Tags
a dame to kill for, albert camus, autodidact, autodidactism, books, critic, education, fortunately the milk, frank miller, georges simenon, graphic novels, learning, neil gaiman, penguin classics, poem of the month, poetry, reveiws, self education, sin city, the mahe circle, the sea close by
This week has been quite a mixed bag. My current obsession with children’s books and graphic novels (mostly because this is also what I am trying to write atm) has led me to read Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Volume 2 in the series) and Neil Gaiman’s latest children’s book- Fortunately the Milk. I have also read two recent releases from Penguin Classics- Georges Simenon’s The Mahe Circle and a very short volume of Camus- The Sea Close By.
It surprised me that Simenon’s and Camus’ work both had a lot in common with Sin City. They all have a similar view of the world- twisted, empty and with an existential crisis lurking behind every bend. The unwritten rules of life in Algiers as Camus describes them, are very similar to the unwritten rules of Sin City; namely a slightly misogynistic, but twistedly respectful attitude towards women, enforced by their brothers.
Meanwhile in Simenon’s book, the doctor Mahe explores a similar alienating landscape when on holiday year after year in Porquerolles. The image of a man fishing eels out of a narrow deep hole has stuck with me as much as any of the blocked-in, noir drawings of Miller.
Fortunately the Milk was of course very different, and quite a refreshing break from the hard, cold stare of the other books this week. Gaiman’s storytelling is on form as ever, and adding a great deal to the surrealism are the illustrations by Chril Riddell. Although as a die-hard Dave McKean fan I’m unhappy with anyone illustrating Gaiman’s works who isn’t him, I still pretty quickly fell in love with this little book.
Meanwhile this week there are a couple of things I’m really excited about and wanted to tell you. I have started working for Sabotage Reviews and you can read my first piece for them here: http://sabotagereviews.com/2014/07/19/collecting-feathers-tales-from-the-other-side-by-daniela-i-norris/ . I have also had one of my poems picked as poem of the month for Survivors Poetry’s site: http://www.survivorspoetry.org/july-2014-sarah-gonnet-2/ . Please take a look!