That's a great thing to have!

I've been doing the same thing - it's impossible to read that book in one go. There's too much to think about.

It was nice. Everybody in it (except the deceased) seemed to be having fun.

Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present, by Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner. This was a very nicely-produced book, with lots of good illustrations. The great majority of which turned out to be from obscure underground and indy comics. Or at least that was the case with the American comics profiled. More mainstream American comics creators were scarcely mentioned. Looks like the same was true of Japanese creators as well, and I'm guessing this was largely true of the European and British comics worlds.

Well, their book, their choice of emphasis. But if they WEREN'T going to give developments in the mainstream comics markets more than a bit of a token mention, then I wish they would have been more up-front about the fact that underground, indy, and "adult" comics were what the book was going to be pretty much all about. A real disappointment.

A Drifting Life, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. This is an enormous autobiographical account in manga form of the author's early career in manga in the 1950s. He was already a pro by his early 20s. He and some like-minded colleagues tired of doing kiddie comics, and tried publishing more grown-up material under the name of gekiga ("dramatic pictures") to distinguish it from the manga of the day. Kind of like how many serious-minded creators and librarians must speak of "graphic novels" because they can't bear to be associated with "comics." Some of Tatsumi's colleagues later became known for their commercially-successful manga thrillers, such as "Golgo 13." He would later criticize them for using the serious term gekiga for mere thrillers and spectacles. Kind of like debates over the use of "adult" in popular media to refer to material that's mostly about an adolescent fixation on sex and violence, rather than anything truly grown-up.

Tatsumi himself would go on to become one of the leading creators in Japan's equivalent of the American "alternative" comics scene. The little I've read about his work makes it sound as relentlessly, predictably, self-importantly dreary as most American alt-comics. This memoir, though hardly the cheeriest thing I've ever read, is a relatively mild example of that. Some good things unavoidably happen in real life, especially when you're having a basically successful career doing what you like to do. Not that Tatsumi portrays himself as ever getting more than the shortest-lived satisfaction from any of the breaks he got. Okay, I get it--I've had problems with depression for much of my life as well.

It's a slow-moving story that goes into a LOT of detail regarding the development of manga in the postwar era. It's also a vivid portrayal of life in postwar Japan. Japan was essentially a Third World country at that time. Its neighborhoods mostly looked like shanty towns. People lived in cramped quarters with little in the way of furniture and appliances, and spent winter days huddled over pots of smoldering charcoal for heat. Busy manga artists made the equivalent of about a buck or so per page, all-inclusive. Their manga were largely destined for "rental libraries," whose customers rented books for a couple of cents apiece. A fresh college grad might make about $165 per month in starting salary.

All in all, the portrayal of the now-lost world of postwar Japan is for me what really makes this worth reading. It really takes you into that world.

Strange, meddlin. You posted about the same book, in this thread, in 2021. After which I commented and posted a link to the stand-alone thread for A Drifting Life here at IMWAN. Did you read it again, are you slipping in your old age, or what? You wrote a big, long review that was totally different in 2021.

I recall reading it once before, but didn't recall posting about it here. Or that thread about it from some years earlier that you'd linked to then. Maybe I AM slipping!

Thanks for alerting me to the thread you had started about the book. It had some insightful comments from you and other readers. Which I apparently either failed to read three years ago when you first tried to call it to my attention, or somehow forgot about entirely.

How not to kill yourself, by Clancy Martin. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in quite a while (and possibly the best nonfiction I’ve read in years).

I've been re-reading the Dune novels...I've just started reading Children Of Dune having read the first two in short order, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Herbert's writing. The way he casually introduces such subtle ideas is genuinely impressive. I can see why twelve-going-on-thirteen year old me was so impressed by these novels. I first read them just before the 1984 movie came out, and I had this hardback edition which was a movie tie-in (not my photo, but this is the version I had).



I've now got the six novels as a sort of boxed set of paperback novels...and again, they're the movie tie-in ones. I've not really enjoyed reading a novel this much in years and years, and I'd forgotten a lot of it. I'm probably going to end up reading all six before I re-watch the current Dune or see Dune: Part Two. I seem to be reading at the pace I did when I was younger, whereas I'd found reading a chore in recent years. It's weird.

I started rereading Fables over the weekend.
I find that I prefer the old 5 issue paperbacks.
They are lighter and no glossy glare.

My Dad re-reads Dune every couple of years.

I've started Levon's Night Levon Cade: Book Two by Chuck Dixon

The Yankee Way: The Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman Era by Andy Martino.

In My Time of Dying
How I Came Face-to-face With the Idea of An Afterlife, by Junger, Sebastian.

Lots of medical details, and a surprising amount of physics history.
A reminder that something incredibly traumatic and unexpected could happen to any of us at any time.

Who needs a reminder? I live with that knowledge most every moment of every day.

I've almost finished reading Heretics of Dune. I'd read it before, many years ago - because I recall parts of it - but I don't think I've read Chapterhouse Dune so that will be next.

Gilbert Gottfried- Rubber Balls and Liquor
I love books by comedians, and am always on the lookout for them. I only found out Gottfried had written one a couple of weeks ago, then found a copy this week. Fun stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312668112/?tag=imwan-20

Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson.

I think is the 2nd Crichton book to come out since he died.

This one is a strange case. Because James Patterson has been Outsourcing most of his books. So when I saw a book by James Patterson and Michael crichton, I thought who wrote this book?

Probably some AI somewhere.

Just finished reading Heretics Of Dune.

I highly recommend binge-reading the six novels Frank Herbert wrote (and avoiding at all costs the ones co-written by his son). I'm going to start Chapterhouse Dune in the next couple of days.

I'd forgotten how much these books affected me as a teenager. As an adult, I can finally understand why.

Captain Future and the Space Emperor.
An old pulp adventure series by Edmund Hamilton.

The Anxious Generation
How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing An Epidemic of Mental Illness
by Haidt, Jonathan
Fascinating.


The Inquisitor's Tale, Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog
by Gidwitz, Adam
Delightful - like a children’s Canterbury Tales (but maybe the intended audience is YA). My favorite tale so far is of the young monk who defends himself from murderous brigands by beating them to death with a donkey’s leg. Dark, yeah, but he put the leg back on the donkey, who was okay.