loveitallabove

Buddha, Vol. 8: Jetavana by Osamu Tezuka My rating: 5 of 5 stars ...and I'm done! Buddha, too. The lesson (no spoiler, really...): it's about us, y'all; the divine is in each and everyone of us. So proud to have done this Tezuka Saga. View all my reviews

Buddha, Vol. 7: Prince Ajatasattu by Osamu Tezuka My rating: 5 of 5 stars The trials of middle age and bureaucracy. View all my reviews

Ayako by Osamu Tezuka My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was reading one of the Buddha books when waiting at the DMV and a Japanese man younger than me, got really excited saying "TezuKAH, he is the greatest. Very great. You must read more." He described Ayako as one of the artist's best, a classic that deals frankly with great problems for Japan after the war. His enthusiasm and intensity was so sincere and well received by me. I went right out to Kinokuniya and bought it. After page 200 or so I could not keep myself form reading the rest of the book in one sitting. When Tezuka does his adult works, there are illustrations that are so exquisite. His pacing is extraordinary, and his storycraft completes with great literature. Concurrent with this I am listening to Gogol's Dead Souls . There are parallels in the change from agrarian to modernist society, the pitfalls and tragi-comic themes. View all my reviews

Buddha, Vol. 6: Ananda by Osamu Tezuka My rating: 5 of 5 stars Each book more more Buddha: in this one he's magic! Two more to go!! View all my reviews

Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware My rating: 3 of 5 stars Ware's whole approach is pretty intense: extraordinarily ordinary, told with an unforgettable storytelling strategy. While this feels like a classic, I have a hard time adoring this as I might like. View all my reviews

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami My rating: 4 of 5 stars I just love reading Murakami, even if this wasn't my favorite so far. This book begins in the first person, for two characters; from which I never quite recovered. I enjoy better how he creates characters slowly, and at a near distance. On the other hand, the author puts it best when he writes,"I love Maugham. I’ve read The Razor’s Edge three times. Maybe it’s not a spectacular novel, but it’s very readable. Better that than the other way around." View all my reviews

But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Maybe the most ambitious Klosterman book yet? But not sure if I liked it. I read it in pretty much one sitting, on the plane to Iceland. Early on I thought it sucked. A high point, a conversation about dreams with Richard Linklater Buddha-like: "...I sense he's sweeping the floor of a very large room as we chat - his sentences are periodically punctuated by the dulcet swoosh of a broom. 'Dreams used to have a much larger role in the popular culture..." View all my reviews