reading notes

by Charles Baxter
ISBN: 9781555974732
I was impressed with Baxter’s earlier collection of essays (Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction) so I’ve been looking forward to reading this one.
One of the many things I like about reading Baxter on fiction is that he isn’t only a theorist or critic, he’s a writer, and a damn good [...]

by Hope Larson
ISBN: 0972179496
This small book (more mass market paperback size than trade paperback, only very thin compared to that fat airplane or beach reading fare) contains a charming story. With green and black ink on white pages Hailey’s childhood summers playing outdoors unfolds.
Sometimes using panels, sometimes with one image filing the page, sometimes sketching [...]

New Comic Art and Narrative Illustration
edited by Roanne Bell and Mark Sinclair
ISBN: 0300111460
Looking for the ISBN number on this book, it struck me how oddly some books come together: this is put out by Yale University Press, printed in China, and the majority of artists in it are European.
The editors don’t talk much about how [...]

by Mike Slack
ISBN: 0977648109
This book is a lot like Slack’s OK OK OK, down to the size and fabric and polaroids on the covers, the same lack of any textual explication, and the same magic in the everyday that is so wonderfully — if you are a fan — expressed with integral polaroid film.
These series [...]

by Scott Snyder
ISBN: 9780385338424
One of the interesting things about reading a collection of short stories is that tics, interesting word choices, or obsessions are easier to spot than they might be when experienced in smaller doses. For example: there’s one blimp that is impossible to miss in these stories (though for a time it [...]

by Alan Deniro
ISBN: 9781931520171
The rules in Deniro’s stories aren’t the everyday real world rules, because his stories are disconcertingly, wonderfully not set in the everyday real world.
I’m always impressed when that is done easily. Meaning, it seems easy, because I buy the premise, believe in the world of the story, believe it absolutely. I love [...]

by Joe Meno
ISBN: 9780810124240
I read Meno’s Demons in the Spring earlier this year, and since then have been determined to read more of his stories. This collection did not disappoint, so I think it is official: Meno is now one of my favorite story writers.
Maybe I am just reading these books at the absolute [...]

by Gary Lutz
ISBN: 097094280X
I don’t like saying so, but over and over again I found myself thinking I just don’t get it while I reading this collection of stories.
It’s possible it’s just me, though I am not a particularly obtuse reader. In my defense, I do enjoy things that aren’t so-called easy reads. (Plowing the [...]

by Rutu Modan
ISBN: 9781897299067
This book is a slice of different life — unless you are living in Israel and are somewhat accustomed to news of suicide bombings, that is. It is also a quite recognizable slice of life if you’ve ever had a not-too-thrilling job, oddness in your family, a difficult relationship with a parent, [...]