February 2010 books

[dirtylibrarian]

Dairy of a Stinky Dead Kid (Tales from the Crypt - Volume 8)
Stefan Petrucha
Tween Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Shrug.
Parody. Twilight. Humor. Horror. Zombies. Vampires. Werewolves.
Silly. Maybe tween boys will like.

Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney's Book of Lists
McSweeney's
Adult Non-Fiction
Recommend?: Definitely!
Lists. Humor. Unicorns. Germany. Laughter.
Really delightful.

Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals
Christopher Payne
Adult Photography
Recommend?: Definitely!
Architecture. History. Care. Safe places. Public works. Psychology. Lost environments.
Beautiful tribute to amazing buildings, and the sanctuaries we no longer prove for our most vulnerable.

Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things (Alvin Ho - Volume 1)
Lonore Look
Kids Fiction
Recommend?: Definitely!
Humor. Boys. Fear. School. Friendship. Cliques. Chicken pox. Family.
Delightfully silly…great stuff!

American Character: A Photographic Journey
various
Adult Photography
Recommend?: Yes.
Portraits. Color photography. Americans.
Nice collection with variety of artists.

Graceling
Kristin Cashore
Teen Audiobook
Recommend?: Definitely!
Fantasy. Fighting. Romance. Travels. Magic. Friendship. Evil plots. Awful relatives.
Delightful high school read. Surprisingly sexy.

Blue Plate Special
Michelle D. Kwasney
Teen Fiction
Recommend?: Yes.
Mothers. Daughters. Addiction. Teen pregnancy. Rape. Murder. Love. Babies. Perspective.
Solid read exploring three generations of women with guy trouble.

Calamity Jack
Shannon Hale
Teen Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Definitely!
Fantasy. Fairy tales. Giants. Pixies. Rescues. Revenge. Giant ants.
Almost as delightful as the first one!

Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters (Alvin Ho - Volume 2)
Lenore Look
Tween Fiction
Recommend?: Definitely!
Humor. Boys. Fear. School. Friendship. Family. Camping. Escapes.
I just love this author's fiction.

Luna Park
Kevin Baker
Adult Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Yes.
NYC. Russia. Criminals. War. Cycles. Revenge. Violence. Love. Loss.
Incredible style, sometimes hard to follow though.

Masterpiece Comics
R. Sikoryak
Adult Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Yes.
Retellings. Inferno. Candide. Scarlet Letter. Crime and Punishment. Camus. Metamorphosis.
Delightful and weird mash-ups of classic fiction and classic comic strips.

Flying Machine (Air - Volume 2)
G. Willow Wilson
Adult Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Yes.
Science Fiction. Time. Space. Amelia Earhart. Fear of flying. Destiny. Romance. War.
Weird and smart. I'm sticking with it for the characters, though it is a bit confusing at times.

The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook
Eleanor Davis
Tween Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Definitely!
Secret clubs. Hideouts. Geeks. Inventors. Gadgets. Gizmos. Mysteries.
Really fun, with great details to pour over.

Earth Then and Now: Amazing Images of Our Changing World
Fred Pearch
Adult Photography
Recommend?: Yes.
Environment. Development. Global warming. Overpopulation. Bombs. Glaciers. Industrialization.
Both facinating and depressing.

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (Superman)
Alan Moore
Adult Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Yes.
Death. Endings. Evil. Near-death. Swamp Thing. Hallucinations.
Not sure why I had trouble getting into this. Really fun and imaginative, and well done.

Oishinbo: Izakaya: Pub Food: a la Carte (Oishinbo: a la Carte - Volume 7)
Tetsu Kariya
Adult Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Definitely!
Manga. Food. Japan. Bars. Beer. Sardines. Edamame. Oysters. Eel.
I can not read this series without getting seriously hungry.

It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure
Larry Smith
Adult Non-Fiction
Recommend?: Definitely!
Autobiographies. Short.
Love the way folks express themselves.

The Sky Is Everywhere
Jandy Nelson
Teen Fiction
Recommend?: Definitely!
Death. Loss. Sisters. Missing parents. Romance. Music. Northern California. Grieving. Poetry.
Sweet sad and bursting with emotion. Delightful setting and great characters.

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Exposed
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Adult Photography
Recommend?: Definitely!
Large format film. Black and white. Wax museums. Seascapes. Movie theaters. High concept. Beauty.
Simple, yet fantastic stuff. Makes me want to find a special photography niche.

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2)
Suzanne Collins
Teen Fiction
Recommend?: Definitely!
Science-fiction. Dystopian societies. Reality TV. Family. Love. Survival. Adventure. Fashion.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and can't wait for the third!

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Jamie Ford
Teen Fiction
Recommend?: Yes.
Seattle. Historical fiction. Friendship. Family. Chinese-Americans. Japanese-Americans. Bullies. Jazz. Internment camps. World War 2.
I really wanted to love this book, but didn't. Much too spoon fed.

The Things They Carried
Tim O'Brien
Adult Fiction
Recommend?: Yes.
Short stories. Vietnam War. Storytelling.
Reread this for our Big Read. Held up well.

Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
Apostolos Doxiadis
Adult Graphic Novel
Recommend?: Shrug.
Philosophy. History. Europe. Logic. Greece. Insanity.
Not terrible, but not totally sure what the format brought to it.

Sharp Teeth
Toby Barlow
Adult Fiction
Recommend?: Definitely!
Werewolves. Los Angeles. Horror. Romance. Survival. Gangs. Wars. Drug dealers. Revenge.
Enough sympathetic characters to make you care, but enough bastards to make it believable.