The collected Maus, by Art Spiegelman.
Not sure how many graphic novels/ comics it originally comprised, but I had it all in one book.

I'm not sure I can do it justice. It's Pulitzer prize winning. They had to shoe-horn in into a category because there wasn't one for "black and white artistry, simply drawn in a comic book format but which will make you cry til your skin gets chapped."

Art's Dad was a Polish Jew.
You pretty much know how that went.

He lived and was fucked up. But he was such a bloody survivor.
The ghettos, Auschwitz, TB, starvation, you name it he did it.
And the book is narrated in his voice, in his slightly broken English. Which allows the Jewish voice to come through.

The illustration is very simple, but as you read it becomes very powerful. What looks like a fun cartoon at the start becomes your world as you read it. The Jews are depicted as mice (obv because they were viewed as rodents) the Poles as pigs, the Nazis as cats. There are even sections where the mice wear pig-masks in order to "pass".

And you never, ever forget that this is a real account. Told by a real man with a number tattooed on his arm, to his son who happened to be a graphic artist. And he wasn't a lovely cuddly man either; he was a real man with real problems.

The most exceptional book I've read in years.

I have Maus in two volumes, which is how I think it was originally published. I liked it.

It is hot Summer here, which I think makes it a perfect time to reread The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling.

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I guess I read some of the original serial in high school? I'll need to look for the bound copies.

I'm reading The Martian by Andy Weir.

The movie trailer looks amazing, and then over the 4th of July weekend, my brother strongly recommended that I read the book. I thought there wouldn't be time to read it before the movie comes out, but the movie still has a couple months before it comes out. So I bought the paperback.

I'm making a conscious effort to not read it all in one sitting. I wanted to be able to bring it to this Boy Scout camp where I have a chaperone shift the second half of this week. There will be a lot of down time, and I need a book to read while I hang out in my hammock. Anyway, even with trying to slow myself down, I'm already three quarters of the way through the book. It's riveting. So good. Just typing this and thinking about it, I'm wishing I was reading the book instead.

If you haven't seen the movie trailer, check it out.



The trailer looks like the movie follows the book very closely. But of course the book will have more detail.

Just listened to God is not great by hitchens.

excellent of course.

1st: I love space and submarine movies.

2nd: "The Martian" looks fanƒuckingtastic.

the movie looks amazing!

I'm in.

"Blackfoot Messiah" from The First Mountain Man series by William W. Johnstone.

A re-read.

Just finished up the Fables comic series. Sort of a slow end to a fabulous (get it?) series. I think it fit, though. Their spinoff series Jack of Fables already had an apocalyptic end; it wasn't necessary here.

Finished Unwritten, and read the Saga books up to the latest collected volume (Even in Kindle form, I don't want to clutter my space up with monthly issues).

Still rereading Song of Ice and Fire, slowly. Maybe the next one will come out around the time I finish.

Werewolves by Elliott O'Donnell. Must have had this out of my public library a dozen times as a kid. It's a "scholarly" study on the werewolf phenomenon throughout Europe, but does make occasional mention of those backward countries that have to rely on tigers and hyenas for their weres. Stodgy, pedantic style of writing. It was way better when I was monster crazy pre-teen.

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Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
Book 4 of the Old Man's War series. I loves me some Scalzi. It's a parallel book to The Last Colony, which I read but don't remember at all.

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Finally saw The Martian yesterday. Most excellent. It followed the book pretty closely. I loved it, but the real test was if my wife, who hadn't read the book, also liked it. She did.

So go see it. It's good.

I read a fabulous alien invasion book last week. Gets the prize for worst and most uninspiring title ever - turned out to be one of the best books I've read in ages.

Iron Mike, by Patricia Rose. It's her debut novel and it had me utterly gripped. Wonderfully strong character building - we jump between different character perspectives and one of them is a dog called Hershey, who I just adored. The alien invasion itself is thoroughly unsettling. I got a sample on kindle and by the end of that I had to buy the book (£1.99).

Currently reading The Last: a Zombie Apocalypse Thriller (Zombie Ocean Book 1) , by Michael John Grist. Verrrrrrry different take on zompoc fiction. Really enjoying it. It's a clever story, and very well-written. So many zompoc novels are inexpertly written - often very engaging stories, but with writing that is perfunctory, or just lacking in any flair or style. This one is very good. I like the author's style.

Just finished another re-read: "Forty Guns West", & "Preacher's Peace", a two-books-in-one deal, by William W. Johnstone.