post-apocalyptic stress disorder

World Made By Hand  by James Howard Kunstler (317 pgs) 2008

In this future America, modern life is a decade gone. A combination of post-peak oil, terrorist attacks, disintegration of the government, and declining trade resulting from these issues has pushed the country back to a pre-industrial lifestyle.

The small semi-rural town of Union Grove, New York is getting by though. They’ve settled into subsistence-level farming and community that while not quite harmonious, is at least functioning. In the absence of any official enforcement, lawlessness and vigilante-ism are the norm. The townsfolk find themselves caught between the bullies running the town dump (now reversed into a major trading post) and the new arrivals- a cultish and mysterious religious group fleeing violence down south.

The world Kunstler has created is a solid and believable one. And despite a scene of fairly disturbing torture late in the book and some weird mystical “are they or aren’t they” miracles that jar with the rest of the tone, it’s an enjoyable read.

going to the courthouse, and they’re gonna get married

The Brides of March: A Memoir of Same-Sex Marriage by Beren DeMotier (149 pgs) 2007

I followed the news avidly four years ago when Multnomah County announced that they would begin offering marriage licenses for same-sex couples. I felt proud that I lived in a community that was making such a strong statement about equal rights.

This slim narrative tells the experience of one family’s personal travels through the same-sex marriage rollercoaster. DeMotier and her partner shared a house, three kids, and 17 years of commitment when the announcement came that they could be legally married. They were among the first of the 3000 couples who rushed to the Multnomah County Courthouse for licenses that month. Surrounded by their children, friends, and their friends’ children in one raucous group they joyously claimed their license and that same afternoon married and witnessed their friends’ marriages.

They were thrilled by the outpouring of support from their community as friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, and even strangers shared in their happiness. Their excitement and feeling of validation is all the more heartbreaking in the circumstances that followed. Multnomah County eventually rescinded the licenses, declaring all same-sex marriages void at the time of issue, even returning the checks for the license fees. Along with many states, the Oregon State Legislature also later enacted legislature declaring marriage “between one man and one woman.” The Oregon domestic partnership bill that eventually passed in 2007/08 doesn’t make up for the fact that gays are still treated as second-class citizens by our government. But at least it’s a step in a more equal direction, with hopefully more to come.

four out of five dentists recommend these GNs

And the winner is (or would be if there was a contest):  

The Five Fists of Science written by Matt Fraction, art by Steven Sanders 2006

This is THE, yes the, best comic I have read this year. Strong words, I know but the concept is absolute genius. Mark Twain and Nikoli Tesla team up to fight crime. With SCIENCE! Then we throw in crime-fighting via electricity, a man with a silver prosthetic hand (hence the FIVE fists), Tesla’s quirks, Twain bombasticness, a plot to enslave the world by demons, an alternate plot to bring universal peace by enslaving the world with robots. Oh yeah and the evil magicians intent on unleashing demons? That’d be Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, and Guglielmo Marconi (whose out-of-his-league involvement makes him a compulsive stress-eater, naturally). I was laughing hysterically from start to finish.

Other good ‘uns I read:

Dynamo 5 vol 1: Post-Nuclear Family by Jay Faerber 2007

The widow of a superhero gets a nasty surprise when she finds her husband’s well-used “little black book.” Then she finds his illegitimate children. So she does what any scorned wife would do- activates their powers and forms them into a superteam to carry on her husband’s work. Fun new series.

The Building Opposite vol 1  by Vanyda 2006

This is the kind of apartment building in Paris where everybody knows your name. Neighbors are neighborly and involved. And there’s a whole “maiden, mother, crone” thing going on for some reason.

House of Clay  by Naomi Nowak 2007

Gorgeous art that acknowledges then totally ignores traditional panel use. The scenes flow and dissolve into each other with dreamlike colors and the action moves from reality to imagination with little distinction.

Welcome to Tranquility vol 1  written by Gail Simone, art by Neil Googe 2008

Something’s rotten in the state of… well whatever superheroed land this takes place in.  Tranquility is a peaceful burb where retired supers of both the hero and villain variety can live out their post-crime fighting (or causing) years in peace. Think of it like Florida. But when a television crew descends to film the community, they arrive just in time for a murder. And then another. Pretty soon powereds are dropping like flies and the sheriff smells a coverup.

Super Spy  by Matt Kindt 2007

Sepia toned art highlights the atmospheric and tense vignettes of WWII spies. The inter-connected, non-linear stories tell the larger tragedies of spies from every front. Almost no one makes it out alive.

Shooting War  written by Anthony Lappe, art by Dan Goldman 2007

Ambitious, and all too possible projection of our decades-long war in Iraq. A shock journalist who’s a magnet for mayhem visits Baghdad and finds more than he expects, including an entrenched military that has lost sight of not only their objectives, but their humanity.

Moomin vol 2  by Tove Jansson 2007, originally serialized 1953-59

Light-hearted good fun. The lovable Moomin family (who I believe are supposed to be trolls, but look more like hippos who walk on hind legs) bumble their way around the Finnish countryside, having mini-adventures, playing pretend, and generally enjoying life.

you are what you read

What book am I? Apparently the most annoying one out there.  Pale Fire  by Vladamir Nabakov of Lolita fame. Our book club selection this month was actually a quiz that tell you what book you are and what that says about you. Great fun for a book club- everyone gets to read something different (or possibly the same) and determine whether the literary horoscope-style description fits. Here’s what my book says about me.

You’re really into poetry and the interpretation thereof. Along the road of life, you have had several identity crises which make it very unclear who you are, let alone how to interpret poetry. You probably came from a foreign country, but then again you seem foreign to everyone in ways unrelated to immigration. Most people think you’re quite funny, but maybe you’re just sick. Talking to you ends up being much like playing a round of the popular board game Clue.

The description was amusing and slightly applicable. But I hated the book after just a flip-through. The first section of it is a rambling epic poem. The bulk of the book is then a footnoted (even more rambling) commentary on the poem and the supposed contribution from its fictional author. Nabakov even goes so far as to include a substantial glossary on the fictional author’s native land.

time will tell

People of the Book  by Geraldine Brooks 2008 (372 pgs)

A riveting novel that explores the way that objects connect people through time. In the wartorn mid-1990s the Sarajevo Haggadah, a precious 500-year-old religious text, has resurfaced. A restorer is rushed in to evaluate its condition and make any necessary repairs. The years of wear and the small pieces of debris she finds are clues that tell the history of the text’s survival if only she can connect them. Brooks uses these clues to jump progressively further back in time to tell the stories of various people tied to the historic text. Each vignette is so richly drawn that they could easily be stand-alone novellas; when used to tell the single tale of the life of the Haggadah itself, the novel forms an intricate latticework of history that is much more than the sum of its parts.