Reading something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue
Posts tagged art spiegelman
Art Spiegelman! Squee!
Jun 19th
The past month has been just fab in feeding my Art Spiegelman fangirl frenzy. First I found that enormous Art Spiegelman book on bargain at a book store sale after last month’s book discussion.
Then my cousin (and bookish partner in crime) Dianne got me an autographed Maus II (and a Strand notebook, and a Great Writers deck of cards) from her trip to New York. And then Flipper friend Mike (who actually made an Art Spiegelman fangirl out of me when he lent me his Maus set) brought me back an Art Spiegelman Strand totebag (and a Strand button pin) showing Maus “stranded in a sea of books”!
In the Shadow of No Towers
Jun 18th
Spotting a sale sign at a bookstore always activates a panic button in me. It never fails to elicit that heart-pounding, wide-eyed excitement at the prospect of finding a book to add to my shelf, and after years of practice I think I’m fairly proficient at spotting a gem in the bargain bin. Still, I can never get enough of that heady feeling of getting a great book at an outrageously low price.
Just last month, after the Art inFiction book discussion, the Fully Booked Greenbelt branch was on sale, and because there was a line for our dinner table at Chili’s we couldn’t resist the lure of the bargain tables laid out in the storefront. Something shiny caught my eye as soon as I reached the table. Bingo — In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman, and, hold your breath, at 80% off, marked down from P958 to under P200! (around $4, never mind that it’s a bit scuffed, it’s a ginormous board book!).
Maus
Nov 25th
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.
Once upon a time, it was a dark and silly night… (Little Lit Roundup)
Apr 23rd
and I found myself with two great graphic anthologies!
The Little Lit series is a set of comic compilations for kids, edited by the great Art Spiegelman. I have two of them, because I lucked out on new copies at bargain prices — Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies (from the NBS Book-sak sale, P200) and It Was a Dark and Silly Night (from the Book Sale warehouse, P170). I decided to read them for the 24-hour read-a-thon because they were easy to read and I wanted to get some variety in my read-a-thon books.
When I first saw the Little Lit books, I was literally agape at their visual impact — it’s a smorgasbord of creative juices from an amazing roster of top-caliber cartoonist and children’s book artists. Even now that I’ve had the books for some time now, I still thumb through the pages with reverence. It’s like holding an art gallery in your hands!
Revealing the actual stories would take away the fun from reading the Little Lit books, so let me just touch lightly on them, so you have an idea of what’s inside.
Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies (book #61 for 2009) showcases a humorous collection of old and new story selections from different parts of the world, told through comics.
Aside from Spiegelman this book includes the works of Barbara McClintock, Chris Ware, Kaz, J. Otto Seibold, William Joyce, Bruce McCall, David Macaulay, and many more.
My favorites from this book include Barbara McClintock’s leonine version of the Princess and the Pea, the reprint of Walt Kelly’s (of Pogo Fame) 1943 comic The Gingerbread Man, Art Spiegelman’s hilarious Prince Rooster, Claude Ponti’s The Enchanted Pumpkin and Chris Ware’s interactive Fairy Tale Road Rage boardgame.
My second Little Lit Book is It Was a Dark and Silly Night… (book #62 for 2009), this time a showcase of imagination, with different comic stories that take off from the starting phrase “It was a dark and silly night… .”
This time, the masterminds are not only comic book artists and children’s book illustrators, but also novelists such as Neil Gaiman and Lemony Snicket.
My favorite selections from this book include Lemony Snicket and Richard Sala’s hilarious story about a girl and the Yeti, J.Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh’s penguin treasure story, and Patrick MacDonnell’s moon story.
I still lack Strange Stories (my cousin Dianne has this one, though, I must borrow it sometime) and the Big Fat Little Lit collection. Hopefully I’ll get lucky and find bargain copies again for my Little Lit collection one day; they cost about P800 each at the bookstore.
*All book photos from the Little Lit website.
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My copies: both hardcover
My rating: both 5/5 stars!
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