture around them, yet struggling as they try to reconcile an incongruous but powerful heritage. In terms of the writing, it got the job done, but I did find myself at arm’s length of the story when I wished I was in the thick of the emotion. The plot points to me also felt a little stiff, which made the narrative feel a little clunky as it switched between POVs and time periods. In all though, a good book to read this month and a highly accessible piece of Indigenous literature.

Trigger warnings: Child abuse, suicide, sexual assault, racism, violence against the Indigenous communities.


Night Bus by Zuo Ma (translated by Orion Martin) ⭐⭐

In this collection of graphic comic shorts, Ma blends science fiction with imaginative realism to illustrate story vignettes about life in rural China as an artist swimming against the current. I'll be honest, I didn’t realize these were supposed to be short stories at first and kept trying to fit the chapters together in my head. When I figured it out, it made me appreciate each section more, but at the same time there was something fundamentally missing for me in each piece. I suspect this is in part due to me missing cultural cues and there being some things lost to translation, but the transitions even between individual panels were very jarring and I often felt like the stories ended without any resolution or message. The brief commentaries about each piece by the author at the end of the book was very helpful in situating some of the stories after the fact, but I do feel that they should have been able to stand on their own. I will say that Ma managed to convey surrealism in a way that I’ve only ever seen in a Franz Kafka or David Lynch narrative, and I was very into those parts. I just wish I’d been into each piece as a whole, but it was simply too inaccessible for me to say I enjoyed. Also while I loved a large portion of the illustrations, some of them were so heavily rendered with ink that it was hard to make out what I was looking at. This did add to the surrealist experience, but it also added an extra layer of challenge. Not my cup of tea, but I can appreciate that someone else would get a lot more out of it than I did.


And that’s a wrap on June! Thought these reviews were on point? Don’t agree with something I said? Let me know in the comments below! I am but a humble reader whose opinions can’t possibly represent the myriad complexities of these books and would to hear your own thoughts.

Happy reading!

Tags: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Book Reviews, Audiobooks, BIPOC Authors, LGBTQ+, Horror, Sci-Fi, Speculative Fiction, Social Sciences

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Book Nook: May 2023

I loved all the books I read this month, which was a breath of fresh air after the very hit-or-miss list from April. Behold this list of glorious writing!


The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In the 60’s, a pair of twins from an impoverished black, Louisianan town is split in two as one vanishes to pursue life as a white woman and the other, grappling with the grief and anger of this loss, leans into her blackness. There was so much complexity in this book and I’m so impressed by how well Bennett navigated the themes of duality and discrimination, of the blessing and curse of looking white, of the tragedy of a society where coming from a black family is a shame to be concealed. Every character was so very flawed and alive. I also loved the inclusion of a trans character whose own struggles, though not front and centre, complemented the story in such a natural way. This was the case for a lot of the book: the gravitational centre was clear, but it pulled in so many other aspects of the human condition that it ended up being about far more than just the experience of being black in America. I can’t say it was a fast-paced narrative, and yet it was deeply satisfying seeing it evolve as secrets were kept, learned, and revealed in equal measures. The prose was excellent: clear yet lyrical in its expression. It isn’t a happy book per se, but there was a sense of healing in it.


The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Told from the first person POV of Patroclus, this novel tells the story of Achilles from childhood until death. I’ve been wanting to read this since I came across Miller’s Circe last year, and while I think I still like that one more, I really loved this book. Miller has such a distinct way of writing both frankly and poetically that makes you feel every word on the page (though I did listen to this as an audiobook and the narrator did a great job bringing the voice to life). I find it fascinating how she’s able to use the blueprint of a myth and create a fully-rendered story that has internal logic enough to make it feel believable while still maintaining the magic of the world. My one beef is that some of the big assumptions about Achilles weren’t included, and while she explains in interviews the reasons for this, there was enough allusion to them throughout the book that their explicit absence made some things fall flat to me - including parts of the ending. Other readers have critiqued it for not following the myths very closely, so I was surprised at the commitment to avoid the more commonly known (if incorrect) narrative pulses. That said, I loved how the narrative captured the looming dread of prophecy and its ensuing tragedy so well. A very good read.


The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Folded together like 1001 Nights, this graphic novel nests story within story, starting with a man of the North Pole meeting the love of his life, a woman of the South Pole. The book recounts his experiences on the voyage that unites them and weaves together many different mythologies from different peoples and cultures along the way. I really loved the illustrations and the quirky, unpretentious humour that kept the narrative down to earth. The way the myths were handled also managed to maintain the surrealism of their base stories while making them feel very modern, particularly in the casual tone of the dialogue. That said, the main character is a man at least stylistically and culturally based off the Inuit and I couldn’t help but feel a little weird about the use of these aesthetics in service of a story clearly not written by a member of that heritage. I don’t know if the stories themselves were based off Intuit mythology, but even so I couldn’t quite love this book with my whole heart for that reason. Artistically though, I really enjoyed taking the plunge into this very unique world.


Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In her collection of short stories, Fu splashes her pages with science fiction, imaginative realism, philosophy, and surrealism to explore the various vices and struggles of our time. I found the narrative quality varied between the stories, some feeling very well polished while others felt like they lacked the punchline of some of the stronger pieces. That said, each story was so unique that I couldn’t help but be drawn in. Among the standout works were "Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867" about a woman requesting a holodeck-style experience with her deceased mother, “June Bugs” about a woman caught in a domestic abuse relationship who moves to a house infested with an absurdly growing number of insects, and “Twenty Hours” about a husband and wife who take turns murdering each other and then regrowing their partner as acts of love. A great book to pick up if you want some bite-sized thoughts to chew on.


Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In this novel, two childhood friends reconnect at Harvard and decide to make a video game over the summer that will change their lives forever. In a month of excellent reads, this still managed to stand out and is one of my favourite books not just of this month or this year, but possibly of all time. The characters and the emotional arcs were enthralling to the point that until I finished, I felt like I was living in the world of the book. I loved how real everything felt, a feat likely achieved by the incredible balancing act of making the characters flawed enough to be infuriating while being highly relatable. I’m always a fan of an unconventional structure, especially when one is pulled off as well as this, and in this case I loved the weaving of narrative with flashbacks, interviews, and a singular POV shift that really punched above its weight class in an already heavy-hitting book. All the while, the commentaries about ambition, creative expression, heritage, cultural appropriation, success, failure, grief, loss, death, and, above all, the unique love found in true friendship, textured the book into a true standout of the literary world. The buzz around this book is well deserved. On a personal note, I had also just visited the Harvard glass flowers exhibit that came up in the book, so it felt very timely too.


And that’s a wrap on May! Thought these reviews were on point? Don’t agree with something I said? Let me know in the comments below! I am but a humble reader whose opinions can’t possibly represent the myriad complexities of these books and would to hear your own thoughts.

Happy reading!

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Book Nook: February 2023

Maybe it’s the fact that the weather is still cold and I’m indoors a lot or that I feel the energy of oncoming spring in my bones, but whatever the reason, I read a lot this month.

I finished all but one of the library books I took out and charged through some audiobooks (most also from the library - always good to have the motivation of a return date!).

Hope my reads can inspire some of your reads!

The Park Bench by Christophe Chabouté ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Told entirely through illustration, this graphic novel creates a visual narrative of all the various people, events, and lives that a bench interacts with over the course of its existence in a public park. What seems to be random people passing by every day eventually transforms into life stories. I really admired how Chabouté was able to communicate so much through so little. It’s nice to see, through the removal of a language barrier, how some things that can be universally emoted.


Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James ⭐⭐⭐

The first book in the Dark Star trilogy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf follows Tracker as he is hired to locate a missing and mysterious boy. Heavily inspired by African mythology, it has the chaos, mischief, and darkness of The Odyssey. The language is masterful, managing to sidestep the bald exposition much other fantasy falls prey to when world building, and the characters are nuanced enough that you’re not even sure who’s the hero and who’s the villain half the time. My only issue is with the structure. Perhaps audiobook isn’t the best format to read Marlon’s work (my first ever audiobook was his A Brief History of Seven Killings and it put me off the medium for nearly a year), because while events are often told with high-definition clarity, the way they’re sewn together is so jagged that it feels like all corners no seams. Perhaps a second read would cinch it in a more satisfying way. For the first time though, relax your mind and let the story happen at you.

Trigger warnings: Slavery, violence, murder, child death, sexual assault.


Touiller le miso by Florent Chavouet ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’ve been a huge fan of Chavouet’s work since finding Manebeshima at an airport bookshop (it was beautiful enough that I bought it even though my backpack was already severely overweight). Touiller le miso is a visual memoir of two trips he took to Japan combined with whimsical and contemplative haikus. His art is hugely inspirational to me, especially for my own travel illustrations, and I simply can’t say enough good things. The patina of his coloured pencils capture nostalgia while his highly refined techniques capture a heightened realism that I can’t even understand but admire greatly. I took this out at the library, but I think I’m going to have to get myself a copy because this will live in my head as a major influence from now on.


Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet ⭐⭐⭐⭐

After the dramatic fireworks of Black Leopard, Red Wolf, I wanted something a little more calm. I bought this audiobook when it was on sale solely for its title and its cover, but I ended up loving it despite its unusual narrative style - namely the fact that there’s basically no conflict. I’ve thought a lot about how Millet is able to pull off an engaging story despite that, and I think it’s because of the tension between the protagonists sitting in a calm eddy while a world of violence and grief whirls around them. The power of their community makes them grateful for this peace - and ultimately it becomes a commentary on the choice to avoid drama for the sake of maintaining a good, though maybe not perfect, life.


L’humain written by Diego Agrimbau & illustrated by Lucas Varela (French transation by Christilla Vasserot) ⭐⭐⭐

Set in the far future L’humain follows a robot helper who tries to mitigate the actions of its increasingly unstable human master as he sets about trying to colonize a planet. I picked up this graphic novel because of the striking art and wasn’t disappointed by the visual world building at all. I’m a huge sucker for reimagined evolutionary trajectories of fauna and flora - and was pleasantly surprised by how much the story evolved too. While certain plot points were predictable, the consequences weren’t, resulting in a narrative that branched into unique directions. My main criticism is that I wasn’t sure what kind of audience this was for. A lot of the story felt like it was directed towards the 9-12 age group, but some events ventured into very dark territory. I would have liked it to commit to either side and either keep it simple or lean into the darkness. Still, if you’re looking for a dystopian sci-fi graphic novel set in a jungle with robots, it might be worth checking out.


How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As the title suggests, Ibram X. Kendi weaves together anecdotes from his own life with critical race theory to create an excellent introduction to the topic. I’ve seen this book recommended and my library hold finally came through, appropriately, just in time for Black History Month. This was the second edition, and Kendi updated his already-meticulous research to smooth out the language and include more progressive terms and verbiage. If you want to get educated about racism and the black experience in America, this is a fantastic place to start. Even if you already know plenty, this is the kind of book you’ll want to keep returning to when the state of the world gets dark. It contains depthless compassion and language that will make you feel confident about taking on tough conversations to counter the hateful rhetoric you might encounter.


Blankets by Craig Thompson ⭐⭐

A graphic memoir about the author’s childhood and adolescence, Craig Thompson explores bullying, Christianity, and the urgency of falling in love for the first time. Having loved Habibi, I was expecting a lot from the critically acclaimed Blankets that skyrocked Thompson to fame. While I did enjoy it and thought he managed to strike some pretty true chords when it came to teen romance, I ultimately found the structure to be unbalanced, obscuring the gravitational centre of the book. Assuming this was because he was being true to the nonfictional account, I did some research to learn more about the events - and was extremely disappointed to learn that much of it had been puttied into an abstract version of the author’s life. I won’t get into the debate of “how much is too much” for keeping/bending the truth in a memoir, but if that much was going to be changed in the first place, why not make the effort to improve the pacing? Let’s just say I’m glad this is one I loaned from the library. That said, I really loved the art and think he does a great job at telling a visual story.


And that’s a wrap on February! Thought these reviews were on point? Don’t agree with something I said? Let me know in the comments below! I am but a humble reader whose opinions can’t possibly represent the myriad complexities of these books and would to hear your own thoughts.

Happy reading!

Book Nook: January 2023

Book Nook: January 2023

I’ve been thinking for a while now about migrating most of my Book Nook content from Owl Mail to blog posts and am finally taking the plunge. Let’s take a look at what I read in January (spoilers: it was a great start to the year)…

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