May 20 2024

Plain Jane And The Mermaid by Vera Brosgol

I love pretty much everything First Second Books publishes. My relationship with them started with the excellent Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel, and while I haven’t had the time to cover as many of their books as I’d honestly like to, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to review their latest title that also features an alluring mermaid.

Interestingly, before I could dive (ha) into this latest digital ARC, my favorite bookstore mentioned that they’d be having Vera Brosgol in to sign copies one Wednesday morning. Since I’d been planning to go lead an orchestra rehearsal afterwards anyway, I figured I’d stop by, if the digital read turned out to be good enough to warrant buying a physical copy. So I cracked open the ARC… and was full out sobbing by page 37.

So! Off to People’s Book I went the next morning, to buy a copy and get it signed and hopefully not make too much of a fool of myself in front of the author. Who is an absolute delight, btw! I loved the experience so much, I wrote about it during the bookstore’s Zine-Making Workshop a few nights later. Ms Brosgol and I chatted and laughed, and I cried a little bit, and I taught her how to mew, thanks to lessons from my Gen Alpha thirteen year-old. It was one of the loveliest author meetings I’ve ever had, which is saying a lot since I’ve genuinely had so many lovely author meetings in my lifetime.

What I wish I had more of, tho, is time to read! It took me a little while to actually be able to sit down and read the (signed) book, but I was so glad I’d bought it, because physical copies of graphic novels are so far superior to digital, ime. And oh, what a lovely, tender fable of learning to see your own value past the expectations society has of you! In Jane’s case, the expectations revolve around her physical attractiveness as a woman, a lesson that’s echoed and refracted in several different ways throughout the narrative.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/20/plain-jane-and-the-mermaid-by-vera-brosgol/

May 19 2024

The Way by Swann’s by Marcel Proust

The writing of Jozef Czapski persuaded me to read Proust, and the writing of Marcel Proust persuaded me to stop. Czapski noted that Proust wanted popular success, and that one of the first translations of Proust into Polish had made him popular in that language, in part by rendering his famously extended sentences into more usual lengths for Polish prose. Warsaw wits then averred that the way for Proust to gain popular success was to translate him from Polish back into French. Of course the newish (2002) translation by Lydia Davis did not take that approach. In her rendition, Proust’s sentences are intact, in all of their recursive glory. I can’t say that I found the style a particular stumbling block; I would not have made it through a thousand pages of The Magic Mountain if complex sentence structure irritated me. The problem was much more fundamental: Proust left me indifferent to his characters and their world.

The Way by Swann's by Marcel Proust

The Way by Swann’s — often translated as Swann’s Way, and indeed both the translator of this volume and the general editor of the complete translation of In Search of Lost Time have seen fit to discuss the proper translation of the title, at noticeable length, in their respective introductions — is the first of seven volumes that comprise Proust’s novel À la recherche du temps perdu. (The edition whose first volume I have combines The Prisoner and The Fugitive into a single book, so it is six volumes as published.) The Way by Swann’s is divided, like Gaul, into three parts: “Combray,” “A Love of Swann’s,” and “Place Names: the Name.” The first is mostly recollections from the narrator’s childhood in the eponymous town, mostly based on Proust’s own childhood in the village of Iliers in north-central France. Charles Swann, who lent his name to both the love and the way, is a wealthy, socially connected man of the narrator’s family’s acquaintance. The middle section is set quite a few years before the first and third. It tells of Swann’s love for, and eventual apparent indifference to, a former courtesan named Odette, along with many dinners and social occasions on the way from infatuation to disdain. The third part returns to the direct experience of the narrator as a boy, this time in Paris. Readers may be surprised to find that Odette has become Madame Swann, and mother to a daughter named Gilberte. When, how and why did the relationship between Swann and Odette change? This book does not say.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/19/the-way-by-swanns-by-marcel-proust/

May 16 2024

Marked by L. R. W. Lee (EXCERPT)

Hi, readers! We’re so pleased to be able to give you a sneak peek of the third book in the addictive Morningstar Academy series, about a fallen angel who fights to save a world spiraling out of control, while trying to protect humans and her own heart.

Following the first two books in the series, Marked is set in the intriguing and unseen world of angels and demons created by L R W Lee, taking the reader on a wild ride filled with fantasy, romance, friendship, war and more — all while addressing the many theories and questions of Apocalyptic fiction.

Gladriel, her new fallen friends, and her former squadron mates, have had limited success shifting the world-ending prophecy. They feel increasingly helpless as war, famine, plague and hyperinflation rage, killing millions of the humans they are committed to protecting. Their only hope for rescue is to throw themselves on the Almighty’s mercy and beg him to reverse their sentences, putting Glad and her friends in an impossible situation.

Marked gives us a peek into the unseen world of angels and demons that’s perfect for fans of Good Omens and Penryn & The End Of Days. Read on for an excerpt from the very first chapter of this genre-bending romantasy!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/16/marked-by-l-r-w-lee-excerpt/

May 15 2024

Thailand: A Color-Your-Own Travel Journal & London: A Color-Your-Own Travel Journal by Evie Carrick

with illustrations by Emma Taylor.

As someone who enjoys both travel and art, the idea of Color-Your-Own Travel Journals absolutely appeals to me. While the prospect of actually creating my own travel journals from scratch seems immensely daunting, having guides like these, that provide not only outlines to apply my creative imagination to but also highlight must-see travel spots while leaving space for my own thoughts, fit perfectly with my own modest aspirations. The journals themselves come in sturdy hardback with rounded corners, and are lightweight enough to chuck into your carry-on with a set of colored pencils. Honestly, these books are just beautifully and thoughtfully designed inside and out, and are absolutely outstanding as a consumer object.

I was sent the Thailand and London editions to check out, reflecting my interests both in Southeast Asia, where I’m from, and in one of the best cities in the world. London was actually my last international travel destination, to watch my beloved Arsenal play in North London while staying in a delightful walk-up in Bethnal Green. Over a whirlwind two nights and days, a good friend and I explored Brick Lane, roamed in the steps of Jack The Ripper and took in the art at the Whitechapel Gallery, in addition to touring Arsenal Stadium and surrounds, before I bussed it over to Dalston to enjoy some excellent kebab at Mangal 2, off of a popular thread on Twitter. Side note: every city should feel as easily traversable by public transport as London. I was entirely cash-free in England, but my Oyster card got me everywhere at all hours. It was cheap, efficient and a great way to see the sights.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/15/thailand-a-color-your-own-travel-journal-london-a-color-your-own-travel-journal-by-evie-carrick/

May 14 2024

The Best Worst Camp Out Ever by Joe Cepeda

When I was a kid, I too loved the romance of camping outdoors. Once I actually encountered the realities of it tho, I realized that God invented air-conditioning for a reason. Indoor plumbing? A gift to be cherished. King-sized mattresses? Something to be savored and enjoyed.

Ofc, I wasn’t going to discourage my own kids when they expressed an interest in camping out in the backyard of their grandma’s beach house. I even helped set up their sleeping arrangements after my co-parent put up a tent for them. Even so, I admit to feeling a little swell of justification when they all abandoned the tent at different points in the night to come and sleep indoors where it’s comfortable.

This is all to say that while I’m definitely not the target audience for a book about camping, I was all in on what turned out to be a lesson in resilience that just happens to use the great outdoors as its framework. As with my usual experience with camping, the best laid plans rarely go the way we want them to. The important thing is how we roll with the punches and choose to move forward and adapt, with a positive, almost Zen attitude about accepting what we can’t change and figuring out how to make our own experiences better within that framework.

I promise that Joe Cepeda’s book is a lot less wordy and thinky than my own opinions here, as he details a kid’s camping trip with his dad. Dad is, perhaps, an over-preparer, as he packs up the car for a weekend of outdoorsy fun. Things go pretty well, till they discover that the beautiful campsite they chose to stay in has already filled up. Everything threatens to go pretty rapidly downhill from there, but Dad isn’t upset by any change of plans. In fact, he has a ton of backups prepared just in case, as what threatens to be the worst camp out ever turns into one of the best experiences of their lives.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/14/the-best-worst-camp-out-ever-by-joe-cepeda/

May 12 2024

The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis

Some twenty years after publication, The Cold War no longer matches its subtitle, “A New History,” but it remains a useful book about the conflict that shaped international politics for nearly half a century and, not incidentally, came close to ending human civilization. It is useful in a number of ways. First of all, it covers the entire period, with important arguments about the conflict’s origin in the tensions among the members of the Grand Alliance that won World War II. Second, it emphasizes how the principals in the conflict — the USA and the USSR — viewed the conflict as global. Regional powers naturally saw their region as the one that mattered most, sometimes as the only region worth considering, but while the superpowers considered some places — divided Berlin, for example — as crucial at some times, they never forgot that the conflict spanned the world. Third, Gaddis takes a clear point of view: regulated capitalism and representative democracy are preferable to state socialism and the one-party dictatorship of the proletariat, and thus the Cold War was worth both waging and winning. Fourth, he writes mainly for an audience for whom the Cold War has always been history. Considering that nobody presently under age 50 was an adult when the Cold War ended, this is an increasing and increasingly important share of the population. (Consider: Germany’s current Foreign Minister was under age 10 when the Berlin Wall fell.) Fifth, he does all of this in just over 250 pages of main text.

The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis

Gaddis also sets out plainly what the book is not. “It is not a work of original scholarship” (p. x–xi); it is a synthesis of his and other scholars’ more detailed studies. He adds that it does not attempt to locate the Cold War origins of later phenomena such as globalization. This is a history of a distinct period. “Nor does it make any contribution whatever to international relations theory, a field that has troubles enough of its own without my adding to them.” (p. xi) Scholarly humor tends toward the dry. Though Gaddis’ humor may be dry, his prose is not, and he avoids the historian’s pitfall of getting bogged down in details. He uses his decision to write a synthesis to his readers’ advantage. Those who want more detail may go and find it; for the others, he shows how the pieces fit together, and how the decision-makers at the time thought the pieces fit together. The two are not the same, and he is not afraid to draw sharp conclusions.

For example, he argues that despite some of Roosevelt’s hopes, the interests of the principal members of the Grand Alliance were too different for wartime cooperation to continue past the surrender of the Axis powers. Even during the war, the Allies competed for positioning in the postwar world. The difference between their behavior and that of, say, the seven different coalitions that fought Revolutionary France and Napoleon before his final fall, is that they managed to keep defeating the Axis as their top and joint priority. None of the Allies sought their own advantage to such an extent that the others would consider a separate peace. Considering the history of coalition warfare, this was no small achievement, but it couldn’t last. Gaddis writes:

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/12/the-cold-war-by-john-lewis-gaddis/

May 11 2024

An Armenian Sketchbook by Vasily Grossman

By the early 1960s, Vasily Grossman was in an odd position with the authorities of the Soviet Union. He had been a recognized writer starting in the 1930s, and as a war correspondent he was both beloved by regular troops and honored by the state. His novels were serialized in major newspapers, and his time in the hard-fought streets of Stalingrad made him a legitimate hero. Though he survived the anti-semitic campaign of Stalin’s final months, his relations with the state — and thus practically every part of his life — were strained by the censors’ cancellation of a book documenting the crimes of the Holocaust. Relations broke almost entirely when Grossman submitted the manuscript of Life and Fate. The KGB raided Grossman’s apartment and seized everything relating to the book that they could find, up to and including the typewriter ribbons used in composing the book. He was a major writer whose greatest work was both recognized as such by the country’s publishers and deemed utterly unpublishable. (Decisions about the book went as high as the Politburo’s chief ideologist, who is reported to have told Grossman that the book was so dangerously anti-Soviet that it could not be published for at least 200 years.) What was to be done?

An Armenian Sketchbook by Vasily Grossman

The solution that they arrived at was to give Grossman an opportunity to go to Armenia, one of the Soviet Union’s more out-of-the-way provinces in the South Caucasus, and work on a translation of a local author’s historical epic. Grossman did not speak any Armenian, but there was a literal translation that he was to polish and refine into more literary Russian. An Armenian Sketchbook is Grossman’s first-hand account of his experiences there. It is also his last book; he wrote it in 1962, and died of cancer in 1964. An Armenian Sketchbook was published in the Soviet Union in 1967, with some cuts ordered by the censor, under the title of “Good to You!” a direct translation of the customary Armenian greeting.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/11/an-armenian-sketchbook-by-vasily-grossman/

May 10 2024

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is an absolutely furious short novel about sexism in South Korea, and while its incidents and statistics are specific to that country, it can stand in for how badly half of the world’s human population commonly treats the other half, often without even noticing. The book opens with what appears to be a breakdown by the book’s titular character, as she slips into note-perfect imitations of people from her life without noticing — first her mother and then a college friend who had died a year before — falling so deep into the roles that she refers to herself in the third person. Matters come to a head at a family holiday gathering when Jiyoung (the book follows the Korean practice of putting the family name before the personal name) takes on the persona of her mother again and gives her father-in-law a thorough telling-off.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

The book then returns to Jiyoung’s childhood, relating incidents from her life and her family’s history in a matter-of-fact tone that moves the story along quickly and lets readers imagine the details. Cho (the book’s publisher also follows Korean name order) leaves lush description to other writers; she has enough to say with just sketching what has happened, selecting crucial dialog, and occasionally letting readers in on her characters’ thoughts. There is a particular reason for the novel’s style that becomes clear in its hard-hitting final chapter. Jiyoung has a sister who is a couple of years older, and a brother who is six or seven years younger. Their paternal grandmother lives with them in quarters that are initially quite cramped. Cho sets out how things are when Jiyoung remembers herself as a child eating something that was ostensibly for her baby brother:

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/10/kim-jiyoung-born-1982-by-cho-nam-joo/

May 09 2024

Enemy Child by Andrea Warren

subtitled The Story Of Norman Mineta, A Boy Imprisoned In A Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II.

Many Americans will know of Norman Mineta as a trailblazing Japanese American politician, a moderate Democrat who served in both Democratic and Republican cabinets. He always resisted having any books written about his life until he was approached by Andrea Warren, an award-winning author of books for children, who wanted to make his story accessible to young readers and beyond. Together, they worked on what would be the only biography of him ever written in his lifetime, focusing primarily on how he along with tens of thousands of other Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II.

Norman was your average kid growing up in San Jose, California in the 1930s and 1940s. While his parents were immigrants from Japan, they weren’t allowed to apply for citizenship based on the discriminatory laws of the era. Norman and his four older siblings were all born in the United States however, making them just as American as any of their neighbors, Asian, white, Black or otherwise. While Japanese culture was a big part of the Minetas’ daily lives, they wholeheartedly embraced being American too, and were deeply grateful to be able to live free in ways not possible across the Pacific Ocean.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/09/enemy-child-by-andrea-warren/

May 07 2024

Advocate by Eddie Ahn

subtitled A Graphic Memoir Of Family, Community, And The Fight For Environmental Justice.

As a grossly overscheduled person myself, I would genuinely like to know where Eddie Ahn finds the time and energy for everything he does! A day job, volunteer work and a cartooning career? I was both impressed and secretly comforted reading this book, knowing that there really are other people as overextended as I am who, crucially, aren’t just doing things for the money.

And don’t get me wrong, money is great! I would 100% welcome more of it into my life. When Eddie’s student debt was cleared, I cheered! But unlike the parents of Eddie’s generation, I would far rather have a practical minivan that requires minimal upkeep than an expensive, cash-draining status symbol Mercedes. It’s so strange: sometimes I wonder whether the social gains we’ve made as a culture, valuing positivity and kindness over shame and being mean, have any relation to the increasing micronization of economic effort, with gig and hustle culture becoming far more prevalent as late-stage capitalism keeps driving its wedge between capital and labor.

That’s not the point of this quiet, thoughtful graphic novel, tho it certainly examines the different attitudes of generations of Asian immigrants and their American-born kids. Eddie’s parents came to Texas from South Korea for grad school, but realized that the fastest way to make money was to open a liquor store. Eddie grew up believing that he had to get a lucrative professional career in order to repay his parents’ sacrifices — tho a large part of me is all, “Yeah, no, they moved to Texas for themselves, it’s not like they were fleeing abject poverty or danger.” Tho maybe they were and it just didn’t come across in this book! The whole Asian mindset of kids needing to smother their own needs and desires so that their parents can impress their peers just irritates the crap out of me, and I say that as an Asian parent myself.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/07/advocate-by-eddie-ahn/