It is difficult for me to review Joan Wyndham’s second volume of diaries. What really can be said? Here is what I have to say about Joan Wyndham’s second volume of diaries: “Aha!” he exclaimed. “Ein liten pinsvin,” which translated literally means “a little prickle pig”. The hedgehog had a very winning little face, but smelt abominable. We sat and played with it for a bit but then I could see a certain look on his face and he took his glasses off – always a bad sign – so held the ‘pinsvin’ firmly in my lap like a living…
1 CommentCategory: 4 Stars
In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud writes about the structure, creation, history, and vocabulary (among other things!) of comics. He does it, of course, in graphic novel form, with a little cartoon Scott McCloud telling us what is going on. I love this because when he talks about a technique that graphic novels use, voila, he can show it to us too! The book never becomes boring, which is partly down to the fact that it’s an interesting topic, but also partly because the form allows a lot of room for humor. (I was going to write “and whimsy”, but I…
11 CommentsI actually wrote this review at the end of May – May 19th, if I recall correctly (as of course I unfailingly do) – but I couldn’t post it because I was planning to send a copy of the book to my good friend tim for her birthday (which was May 15th – yes, I’m a bad friend), and I couldn’t remember whether she read this blog or not, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I wanted her to be joyously surprised by the arrival of her book. Um, yeah, Ella Minnow Pea is awesome. I will just…
6 CommentsElaine Showalter told me about this book! ELAINE SHOWALTER. I mean, in the sense that I was suddenly struck by what a totally badass literary critic Elaine Showalter was, so I looked her up and discovered that she had written a book about academic novels, and I wrote down a few of them, and the one I wanted to read was Love and Friendship by Alison Lurie, I think because its title was so banal, and yet Elaine Showalter found it worthwhile to write about it. (What she wrote about it I have no idea. The (only?) downside to graduating…
5 Comments