This week: the must read "Limonov," the crazy life of William Cushing, and the third of four titles in Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle.
Syllabus by Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly) - Award-winning alternative cartoonist legend Barry (One Hundred Demons) returns with the third book in a series of hybrid comics that are both instructional and engaging. This graphic memoir/guide tells the story of Barry’s first three years teaching at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The book includes the syllabi for her courses in interdisciplinary creativity and most of the activities she ran with the students, as well as her personal musings about the classes. She includes student work and explores many fascinating pedagogical subjects, as well as deeper questions about creativity and the brain. She talks about what makes drawing interesting, and how her drawing style has changed as a result of teaching, with surprising results. She also continues her investigation of what an image is. This book is charming and readable and serves as an excellent guide for those seeking to break out of whatever writing and drawing styles they have been stuck in, allowing them to reopen their brains to the possibility of new creativity.
Limonov by Emmanuel Carrere, trans. from the French by John Lambert (FSG) - This deft, timely translation of French writer and filmmaker Carrère’s sparkling 2011 biography of Edward Limonov is an enthralling portrait of a man and his times. The subtitle is no exaggeration: Limonov, a prolific and celebrated author, cofounder of Russia’s National Bolshevik Party, onetime coleader of the Drugaya Rossiya opposition movement, and current head of Strategy-31 (which organizes protests in Russia aimed at securing the right to peacefully assemble), has led an extraordinary life. Carrère suggests that Limonov’s haphazard turns—from budding poet, disillusioned émigré, New York City butler, and Parisian literary rock star to Russian countercultural maverick, Putin opponent, and political prisoner—have been prompted by his drive for adventure and fame. In this astute, witty account, Limonov has found his ideal biographer. There are few more enjoyable descriptions of Russia today.
Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia by David Greene (Norton) - In 2013, after several years serving as NPR’s Moscow bureau chief, Greene traveled 6,000 miles of the Trans-Siberian Railway in a quixotic attempt to understand the Russian soul. As Green journeyed across the Siberian landscape, he made frequent stops to interview ordinary Russians in a variety of situations to capture the everyday realities of post-Soviet Russia. The result is chronicled in this travelogue that reads like a series of episodic radio pieces in the NPR style, a collage of Green’s interviews and insights from scholars about Russian history that attempts to answer a few difficult questions: what do the Russians want? Why do they tolerate a corrupt and restrictive government? And, as the Arab Spring erupts in the Middle East, how close is Russia to (another) revolution? What Greene finds is complex and frequently contradictory but all the more thought-provoking
Searching for Golden Empires: Epic Cultural Collisions in Sixteenth-Century America by William K. Hartman (Univ. of Arizona) - American schoolchildren dutifully memorize names such as Cortés and Coronado, along with their 16th-century expedition routes through what we now call Mexico and the U.S., yet tend to ignore the indigenous populations in those regions. This remarkable new study fleshes out both explorers and natives, revealing nearly forgotten fluctuations of power and persuasion. In a fresh examination of contemporary accounts, planetary scientist and historian Hartmann treats conquistadors and natives fairly while offering impassioned arguments for rehabilitating the images of the much-maligned Montezuma II (he argues for spelling it “Motezuma”) and the “lying monk” Marcos de Niza. Hartmann’s joyful Indiana Jones–esque attitude will both educate general readers and keep them rapt.
Berlin: Portrait of a City Through the Centuries by Rory MacLean (St. Martin's) - MacLean has for Berlin is evident throughout this history of the city, which begins in the 17th century. His careful arrangement of detail and far-reaching scope make for a perfect description of e one of Europe’s most enigmatic and controversial cities. When Berlin was just a small town, isolated from the busier marketplaces in what is now Germany, it was a city “incapable of tenderness,” one that “only ran fiery hot or bitter cold.” As he moves through the years, depicting the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War and the establishment of the Prussian state, the narrative’s tempo picks up. MacLean visits new eras in each successive chapter (assigning all of them with a theme and representative figure), engulfing readers in the atmosphere of the city and the lives of Berliners both ordinary and noteworthy. It’s when he explores the minds of Berlin’s modern masters—particularly Marlene Dietrich and David Bowie, with whom the author made films —that MacLean reveals his prowess as a storyteller, flawlessly weaving together history, facts, and folklore.
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon (Holt) - Structured similarly to Avi’s Nothing But the Truth, this provocative novel set in a neighborhood ruled by gangs offers multiple, contradictory perspectives on the shooting of an African-American youth. No one disputes that 16-year-old Tariq Johnson was shot on the street by Jack Franklin, a white gang member, but the motives of both killer and victim remain fuzzy, as do the circumstances surrounding the shooting. The nationally renowned Reverend Alabaster Sloan claims that racial bias was involved and criticizes the police for releasing Jack. Locals have differing opinions, which spur more questions. Was the killing a matter of self-defense? Did Tariq have a weapon? Was he a gang member? Even eyewitnesses disagree on many points. Expressing the thoughts of Tariq’s family, neighbors, friends, and enemies, Magoon creates a montage of impressions for readers to digest before drawing conclusions about the tragedy.
Commander Will Cushing: Daredevil Hero of the Civil War by Jamie Malanowski (Norton) - Most Americans know the major figures of the Civil War—Lincoln, Lee, Grant—while it seems like only the hardcore Civil War buffs know about naval action during that war. Fortunately, journalist Malanowski (And the War Came) remedies that with this gripping, accessible biography of Union naval officer Lt. Cdr. William Barker Cushing. Reckless and fearless at the most opportune moments, Cushing possessed traits that enabled him to rise from class clown at the Naval Academy to a famed lieutenant commander by the end of his short life. He became a national hero known for his dangerous exploits, perhaps the most famous of which was taking down the seemingly invincible Confederate ironclad Albemarle, surviving the battle by crawling through a swamp and reappearing after everyone thought he was dead. Malanowski’s nimble prose serves the action scenes perfectly and gives Cushing’s battles the weight and presentation they deserve. At these points, the book no longer feels like the typical historical read, but has the page-turning excitement of a thriller.
Last Winter, We Parted by Fuminori Nakamura, trans. from the Japanese by Allison Markin Powell (Soho) - In this creepy if elegantly crafted standalone from Nakamura (Evil and the Mask), the narrator, a nameless young writer, gets assigned to pen an In Cold Blood–style exploration of Yudai Kiharazaka, a 35-year-old Tokyo art photographer awaiting execution for burning two models to death. With his curiously reticent subject demanding reciprocal personal confidences before he will share his secrets, the narrator starts approaching other sources, including Kiharazaka’s provocative older sister, Akari, who just might have blood on her own hands, as well as a mysterious doll maker who creates disturbing silicone replicas of clients’ dead loved ones.
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press) - Tension escalates in Henrietta, Va. (as does the body count), in the third of four titles in Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle, following The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves. Gansey’s elderly British mentor, Malory, is just one of the new arrivals in town (he’s certainly among the more benevolent) as Gansey, Blue, Adam, Ronan, and Noah continue to seek out the tomb of the ancient Welsh king Glendower. Adam and Blue are growing into their respective supernatural abilities, and while important discoveries are unearthed (literally) as the group’s search takes them into treacherous caves, the teenagers’ complicated relationships with their parents and family—whether living, dead, or mysteriously vanished—play a large role in pushing this story forward. As in the previous books, Stiefvater’s razor-sharp characterizations, drily witty dialogue, and knack for unexpected metaphors and turns of phrase make for sumptuous, thrilling reading.
Paul Violi: Selected Poems 1970-2007 by Paul Violi, edited by Charles North and Tony Towle (Gingko/Rebel Arts) - Co-editors North and Towle have amassed a sweeping and multifarious selection of work from Violi (1944–2011), revealing how his “training as a magician was ordinary:/ Rigorous and unpleasant.” This treasury is organized chronologically, beginning with a cheeky, faux Bic Pen advertisement and ending with the grave acknowledgement that “I know the errors of my life.” Violi’s poems evince playfulness, joviality, and bemusement as they revel in absurdity. Unflappable, he possesses a “Heart as light as a hornet’s nest” and finds inspiration in “empty, limitless parking lots,/ the vast western skies above highways.” His uncanny ability to reach “places/ you can only get to on horseback” is expressed through a reframing of quotidian literary matter: he coaxes poems from, among other sources, an index, a riveting play-by-play of a horse race, and a police blotter riddled with curious reports, such as “winged children playing with fire.” These poems consistently amaze.
