2007 in Review

2007 brought a mixed bag for books. Some good, some mediocre, some bad.

10 Best of 2007

10. Chindi - by Jack McDevitt
9. American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
7. Hearts in Atlantis - Steven King
6. The City of Ember - Jeanne DePrau
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell- Suzannah Clarke
4. Making Comics- Scott McCloud
3. A Whole New Mind - Daniel Pink
2. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
1. The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart

10 Worst of 2007


10. His Magesty's Dragon - Naomi Novik
9. The Regulators - Stephen King
8. The Riddlemaster of Hed - Patricia A. McKillip
7. Flight 3 - Various
6. The Prophet of Yonwood - Jeanne Du Prau
5. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
4. Demo - By: Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan
3. Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
2. Mediated - Thomas De Zengotita
1. Starship Titanic - Terry Jones (immitating Douglas Adams)

Happy New Year all!


*note - Jack McDevitt's Engines of God was not included in the top 10 list because it was re-read.

62. Start Late Finish Rich

By: David Bach

Kim and I have decided that one of our goals for 2008 is to put some of our financial ducks in order, and so we used a christmas gift certificate to Borders to get a bunch of financial advice books. This is the first one that I read, and it has some pretty solid advice. A lot of it is obvious advice that is said in a very creative way, but more importantly, a very specific way. For example, he discusses something that we all know, that spending money on little things you don't need adds up. However, he shows you exactly how this works (he calls it the latte factor based on the following example which i took from his website):

$5 per day (the average cost of a latte and a muffin) x 7 days = $35 per week

$35/week = $150/month

$150 per month invested at a rate of 10% annual return =

1 year = $1,885
2 years = $3,967
5 years =$11,616
10 years = $30,727
15 years = $62,171
30 years = $339,073
40 years = $948,611

And the point isn't of course if you don't drink coffee you can make a cool million, but rather if you look at your expenditures and figure out a way to cut out $5 a day, it will add up in the long run. The 'latte factor' is one of the strategies that Bach uses to explain how to save- he also talks about a diversified portfolio, and offers very specific actions and steps to take (which is perfect for us, since its not something we have a great deal of knowledge about).

61. The War of Art

by: Steven Pressfield

This little book is about the reasons we avoid doing anything truly creative. Although it often reads like a motivational manual to 'building a better you' it does make some interesting points about avoidance- specifically, how even productive endeavors can sometimes serve as ways of resisting getting down to the creative work that can be intimidating. Its a pretty interesting read (in parts) when you recognize the excuses that you make to not paint/draw/write/compose music etc. Too tired, too busy, have to cook, writing blogposts on books you've read...

Although the book is short, its not short enough that it didn't cross my mind that after i got the point of the book, finishing it was just another form of resistance...

60. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

By: Haruki Murakami

I started this book at the very end of last year (see Print is Dead 2006), but found it a little slow compared to Murakami's other books that I've read (Kafka on the Shore and The Wind Up Bird Chronicles). However, I picked this up again for the plane ride home, and found an enjoyable read. Note, below may contain *SPOILERS*, but its not really the kind of book you read for the shocking revelations.

HBW & EotW is the story- or rather, two parallel stories, of a guy whose brain has has been partially sectioned off resulting in him living in the real world and a fantasy world at once. In the real world, he has the odd job of using his own mind to code and filter information. In his fantasy world, he is a dream-reader who abandons his shadow in order to release dreams from the skulls of unicorns.

The story, like the connections between his two worlds, is obscure but interesting. This book doesn't hold up quite as well to the epic struggle of a man searching for his cat that Murakami pulled off in Wind up Bird, nor does it hold the mystery of a boy running away from home as does Kafka on the Shore. Perhaps this one just tries to be a little too different?

It is important to note that the main character has lost his cat in this novel as well. That brings the total number of cats lost in Murakami books that I've read to 3. One in each, so far.

59. Interworld

By: Neil Gaiman and Michael Reeves

Although Stardust was nearly bad enough to put me off reading anymore Gaiman for a while, Interworld looked interesting, so I plunged back into his bizarre and unique worlds.

Interworld is the story of Joey, a boy who gets lost easily. Or rather, its the story of many Joeys, from parallel earths who realize that they are joined by their common ability to "Walk" or cross through dimensions. The universe that Gaiman creates in this book is explained as an arc- along this arc are various dimensions of parallel earths. On one extreme end of the arc is a fully technological, robotic and logic driven world called 'the Binary'. On the other end is "The HEX" a world based in magic. Our earth (or Joey's earth, which from all indications is ours as well) is located somewhere in the middle, leaning a little more towards the Binary. However, both the binary and Hex are locked in an eternal battle for control of all the parallel earths, and the walkers (the variations of Joey) are the only force that stands between balance and the forces of the techno or magic overlords.

Overall, Interworld is an enjoyable read, (and gives a funny little hat-tip to the FSM) although it races through the plot a little quickly- its one of those books that jumps from event to event without meditating on consequence or significance of events for too long. The afterword describes the intent of the book, which was originally concieved as a television series. That would explain the event-driven focus, but it doesn't explain how Neil Gaiman, who should have learned through the disasterous television adaptation of Neverwhere, the appalling movie adaptation of Stardust and the near-apocalypicly bad adaptation of The Sandman that when he writes a book - he should write the book. Mirrormask which was conceived and executed as a movie (with Dave McKean) was brilliant.

Not every story needs to be told in multiple mediums. Some cross well, some don't. Interworld, to be honest, I can't see as a very good series (who'd want to watch a cast of all the same actor play 10 different roles? even eddie murphy can't pull that off forever!), but a book that reads like a series- well, could have been better. It was a good effort, anyway.

58. Chindi

By: Jack McDevitt

The three books of the Academy series so far, match, if you will, the Indiana Jones trilogy. The first one is an excellent mix of archeology and action. The second is all about the action with some hat tip to bogus archeology to get the story going, and the third basically picks up where the first one left off, thematically.

Picture that in Space with a female lead, and basically, that's where we are by the end of the third book, Chindi.

Other than that, Chindi is a little hard to describe without giving too much away. The Chindi itself is the most interesting mystery of the book, so any description of it would be a spoiler I don't want to reveal.

Chindi opens in a rescue mission, and the first hundred pages are so are more reminiscent of the inferior second novel than the excellent first. However, once the mystery is developed, Chindi matches, and in some cases even outpaces Engines of God for a creative and exciting look at space-age archeology.

It begins when a construceted signal is discovered coming from a supernova. The investigation of this impossible scenario begins what essentially becomes an archeological scavenger hunt across the galaxy, with each peice making the mystery more complex.

Aside from the weak begining, my only other criticism is one scene which usualy bugs me in movies, and haven't often come across it in books: You *CANNOT* even for one second, survive in space. Its a freaking vacuum! I don't care how quickly you can get into your spacesuit.

Other than that, fantastic book, looking forward to picking up the fourth book Omega while we're here in the states.

57. Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic

By: Terry Jones

Starship Titanic was Douglas Adam's last puzzle-based video game (after Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Bureaucracy. Although Adams didn't write this one, when I found it on our school library shelf, I figured it would hopefully be one more enjoyable read in the Adams universe that I thought I had already thouroughly explored. Moreover, I'd figure a book by Monty Python's Terry Jones based on an idea by Douglas Adams would be a hit.

...and I couldn't have been more wrong.

Starship Titanic, is, simply put, exceedingly stupid. The fact that it reads like a walk-through of the video game isn't even the worst thing about it (although its close)- the worst thing about it is that it reads like someone who is not Douglas Adams trying to write a Douglas Adams book. Which is, obviously, exactly what it is. When I was in working on the literary magazine back in high school we had this kid who would try and submit stories that were basically just Monty Python skits that were poorly transcribed. This book has the same sort of feeling. Jones takes Adams' ideas and tries on every page to make a Douglas Adams sounding observations in Douglas Adams seeming situations.

This was by far, the worst book I've read in a long time, in fact, I can't think of anything off hand that was worse.

54-56. The Books of Ember

The City of Ember
The People of Sparks
The Prophet of Yonwood

By: Jeanne Deprau

These books are apparently the big hit of the 'young adult' fantasy world right now, and the first book is currently being made into a movie with Bill Murray. Our fourth graders are reading the first one as a class as part of their curriculum this year.

The City of Ember exists alone in an empty world. Outside the walls of the city is just darkness, and daylight is provided by large electric lamps that click on and off at prescribed times. The city is stocked with canned goods and other necessary items, but nothing new is created (with the exception of some withered greenhouse vegetables). In the city is a box, and the box has a key that will save the people from darkness when the time comes. Only the box has been lost, and its existence forgotten.

The first book creates a world that is at once unique and original as well as a dark shadow of our own. Its powerful stuff for young readers who can appreciate its implications. Unfortunately, while the second two books continue to explore the theme, the world they exist in is not nearly as unique, and the message thus falls somewhat flat. The People of Sparks continues the story of the people of Ember, and is mildly satisfying as a follow-up, although cannot hold a candle to its predecessor. The third book The Propet of Yonwood is not very satisfying as a prequel- its obvious and slow; however, it does raise interesting issues for young readers about the difference between faith and fear, and for that it can be worth reading. However, without its two predecessors, theres not too much to support it.

The Book of Ember though, is an engaging read for any age even if the secret of ember becomes quite clear for adults much quicker than it will for kids.

53. Deepsix

By: Jack Mc Devitt

Deepsix is the second in the "Academy" novels by Jack McDevitt. Although similar in style and action to its predicessor The Engines of God, it pales in comparison. EoG is a gripping story of archeological expiditions in the near future on other planets that uses a good deal of action and adventure to 'up the stakes'. Deepsix on the other hand, is more of an action/adventure novel, using the archeology bit as a backdrop for setting the stage.

While this dynamic doesn't 'fail', it is no where near as interesting. In the first book, the archaeologists are in a race against time to solve a 10,000 year old mystery before the planet they are working on becomes terraformed, and failure in the terraforming or unraveling of the mystery may each spell the end of the human race. However, that whole tension is dropped in the second novel.

Deepsix finds our EoG protagonist, pilot Priscilla Hutchins on a mission to examine recently discovered artifacts on a planet beforei t gets obliterated in a major cosmological event. She lands on the planet with plenty of time to spare, but of course she and her compatriots become stranded, and rescue looks impossible. The archeology of the new planet provides none of the mystery that was present in EoG and serves mostly as an explanation as to why they'd be on the planet in the first place (as well as an almost literal) Deux Ex Machina for getting them off.

Perhaps the book isn't as bad as all that, but compared to its predecessor, it doesn't live up. I'll continue with his series though- I've read he picks up some of the threads he dropped in later books. We'll see!

52. Percy Gloom

By: Cathy Malkasian

Earlier this year I decided that I disliked surrealism in fiction. Percy Gloom has caused me to reconsider.

Poor Percy, all he wants is to be left alone and secure a job as a Cautionary Writer. However, his journey to a secure a new job has placed him in a strange foreign land where, although he speaks the language, has a hard time finding his daily diet of freshly squeezed lemon juice and muffins (which is the only thing that he can digest that won't give him nightmares). In this new town he meets Tammy, a cultish leader in the town who demands babies from Gloom - as soon as he sees to having his lazy eye fixed. Tammy's goal is to destroy death (although she never learns that Percy cannot die), so as people in the town get closer to death, they get smaller until they disappear. Oh, and Percy's head turns on and off like a light bulb, although the significance of this is negligible.

Confused? The book can hardly be defined by its plot. Rather, look to the beautiful illustrations, the mood and tone that Malkasian creates- one that would certainly fail in any other medium, yet makes this book stand out as a keystone of the fictional surreal.

51.The Engines of God

By: Jack McDevitt

Its been a long time since I've reread a book, but when I found out that McDevitt has written a number of 'sequels' to The Engines of God, I wanted to start from the beginning again. I first read EoG when it first came out about 10 years ago, and was riveted by its portrayal of archeology in the future. McDevitt creates a captivating story around aliens who have been dead for thousands of years- a pretty challenging feat, as most sci-fi goes straight for the excitement of contact.

Engines of God follows a team of Archaeologists who are investigating the history of a race which they refer to as "The Monument Makers", a culture which have left inexplicable monuments on various worlds. The most bizarre of these is a giant city of solid blocks, that indicates no functionality.

With the archaeologists is pilot Priscilla Hutchins, who becomes caught up in their expedition as the mystery of the monument makers grows more and more complex. The group is in a race against time however, as their key site for exploration is also scheduled for tera-forming because of its earth-like habitat. Time is of the essence because earth is becoming more and more uninhabitable. However, the mystery of the Monument Makers may reveal the key to a puzzle that is just as crucial to the survival of the human race.

Stephen King's quote on the book cover claims McDevitt as the logical heir to Asimov and Heinlin. It is an appropriate title to bestow upon him, as his books delve into the human aspect of a believable future with an eye towards scientific advancement and human fallibility.

10 out of 10- I started digging into the first sequel, Deep Six as soon soon as I put down the first.

50. Making Comics

By: Scott McCloud


Ed note: cross posting this at Carrot Revolution, just mention this because otherwise some of the references don't make sense.

Making Comics is Scott McCloud's third book in his trilogy of non-fiction medium-exploring graphic novels. Like Understanding Comics, (and to a slightly lesser extent Reinventing Comics), Making Comics is an amazing resource for artists and art teachers alike. It is also a resource that will likely go largely unnoticed outside his audience of comic artists and graphic novel readers.

That is unfortunate, because McCloud's books supply lessons that go way beyond their genre. As I mentioned in a much earlier post, McCloud's books provide a unique view on the nature of art and the artistic process.

For example, in his new book, McCloud identifies five choices that cartoonists regularly make with each new panel (and often between panels); and many of these choices are ones that we want our students to make as well in the planning stages of their projects.

Choice of moment. What point in time is shown, and why choose that point?


Choice of frame. Choosing the distance and angle of your composition.


Choice of image. What style best represents your theme?


Choice of word. How words are used in a composition to convey information


Choice of Flow. How compositions relate to one another.

The last two probably aren't as universal considerations for artwork outside of the comics genre (although are important to consider in work that does integrate written words or appears in a series.

One of the most interesting sections of Making Comics is McCloud's description of the process of rendering facial expressions. He asks his readers to consider a larger range of facial expressions in their artwork than "happy" or "sad". Through mixing simple emotions and varying intensity, new emotions can be represented. Anger + Sadness = Betrayal. Joy + Sadness= Faint Hope. Of course, these equations have no definitive mathematical results, but thinking about them can help students examine a deeper range of facial expressions in their work, whether they're doing drawings, paintings, or comics.

49. Water for Elephants

By: Sarah Gruen
There's something about Bestsellers. Not all, some get there because they're just as good as they can be. They're groundbreaking, lifechanging, unique, whatever. But some bestsellers, it seems, are just bestsellers because they're safe.

And that's not to say that this is by any means a bad book. Quite the opposite, its enjoyable, well written, and extreamly well researched. Its just a safe book. I don't even know why I'm thinking that's such a big deal to even mention that here. Its just has "best seller material" written on every page. Good story, page turning, safe. WfE the story of this guy who loses his family and joins the circus. He's dropped out of vetrinary school, and luckily he stumbles upon the caravan just as their prize horse is developing some hoof issues. There he falls in love with a performer who is in an abusive relationship, makes friends with a grumpy dwarf, and train an elephant. The story begins and ends on a circus tradgedy in which animals escape and people get killed in the ensuing chaos.

Gruen does a fantastic job of creating a well researched and believable depression-era story. She weaves what were real circus stories and events into a fictional framework, and paints a great picture of one slice of life in a very different time. She also does a very good job at educating her readers about elephants.

Smart animals, them.

48. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

By: David Sedaris

As Kim and I were trading this book back and forth during our flight for our Chinese National holiday, she remarked how that now she can't read Sedaris without hearing his voice. Not only do I agree with that, but for me, it makes the experience of reading his books ten times better. When I read his second book Naked, I had no idea who he was- or hadn't made the connection between the author's name and the stories I'd heard on NPR. However, reading Me Talk Pretty One Day at some point later was an entirely different experience. I was by then familiar with Sedaris' style and had often heard him on the radio. Now, reading DYFICAD i can hear Sedaris' voice in my head- I'd even bet that I'd get the pauses and reflections right, as well as the passages where he dips into his sarcastic voice.

Perhaps that's what has made DYFICAD my favorite Sedaris book so far (although I'd have to go back and read the other ones for reference again). Although it could certainly be the content as well. Two of his stories I've got on the ol' ipod and have listened to a dozen times, and so in reading them, I could hear his voice completely. Six to Eight Black Men explains how in the Netherlands Santa is accompanied by, wait for it, six to eight black men instead of reindeer (you think they'd be able to get an accurate head count in the last few hundred years, Sedaris explains). They may bring you candy, they may pretend to kick you, and they may kidnap you and bring you back to Spain with them.

Another favorite story Repeat After Me is about his sister Lisa, and her parrot, who is trained to repeat motivational sentiments and immitate the espresso machine. The story goes on to be a slightly postmodern examination of how his family responds to being the consistent subjects of his unflattering books, and his unkept promises to leave out certain details. Without giving anything away, he ties his own struggles with his family, and the presence of the parrot together in a beautiful finish.

47. Five Minds for the Future

By: Howard Gardner

Five Minds for the Future is an interesting book to read alongside Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind- as they take a similar approach to preparing the next generation of thinkers, and even reach similar conclusions. Pink identifies six senses, Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning. The cultivation of these senses, he claims, will prepare people with the types of skills that will be most needed in what he calls the "conceptual age". As opposed to the 'information age' which is about the control and accumulation of knowledge, the 'conceptual age' is about how that information is understood and managed.

Gardner identifies five minds, and there is some overlap with Pink's senses (although there is some conflict as well) - the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind.

Obviously, the attributes of Gardner's 'respectful' and 'ethical' minds have some similarities with the attributes Pink ascribes to 'empathy'. They also reach similar conclusions in their ideas about the 'synthesizing mind' (Gardner), and 'symphony' (Pink). They diverge slightly more in other areas- Gardner refers to the 'creative mind' as one of the five, where Pink identifies creativity as a basis for all six of his senses.

Interestingly, Gardner (attributing Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) describes creativity in a way in which I'm not terribly comfortable- and I feel awkward even criticizing his definition, as he's shaped so much of what we understand about critical pedagogy. However, this is the part with which I disagree:

According to Csikszenmtihalyi, creativity occurs when- and only when- an individual or group product generated in a particular domain is recognized by the relevant field as innovative and, in turn, sooner or later, exerts a genuine, detectable influence on subsequent work in that domain. This perspective applies to the full range of creations, across spheres and across various degrees of innovation (from the littlest c to the biggest C). (p.81)

This seems to me to be a surprisingly narrow and elitist view of creativity! He goes with an example of life in the United States in the 1980s:

Everyone wanted to be creative: too many persons believed that they were creative, even though they had scarcely begun to master a domain, and even though no expert in the field would have judged them as creative. (p.85)

It sounds like he is describing innovation, not creativity. If not, this must ring false to any art teacher who has seen the burst of creative energy in a student who has simply managed to discover that red and blue make purple for the first time. However, this complaint is indeed just a tangent. You don't need to accept or agree with his definition of creativity to appreciate his overall message.

The critical conclusion that both books reach is the same- there is a new skill set that will define success in the 21st century. More importantly, whether we refer to these disciplines as "minds" or "senses" - it is clear that traditional modes of learning are no longer adequate for navigating an interconnected and rapidly changing world. Both Gardner and Pink suggest that these new perspectives are necessary for progressing forward.

Both of these books hold deep significance for all teachers, but specifically, they embrace the kind of learning that takes place in art classrooms- an unending investigation into new possibilities.

46. The Riddle-Master of Hed

By: Patricia A. McKillip

Despite glowing reviews on Amazon, and a high recommendation from Meezly, I found this book to be tedious and rough around the edges. I didn't find the world that McKillip created to be that interesting, the characters didn't seem very well defined- even the writing seemed awkward at times. Theres very little that's descriptive, which I find necessary in creating a believable fantasy world. Finally, as Joseph Campbell points out, many heroes refuse the call when it is first brought to them- but our hero from Hed refuses the call way to long, to the point of which it becomes the main focus of the first book. That being said, I'm curios to go on to the second book because one of the first reviews on Amazon suggests that the first book is by far the weakest link in the series...

@Meez- did you find this to be true?

On the other hand, because of the praise this series has received, I thought I must be missing something, and so I plowed on. The book does have an interesting cliff-hanger ending that would lead me to consider reading further. I'll wait for Meezley's answer about the other two books as far as that goes. In the meantime, however, I'll put this one down for now.

45. War of the Worlds

By: H.G. Wells
Illustration by: Ian Edington D'Israeli

At first I wasn't so impressed by the faithful reproduction of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds in graphic novel form. The familiar opening that I once read not so long ago, and saw reproduced in three movie versions didn't seem to hold any new insights into this classic. The illustration didn't strike me as anything special, and this graphic novel came quickly on the heels of the second installment of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen- a unique and new retelling Wells' story.

However, after a bit of time with it, it delivers. I'm a big fan of the original novel and the classic film (and I have to say, as stupid as it it, I did enjoy the Tom Cruise remake for pure giant-machines-blowing-shit-up factor). Hohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifwever, neither film visualize the original Victorian setting that Wells described, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen doesn't focus on the story in the same way. There was another terrible movie adaptation of the original story, but its not even worth mentioning as a serious effort. In fact, I showed it to my students one day as a joke.

Once D'Israeli's version gets rolling, the imagery brings new life to the story. The panels are often drawn from extreme angles that give a sense of how small the humans are compared to their massive invaders.

The nice thing is, that the whole graphic novel is available online for free. Thanks, Dark Horse!

44. Snake Agent

By: Liz Williams

Detective Inspector Chen's latest case is to find a missing girl. The problem is, that the missing girl is dead. That wouldn't be so unusual, except that her death isn't the mystery- its what happened to her after she died- and that wouldn't be as unusual, except that its not her body that is missing, its her ghost.

Detective Chen is The Singapore 3 (Singapore is now a chain city) police department's Snake Agent, the one who deals with their supernatural cases.

SA is an interesting book, the problem is that it crosses too many genres. Its sort of Blade Runner, meets The Matrix meets John Constantine. If that sounds like a lot of genre bending, let's remember that Blade Runner is also Film Noir meets Sci Fi, The Matrix is cyberpunk meets hong kong action.

In other words, Snake Agent is a Hard-Boiled-Sci-Fi-Cyberpunk-Kung-Fu-Film-Noir-Fire-and-Brimstone-Fantasy. Theres even a little Lovecraft "ancient gods" thing thrown in there for good measure.

Yes, its a little too much of everything.

The universe that Williams' creates is so dependent on all of these different worlds working together, which I'm not entirely sure that they do. The cyberpunk theme gets kind of lost in the middle, the Noir comes and goes. The Constantine-in-Asia thing gets most of the attention, and some of the other pieces just get distracting.

The characters are familiar and flat, and talk in smart dialog as if they expect to be in a movie version soon.

That being said, the book is still an enjoyable read. The plot is certainly original, the smart dialog is... smart. I'm not sure that I'll run out to get the next "Inspector Detective Chen" novel, but if it looks like it finds its ground a little better, I could be persuaded to pick it up.

43. Marvel's Eternals

By: Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by: John Romita Jr.

The Eternals is Gaiman's re-envisioning of a Marvel franchise from the 60's, about immortal guardians of the earth with super human powers- more powerful than your average super-hero - but significantly less powerful than the giant god-like Celestials that come back to visit earth to check on things every once in a while.

Although familiar to the superhero genre, Romita's beautiful panels do take a step above your run-of-the-mill comic. His compositions have great depth and color, and the scenes with the gargantuan eternals and puny humans are fantastic.

Gaiman's writing is engaging and he certainly breathes new life into the series (it seems as if this is just the beginning). However, he certainly doesn't take the same risks that he took in re-imagining Sandman, which remains unchallenged by The Eternals as his masterpiece.

42. Demo

By: Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan

I've read a good series of great to decent graphic novels this year after being deprived of anything from that medium for about 10 months. Demo represents the end of that run.

The idea behind Demo is that its a series of unrelated vignettes about kids with superpowers who are struggling to make sense of their lives when they reach some kind of crossroads. Sounds like an ok premise- a Gen Y (or is it Z now?) alternative take on the superhero topic. Guarenteed to have some angst and sullen teens with super powers.

However.

The stories start off pretty well. A young girl who can't control her destructive power begs her boyfriend to take her away as she weans herself off the meds that keep her in check. Kids and their angst about overprescribed meds. I can buy that one.

Then it begins to go downhill. A superstrong guy stops a robbery. Ok. A girl finds out she can't die when her brother proves it to her by driving into a tree after their father's funeral. Meh. As the stories wind down, we find one story where its unclear if the teen has a super power or is just super-manipulative. The last two stories don't even have characters with super powers in them. I'm not even sure that they have a point.

As to the artwork, Cloonan's style goes back and fourth between gritty and edgy to anime-inspired, which is anything but versitle. If the story is serious, its gritty. If its humorus, its anime.

Somewhere along the line this writer/illustrator team had a good idea. Then they tried to make a series out of it. The stupid thing about this is that there are so many possibilities how does the well run dry after just a few? Sloppy. Lazy.

Skip it. Go watch Heroes instead.

41. Jailbird

By: Kurt Vonnegut


You have to wonder about someone as briliant as Vonnegut. If he never wrote Slaughterhouse Five or Cat's Cradle or Breakfast of Champions - would his lesser known works stand out as masterpieces with no greater work by their author to overshadow them? I wonder, because in comparison to those (as well as one of my favorites, The Sirens of Titan), Jailbird is not particularly remarkable. However, although it is absent the Science Fiction that makes Vonnegut's books so bizzare, it is still chock full of its own vonnegoodness.

I'm spacing out the last few Vonnegut books I haven't read yet (since there will be no more), and I started this one because I wanted to see what wisdom his book about a corrupt government official would reveal. Would this book, written in 1980 still be relevent today?

"You know what is finally going to kill this planet?" I said.

"Cholesterol!" said Frank Ubriaco.

"A total lack of seriousness," I said. "nobody gives a damn anymore about what's really going on, what's going to happen next, or how we ever got into such a mess in the first place".

Bingo.

40. A Whole New Mind

By: Daniel Pink

As more people develop a a design sensibility, we'll increasingly be able to deploy design for its ultimate purpose: changing the world.

That was the statement that most resonated with me from this book. Its a powerful thought and a challenge to art educators, as we consider how to prepare students for the "real world".

Here is how he supports that statement: he discusses design as the meaning that is added to the function. His example - the toaster. The toaster spends about 1% of its existence in its functional role - making toast. It spends the other 99% of its existence in its design role- looking nice in your kitchen. Design, therefore drives economy. Design changes history- had the "butterfly ballot" in Palm Beach County, Florida been designed better, residents would not have mistakenly voted en-masse for Pat Buchanan over Al Gore, affecting the entire future of the country. Design is how we shape the world, and how we give meaning to our lives, as Pink describes it "To be a designer is to be an agent of change".

What an amazing challenge for art education.

Pink's book serves as a road map for educating students in the 21st century. At the end of the information age, the need for rote memorization and fact recall becomes less important. The internet brings facts instantly to our fingertips. Now, in what Pink refers to as the dawn of the Conceptual age the ability to synthesize information is the key to success as we prepare students for both business and in life.

Pink describes six aptitudes that are necessary for this synthesis, and for surviving in the conceptual age. Here's the 'cliff notes' version:

Design: The ability to create something that is beautiful and meaningful.
Story: The ability to communicate and become self-aware.
Symphony: The ability to see the big picture.
Empathy: The ability to understand others.
Play: The ability to engage humor and balance seriousness.
Meaning: The ability to pursue purpose.

Of course, that quick description doesn't do his thesis any justice. I may be preaching to the converted, but Pink's book is a must read for all educators, especially art educators.

39. American Born Chinese

By: Gene Luen Yang

ABC is a fantastic combination of three separate stories, the myth of the monkey king, a teenager who is troubled by his cousin "Chin-Kee" the embodiment of chinese stereotype, and a young boy uncomfortable with his identity. Wonderfully conceived, the stories are simple and humorous, and yet reflect and play off each other in a surprising manner.

Although this isn't an autobiography, its great reading to follow Persepolis and Blankets as a graphic novel about identity. Add in Art Spiegelman's Maus and you've got enough a nice little series of personal tales in graphic novels- A girl growing up in Iran during the revolution, a man struggling through the holocaust (and later a son in America who is trying to relate to him), A young man struggling with hypocrisies and abuses in middle America, and a Chinese American struggling to decide who he is.

38. Blankets

By: Craig Thompson
Blankets is an interesting book to follow Persepolis, as it is also an autobiographical graphic novel - although the similarities between the books are few. In Persepolis 1 & 2 I felt the child-like drawings and lack of a real integration of words and images disengaged me from the story. The drawings did nothing but illustrate what the narrator described. in Blankets, however, Thompson's expressive style and use of images to communicate ideas that words cannot (and vice versa) make this work much more engaging. This was important, becase Blankets is not the kind of story that I could see myself easily getting in to. The story bounces back and fourth between the author's life as a fifth grader and a high school student. We find that as a child he is abused and feels like a failure for being unable to prevent his brother from the same abuse. As a high school student, he is caught between his first true love and his love of God.

Yeah, not my cup of tea. And the whole thing about falling out of love with god because you realize that the people who are preaching to you (a) don't walk the talk, (b) walk the talk and are therefore small minded, or (c) downright hypocrites - is obvious and familiar. And so if we're going to read another story / watch another movie / listen to another song about this sort of thing, it has to be unique in other ways.

And here, it is. Thompson's inner struggle is realized in the comic form in a way that it couldn't be represented in any other medium -and it is a perfect example of why comics should be taken seriously - because it is simply another form of expression. A painting exists in one medium, movies exist in one medium - and "good comics" have often been seen only as a prelude to a movie or TV version.

Basically, its an overly sentimental, somewhat familiar, story of a first love, which adds up to something that I'd probably have avoided it had I read a synopsis first. That being said, it was actually quite good.

37. Ancient Shores

By: Jack McDevitt

McDevitt is a master of writing engaging, suspenseful, science fiction that never falls outside of a reasonable suspension of disbelief. He also likes archeaology and works it into his novels quite well. Now all he needs is a publisher who will provide him with some decent cover art. Look at this book! What junky typeface! Whats with the 1980's Grace Jones haircut? Who put a red and yellow title on a gray book with a splash of green and purple in between?

Honestly, I wouldn't even have picked this up if I hadn't noticed "Author of Engines of God" in the little print under his name.

I had picked up Engines of God, McDevitt's debut novel, a few years back when it first came out. I knew nothing about it (and the cover was slightly less appalling), but whatever bookstore I was at was highlighting it because he had just done a big signing.

Anyway, I picked it up, and tore through it- Engines of God was a brilliant story about archeology in the future, as an ancient mysterious alien civilization is uncovered. Absolute page turner from beginning to end, highly recommended. I had lent the book out at some point, and forgotten the author's name, and he'd fallen off my radar- it seems that he's written a few books in the intervening years!

Ancient Shores is almost as good. Great story, engaging from the beginning, and while the ending isn't bad, its a little bit clunky- and it veers in a slightly less interesting direction than the book would previous indicate.

The story opens as a farmer and his son dig up a small triangular object on their farm that reveals a larger yacht... only there hasn't been a lake for sailing in the vicinity for 10,000 years- and the boat is in perfect condition.

35 & 36: Persepolis 1 & 2

By: Marjane Satrapi

These two books comprise the autobiography of author Marjane Satrapi's life growing up in Iran. Persepolis 1 is the story of her life as a child, growing up during the cultural revolution. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return is about Satrapi's return to Iran as a teenager after being sent to Austria to escape the lunacy of the regime.

Both books provide an excellent and in depth view of life in Iran in a time when it is caught between fundamentalism and westernization. It portrays the country in a way rarely seen in the west- from the point of view of a child who wants to listen to rock music and dress in modern fashions. Whose immediate family opposes the mullahs in secret, and whose relatives do in the open, and pay the consequences. The illustration however, doesn't seem to add much to the story. Satrapi's images are very plain, with most drawn from a similar point of view and distance from the subject. The illustrations simply support the story. Unlike Moonshadow, the images and the text do not seem to be inexorably linked.

Overall a good read, specifically for the insight into life in Iran, over the period of about 20 years; but as a graphic novel, it doesn't have a life of its own.

34. Moonshadow

By: John Marc DeMatteis
Illustrated by: Jon J. Muth

I was thinking about this book when I went home for the summer and dug it out of my piles of packed-away books because I had an intense desire to read it again. After reading it the first time, it quickly became one of my favorite graphic novels (along with the Sandman series and Maus). And yet, I liked it even more this time.

One thing that I hadn't liked about Moonshadow was the inconsistency - Muth's beautiful watercolors are often broken up by ridiculously proportioned cartoons- however, this time however, I enjoyed that aspect of it more. Where on first reading I found the variations in style distracting, this time I appreciated more how his changing images better supported the changing tones of the story.

Moonshadow was born in a Zoo, but not just any zoo. A human zoo, kept by a strange race of sentient orbs called G'L-Doses - their only trait besides their odd appearance is their penchant for chaos. They act without reason, without moral code, or even an adherence to the laws of physics (or reality, for that matter). In one such act of random chaos, one of the G'L-Doses marries a human and fathers the son that will one day be Moonshadow.

From the Zoo, Moonshadow embarks on an epic journey that takes him across the universe with a few different companions. The most notable of these is Ira, a Cousin-It looking thing with a bowler hat and a penchant for anything inappropriate. Moon's journey takes him through encounters with death, war, love, religion gone wrong, capitalism gone wrong, and capitalistic religion gone very wrong.

The real gem of the story though, is the epilouge, the content of which I won't spoil here. It is unexpected, unlike the rest of the book, and beautifully done by both artist and writer.

Moonshadow tells a story that is unique through its combination of the surreal, the tragic, and the humorous in an epic story. However, it is also the beautiful artwork by Jon Muth that really sets this one apart - almost every page is a masterpiece.

33. The Crystal Cave

By: Mary Stewart

What I find most remarkable about this book, which has easily slipped into the list of my favorite fantasy books of all time- is that there is actually very little in the way of fantasy at all. For a book about one of the most famous wizards of all time, there is almost no magic. Not one spell cast, no mention of faeries, no goblins or elves. There is only the mysterious visions of the crystal cave, the uncontrolled premonitions, and a single glance in a crystal ball.

Just as ironic is the fact that I happened to love a book is predicated on something I have absolutly no belief in - a divine will, a master plan, an unquestioning surrender to the will of god. What makes Mary Stewart's writing so brilliant that she can write a nearly magic-less story about a magician, and enthrall a staunch believer in free will to a story of fate? It must be magic.

Thanks, Castaway, for reminding me about this one. I'm glad I got into this series after failing to breech it years ago back in middle school. The only problem now is finding a copy of The Hollow Hills in China!

32. 99 Ways to Tell a Story

By: Matt Madden

Matt Madden's book takes a cue from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics by using comics to teach about comics. Of course, the book is really about style, and can be applied to any art form.

The image at the side here is not the cover, it is the "Template" comic, which Madden recreates 99 times in 99 different styles. His approaches vary from truly interesting reinterpretations to hackneyed tributes to other artists. Overall, however, this is quite a useful book for students or artists who need a reminder that any given creative problem has an unlimited number of approaches and solutions.

31. Stardust

By: Neil Gaiman

Here's another book I rushed to read before the movie version... and I probably should have just left it on the shelf. Sure, the movie looks terrible, but hey, its Neil Gaiman - author of Sandman, one of the few comics to breakthrough and rise above the sea of crap that was out there in the 80s. Gaiman has a brilliant imagination, but this one just falls flat.

Tristran is this guy who happens to be half-fairy, which amounts to being totally inconsequential to plot or character. His goal in life is to retrieve a fallen star in order to win the heart of his one true love. Of course, as soon as the star turns out to be a female star (who would one day be played by Claire Danes), we know from that point on that he will at one point loose interest in his one true love and fall for the star (no pun intended), because as we know, if Clare Danes is in a movie with another no-named actress, the lead has to fall for her instead.

There is very little in the way of action, plot, or character- and Gaiman, who is a master of crafting and returning to his unique worlds adds nothing to them in this book. Moreover, having watched the trailer for the movie again after having finished the book, its hard to recognize almost any plot elements or characters. The character that Robert DeNiro is playing is in the book for almost two pages, and I can't even figure out who Ricky Gervais' character is supposed to be.

Perhaps the movie will only be as bad as the book, in which case you can save yourself sometime in not only avoiding the book, but the movie as well.

30. Brave New World

By: Aldus Huxley

"The optimum population," said Mustapha Mond, "is modelled on the iceberg- eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above".

"And they're happier below the water line?"

"Happier than above it."

Imagine my surprise to find my good friend Mustapha Mond here in a Brave New World! The selected quote is the one I decided best represents our current state of affairs.

29. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Translation by: Edward Fitzgerald

Well, the cover doesn't make the best blog graphic, but I'm surprised I even found a copy of it on the 'net. The book, I found this at a flea market down by the beach (beautiful edition from the 40s for 1 dollar), and my father seems to think that this was a book I had ought to have heard of- a book, he said, that my grandfather used to quote quite often.

The set of 100 quatrains that can be boiled down to "Carpe Diem" has been so thoroughly altered and augmented by Fitzgerald, that as this edition warns, it is no longer possible to determine where Khayyam ends and Fitzgerald begins- indeed, it is better to think of them as co-authors. It is odd, because this attitude of appropriation seems like it wouldn't be as happily accepted today.

The Rubaiyat would have been quite the heretical volume in its days- written by a man in an Islamic society in the 12th century and translated by one in a 19th century Christian society, the subject matter is that of enjoying your life since there is nothing when you're finished- eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die - that sort of thing. And the drinking theme is revisited a couple of times in fact. And despite the fact that it was appropriated and altered by someone else 700 years after it was first written, and despite the fact that the message is simple, it is quite an enjoyable and inspiring read. Highly recommended.

28. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

By: Tom Wolfe

This is the second book that I found in the beach house to add to my summer reading list. Anything written before 1980 in paperback or before 1950 in hardback is acceptable to be left to occupy beach house bookcases.

Have to admit- I've always meant to read this book, and it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Not that its not great to have such a close first hand account of the Merry Pranksters and now I feel as if I knew Ken Kesey personally, but there was something about the writing that just seemed false to me. Perhaps if I wasn't familiar with Tom Wolfe and some of his modern somewhat conservative opinions, and ultra conservative dress, I wouldn't have noticed. But it was weird to read a book that is so lyrical and free from the same guy who wears a collar that is taller than the remainder of his shirt- and the most recent article I've read by him was a diatribe against multiculturalism.

So I'm biased. Anyway, I think that's what made the book ring false for me in some kind of 30 years later retrospect. He talks the talk, but because he never mentions his role in the exploits of the pranksters (and maybe there were none, but I find that hard to believe because this group didn't seem like the kind that would let anyone 'sit one out')- it seems more like imitation than engagement. That being said however, its a rich piece of history that gives a lot more insight and depth to a different generation.

27. Meet Mr. Mulliner

By: P.G. Wodehouse
As a rule, summer beach homes are required to be well stocked with musty smelling hardback novels and thrillers from the 70s and 80s. These serve only to give purpose to what would be otherwise empty bookshelves. So, when we went to stay with my aunt at the beach this year, I decided to add a few to my summer reading agenda.

The first one, Meet Mr. Mulliner is a series of short stories strung together through their narrator, who is of course, the title character. Mulliner comes into the local bar and regales anyone who will listen with stories about various members of the Mulliner family. The stories each contain some variation of a man overcoming some obstacle in the wooing of a woman- either she is uninterested, he is uninterested, someone else is uninterested for them, or the circumstance is conspiring against them. Theres also a story of a bishop and a headmaster who get high on a miracle tonic and decide to paint a statue.

Although the plots manage to be both simple and contrived, they are actually quite enjoyable. The humor is of the dry British quirky sort. For example, when the bishop and the headmaster decide in their altered state to paint the campus statue, the bishop feels that it might be impolite to suggest that they paint the statue pink instead of blue seeing as its the headmaster's school and he doesn't want to be rude- even though pink would be funnier.

26. Video Art for the Classroom

Edited by: George Szekely & Ilona Szekely

Kim brought me this book back from the National Art Education Association conference in New York earlier this year. This book is not only an excellent resource for teachers of video at any level, it also provides excellent argumenta as to why art teachers should include video in their curriculum. Of course, there are a lot of things that seem obvious in this book if you've already been teaching video (I know what the difference between a pan and zoom is, thank you), but there are also quite a lot of innovative ideas as well. Here are some of the suggestions, ideas, notes, and quotes that I found most useful:

- Media Log Assignment: Have students log their responses to various media at least once a week in a journal (online or in a book).

-Analyze a commercial in detail, log every shot, style of music, graphics, selling tactics.

-"Its not about art activities...If you've been teaching for a while, you realize that it is about connecting with an idea; it is about being invested in an idea" - John Toth, Video Artist

-Video is empowering, can transform shy students into confident ones.

-Artists use the tools of their time - this is why art programs need to teach video.

-Two kinds of video -one records what happens, the other manipulates (I disagree, its probably more accurate to say that those are two ends of a spectrum, since every shot is chosen and therefore manipulated through simple selection- and every shot is also based in part in recording what is possible).

-Don't bother with video taped performance art. Its not the same thing. Tell me about it.

-"The ability to animate starts at an early age with an understanding of what it means to have an inner life...children learn about the world they live in by animating everything around them. Animation, perhaps, is one of the most natural types of play children do." - Renee Shaw, Video Artist/ Teacher - One of my favorite ideas in the book - animation taps into childhood experimentation in a natural way that mixes art and play.

-Media literacy means questioning, recognition of power associated with who dictates knowledge and information.

-Video art and "media Literacy" are often at odds, as the idea of 'media literacy' has been co-opted by the conservative movement to moralize about content (i.e. Joe Lieberman- my example). Video art is about self expression.

-Knowing that their work will be shown and presented to a larger audience is a motivating factor for students.

-The shift in the way that students today interact with their world (the media) can't be ignored and must be embraced by art education.

25. Jar of Fools

By: Jason Lutes

Found this book at Unnameable Books, the little indy bookstore downstairs from my sister's apartment. I'd read about it in Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, and although I'd forgotten the title, I immediately recognized it from the illustrations. McCloud had used JoF to illustrate how comic artists are able to create a sense of space and time.

What I found exceptional about Lutes' story is that there is virtually no exposition, and very little information given about the main characters. In fact, virtually everything you come to know about them is through their interactions and facial expressions. However, you quickly begin to feel as if you know them. Scott McCloud talks about this phenomenon that is unique to comics- the more simply that characters are drawn, the more of yourself you see in them. Lutes' characters are simply drawn, but are given enough personalities of their own to create believable people. This seems to me to be a very difficult trick to pull off as a comic artist- you want the characters unique enough to be interesting, and simple enough to identify with. Lutes pulls this off perfectly.

Jar of Fools is the story of a floundering magician, his estranged girlfriend, his aging mentor, and a con-man and his daughter. A simple twist of fate draws them all together at once, and through this meeting they come to different place in their lives and are able to move forwards. A very simple, and a very effective story.

24. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

By: J.K.Rowling

Well, no need to hide the fact that I'm a terrible geek with this crowd. Although, it doesn't help my case that I got a head start on this book from reading the first 100 pages or so online before its 'official' release. Yes. I went to pick up the book at midnight, at the little independent bookstore next to my sister's apartment in Brooklyn. The funny thing was, out of the 20 or so people in the store waiting in line for the books, or chatting with other Potter-fans over juice and cookies- there was not one kid. One 40 something fan was sitting in the mystery section flipping through the book with the biggest 6-year-old's grin on her face.

The final Potter book is the one worth waiting for. After the slightly disappointing Order of the Phoenix and the even more disappointing Half-Blood Prince (with the exception of their exciting cliff-hanger endings), HPaDH is the return to the exciting, page turning, books that made the Potter Franchise.

By the seventh book, kids who have grown up with Harry will not only find a more mature kid, but a more mature book. The kid gloves that normally come with protecting the sensitivities of children are long gone. Voldemort is now in power, and its a different world; a world of death, pain, and suffering. The Ministry of Magic is now being run by a power hungry, rights-stomping, racist cabal that keeps its constituents under its influence through a combination of misinformation and fear.

Can you say "New American Century"?

The Deathly Hallows reflects the world as its changed since Harry Potter first surfaced in the 90s. How much of this is intentional, how much unintentional... or how much do I read into it that isn't there? Who knows? It seems to me though, that it is the perfect fairy tale for its time. The 21st century political landscape whose absence i felt made Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town ring somewhat false, is there in Deathly Hallows. Perhaps this is part of what has set the series apart - Rowling has tapped into something that is resonating with people of all ages, and as the world has changed, so have the novels.

23. Don't Think of an Elephant!

By: George Lakoff

I started this book last year, and only stopped reading it because I moved and forgot to put it in my bag. So, I dug it out of storage yesterday, and jumped right back in. Its a short book with a simple message and it hits you like a ton of bricks. In just about 100 pages, Lakoff easily describes the problem of progressives and the inability of Democrats to articulate their message. The title is the clue.

Don't Think of an Elephant!

What did you just think of? An elephant, right? Because when you name something, you can't help but think of it. So when republicans say "Partial Birth Abortion", they put the mental image in your mind of the worst case, and least performed sort of proceedure. When they say "Tax Cuts" they don't talk about 'service reduction'. Basically, by letting them use those terms we are fighting them on their territory and we cannot win.

This is what Lakoff refers to as "framing". All issues have a 'frame' - that is, a perspective from which they are to be viewed. When you argue about "tax and spend liberalism" you cannot win because the image that all participants and observers will leave with is that of taxing and spending regardless of who has the better facts or even who "won" the debate.

Through his book, Lakoff pinpoints the problems in such a precise way that it seems so obvious that it seems like common sense. In the second half of the book, he explains what needs to be done now. This is required reading for all progressives- democrats, greens, independents, whatever- hell, it would probably be good if some conservatives cracked it open. Although, the progressives who really need to read it are the ones in office.

22. Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town

By: Cory Doctorow

You have to love Cory Doctorow- not only does he provide hours of entertainment through his contributions to one of my favorite procrastination tools Boing Boing, but he releases his novels for free under a creative commons license. Therefore, you can download Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town for free... however, there is something about actually holding a book as you read it, and that's the way I had to proceed.

Speaking of surreal, SCT,SLT reads like two seperate styles of novel rolled into one. On the "real" side- Alan moves to Toronto in order to write a book. There he meets some people, one of whom wants to create a free WiFi system using junk parts for the whole city, and Alan joins him in his campaign. On the "surreal" side, Alan's parents are a washing machine and a mountain, his brothers are a set of nesting dolls, a psychic, an island, an undead homicidal maniac - and his new girlfriend has wings. The plots run parallel to each other, not so much intertwining as occasionally bumbing into each other; and that's ok. The character doesn't understand who or what he is - the book doesn't seem to either. And yet, that doesn't detract from it too much, as bouncing back and fourth from plot to plot, from reality to reality gives the book its momentum.

The Wifi plot is exactly what I'd expect from Doctorow- in fact, it often reads like a novelization of Boing Boing; theres a lot of offbeat pop-counter-culture (cause is counter culture and pop culture really that different anymore?) references mashed in with some techno-babble, and a good many rants about censorship, freedom of information, and the democratization of the internet.

The more surreal plot rings a bit clunky, but perhaps that's my own bias. I was thinking about this after finishing Creul Shoes and I think it just comes down to the fact that I'm not as big a fan of Surrealism in writing as I am of it in art. When you look at a Surrealist painting - a good painting, its almost empowering to let it speak to you, to try to understand its secrets. In the written form, it just comes accross as different for the sake of difference. And it might just be something I don't get, although I'm open for an explanation.

The other odd thing about it, is that a book that is so much a commentary and refelction of its time, and this book is more 21st century literature than anything else I've read, it totally ignores the 21st century political landscape. I don't know if that is a bad thing or not. Certainly not everything thats written about the 21st century needs to address the mess that the Neocons made of the world. Its also likely that I'm being America-centric about a book takes place in Canada. However, I've never been so aware of the world changing around me as I am today, and it seems a little odd that this goes unacknowledged by the book. Perhaps there's an alegory trapped in the surreal part of the story that I'm missing.

21. Cruel Shoes

By: Steve Martin

I stumbled upon a copy of Cruel Shoes at the tiny used bookstore next to my sister's apartment in Brooklyn. I don't think I'd even known it existed before reading a blurb on the back cover of Jon Stewart's Naked Pictures of Famous People (See Print is Dead 2006) to it favorably. Now, I consider Steve Martin a comic genius, especially in his writing, but I am baffled about the critical acclaim of CS.

Perhaps its a book that is bound to its day. The humor, which never goes for the LOL, strives instead for the surreal. Perhaps this form of surreal-comedy was unique in its day, although Woody Allen's Without Feathers managed both the surreal and the LOL in the same decade. Familiarity with the Martin of the 70s though would suggest that he was aiming for something else. He certainly knows his comedy, and I have no doubt that's what he would have delivered if that's what he had intended. What he did intend though, I'm not entirely sure.

CS is a series of (very) short stories and poems that conjure bizarre images and ideas. Its often strange and always silly, but meanings and conclusions dont' come as readily. And maybe that's the point of it - strangeness for the sake of being strange. Oddly, that's something that I really appreciated about, for example, Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America, but not so much here- perhaps I just expect some LOLs from SM.

20. The Accidental Masterpiece

On the Art of Life and Vice Versa

By: Michael Kimmelman

It is a nice surprise to find a celebration of amateur and professional art together in a book authored by the head art critic of the New York Times. The subtitle, On the Art of Life and Vice Versa explains Kimmelman's MO- to investigate how artists have integrated their lives into their art and how their art has become part of their lives. Although the idea "write what you know" is familiar to all writers (and no doubt has been extrapolated by all types of creatives- paint what you know, sculpt what you know, cook what you know... well, maybe not...), The Accidental Masterpiece illustrates the significance of this statement. However, Kimmelman describes his purpose better than I can:

This book is, in part, about how creating, collecting, and even just appreciating art can make a living a daily masterpiece. I don't mean that every day becomes perfect if we enjoy art. But having spent much of my own life looking at it, I have come to feel that everything, even the most ordinary daily affair, is enriched by the lessons that can be gleaned from art: that beauty is often where you don't expect to find it; that it is something we may discover and also invent, then reinvent, for ourselves...

He illustrates these points through various examples- he writes about Frank Hurley, a photographer who found himself stranded in the Antarctic in 1911, and documented his life, the ship that he just missed, and the landscape around him. He also writes about Charlotte Salomon, who detailed her life as a Jew living in pre-war Germany in a journal of writings and paintings. Now, we don't all lead lives in such circumstances. However, he also writes about people who collect light bulbs, and construct their meanings in new and unique ways for themselves.

Art should be informed by how you live because each of us have something important to say. This is a useful message for artists and art teachers, as we struggle to make meaningful art; and its something we all know, Kimmelman just makes that idea very accessible.

19. Marvel's Civil War

By: Mark Millar

I've been largely put off super-hero comics since high school, but was intriuged by news of Marvel's Civil War as an allegory for the struggle to retain civil rights in a post 9/11 America. Civil War brings superheroes into the new Neocon America where they fight each other in a battle to defend their own rights in a somewhat surreal twist on 21st century politics. After a botched attack on some run-of-the-mill villains by a half-assed super-hero group (who are filming a reality TV show) ends up destroying a good couple blocks of Stamford, Connecticut, the paranoid eyes of the government turn on all heroes who hide behind masks in attempt to hold them accountable for their actions. The government finds an ally in Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) as a spokesman and leader for advancing their "Superhero Registration Act" - however, not all Superheroes are willing to put their identities on the line and thus put their families at risk. The first skirmish in the new war occurs when the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D try to take down good old Captain America himself- in a twist which pits the Capt against the country he's named to defend.

And so the superheroes of the Marvel Universe take sides against each other. Iron Man finds allies in the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man (which leads to his news-making public unmasking), while Captain America finds his own allies willing to go underground with him.

Overall, CW raises interesting points about privacy and terrorism through the lens of their alternate superhero-infested universe, but never really commits to a strong stance on the matter. It ends with a bit of ambiguity, although to be fair, it looks like they may be tying up loose ends in their Death of Captain America series- the title of which alone is loaded with meaning.

18. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

By: Suzannah Clarke

The problem with trying to read 50 books in a year is that it discourages you from picking up a tome like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which weighs in at just over 1000 pages. I'd been wanting to read this since last year since my friend Mark's recommendation, and there it was sitting on the shelf among very few other english books at a book traders in Li Jiang. Tough descision - I could easily read three other books in the time it would take to tread JSaMN, but could I just let the opportunity pass? It was too much good fortune to find this book in a country where English books are hard to come by and usualy overpriced.

It was a good gamble- JSaMN is great read. The story follows the lives of title characters, two magicians who are intent on bringing magic back to england in a world where magic once ruled but has long since been forgotton. Until recently, the only magicians were "theoretical magicians" who study magic, but never perform it. Their excuse is that they are above doing the magic, they are scholars who study it instead. All this changes with the reluctant appearance of Mr. Norrel. He is a reculsive and disagreeable magician who is brought out of obscurity by a Mr. Secundus, one of the few theoretical magicians who has any real intellectual curiosity. For the first 250 or so pages of the book, Norell helps England rediscover magic, but is so neurotic about its application, that he refuses to share his skills with anyone else. This sets the stage for the appearance of a second magician, the younger, more forward thinking Jonathan Strange to appear with a slightly different set of values.

The book is anything but predictable, and as the plot winds through the slow re-emergence of magic in England, the relationship between Strange and Norrell shifts downhill. Magic that they have invoked brings all kinds of unintended consequences, and they soon become embroiled in the Napoleanic war, an old prophesy, and a unwittingly evil fairy.

JSaMN is a highly original book, told as if the author is reciting an exciting bit of history (and complete with a ton of funny and detailed footnotes which expand her universe), although it also owes a great debt to the canon of British fantasy that came before it. Certainly the irreverent tone is reminiscent of Douglass Adams, the sense of magical wonder of Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling, and the attention to detail of a truly unique world of Tolkien. Clarke masterfully weaves some of the best threads of her predecessors into a completely new tapestry. Highly recommended.