Junk Journal Week Six

I am finally caught up.

As can be seen, this week was my birthday. My family bought me a bookstore gift card; next week I will say a bit about what I used it for.

On to the books.

Jason Shiga's Demon is a four volume graphic novel about a man who keeps dying and coming back to life in the body closest to his. Different and twisted. I am glad I read the book, but I am also glad I borrowed it from the library because once was enough for me.

Ray Bradbury's collection of stories, I Sing the Body Electric, illustrates just how good a writer Bradbury was. If you only know Farenheit 451 or one or two of his stories you are missing out.

Doom Patrol is a glimpse into the mind of Grant Morrison and a great example of how superhero comics can be original and exciting. I watched the first season of the Max television adaptation and enjoyed it.

Musician Questlove and thriller writer SA Cosby have worked together to write a Philadelphia hip hop time travel novel set in Philadelphia for young readers. Fast-paced, funny, and centered on the African American experience.

I heard about Augustown by Kei Miller in an article about Jamaican fiction by Marlon James. Miller certainly demonstrates the diversity of the island that most tourists never see. I found the violent ending a bit forced.

Kerry Young's Pao is a historical novel set in Jamaica's Chinatown. It follows the life of one man over many years. Pao and Augustown are good places to immerse yourself in the Jamaican experience.

Kelly Link's White Cat, Black Dog is a collection of short stories; I thought the first and last one were quite good. Link published her first novel, The Book of Love this week. In her review in the NYTimes, Amal El-Mohtar begins with this comment about short story collections:

A certain weight of expectation accrues on writers of short fiction who haven’t produced a novel, as if the short story were merely the larval stage of longer work. No matter how celebrated the author and her stories, how garlanded with prizes and grants, the sense persists: She will eventually graduate from the short form to the long. After an adolescence spent munching milkweed in increments of 10,000 words or less, she will come to her senses and build the chrysalis required for a novel to emerge, winged and tender, from within.

Serious readers should consider short story collections to be works of art, not just a prelude to a novel.