#in the style of princess caraboo

[cartograffiti]

July '23 reading diary

I'm reading so many books these days that I've decided monthly posts would be a fun way to think about what books are grabbing me and shove them in front of other people.

In July I finished 12 books, many of them really lovely.

This summer I've been reading all of Cat Sebastian's 20th century romances, because I'd already read all her 18th and 19th century ones. I like her work a lot, because it's full of really powerful romantic gestures and she writes domestic slice of life as well as crimes. In July I read the last three I needed to have read her whole body of work, and found a new favorite.

Peter Cabot Gets Lost and Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots are the second and third in a romance series that can easily be read out of order, all about estranged queer members of a Kennedys-ish political family. Peter's is a 1960s coast-to-coast road trip about fresh college grads with outstanding grumpy for sunshine chemistry, and it's the one that became my new favorite (my previous favorite was A Duke in Disguise). It has a wonderful ease and warmth to it, and I would have cheerfully read a version twice as long.

His cousin Daniel's book has some odd pacing--the last several chapters all feel like bonus codas to the main arc--but I enjoyed it all so much I don't care. This one's a cozy plot of friends who everyone knows are couple except themselves, starring a music critic and a doctor in New York's East Village in the 1970s. This is a great pick for anyone who feels like romances tend to move too fast, since their relationship is well established when they decide to change it. Their attraction to each other has a lot of emphasis on each other's quirks and their opposing personal styles, which is deeply cute.

The third Cat Sebastian I read was We Could Be So Good, which is her new release. It's a touching story about New York newspapermen in the 1950s, with an astonishing amount of pining. Like, Pacific Northwest pine content. I remarked in my liveblog that I felt like I was watching pandas in a zoo: "Please fuck the whole world would love for you to fuck, top scientists are trying to set the mood for you." This was fun! I prefer her faster-moving and more explicit books, which is most of them, but it's nice to read about a personable couple helping each other over hurdles so they can kiss.

The English Eccentrics by Edith Sitwell is a book I read very slowly and finished this month. It's a very odd work of nonfiction from the 1930s, and I wish I could remember how I first got interested in it. It's an overview of a large number of historical people whose "eccentricity" ranged, for me, from delightful to pitiable to repellent. Sitwell's style is a bit dense and full of opinion in a way that made me question her research when she touched on figures I had some familiarity with, like the con artist Princess Caraboo. More intriguing than informative.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff is a more satisfying nonfiction pick, a memoir follow up to the hugely charming 84, Charing Cross Road. This book recounts American writer Hanff's visit to some of the long-distance friends she corresponded with in the first book. I find the first much more moving, as a person with many similar friendships, and I missed the additional voices of her friends, but it's a slim book and Hanff's humor and observations kept me entertained throughout.

And my favorite nonfiction in July was Girls Can Kiss Now, a book of essays on pop culture and queer identity by Jill Gutowitz. Gutowitz is older than I am, but we're close enough in age for events to feel very relevant to me as an individual, and she writes with a lot of approachability and lightness without sacrificing insight. If you're interested in how rapidly media handling of queerness changed in the last 20 years, this is great.

Threshold and Stormhaven by Jordan L. Hawk. I read Widdershins, the first in this series about Victorian boyfriends solving mysteries about eldritch horrors, in 2015. I never quite wanted to invest in buying the whole series, so I was delighted to find one of my libraries has an omnibus of the series in their e-collection. Hawk is very good at writing horror and sex, solid at writing mysteries, and maybe just okay at interpersonal arcs. These first books have some problems common to inexperienced writers and some pet peeves of mine (notably very irritating romantic jealousy), but they're loads of fun and a good amount of disturbing. Is it silly to nervously roll over in bed to cope with an alien shrimp's dialogue? Yes, but that's a selling point.

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn is the first Veronica Speedwell novel, and it took me a few months to read because I kept finding it a bit thin and putting it aside. I liked the resolution very much because it made the stakes I'd been missing real, and since Veronica and her love interest(?) have great chemistry, I look forward to reading the next. Pleasingly similar in tone and setting to Gail Carriger, though not Steampunk.

Frederica by Georgette Heyer. One of Heyer's best, I think. Heyer wrote a fairly narrow set of types for her main characters, and both of the romantic leads here are ones I like, who are natural and immediate collaborators and challengers for each other, plus great siblings and a chase after an out-of-control hot air balloon.

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie, who only wrote books I've thought were great so far. This is a 1969 Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver about the suburban murder of a 13 year old, preoccupied with generation gaps and 60s panics about the still fairly new concept of teenagers, ranging from marijuana and early computer technology to sex abuse and suicide. Great insights on the things people blame violent crime on because they don't want to consider malice, and lovely imagery about a famous garden designer's work. It's been adapted by Branagh as Death in Venice, and I'm very puzzled how they got from A to B. Don't pick this up expecting the vibe of that trailer. Do pick it up.

Thinking about young teens and murder brought me back to the Wells and Wong mysteries, an excellent recent middle grade series I started in the fall to surprise a friend with a treat for the Yuletide fic exchange. The second book is Poison is Not Polite in the US, originally Arsenic for Tea--you might want to look for author Robin Stevens instead of futzing around with varying titles to see whether you can borrow this series yourself. Anyway, both books so far are really strong, with cases that have enough subtlety and meat for me as an adult reader, and excellent writing on mystery tropes, race and class, and the particular frustrations of being about 13 years old. I'm deeply invested in Hazel and Daisy, and I loved this take on a classic house party case.

[torontocomics]

Announcing TCAF 2017 Workshops

Looking to hone your comics making skills? Want to get some tips and tricks from real comics professionals? Then you’re in luck, because we’ve got five fun and informative workshops for you!

All workshops are being held in the Writers Room, on the 3rd floor of the Toronto Reference Library. Each one has room for about 20 people, so come early!

Saturday May 13th

12:00pm – What They Don’t Tell You About Creating a Graphic Novel – Ron Kasman is a former school teacher who has been published in comics about 85 times. He also recently completed a 216 page graphic novel, published with Caliber Entertainment, called The Tower of the Comic Book Freaks. In this workshop, Ron will discuss writing, drawing, finding a publisher and distribution. Participants can learn from his mistakes instead of making similar ones themselves.

2:00pm – Watercolour and Comics – Julia Bax is an illustrator based in São Paulo, Brazil. She has been drawing comics for the majority of her career, and has been published in the United States, France, and of course, Brazil. In 2015 her book Princesse Caraboo (story by Ozanam) was published by Le Lombard in France. In this album the pages were illustrated using watercolor, and that is the theme of this workshop. Julia will explain her process from layout to completed page, and demonstrate the technique she used in Princesse Caraboo. If you have a love for traditional media and isn’t afraid of getting your hands dirty, this is the workshop for you!

Sunday May 14th

10:30am – Book Shrinking – Make a miniature version of your favourite zine/comic book/artist book! Bring: A book you’d like to shrink and drawing supplies (preferably dry media, i.e., markers, coloured pencils, pens, scissors and transparent tape/double sided tape). This workshop is being facilitated by Keren Katz (The Academic Hour).

12:30pm – Comics Workbook : Composing a Spread – This workshop is about visual storytelling. Learn essentials of generating ideas, building a page, editing, and refining a functional comic spread layout. This workshop is PERFECT for beginners, or anyone more seasoned who wants to try a different approach to bringing their ideas to the page This workshop is being facilitated by Tyler Landry (Comics Workbook Member, Santoro Correspondence Course Alumnus, Cartoonist, Art Director, Head of the Charlottetown Comics Club)

2:30pm – Editing Comics – Have you been staring at that comic script for weeks? Not sure what direction to take it in, let alone how to polish it or submit it to publishers or collaborating artists? Have burning questions about the comic publishing industry that a Google search just can’t satisfy? Indie comics editor Sam Beiko of ChiZine/ChiGraphic is on hand for a workshop that will show you the basics of making your script shine, as well as to provide you with some insight into the wide and deliciously variant world of comics publishing, indie and professional. This will be a fairly laid back lecture-style workshop with some handouts, and a devoted discussion period in the latter half. Feel free to bring a page or two of what you’re working on so we can identify some common sticking points on that project!

If you just can’t get enough of comics workshops, be sure to also check out the schedule for Word Balloon Academy. For info on all of our panels and programs, visit the listings on the info page: Link.

For an easier time scheduling your TCAF weekend, download the free Guidebook App to your phone/table: guidebook.com/g/tcaf2017