(Thanks to The Comics Curmudgeon for this and many, many others.)
Archive for July, 2009
I have nothing to add:
(Well, okay, I do have a little to add: This seems to be fake naive art, but I’m too important and busy to really check it out.)
29
Jul
Nice work
While I’m not crazy about the guy they cast to play me, this is still a fairly decent biopic:
29
Jul
Thanks a lot, Netflix
What am I going to say to convince you to read this? You either love Sedaris already or you’re indifferent, and most of you have probably already read this anyway. Still, there he is, funny as ever, directing high-quality misanthropy every which way, but especially toward himself. Add that to his don’t-make-me-say-it sense of wonder or maybe beginner’s mind or oh god no I can’t go on. You know what I mean, and maybe you can put it in words w/o provoking reverse peristalsis. He sees the world like it’s a Ripley’s museum, he hates himself just a little bit more than he hates the rest of us, and he’s funny as a crutch. Go to it and read.
I whipped through this last night so I must have loved it. Yes, it’s gimmicky – the narrator is an autistic teen – but the author manages to make the kid incredibly compelling in an “oh, so that’s what that’s about” sort of way. Haddon has worked with autistic folks, and while it’s always a good idea to remain skeptical when we think we understand something, he does offer some valuable insights. The story itself feels like a throwaway, though the kid’s short, climactic train journey to London is a gripping horrorshow that makes it hard not to share the narrator’s panic. It’s a fast, fun read that’s well worth seeking out.
14
Jul
The Liar, by Stephen Fry
I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t had much to say about it. I adore Stephen Fry and was pleased to find that Vlasta has a Jeeves and Wooster-shaped hole in her brain, and Fry’s prose style is as smart and fun as his acting persona, but…but…well, okay, I’ll say it: the book confused me, and not in the right way.
It’s obvious that Fry has structured the book to his liking, but it took me far too long to realize that interstitial elements that I thought were fiction within the fiction were in fact important, defining plot points. I suppose that the book might be a prank on the reader (check the title), but it fell flat for me as a whole.
The moments making up the whole were almost uniformly lovely, though. Fry’s facility for wordplay on the stage and screen works just as well on the page, so even though I don’t think I ended up anywhere interesting, I did enjoy the ride.
You said it, sister