Dancing Around the Four Sides

I found it unsatisfying, but my reasons for reading books are abnormal at best - I put in Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and got back straight-up superhero stuff, when I was hoping for more modern takes on the idea, like Astro City.

But then, I'm female - what business do I have with reading comics anyway?

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What's being female got to do with it?! I totally dig comics! hee

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I was being facetious regarding the typical demographics of those that read sequential art.

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Yeah...I was hoping my little "hee" at the end indicated that 'I got that'.
*sowwy*

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Not knowing you terribly well I could not determine if your comment indicated that.

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*nods and smiles at you*
Yes, I did get around to that same conclusion. So, we'll just have to get better acquainted, right?

Have a good night. =D

ETA: By the way...did you type in Astro City? :o)

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Now that you mention it...

Astro City got me Powers, yes, but it also got me Kingdom Come and Animal Man, both of which are deconstructions rather than reconstructions, and that's going to bug me to no end.

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deconstructions rather than reconstructions, and that's going to bug me to no end.

splain pleez? Not familiar with any of these books.
I only read old-school Superhero Archies and X-men type comics. *g*

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Deconstruction: From Wikipedia, "Deconstruction is the name given by French philosopher Jacques Derrida to an approach (whether in philosophy, literary analysis, or in other fields) which rigorously pursues the meaning of a text to the point of undoing the oppositions on which it is apparently founded, and to the point of showing that those foundations are irreducibly complex, unstable or, indeed, impossible." By which it is a specific work that examines the basic premises and assumptions of a larger body of work and, in said examination, makes the attempt to understand what does or does not make said premises and assumptions succeed when placed under genuine scrutiny.

Reconstruction: From TV Tropes, "Reconstruction is possibly best defined in terms of the deconstruction that almost always precedes it. If deconstruction is the tearing down of a genre, then reconstruction is, naturally, an attempt to raise it from the ashes. If deconstruction is the firm, merciless hand of reality smashing down on the illusions we build to escape it, then reconstruction is the process of creating a newer, better dream in its place. While deconstruction seeks out the flaws in a theme or genre with malicious intent, reconstruction is a non-ironic celebration of what captured our interest in the first place."

Kingdom Come: A miniseries produced by DC comics examining current and past trends in superhero comics as told in a superhero comic, dealing with paragons of various eras, styles, and moral codes.

Animal Man: A fairly absurd superhero who, in the books suggested to me, was used by the author to examine the very medium of the stories and the "fourth wall" and the idea of metafiction, as well as blurring the reality of the writer and the world of his story.

Astro City: Throwback to the Silver Age when superheroes were unabashedly entertainment and idealistic characters, with modern writing influences that allow for a level of maturity in the discourse itself and growth of the characters, as well as their personalities and lives.

Powers: Similar to Astro City with a far more adult bent, rather than focusing on various people in a larger city it centers on the homicide division of a police force in a city with superheroes, dealing with the reality that one would encounter in such a place, such as the difficulties in performing autopsies on someone who's invulnerable.

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blackmare-9.livejournal.com

I can't decide whether The Tick is a deconstruction, reconstruction, pure parody, or what -- and I'm not sure it matters, because it's hilarious.

Are you familiar?

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I'd say parody. Any serious attempts at either deconstruction or reconstruction are swiftly passed by in favor of another laugh. Not terrifically familiar, but enough to know what you're talking about.

"I have POCKETS?"

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Um...I can see how that would bug you...it would bug me too. I will definitely have to check my library for those. They sound like they're interesting reads. Thanks.

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I'll have to try this one out later. Not brave enough to put myself through that temptation at the moment because I've got library books overdue already. =D

Once they're gone I'll tempt myself with this tool. hee

Which one are you reading next? 2666?

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morganmac.livejournal.com

You might be a good person to ask. You seem to read a fair bit of non-fiction.

I trying to find a book for my roommate's birthday. I'm looking for a narrative non-fiction book about WWII. Something gripping like a good thriller and not too cumbersome or erudite.

Know of anything like that?

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I'm not Nightdog, but I've done a lot of reading about WWII. For gripping non-fiction, there's always John Hersey's "Hiroshima," which tells the story of those who lived through the bomb. (It's also quite intense, though.)

There's Studs Terkel's "The Good War," which is an oral history of WWII, and Thomas Keneally's "Schindler's List," the book that led to the movie. Elie Wiesel's "Night" is also astounding, but again the word "intense" would be an understatement.

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morganmac.livejournal.com

Thanks!

Those are some solid reads but a think anyone with a passing interest in WWII might have read them already.

I'd love to hear about anything you've read that's been released recently.

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One that I enjoyed, but may not be as well known is the two-volume collection "Reporting World War II." It's a compilation of writings during the war, by Edward R. Murrow, Ernie Pyle, John Hersey (the second volume actually includes all of "Hiroshima") even E.B. White of "Charlotte's Web" writing about the home front, and pretty much anyone who wrote really good stuff during the war.

I don't know if it's in print anymore, but Amazon lists some new and used copies.

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YES. The Library of America edition? Absolutely fantastic. I was just coming back to edit my reply, and you beat me to it.

I cannot recommend this highly enough.

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I was just leafing through it again. So many amazing writers and amazing writing by people I'd never heard of. I still use Murrow's writing of the aftermath of a bombing as an example to people of how a quiet moment can be intense, his writing of standing in the bombed out shell of a store, and all he can hear after the bombing ends, but the all clear hasn't yet sounded, is the drip, drip, drip of syrup coming from a damaged can of peaches.

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There's also a Reporting Vietnam volume. Which I have, but am ashamed to say I haven't read yet (despite having had it on the shelf ... forever).

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Those are excellent recs. Have you read Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird? Another intense one.

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Hi,

morganmac! Good books on WWII ... okay. I'd give really high marks to Rick Atkinson, for his An Army at Dawn (http://www.amazon.com/Army-Dawn-1942-1943-Liberation-Trilogy/dp/0805087249/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244948338&sr=1-2) and The Day of Battle (http://www.amazon.com/Day-Battle-1943-1944-Liberation-Trilogy/dp/080508861X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244948338&sr=1-1). Both are incredibly fascinating, readable accounts of America's first battle experiences in the war. I'm waiting eagerly for the last volume in this trilogy, but either one can be read by itself.

Antony Beevor is another excellent writer -- his Stalingrad (http://www.amazon.com/Stalingrad-Fateful-1942-1943-Antony-Beevor/dp/0140284583/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244948669&sr=1-2) and The Fall of Berlin (http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Berlin-1945-Antony-Beevor/dp/0142002801/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244948669&sr=1-4) are both gripping and heartbreaking.

Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day (http://www.amazon.com/Longest-Day-Classic-Epic-D-Day/dp/0671890913/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244948842&sr=1-2) and A Bridge Too Far (http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Too-Far-Classic-Greatest/dp/0684803305/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244948842&sr=1-3) have both held up really well, I think.

Hope this helps! I can poke around some more -- I'm sure I'm forgetting something. :-)

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genagirl.livejournal.com

I'm not nightdog either and I know you wanted nonfic but I just want to put out there my new favorite book - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society!! It's really good. It is a novel set immediately after WWII on the Channel Islands. It's written so engagingly, with great characters but at its heart it is a story of courage among the islanders and the way they looked out for one another. (It got me so interested I read Model Occupation by Bunting which was also great). Anyway, just wanted to toss that in, and the book is by Mary Ann Shaffer.

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When I clicked on it, it just gave me Amazon recs, which looked like the "other people have read this" prompt that Amazon gives. Maybe the library version, which isn't working now, would be better.

I can't believe that "That Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" didn't recommend "A Moveable Feast."

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pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com

I told it I'd just finished reading a Henning Mankell novel, and his books were all it recommended. It did seem limited to Amazon recs.

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Yep -- I thought it gave some decent recs but I'd really like to see what the other library version could come up with. If I can remember I'll try it again tomorrow and see if it's fully operational.

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semyaza.livejournal.com

D-Day: The Battle for Normandy turns up in my results no matter which title I enter. :D

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Ha! Maybe they've got a special contract with Mr. Beevor!

Hee. Hee hee hee.

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silverjackal.livejournal.com

The Age of Wonder sounds interesting. I broke the recommendation thingy. What I entered wasn't terribly obscure, but for four books out of five they had no recommendations for me. Terribly sad -- except for the part where I'm overspent on my book budget, anyway. ;)

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Yep, I'd heard of most of the other books, but not that one. I thought it sounded interesting too.

And I'm trying to resist buying any books for a while -- although I almost found myself ordering Jared Diamond's Collapse the other day because it mentioned the Dorset People. *g*

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silverjackal.livejournal.com

The few thing's I've read of his (The Third Chimpanzee, Guns, Germs and Steel, and Community Ecology) have all been engaging.

Edited to fix a muddled tag.

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Following the Dorset People to their Wikipedia entry reminds me of what my older brother told me about all the tales of "little people" and fairies from Ireland - how the people came to the island and drove them underground.

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What's really odd is that some people claimed they were short of stature, while another group (the Thule Inuit) said they were tall. There are several informative links from various sources in my recent posts "Vikings In Canada?" -- I was indulging in research while trying to decide if I wanted to write yet another historical AU.

Look for the three or four posts with this icon.

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Something to look forward to, then.

This reminds me that I've been wanting to do a historical AU of my own for a while now. There's a fic challenge prompt of "slave" that's been bugging me since I took a late Roman/early Middle Ages history class - I should e-mail you for some specific source recommendations.

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