Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (8/29/12)
This week we review comics from Brecht Evens and Rick Geary along with Justice League #12 and The Goon #41. read more
Adventures of a Waterboy by Mike Scott
When Bob Dylan’s memoir, Chronicles, Vol. One, appeared in 2004, I approached the book with a mix of anticipation and trepidation—tantalized by the possibilities of Bob Dylan telling his own story, but resigned to the likelihood of suffering through 256 pages of Tarantula/“Outlined Epitaphs”-style inscrutable verbal noodling. read more
Satan is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers by Charlie Louvin with Benjamin Whitmer
Picking cotton the old fashioned way—by hand—was damned hard and unpleasant work. For the late Charlie Louvin, picking country music and making a living at it was hard as hell too. read more
Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (8/22/12)
This week Paste reviews new graphic novels from Rutu Modan, Jeff Lemire and Bo Hampton and the first collection of Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis's Aquaman series. read more
The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle
“There are really only two ways to react to the extraordinary. The first is to ponder the grand purpose until all the fun is sucked away, the second is to enjoy it.” - Victor LaValle, The Ecstatic Listen. At this exact moment, people are leaning forward in cheap folding chairs, clutching books in their laps and telling each other simple stories: what they used to be like, what happened, and what they are like now. Stories that move from needing help to accepting help to giving help in return. Stories of overcoming demons. Creation stories. Following that restorative model, Victor... read more
Fear Of Music by Jonathan Lethem
Fear Of Music, the name of both the latest work from Jonathan Lethem and the Talking Heads album, comes as the most recent release from the 33 1/3 series. In this series, each book (30,000 to 40,000 words) investigates a single popular music album. The first, on Dusty Springfield’s album Dusty In Memphis, came out in 2003. Nine years later, more than 80 carry the 33 1/3 insignia, with more on the way. The existing set of books leans toward work from canonical ’60s and ’70s white rock musicians—Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited; The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main St.;... read more
Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (8/15/12)
Each week, Paste reviews the most intriguing comic books, graphic novels, graphic memoirs and other illustrated books.... read more
Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen
To approach Jonathan Franzen in 2012 is, for the book reviewer (which almost invariably connotes an aspiring writer), a daunting task. read more
Pure by Julianna Baggott
Dystopian fever grips our world. read more
Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (8/8/12)
Each week, Paste reviews the most intriguing comic books, graphic novels, graphic memoirs and other illustrated books.... read more
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
OK, class, time to discuss the classical difference between Horatian and Juvenalian satire. There will be a quiz. Ready? Horace, the Roman satirist, the father of gentility, emerged as a playful, witty, light-hearted kinda guy, a writer who enjoyed skewering mankind’s numberless follies. Most historians will tell you that Horace didn’t really believe in the idea of human evil—instead, he thought people happened to be a little silly, misguided, given to going off half-cocked. We struck him as delightfully funny, in a mild, gently comedic way. Horace liked to poke a little fun. On the other hand, the satirical Roman... read more
American Ghost by Janis Owens
In her 2009 memoir/cookbook, The Cracker Kitchen, Janis Owens describes the word “cracker” with its myriad of meanings. Less pejorative than descriptive, “cracker,” in her neck of the woods, distinguishes the local working class from the silk stocking set, or anyone else whose hands aren’t calloused and crusty from manhandling pulpwood. Owens should know the way of the Cracker, as she proudly claims the Northwest Florida culture as her own. And as she shows in her new novel, American Ghost, assuming Cracker-ism is a one-dimensional appellation would be a mistake. American Ghost haunts Owens’ own history. The story takes... read more
Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (8/1/12)
Each week, Paste reviews the most intriguing comic books, graphic novels, graphic memoirs and other illustrated books.... read more
Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (7/25/12)
Each week, Paste reviews the most intriguing comic books, graphic novels, graphic memoirs and other illustrated books.... read more
Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock by Jesse Jarnow
My wife sings, but not in public. At least not beyond karaoke. I can get her to sing a short song that I’ve written or a cover I’m working on, but she hates recording and she would never get on a stage. Still, I keep asking her to, gently but selfishly trying to force my own musical ambitions upon her. It’s all Yo La Tengo’s fault. I’m just one of a legion of record collector nerds trying to draft their partners into a band after falling in love with Yo La Tengo. The group has existed for almost 30 years,... read more
Nine O'Clock Blue by Teresa Henkle Langness
Faith is the trickiest of subjects, and those who believe in original sin and the beast within every living human surely have a case to make. It’s my own belief, though, that a general great benevolence lies over mankind, and that most times, most people, no matter the color or creed, mean to do well by their neighbors. Our natures, our souls, aspire to grace, to goodness. The Golden Rule generally applies and serves us well. How else could there be seven billion of us here in this world together, with neighborhoods and schools and symphonies and other energetic collections... read more
The Lola Quartet
Why does high school provide such a fertile setting for mystery novels? Yes, for teenagers and teachers a demand looms for throwaway thrillers to fill the bored haze of study hall. But surely there’s more to it than simply satisfying a built-in audience’s affinity for consuming the familiar.... read more
Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (7/18/12)
Paste's comic critics dole out their highest score of the year. read more
Sorry, Please, Thank You: Stories
And for the first time since the quest began, I start to feel a little wobbly, as if my POV isn’t so stable. As if the center of things is moving. As if the frame is unsure of who to follow, whose story it is. As if, maybe, I’m not so destined for my destiny after all. —Charles Yu, from “Hero Absorbs Major Damage”... read more
Comic Book & Graphic Novel Round-Up (7/11/12)
Our comics crew reviews Walking Dead #100 and Anthony Bourdain's comic debut, among others. read more
