under these unappealing (or at least unassuming and easily overlookable) covers is an award-winning graphic novel - and in this instance something of literary depth and breadth actually worthy of that vapid misnomer - recommended in the tardi comments thread below (thx “rm”) and reviews convinced me i’d be into it
are there any real novels (like without little pictures) i should be reading? - i keep scouring amazon but can’t find anything of interest…
Yay, I’m glad you liked it! Probably my favorite graphic novel and yes, one of the few that do read like a ‘novel.’ I was tremendously influenced by Manu and even started drawing square balloons.
There’s a new Jason book of his silent stories by the way, it’s probably not as brilliant as Left Bank Gang or Low Moon, but still great.
As for books without little pictures, I’ve been reading a lot of Raymond Queneau recently. Don’t know if you’re familiar with him, tragicomic stories, fantastic humor, weird and touching. Boris Vian too.
the crimson labyrinth. this book is a thriller about a snuff film.
The Marriage of Reason & Squalor by Jake Chapman! A surprisingly funny, entertaining book.
so “the marriage of reason and squalor” is actually readable?! - in which case i want it! - “the crimson labyrinth” also sounds good, thanks (loved “battle royale”)
altho not religiously recoded here i did get “almost silent” (and other recent jason books) - he has two more books out this summer: another compilation and a new work - yay!
crimson ladyrinth is overrated, imho. It has a few interesting concepts, with typeface and technology, but they are a bit onenote— And in a post-BR fiction landscapre (ha!) there are YA novels that do it way better, like THE HUNGER GAMES.
did you read MISS DONT TOUCH ME? (apologies if this already came up). I just flipped through it but a few cartoonist friends who are really into french comix now both heartily recommended it.
on the “novels” tip:
i just re-read THE STARS, MY DESTINATION by bester— seems like serialized SF manly stuff, but it’s actually way more twisted and free, proto-cyberpunk that has some formal experimentation with the way he presents sounds and text.
I’m reading Big Machine by Victor LaValle next once it arrives… i hear it’s a piece of work .
bought!
(also ikigami 05 and 3d dot game heroes - happiness is a successful shopping trip!)
“miss don’t touch me” gea has been recommending but i’ve been rainchecking - somewhere down the line i’m inevitably going to buy it
Love these kind of threads.
As I mentioned, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s final notorious novel “Un Roman Sentimental” is unlikely to be officially translated into English due to it’s no compromise loli-sex and violence theme. But if you need English could try his previous one, translated as Repetition, which is a labyrinthine cold-war mindscape with (yes you guessed) young teen mistress, SM and dolls thrown in. Also got his early one, Project For a Revolution in New York,, which looks pretty extreme. Haven’t read that one yet. Not really sure if you like Robbe-Grillet’s lack of respect for conventional narrative modes, tho Repetition reads like conventional novel. If you hate Last Year in Marienbad, maybe approach with caution.
Miss Don’t Touch Me is great indeed. Also, everything by Blain is a good read. I just got Tardi, terribly excited to read it.
I can recommend J.M. MacGregor - “Henry Darger In the Realms of the Unreal” book I just found. it’s got quite a lot of text into it plus some pictures of his amazing art.
i have it! : )
I enjoyed this very much, don’t know if you’ve heard of it
http://www.amazon.com/Razor-Wire-Pubic-Carlton-Mellick/dp/0972959815
i’ve tried hard and failed to get into that bizarro stuff
There’s a hard to find book called, “Gods of Death”, which is investigation into snuff films by Yaron Svoray. Hard to read at times because of the subject matter.
“Cemetery Stories” by Katherine Ramsland is another investigation book that has some bizarre reports. Makes you want to be cremated.
I’ve always found Psychopathia Sexualis fascinating because of the human mind and at the time it was written.
You might be interested in checking these out.
Henry Darger is quite fascinating! Like I was saying in another post, it’s bizarre what the art world takes in and what it leaves out! Meaning: Henry Darger is in museums, you’re a hundred times amazing as Darger but they find you questionable?
Keep up the great work and good reading!
“gods of death” i have - it’s good …as pulp-fiction anyway, it’s discredited as purported fact - a great review on amazon:
a similar book i want is philip carlo’s “stolen flower” (but i don’t want to spend $40 for a grubby old ex-library copy of it!)
Yaron Svoray is in the dvd “Kill the Artist” which is about artists and other people that were censored because of their art. When they talk to Svoray they show a supposed snuff scene but then again if its real don’t you think someone would have done something? The family would have went after the makers of the dvd. They also show fake snuff stuff to prove that anything can be faked these days. I didn’t know the book was untrue. It’s like “Michelle Remembers”. That was proven to be untrue. Plus in the book Michelle gets romantically involved with her therapist, which is totally unprofessional. Why wasn’t he reported. Plus, he kept her in session for hours at a time. No wonder she was seeing what she was seeing. Anyway, these investigation books are a fascinating read.
I’m not familiar with “stolen flower” but I’ll look it up on Amazon.
mmmh… have you read House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski? it’s dark, unsettling and challenging (I sound like a blurb). means I enjoyed it a lot.
it sounds worth trying
The Crimson Labyrinth. It was also read. Good