The Arrival and my father

David and I read Shaun Tan's The Arrival today. It's a beautiful graphic novel that will resonate with anyone, but especially those of us who are immigrants. It is the beautiful, strange, and wordless tale of a man leaving his family behind and traveling to a foreign land in hopes of a brighter future.

The book would make a perfect gift for my father who immigrated to this country in the 1980's leaving behind his family---my mother and me. Living on a student's stipend and trying to save up money to mail home, my father would eat cabbage and onions for weeks on end. He tells one story of slipping and falling down on ice, again and again on one of the many steep and hilly roads in West Virginia trying to get somewhere on foot, when people with cars had even chosen to stay in. The story meant to be a funny anecdote always breaks my heart.

It would be the perfect gift, yet I fear to give it to him. For it's strangeness and whimsical, wordless qualities---something that I have cultivated a taste for---may be something incomprehensible to him. He may laugh at the novelty, shake his head at what he perceives to be a book for children. He hasn't had the time in his life to cultivate such tastes. So much of his time has been spent on providing for us, making sure we have a good future, and that I have the creature comforts that was denied him when he was young. Perhaps I give him too little credit.

I'm grateful for this book; for it's beauty and elegance, and because it reminds me of what my father did for me.
Here's an excellent interview with Shaun Tan on the book.

The Impetus of Dreams: Daniel Merriam

While pilfering book piles at home in West Virginia, I came upon this art book, by surrealist Daniel Merriam. I had completely forgotten I had this book!

A couple of years ago, I discovered his mesmerizing work, and purchased his art book: The Impetus of Dreams (something I'm very glad that I did, because sadly it is now out of print).

He ranks as one of my favorite contemporary artists, along with Michael Parkes. I'll post some samples from the book later. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, Abesbooks.com is probably your best bet at this point.

An Enchanted Bestiary

Another book I got for Christmas was Sowa's Ark: An Enchanted Bestiary, an artbook filled with the whimsical paintings by the German artist Michael Sowa. I love his work for its fascinating and often surreal paintings of animals.

Some people may recognize Sowa's name because his artwork is featured in the film Amélie. His paintings adorn the walls of Amélie's bedroom, and at one point come to life to have a conversation about her love life.

Here are several pictures taken from the book. As the artbook has gone out of print several times, and it is incredibly hard to find compilations of his work in the US. Those who are interested in getting a copy should do so sooner rather than later.

Mervyn Peake's Illustrations for Alice In Wonderland

Here are some illustrations from my version of Alice in Wonderland illustrated by Mervyn Peake, more famous as the author of the classic Gormenghast Trilogy. Many see Peake's novels as a response to Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. Peake's illustrations brings a whimsical yet somewhat sinister quality to the character's in Alice. Here's the link to Amazon for this version.

Beautiful editions of illustrated fairy tales

I've spent the past couple of weeks looking for and collecting some beautiful and interesting editions of fairy tales and the like, and will spend the next couple of days putting up pictures of the illustrations and information for those who are interested in that sort of thing. So expect to see pictures and info from the following books:







The Annotated Wizard of Oz - beautiful oversized book, with voluminous annotations and pages of pictures and information that tracks the history of Frank L. Baum and The Wizard of Oz

The Annotated Alice - from the same collection as the Annotated Wizard.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses - Ill. by Kay Nielsen (one of the greats from the Golden Age of illustrators, and my personal favorite)

Easton Press edition of House of Mirth - Easton Press is a specialty press that prints beautiful leather-bound editions of classics and modern favorites. They're also known for their hardbound, often signed, editions of sci-fi classics and Hugo/Nebula winners.

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - The editions illustrated by Mervyn Peake, many people are not aware that Mervyn Peake famous for his Gormenghast trilogy was also an illustrator for Alice, I will be displaying some of the images throughout the book here. Mervyn Peake's illustrations for the book stand out to me as one of the most interesting. I will provide more info over the weekend.

There are other books that I am still looking for, but look for interesting pictures and information on editions of your favorites in the next couple of weeks