Part of the reason I enjoy doing the read harder challenge and Cannonball Read’s Bingo is that it gives me reasons to go digging back into the reaches of my over 600 title long to read list. This year the CBR Bingo spaces have been boggling my brain a bit (in a good way!) and I had no idea how to fulfill a few of them based on what I’ve lined up already in my reading queue for the year. So, back to the to read list to see what I can unearth, which brings us to Never Learn Anything from History by Kate Beaton.
Beaton made her name from her Hark! A Vagrant webcomic, which later became a book of the same name, and a sequel Step Aside, Pops. But before either of those publications, there was a little collection of Hark! comics published called Never Learn Anything from History. I had put this book on my to read ten years ago when I read Hark! A Vagrant the book and it languished there ever since. Which seems silly to me now, because as much as I’m excited about where Beaton’s work has gone since 2018 (Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is sitting on my bookshelf in my living room) I also appreciate her ability to hone in on historical commentary through comedy in quick bites.
Because that is exactly what this is. From eighteen years later to when these comics were written it was nice to revisit this type of comedy and remind myself that I still know a shockingly small amount of Canadian history. Some of the hits are here – fat pony, Napoleon eating cookies, Tesla’s groupies – so if you love Beaton’s early work (and why wouldn’t you) this is worth checking out if you can get your hands on it.
Bingo Space: 26. I was 26 when this book was published many moons ago. Because Kate Beaton is a few months younger than me she was still 25.
