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01/29/12--23:14: Habibi by Craig Thompson (chan 1912888)



A sprawling epic of nearly 700 pages, Craig Thompson's Habibi is the story of two slave children whose love for each other overcomes endless challenges. Set against a backdrop that combines the historical narratives of Islam, Judaism and Christianity with threaded commentary on sexuality, Habibi will most surely become a classic among graphic novels.

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01/30/12--22:45: Distrust that Particular Flavor by William Gibson (chan 1912888)



In his introduction to Distrust that Particular Flavor, William Gibson cops to not being entirely comfortable with nonfiction assigments. It did, however, afford him certain benefits - the chance to visit exotic locales, meet interesting people, and ask questions - that Gibson notes, were invaluable to a writer of fiction.

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02/01/12--22:51: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler (chan 1912888)



In The Future of Us, which occurs in the early-Internet days of the 1990s, neighboring teens Josh and Emma are able to access Facebook, even though it doesn't exist yet, and see the posts they write in the future. Cowritten by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, The Future of Us explores how teenagers would respond to an influx of information about their futures - is it really your actions in high school that determine your happiness in your 30s? Can changes in behavior lead to changes in the future... and will those changes be for the better?

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02/01/12--23:14: The Journals of Spalding Gray (chan 1912888)



The Journals of Spalding Gray is something of a deep dive into the famous monologist's anxieties and self-analysis. Don't get me wrong. I love Spalding Gray. I watched his movies and attended his performances when came to Boulder's Chautauqua Auditorium. For me, that's about the right level of exposure to Gray's boundless self-absorption. For you? Who knows? Read on.

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02/07/12--23:15: Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick (chan 1912888)



Richard Feynman, who worked on the Manhattan Project and was an early pioneer of quantum mechanics, is one of the few physicists who have also enjoyed significant status in popular culture - as a result of his accomplishmments, his quirks, and the sheer volume of books written by and about him. Add to this ouvre, Jim Ottaviani's and Leland Myrick's graphic autobiography, Feynman.

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02/08/12--22:52: The Galley Slave by Drago Jancar (chan 1912888)



Drago Jancar's The Galley Slave tracks Johannes Ot's travels through late-medieval Europe as he flees from the plague and the paranoid pious of the Inquisition. Feverishly paced and deliriously fun, Ot's episodic exploits crackle with a relentlessness akin to an old, familiar adventure novel.

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02/09/12--23:16: The Snow Whale by John Minchillo (chan 1912888)



John Minchillo's The Snow Whale is an amusing swipe at race and culture, in which a mild office worker, upon discovering he's part Inuit, sets out to join "his people" in their annual whale hunt.

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02/15/12--22:54: The Map and the Territory by Michel Houllebecq (chan 1912888)



In Michel Houellebecq's fifth novel, The Map and the Territory, the main character, an artist, is emerging from a ten year lull after great success with his photographs of Michelin roadmaps. In his resurgence in the art world, Jed has retained French novelist Michel Houellebecq (a bit of metafiction that is actually quite successful) to write the text for his exhibition in this postmodern novel about art and capitalism.

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02/22/12--03:43: Books to Movies - The Oscars are here! The Oscars are here! (chan 1912888)



The Academy Awards are this coming Sunday, and a few of the films up for the Best Picture honor just happen to be adaptations from books. Oh, and here they are now:

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02/23/12--08:53: Mr. g by Alan Lightman (chan 1912888)



Alan Lightman is a full-time physicist and a part-time novelist. He caught my attention in his slim and poetic, Einstein's Dreams, a meditation on the nature and implications of relativity and he's back now to bridge the gap between evolution and creationism.

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