Jacques Tardi’s World War I opus, Goddamn This War!, is a hard beast to categorize, at least when using English terminology. It’s not a comic book, and for a graphic novel it’s not very novelistic. But call it what you will, it’s hard to deny its power. This is a harrowing masterpiece of one unnamed soldier’s experiences in the Great War that so wholly failed to be the war to end all wars. Things the reader won’t find in Goddamn This War! include plot and dialogue. Does […]
Just Stay Home
There are no doubt piles upon piles of books that make you want to travel, and there’s probably no shortage of books that make you want to visit Venice in particular. Then there’s Ian McEwan’s The Comfort of Strangers, the book that makes you dread just the thought of Venice. Or really any travelling. After finishing this book, you will want to stay home forever, and lock all the doors to keep the outside world and its evils at bay. Mary and Colin encounter those […]
In a year 2525 (or thereabouts)
First published in 1960, A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. is considered a somewhat of a classic of post-apocalyptic science fiction. I’ve wanted to read it for years, thanks to goodreads and its recommendations page. See, goodreads thought that since I intend to read Russel Hoban’s Riddley Walker one day, I would also enjoy A Canticle for Leibowitz. And it wasn’t entirely wrong. The novel is divided into three parts, with each part taking the reader further and further into the post […]