Bedside Books

Time to take a look at what books have wandered over and stayed to my bedside all summer. There are some more books (LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE V2 and THE COLLECTED DOUG WRIGHT, for instance) that I've read and then dutifully shelved. But these volumes have created a small leaning tower, ready for thumbing thru any night, since Spring.



I like John Stanley's comics work. MELVIN THE MONSTER, a 1960s era series of comic books are typically well done stories -- fun for kids and adults. It's part of the John Stanley Library that Drawn & Quarterly is publishing.


SPELLBOUND IN DARKNESS is a history of silent movies and includes reviews back in the day. A 1983 Christmas present from Dad!

JAPAN BY 17 AUTHORS and THE PUSH MAN; 2 great manga collections.


Richard Thompson gave me his copy of JUMPING UP AND DOWN ON THE ROOF AND THROWING BAGS OF WATER ON PEOPLE edited by Mark Jacobs (sadly, out of print), one of the best collections of cartoons by the best cartoonists (Sam Gross, J.B. "Bud" Handelsman, B. Kliban, Charlie Rodrigues, Brian Savage and Gahan Wilson). I've read and reread it. Thanks, Richard!


Hoo boy. A lot of books.

• COMIC JOURNAL #297, the one with a huge Mort Walker interview
• WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW by my pal, the talented Brian Fies; one of the year's most gorgeous books
• THE WORLD OF UKRIDGE by P.G. Wodehouse; Ukridge being not as well known as his Keeves & Wooster character, but great little short stories about the slacker/schemer Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge
• THE WALKING MAN by Jiro Taniguchi, which is one of the comics that made me really like manga
• BARNEY GOOGLE AND SNUFFY SMITH by Brian Walker, one of the best portraits of a cartoonist, his time and his comics

• THE ARRIVAL by Shaun Tan, the multi award winning book that shows you what can be done with a wordless story; a very touching and beautiful book
• LITTLE LULU: LULU GOES SHOPPING more Dell Comics reprints of the John Stanley Lulu stories; Dark Horse keeps churning out these great books; for less that $10 a volume, you get a fistful of stories
• TAMARA DREWE by Posy Simmonds was a good, recent read (and it will soon be a motion pciture) and I've just received another GN of hers
• LOVE AND ROCKETS THE NEW STORIES #1 by the Hernandez Brothers, whom I enjoy immensely; I like this new 100 pages once-a-year book format
• DISAPPEARANCE DIARY an autobiographical manga book by Hideo Azuma all about when he disappeared from society; recently nominated for a couple of Ignatz Awards and named one of the best graphic novels of the year by New York Magazine and Publisher's Weekly