Reading

Since giving up Facebook games, I've been reading again. It's so old-fashioned, it's such fun. I mean, I always read, but lately it's been just at bedtime, to make my brain stop whizzing and sleep. Now I'm reading in the morning, reading in the afternoon, reading in cafes. Outrageous!


Last Thursday and Friday I inhaled The Hare with Amber Eyes, which was gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. I wish I could see ALL the netsuke, but by the look of teh interwebs, so does everyone.

On Sunday I pretty much inhaled the whole of Wendy James' new novel The Mistake. It's a corker, a wonderful piece of suspense suspended in a very contemporary setting. It's a moral conundrum, and just as you think you've worked out what you think, it takes you right to the end and completely upends you. Highly recommended.


I also read Jane Austen's unpublished novel Lady Susan, which was completely not what I expected it to be.

In Melbourne I only had the braincells to read 3 books by Donna Leon, of whom I went through a phase many years ago, but it is either testament to my awful memory or the same-iness of her writing that I had already read two of the three and didn't realise it. I don't read or watch crime fiction by choice, but I can handle DL because her books are more about food, politics and Venice more than the actual crime, which often gets solved almost as an afterthought.

I read Alan Loney's short book, Anne of the Iron Door, which is about Gutenberg, and is very sad. His life was very sad generally, but Alan has made the story more about Anne, and her (imagined) life is awful. Beautifully written, though.

I'm now reading Autumn Laing, lent to me by my mother-in-law, and apparently based on Sunday Reed.

When I only have a moment, I dip into Hark! A Vagrant! the book, which just gets better and better with rereading. I think I've linked to these before, but I can't find where so I'm going to link again.

Dudewatching with the Brontes.
Young Ada Lovelace
Peasant comics
Wonder Woman

OMG, I have to stop, but I can't stop, Kate Beaton's comics are SO GOOD, and all about literature and history, so they are good for you.

Time to go to bed and read. My fingertips are aching from ukulele group tonight, and the keyboard is just making it worse. Good night!

Stoopid ears

So apparently I cannot print today because I went to the doctor about feeling dizzy ever since New Year's Eve and lo! I have not partied too hard, I have Labyrinthitis. No, not a morbid fear of minotaurs or of walking into confusing spaces, but a viral ear infection that gives me dizziness and flu-like symptoms. I have to drink lots of fluids and rest and not drive too much, move too fast and according to my husband, this means not operating my press. Even a little bit.

Poo bum.

So I have gone through the pantry and found all the dregs of the Christmas treats: half a box of Roses, some gingerbread, etc, and am lying on the bed snorting at Kate Beaton cartoons. Here are some of my favorites:

Dude watching with the Brontes

Victoria & Albert

Courtly Love


Jane Austen transcends fandom

Yesterday I found a hard copy of her book in Paperchain Bookshop, but I didn't have my Christmas book voucher with me so had to leave it behind *sob*. I hope it's still there when I get the chance to drive over again.

I was in Manuka yesterday to see Albert Nobbs, which is a grand story about women that will be very popular in womanly circles. I certainly enjoyed it. Glenn Close makes a very good man, mainly because her hands aren't pretty. My biggest beef about any movie involving Barbara Streisand (only slightly off-topic) is that she always has a perfect manicure, no matter if she's playing a struggling dish-washing girl or a man or an ordinary woman. Ruins the illusion every time.

*pout*


*more pouting*

we can be happy underground

Very exciting to get the latest issue of Artlink in my mailbox, complete with an article I wrote at the invitation of Big Fag Press man Lucas.



It's a very handsome issue, with all the articles & their images rendered just in black, white & red for that Bauhaus, print culture, newspaper, in fact incunable feel (did you know that red was once used in the same way that italics are now used?).

Apart from a couple of weird removing-too-many-footnote glitches in my text, I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and they chose the two funniest images from the plethora that I provided.

It's also an extremely funky issue, complete with lots of quirky articles, excellent excerpts from comics and zines, and a complete re-issue of one famous zine, Valet of the Dolls, which is most hilarious.

Highly recommended. Pooter and Padge give it five stars. Padge just stepped on my stomach while I was reading it to confirm his vote.


PS. Thanks to all who came to my workshop in Tuggeranong yesterday! I enjoyed myself, hope you did too.

Making us ink

I'm a big fan of graphic novels that use their imagery to tell stories that need to be told. That's not to say that pure fantasy GN aren't interesting, but sometimes, when people don't dig things like novels, paintings or art movies, or even history books and the news, GN are the perfect portal to reach them.

I've talked before about Barefoot Gen, which deals with Hiroshima from a Japanese perpective. There's also Art Spiegelman's Maus, which talks about the Holocaust (Spiegelman also drew a graphic novel about 9/11, called In the Shadow of No Towers). And there's also Marjane Satrapi's fabulous GNs about being a woman in Iran during the Iranian Revolution and beyond. I have her Chicken and Plums, and her Persepolis is about to be released as a movie.

That's just a short list of the most obvious political graphic novels. If you're interested, get thee down to the local (good) comic shop and ask what else they have. Or share in the comments if you have a personal favorite.

Today, whilst doing my early-morning blogsphere cruise, I followed a Hoyden link to a very immediate graphic response to the Chinese earthquakes. Go there, but with a box of tissues. These excellent drawings do more to bring the suffering home than any number of news stories. They evoke compassion and even, in some cases, raise a smile. Highly recommended, especially for 'whatever' teenagers.

Drawmo 20: from the vault

A cartoon I drew in 2001 for a community consciousness raiser organisation. Of course, it's still relevant. Please peoples, vote the cnuts out on Saturday. PLEASE.

Remember to breathe

Today, I am chuffed to offer you one of my favoritest news stories presented by one of my favoritest comic artists, Mandy Ord. Glorious!



If you like her work, she's started a blog. And you can find her in various comic shops, usually in compilations. But I hear on the grapevine that she's working on a graphic novel, which makes me very happy.

Poet House

Roaming the interwebs whilst eating a container of BB's sensational leftover Sri Lankan curries (did I tell you he's doing a 4-week Sri Lankan cooking course?) for lunch, I came across this. If you like comics about literary figures, check it out.

I'll be back later today, with any luck, to remember to breathe.

Right now, I have to clean off my keybort. It's covered in bits of curry and printing ink...