Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
It's a classic, up there next to Brave New World and 1984. But is it any good? Not completely. It's dated, at least. Feminists would most likely want to have a word about the portrayal of women in the book. And was he better as a short story writer?
Baumgartner by Paul Auster
His last novel. It would have been great if it was a masterpiece. It's not. It's sort of messy, a bit all over the place, an old man looking back at his life while also trying to move forwards. But I already have all his previous books, so whatcha gonna do, NOT read it?
We'll Always Have Casablanca by Noah Isenberg
Tbe backstory for the film and how it lives on. No big surprises here, anecdotes that already have been told. -Hey Bogey, look over there and nod. -Why? - Just do it for fuck's sake. And Ronald Reagan was never seriously considered for Rick. Some debates from the writers about who wrote what. Understandable, since it's pretty much a perfect script. And as a pure comfort movie, it doesn't get any better. -Such much?
Nick Drake: The Life by Richard Morton Jack
A great biography about Nick Drake, with the writer given full co-operation by Nick's sister, Gabrielle and access to the diaries written by Nick's dad. Which means we get a complete description of a mentally ill Nick spending the two last years of his life mostly at home. It's not a pretty picture. And a final answer to the question, did he kill himself or take an accidental overdose?
Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes
A book about Bruce Springsteen and the making of his record Nebraska, still a timeless masterpiece, between The River and Born in The U.S.A. He was never able to top the demo in a studio, alone or with his band, finally realizing, this is it, this is the record. And luckily, he didn't lose the demo cassette.
Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby, volume 1
Kirby is Kirby. What is included and what is missing can maybe be debated. Some of the recolouring is ugly. The reproduction is bad as well. Thin lines are missing. The artwork actually looks better in the cheap black and white Essential books. Which is a shame, you would hope for something better from such an expensive hardcover.
Marvel Visionaries: Stan Lee
Reproduction is even worse than in the Kirby book. I didn't even try to read it. Avoid!
Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier
A coffee table book about Jack Kirby. So who said "Comics will break your heart.", was it Kirby or Charles Schulz? Anyway, Kirby saw some of that from Marvel, the company that would have been nowhere without him. Luckily, towards the end of his life he experienced the accolades he deserved and could move past the bitterness. Stan Lee got a lot of the credit, but also the shame. Where is the truth in who created what? Most likely somewhere in the middle.
That Kirby book (King of Comics) is really a great reference for his career, jam-packed with artwork, well-sourced from all eras—including the full ‘Street Code’ auto-bio reminiscence penciled in his later years. I was particularly impressed by the remixed cover on the revised paperback, which has a lot more pizzazz than the original hardcover. I think I borrowed this from the library initially and then eventually bought my own copy, but I have to admit it's mostly sat on my shelf since reading.
ReplyDeleteI just started reading Kirby, and maybe that's something you should do in your teens. But it's hard not to be impressed by his imagination and just the force of his art.
ReplyDeleteI think I started reading comics in 1976, at age 8. Kirby's work was at the center, with Captain America #200 standing out prominently for me, and the John Romita-doctored Madbomb cover (#193) eventually becoming a staple of school supplies, if not immediately, then sometime later. Who the hell was Kirby and why should I care that he's ‘back’? I didn't know. Something about the iconography, hype, and world-building of Marvel Comics was magnetic. Titles like 2001 and The Eternals creeped me out; I avoided them on the spinner rack. But I still sought out Black Panther and then Machine Man, even if I was ultimately disappointed by them. Was I already aging out? Eventually, yes.
DeleteI forgot about comics for decades. When I finally revisited them via the Internet, I was amazed at how Kirby's splash pages and double-page spreads had remained burned into my subconscious. That's nostalgia for you. It's wild to think I was reading stories by a 59-year old man. What an age gap! Consumerism for kids, culture for kids, art for kids… a pretty bold endeavor.