Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

This post is dedicated to the victims of the election massacre that took place in Maguindanao.
I was supposed to read another book to wrap up my World War II Challenge, but that will probably have to wait until next month, as I found another couple of books for this Challenge, lent to me by my book club friend Mike (thank you, Mike!).
I’ve only really started venturing into graphic novels recently but the critically-acclaimed Maus by Art Spiegelman is something I’ve always been interested in, although I haven’t seen it in the local book stores. While I’ve been acquainted with Art Spiegelman’s work in the Little Lit series, I’ve always wanted to read his masterpiece.
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Tags: allegory, animals, Anja Spiegelman, Anja Zylberberg, art spiegelman, artist, atrocity, Auschwitz, Birkenau, catskills, concentration camp, family history, Francoise Mouly, gas chambers, graphic novel, Holocaust, Holocaust survivor, Hungary, Maguindanao, Mala, Mala Spiegelman, Mandelbaums, massacre, Maus, Poland, Rego park, Richieu Spiegelman, Second World War, social agent, Sosnowiec, survival, Vladek, Vladek Spiegelman, world war 2, WWII, WWII reading challenge
Posted in Book Events, Book Reviews, News | 2 Comments »
Friday, November 20th, 2009

Lane Smith (of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and many others) is one of my all-time favorite illustrators, and I’ve got a growing collection of his books (mostly the result of foraging in bargain bins!).
I’d been eyeing the book The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by George Saunders (illustrated by Lane Smith) at a specialty bookstore for ages. Earlier this year, I finally scored a copy at one of the book store sales for only P59!
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Tags: allegory, capable, class struggle, community, community spirit, fable, frip, gappers, george saunders, goatherd, goats, have-nots, haves, illustrated novel, illustration, Lane Smith, modern fairy tale, perseverance, romos, romsens, short story, social classes, social commentary, the very persistent gappers of frip
Posted in Bargain Books, Book Reviews | No Comments »