Daily Thoughts 3/3/2009

In the frontispiece to Voltaire's interpretation of Isaac Newton's work, Elémens de la philosophie de Neuton (1738), the philosophe sits translating the inspired work of Newton. Voltaire's manuscript is illuminated by seemingly divine light coming from Newton himself, reflected down to Voltaire by a muse, representing Voltaire's lover Emilie du Châtelet—who actually translated Newton and collaboratored with Voltaire to make sense of Newton's work.

Daily Thoughts 3/3/2009

On the train to work, I finished reading The Sword by Deborah Chester. It is the first part in a three part series. I requested the second and third books in the series, The Chalice and The Ring. Towards the end of my trip, I started reading Words In Your Face. They mentioned a film in the book called Poetry In Motion which I will hopefully get to borrow by this weekend.

I am putting together a multi format display for noire mysteries which includes films, paperbacks, hardcovers, and graphic novels. The film that immediately comes to mind is The Maltese Falcon, L.A. Confidential, or Chinatown when you think Noire. In books, there is the paperback series, Hard Case Crime. There is of course Dashiell Hammett, James Ellroy, Max Allan Collins, and Raymond Chandler. In graphic novels there are Secret Agent X-9 by Raymond Chandler, Frank Miller's Sin City, Steve Canyon, Ms. Tree, Whiteout, and Jinx. The movie, Road to Perdition was also made into a graphic novel.

While I was looking at the noire graphic novels, I pulled out, Will Eisner Life, In Pictures Autobiographical Stores Introduction by Scott McCloud. It is a nice big new hardcover printed in 2007. There is an introduction by Scott McCloud and a foreword by Denis Kitchen. My favorite story so far is The Dreamers, an autobiographical cartoon about opening a comics studio in Manhattan, New York during the 1930s when comic books were just starting and the pulp magazines were dying out. The story is annotated by Denis Kitchen. It is in Will Eisner's unique black and white style. Will Eisner is credited with creating the term graphic novel. His writing and artwork are superb.

Thoughts for Today. Graphic Storytelling And Visual Narrative-- Will Eisner-- Recommendation

Good morning,

I put the calendar poster from the Russian Public Library of Science & Technology in our staff room. It was from the conference yesterday. I also took a moment to look at http://www.sivacracy.net/ this morning.

I tried to read Mo Yan, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, but found it to not be to my liking. The setting was very caustic. It also made constant references to other works by Mo Yan in the middle of the text which I found rather distracting. The writing was good, but I didn't particularly like the story. The main character was a self-righteous , arrogant, workaholic who got on my nerves. I could not relate well to him. I decided to return the book this morning.

Right now, I am taking a few moments to think about a few things. Sometimes people recommend titles without reviewing them extensively.

A title I can recommend highly if you like graphic novels is Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative by Will Eisner. Will Eisner is considered the father of "graphic novels". His book, A Contract With God And Other Tenement Stories, is considered by many to be the first graphic novel.

Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative is based on Will Eisner's class at the New York School for the Visual Arts. I can recommend it highly because although, it is how to write comic books, it covers a lot of material on how to create action and activity in your writing. This is one of the few books which I have read more than once. The style he shows is original and is not based completely on superhero comics.



Two new titles came in today through reserves Victory Conditions by Elizabeth Moon and The Somnabulist by John Barnes. The Somnabulist looks quite interesting, it is a fantasy novel set in Victorian England. Victory Conditions is the fifth and final book in the Vattas war series.