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By Sean Clark, on May 9th, 2013 [Every so often on on our Twitter feed we'll point to something other than books that caught our attention. In this occasional series, we highlight a few of those things, and a few others. Follow it here. The recommenders (Aaron, Sean, Nico, and Marc) are denoted by initials.]
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Read
Saga - Aaron’s mentioned this comic a lot on the podcast and in his column. I’m not a big comic reader, but Saga is one I’ve stuck with. [NV]
Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Halfway though teacher school and finding things becoming a bit stale, I’ve started to branch out from my practical classwork and explore more pedagogical primary texts. Paulo Freire’s masterwork, written as a response to thinkers like Marx and Hegel, is not an easy read. But it’s got a lot to say, and sheds light on why, despite our best efforts, America’s schools are failing. If only the policymakers would read this sort of stuff. [SC]
Watch
Room 237 – Anyone who’s ever really loved a movie, even if it wasn’t The Shining, will get a kick out of this documentary. Director Rodney Ascher gives his subjects, all Shining obsessives, room to explain their often bizarre theories about the film’s hidden messages without judgment, and only slight traces of irony. The plausibility of the interpretations isn’t the point; Ascher is more interested in the dedication to lateral thinking, and the unique relationship between reader and text. [AB]
PBS Digital Studios – The channels especially worth checking out are Off Book, Idea Channel, and Blank on Blank, but if you only have time for one video, watch the Blank on Blank featuring Larry King (“Larry King on Getting Seduced”). [MV]
The Glades - Unassuming, surprisingly good cop show on USA. The first two seasons are out on Netflix. The new season arrives this May. Also try Life starring that dude from Homeland. [NV]
All the Cartoon Network programming recently added to Netflix – I spent a lot of time watching Dexter’s Laboratory in college, but never while high. And I’m not high while watching it now on Instant View. I don’t know what that means, except that I am obviously an adult. You can be, too, if you watch a bunch of cartoons all the time. Transformers, G.I. Joe, Jem, Voltron, He-Man, and other 80s action cartoons, also on Netflix – the thing I said above about being cool, but times ten. [AB]
Adventure Time – For some reason Aaron left this off the list of great CN shows that just came to Netflix. Adventure Time is one of my favorite shows, maybe ever–especially as you get to the later seasons–some of the references are so subtle and esoteric that even the most diehard Zelda-fan stoner would probably miss them. But, like Dexter’s Laboratory, drugs aren’t compulsory. [SC]
Use
You Need a Budget - I got this on Steam for $20 and it’s already been worth the price. It’s a simple budget program, but the accompanying iPhone app makes it easy to keep track of your expenditures, without giving it your bank info, like Mint asks for. [NV]
Listen
Professor Blastoff - Comedians Tig Notaro, David Huntsberger, and Kyle Dunnigan share a hobbyist’s interest in and enthusiasm for science, philosophy, and unexplained phenomena, and their podcast is ostensibly an occasion to explore such topics with guests, including fellow comics, scholars, and the occasional fan. Every episode reliably descends into silliness, and recent highlights include the game “Name That Punky”, which is based on Dunnigan’s uncanny impression of “Punky Brewster” actor George Gaynes. [AB]
The Terror – The Flaming Lips’ latest album is pretty ballsy in how out there it is. Gone are the catchy, happy tunes ripe for advertisement-background exploitation of the last 10-15 years. This album is full of complex, psychedelic sound layers that harkens back to the days of Zaireeka. (I linked to the video–NSFW–for one of the songs.) [SC]
Waiting For Something to Happen – The critical consensus seems to be that “Waiting For Something to Happen” is a lesser effort than Veronica Falls’ debut album, but I’m enjoying it just as much as the eponymous record. And I can’t stop listening to “Buried Alive”, so that’s a solid recommendation even if you don’t think the rest of the album holds up. [AB]
Planet Money - For years I avoided the Planet Money podcast because high finance sounds so damn boring. As it turns out, this podcast is closer to Radiolab than CNBC. Recent episodes touched on the economic weirdness of North Korea (e.g., they can’t get gas, so their trucks run on wood), the way the Amish do business, and the insane history of the American federal income tax. [NV]
Sklarbro Country – Randy and Jason Sklar file reports from the more absurd shadowlands for the sports world with their twice weekly podcast (“Sklarbro County”, the sister show, takes a more general “weird news” approach.) While many comedy podcasts are, for better or worse, heavily improvised and ramshackle, “Sklarbro Country” is carefully crafted, while still allowing the Sklars to riff on stories and banter with their guests. If you have no interest in sports, or aren’t already a fan of the Sklar Brothers, you will be after listening. [AB]
Play
Zombies, Run – As much an audiobook as a game, this iPhone/Android app makes going out for a jog into an interactive game. Run to complete missions, and the more you run the more supplies you get to build your township HQ. There’s not much too it, and the story is pretty cheesy, but it’s a nice alternative to music and podcasts when out for a run. [SC]
Game of Thrones (the Xbox game) - I picked this up for $20 on Amazon, expecting nothing, and it knocked my socks off. It’s like watching a long season of the HBO show, with a pretty unique RPG game in the breaks between cutscenes. One of the best videogame stories I’ve ever seen. [NV]
Papers, Please – Indie game where you act as a border checkpoint agent for a fictional country in the Soviet bloc. Poses some pretty interesting ethical and moral dilemmas. You can play it free in your browser. [SC]
By Aaron Block, on May 7th, 2013  Young Avengers Who Made It? Kieron Gillen (w), Jamie McKelvie & Mike Norton (a), Matthew Wilson (c), and Clayton Cowles (l)
What Is It?: One of the most beloved comics of the 2000s, relaunched under the Marvel Now! banner by friends/frequent collaborators Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, with the excellent Mike Norton on inks. Young Avengers follows teenaged heroes Wiccan, Hulkling, Hawkeye (Kate Bishop, the young, female Hawkeye), Noh-Varr, Miss America Chavez, and Kid Loki as they try to stop an alien parasite from using them as bio-batteries.
Why Aren’t You Reading It?:
- You hate “teen” books
- Like my personal podcast pals, you laughed at my description of Gillen and McKelvie’s excellent Phonogram and its sequel, Phonogram: the Singles Club
- You’re too cool or grown-up for superhero comics
- You’re a jerk
I can’t help you with that last one; you’ll have to work it out on your own. Probably it’s best to begin with therapy, or a support group for jerks, something like that. Your other objections, however, are much easier to address.
While Young Avengers does follow the exploits of teenaged heroes (or not-quite teenaged, in Loki’s case) who are grappling with romantic relationships, the awkward balance of fun and responsibility, and disapproving parents, it’s no more a “teen” book than Avengers is an “adult” book. In fact the first issue of Young Avengers addresses sex with a maturity and humor that many comics, mainstream or otherwise, can’t manage. Yes, Gillen is unabashedly writing about the experience of being young, but he takes that experience seriously. Which isn’t to suggest that the book is a grim trudge through “realistic” problems – far from it. Young Avengers is thick with the writer’s dry wit and obsession with pop music, and is on the whole a fun read every month. But underneath the humor is a genuine interest in the lives of young people.
I came to the book at a time when I’m doing everything I can to avoid stories about teenagers having fun; they just end up reminding me that my own youth was underwhelming and dull, spent fearing life instead of embracing it. Much as I enjoyed it, I had a hard time reading The Singles Club for that exact reason. Young Avengers is easier to take because it feels much less plausible (the magic in the Phonogram books is all just meant to be figurative anyway, isn’t it?) but I still feel that pang of regret when I read it. No amount of vivid superhero action can cover up the consistency and clarity of the characters’ voices.
A strong, emotionally honest narrative is crucial in making a superhero comic cool. But design consciousness is in, and no superhero comic can be cool without a distinctive style. Look at Hawkeye: the striking covers, the palette heavy on purple, the minimalist title page – all provocative design decisions, and all frequently cited as reasons why readers and critics love the title. Young Avengers isn’t as overtly against the current as Hawkguy, but Jaime McKelvie’s attention to fashion and the expressiveness of his and Mike Norton’s clean lines aren’t commonly seen in superhero comics. For example, the schematic/splash page of Noh-Varr’s fight scene (complete with key to identify important moments in the choreography) is not only a novel depiction of action – maybe the only thing that comes close is Frank Quitely’s and Chris Burnham’s depictions of Damian Wayne’s acrobatics in Batman and Robin and Batman, Inc. – but also a neat bit of pop art. That’s probably not everyone’s idea of cool, but it’s aimed at the young and hip – the rest of us get to congratulate ourselves for being savvy enough to catch on.
Finally, Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley implicitly endorsed the book by providing a great alternate cover for the first issue – if nothing else convinces you to try it out, that should.
Where You Should Start: There’ve only been four issues so far, and a number of reprintings, so you should be able to pick up the entire run so far from your local comic shop. And if you don’t have a local comic shop or just prefer to read digitally, every issue is available through Comixology. There’s also a trade paperback collecting the first five issues scheduled for release this September, but why wait that long?
By Nico Vreeland, on May 1st, 2013 [This feature is a brief summary of interesting books coming out each month. Follow it here. Click the title links to find these books at Goodreads.]
Definitely
 A Delicate Truth, by John le Carré (out 5/7)
John le Carré, possibly the world’s most famous spy novelist (at worst, he’s number 2 behind Ian Fleming) is still going strong at 81. His latest is about a counter-terror operation that goes wrong and gets covered up, and one man’s effort to correct it. If it’s anywhere near as good as its book trailer, I’m on board.
 And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini (out 5/21)
The pre-eminent Afghan-American novelist has a new novel out this month. The flap copy is maddeningly vague, saying the new novel is “about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations.” I’m not sure what that means, but as the preeminent writer about an often overlooked part of the world, Hosseini gets a pass for shoddy PR work.
 A Guide to Being Born: Stories, by Ramona Ausubel (out 5/2)
Ramona Ausubel’s relatively well-received debut novel, No One Is Here Except All of Us, centered around a Jewish village in Romania in 1939, and their decision to “deny any relationship with the known and start over from scratch.” I’m a fan of magical realism, but I think it works better in the short form, and that’s why I’m more intrigued by this story collection, with an abundance of weird ideas.
Maybe
The Names of Our Tears, by P.L. Gaus (out 5/28)
A mystery revolving around an Amish drug mule. I’ve never heard of Gaus, so I can’t vouch that it’ll be good, but you don’t hear that premise every day.
NOS4A2, by Joe Hill (out now)
Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son, and he seems to be following in the old man’s footsteps (minus the booze and drugs, hopefully). Hill’s new horror novel, about a supernatural killer and the escaped victim who’s trying to hunt him down, feature a nauseating title and terrible flap copy, but it’s been getting pretty decent buzz.
The Kings and Queens of Roam, by Daniel Wallace (out 5/7)
The author of Big Fish returns with a new “modern fairy tale.”
You Are One of Them, by Elliott Holt (out 5/30)
Holt’s debut novel follows a pair of American girls—Jenny and Sarah—who, at the height of the cold war, write to the Soviet premier asking for peace. The premier invites Jenny to Moscow, but ignores Sarah’s letter, which makes Sarah jealous until Jenny’s plane crashes, killing her and her family. Ten years later, Sarah gets a letter suggesting that Jenny’s death might’ve been a hoax. Sounds like a unique premise for digging into the old exploring-a-friendship trope.
The River of No Return, by Bee Ridgeway (out now)
This sci-fi debut novel follows a Napoleon-era soldier who wakes up in a modern hospital two hundred years after he should have died, the ward of a time-travel organization known as The Guild.
Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of WW II, by Mitchell Zuckoff (out now)
The author of the well-received Lost in Shangri-La returns with another true story of WWII. This time around, Zuckoff follows the crews of two planes that crash in northern Greenland, and their struggle to survive in the harsh climate until rescue arrives.
By Sean Clark, on April 30th, 2013 [In this feature, we highlight a handful of the best book reviews appearing over the weekend in major newspapers. Follow it here.]
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Not a lot of reviews to get excited about this week. The May edition of Nico’s Book Radar will run tomorrow, so check back then for some additional reading ideas.
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My Beloved Brontosaurus, by Brian Switek. Reviewed by Tess Taylor (Barnes and Noble Review).
Dinosaurs are fucking awesome. I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Because of this, dinosaur books are almost always written with enthusiasm and even exhuberance, which in turn makes reading about dinosaurs more often than not also fucking awesome. Who wouldn’t want to check out a “zany, sometimes mind-blowing romp through the new science of old bones”–I’m in.
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Bunker Hill, by Nathaniel Philbrick. Reviewed by Walter Isaacson (Washington Post).
I used to live a block from the Bunker Hill monument, otherwise I might have overlooked this one. But if you’re in the mood for a history book, this actually looks pretty good. And anyone who wants to join in the post-bombing Boston love might want to dig into this and learn about the city’s revolutionary roots. I’ve already ordered a copy for a father’s day gift.
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Quickly: Franzen on spending time with a self-help book. Two US presidents co-leading the country sounds like a disaster. This novel about Mallory’s third Everest ascent has promise.
By Sean Clark, on April 30th, 2013 I think the winter is finally over.
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Whack-Job Girls
ten stories, real short
Bonnie ZoBell, what a name!
worth a look and see
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He Died With His Eyes Open
mystery reprint
an A.L. Kennedy rec
deserves to be read
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The Quantum Thief
very smart sci-fi
deals in quantum abstractions
solid heist tale, too
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My Planet
the other new Roach
just old Readers’ Digest bits
not that worth your time
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What Things Are Made Of
“oil-slicked doomed penguins”
deliriously strange poems
check this collection
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The Best of All Possible Worlds
for shame i09
calling babytown frolics!
convoluted mess
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By Nico Vreeland, on April 24th, 2013 [In this feature, we highlight a handful of the best book reviews appearing over the weekend in major newspapers. Follow it here.]
Waiting to be Heard, by Amanda Knox. Reviewed by Michicko Kakutani in the New York Times.
I’ve never been all that interested in the Amanda Knox case, but I was intrigued by this review, mostly because Kakutani strikes me as being quite naive here, in that she even reviewed the book at all. In the second paragraph, Kakutani mentions that “the Knox family, which hired a public relation company … soon after her arrest, … have promoted an image of [Knox] as an American innocent abroad who got caught up in the gears of a dysfunctional Italian justice system.” The book, you might be shocked to learn, presents Knox as an American innocent abroad who got caught up in a series of terrible mistakes. It might as well be a press release from Knox PR, but Kakutani treats it as a real account of Knox’s growth as a person. She still ends with a shrug, I’m just not sure why she didn’t start there.
Who is Ozymandias? And Other Puzzles in Poetry, by John Fuller. Reviewed by Nicholas Lezard at the Guardian.
This probably only appeals to a subsection of the reading public, but if you’re one of those select few, a measure of caution: Lezard says the “puzzles” are “infuriatingly complex,” though he later deems it a worthwhile read. If you’re of the school that believes that misreading a poem can reveal its beauty, you stand a better chance of liking it. If that statement made you roll your eyes, give it a miss.
The Democracy Project, by David Graeber. Reviewed by Ben Ehrenreich in the L.A. Times.
This study of the Occupy Wall Street movement was written by an anthropology professor with “anarchist politics, scholarly virtuosity and [a] long history of activism.” That sounds like about the best person to write a study of Occupy.
In brief: Not entirely sure that James Wood and Claire Messud are the “first couple of fiction,” but this is an interesting profile of them. … 30 things to tell a book snob. … The major winners of the LA Times Book Prize are all books we’ve discussed extensively on the Page Count Podcast. … Dwight Garner likes John le Carre’s latest, and recommends a le Carre “starter kit.” …
By Sean Clark, on April 17th, 2013 [In this feature, we highlight a handful of the best book reviews appearing over the weekend in major newspapers. Follow it here.]
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Harvard Square, by André Aciman. Reviewed by Charles McGrath (New York Times).
I have a soft spot for fiction that takes place in New England and particularly Boston, and so this one, set right near C4′s home turf, obviously caught my eye. It seems like a fairly straightforward literary novel, dealing with class, relationships, and what it means to be an outsider. But the 1970s Cambridge setting and McGrath’s promise of the “slyly comic” have me interested in learning more.
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The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer. Reviewed by Heller McAlpin (Barnes and Noble Review).
Having grown up at one, a summer camp is another favorite setting of mine. This book sounds really good, and Franzenian in scope. If follows a group of friends from their time at an arts summer camp in the 70s all the way to the present, 50 years later. A book this big (in size and scope) takes some real chops to pull off. I don’t know anything about Wolitzer, but McAlpin seems to think she’s up to the task. Put this one in the ‘definitely’ column.
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There Was an Old Woman, by Hallie Ephron. Reviewed by Maureen Corrigan (Washington Post).
I’m not sure if I’m into the idea of a “thriller lite” or not, but the premise of this book (old people are suffering a seeming epidemic of dangerous falls in a low-income area of NY targeting for commercial development) does have promise. The book take place in a fictional corner of the Bronx, but draws on actual persons and events of history, which I like when done well. This one’s just a maybe for me, but worth a further look.
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Quickly: Pulitzer winners have been announced. This standalone story release of a story that didn’t make the cut for Saunders’s last collection, would be more interesting if it was free… Finally a review of a possibly interesting nonfic.
By Nico Vreeland, on April 10th, 2013 [In this feature, we highlight a handful of the best book reviews appearing over the weekend in major newspapers. Follow it here.]
 The Magic Circle, by Jenny Davidson. Reviewed by Michael Dirda in the L.A. Times.
I’m kind of a sucker for a book that uses games as its central mechanic. They can be really great, or really terrible, like any other kind of book. This one could likewise go either way; Dirda compares Davidson unfavorably to Muriel Spark, but his description of the premise makes it sound darkly fascinating. The Magic Circle follows three bored grad students who make up games that “blur the boundary between reality and ritual — and perhaps sanity and madness as well.” Dirda closes by saying “the spirited plot is allowed to eclipse its fascinating players,” but I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
The City of Devi, by Manil Suri. Reviewed by Adam Mars-Jones at the Guardian.
The City of Devi is a strange-sounding book about a Muslim love triangle between a man, his wife, and his homosexual lover. Mars-Jones says, “Indian homosexuality is enough of a taboo subject that it’s bracing to read about Jaz’s happy days of cruising in Hyderabad.” But, then there’s also a thriller plot involving cyber-attacks and widespread massacres. These elements, as you might suspect, don’t mix very well.
The Flamethrowers, by Rachel Kushner. Reviewed by Ron Charles in the Washington Post.
Similarly to City of Devi, Flamethrowers blends styles and tones, but the latter seems to work better. Charles absolutely raves over this book, calling Kushner “a superb recent-historical novelist.” That recent history is the art scene of 1970s New York, which Kushner blazes across in near-surreal prose.
In brief: Sorry, Joyce Carol Oates, but even this fluffy rave doesn’t convince that your latest rushed-out novel (a ghost story, of all things) will be worth picking up. … The premise of a new book about the CIA seems to be a catalogue of more ways in which the American government breaks its own laws to kill people. … A new nonfiction book, about a time when people didn’t believe that gorillas existed, might be a read-the-review-and-be-done-with-it situation. … Your official overhyped debut literary novel of the month. I just can’t stand another coming-of-age debut. … Another nonfiction book, this one about the science of winning, that you won’t need to actually read after the review.
By Sean Clark, on April 9th, 2013 [I love games, but the older and busier I get, the less time I have to play them. Being as book-minded as I am, I’m mostly drawn to games with compelling and intricate stories. In this column I share some of my game playing experiences that I think might be of interest to fellow book nerds. You can read previous installments here.]
I came across a couple indie games–if you want to call them that, there’s not much playing–and was struck in such a way that I wanted to talk about it. It’s going to get a little heavy from here, so heads up.
I have major depressive disorder. It’s something I’ve dealt with pretty much my entire adult life; sometimes I’m able to cope with it well, and other times I’ll go through extended periods of struggle that are as seemingly endless as George R. R. Martin’s winters.
One of the most difficult hurdles of depression, and what make it a real son of a bitch, is that it runs counter to logic. I’m perfectly aware if I’m being too hard on myself, or if I’m making a decision I know I’ll regret, or that I should be finding pleasure in certain things. I can sit down and think or write about it rationally. Then I won’t follow through with any plans to adjust things, at least not when I’m in the depths of an episode. It’s like my id locks me in a box and puts my body on autopilot toward a brick wall. I scream at myself inside my head to pay attention and change course, but the rest of me isn’t listening.
Feeling helpless inside your own body is a horrible experience. And it helps perpetuate the negative emotions, pushing you down even deeper, convinced of your ineffectual helplessness. Usually I am able to wrest back control and swerve at the last minute, but not everyone is so lucky to miss that wall.
Actual Sunlight
2013, Will O’Neill
Available for: PC
Actual Sunlight was created by one man, and the whole thing will take you about a half hour start to finish. (Unfortunately you need Windows to run it currently.) It tells the story of a young man, Evan, who suffers from depression. You guide him as he goes to work, rides out the day, goes home, gets drunk and eats junk food, and repeats it all the next day. You control Evan with the arrows on your keyboard, but very few options are put before you. You have to go to work. You have to talk to your boss. You have to stop at the store for junk food and video games, despite Evan’s narration telling you how much he really doesn’t want to be doing that.
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By David Duhr, on April 5th, 2013  Picture from eBay Last month I stated on my blog a goal of reading 80 books in 2013, and I asked friends to suggest methods of public shaming and humiliation if I don’t reach this goal. I did this partly for accountability and partly because I’m a whorey attention whore.
The consensus was that if I fail I must perform a public reading of Fifty Shades of Grey while wearing a hot-pink onesie. (Imagine being inside the mind of the person who envisions me in tight baby-pajamas.)
After a strong start to the year, knocking over a dozen books in January and another nine in February, 80 looked to be a breeze. But I ran into a March buzzsaw that began with a bookless week in Boston: four days for AWP—where nobody reads a damn thing—and the surrounding four days going on benders with the gang here at Chamber Four.
And then I took an assignment to review a 520-page werewolf novel, and the longer I read this book, the further away the ending seems. So between travel, dice baseball (more on that later), and these goddamn werewolves, I only read four books in March and am starting to browse jumbo hot-pink onesies.
Now that I’m firmly entrenched in this project, for the rest of the year I’m going to cover my monthly progress for you here at C4, and include a quick review of each book.
And if I come up short, we’ll include some onesie video footage here on the site. Here we go.
Bottom of the 33rd, Dan Barry
(New York Times Review)
This book tells the story of a 1981 Triple-A baseball game that went 33 innings and ran very, very deep into a frigid Rhode Island night (it was eventually concluded days later). Among the future big-leaguers were Cal Ripken Jr., and a bunch of guys that BoSox fans will remember from the ’86 debacle: Wade Boggs, Rich Gedman, Bruce Hurst, Marty Barrett, and more. But Barry, an NYT staff writer, focuses on the stories of those players who never made it above AAA, including Dave Koza, Pawtucket’s cleanup hitter, who starred in the minors for years but never received a call-up. (He just couldn’t hit the curveball.)
Barry’s writing is stellar throughout. The book has the leisurely pace of a ballgame, but offers several moments of quick excitement—and plenty of devastating sadness and bitter nostalgia over missed or blown opportunities. (Note especially the story of Bobby Bonner, who was called up by the Orioles late one season, missed a groundball, got shitcanned by Earl Weaver and never saw the Majors again.)
This is one of the best baseball books I’ve ever read. You don’t have to be a Sox fan, or even a fan of the game, to enjoy it. And if you’re a failed ballplayer yourself, take a deep breath and plunge in. Consider it therapy. …
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