Finished 5 books this week:
ANXIETY AS AN ALLY, Dan Ryckert
MUD AND STARLIGHT: THE ALAN MOORE INTERVIEWS 2008-2016, Pádraig Ó Méalóid
ROSEANNA, Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, Lewis Carroll
THE SNAIL ON THE SLOPE, Boris & Arkady Strugatsky
If you have any interest in the works of Alan Moore I highly recommend MUD AND STARLIGHT.
I’d read most of these interviews as they were originally published over the years, but it was great revisiting them all at once in this format. It’s neat to see references to books I’ve since read that were still being kicked around in larval form at the time of the interview.
One of the main reasons I wish people would read this book is that there’s a very cliche image of Alan Moore that a lot of people seem to have. That of the crazy, grumpy wizard who lives in a tree and shouts at people for liking superheroes. This is really a complete distortion of the man, and a lazy one at that. He seems, to me, to be an exceedingly kind man whose disdain for much of modern comics and comics-culture seems pretty well-earned and deserved. Few authors have had the impact on the medium of comics that he’s had and also few have been as dicked-around by it. Hard to blame the guy for wanting to wash his hands of the whole thing.
The interviews actually spend very little time talking about subjects that Moore clearly is not interested in discussing (superheroes) and mostly concerns itself with what Moore was working on at the time. Works he clearly cared and was extremely passionate about. Passion which shows in the finished works, some of which are among the finest things he’s created in his long career (Providence!).
Rereading these I felt like I came to an even better understanding of one of our greatest living writers and the last ~15 years of his work.
One thing I did NOT get around to this week was the manga I had intended to read. I started the first volume of YOUNG MISS HOLMES by Kaoru Shintani, but gave up on it. I can be pretty fussy about Holmes pastiche/adaptation and I bounced off this one pretty hard after the first 4 or 5 chapters.
Currently Playing: Jim Guthrie – “Below (Original Soundtrack)”
Currently Reading: UNDERGROUND: THE TOKYO GAS ATTACK AND THE JAPANESE PSYCHE, Haruki Murakami
joezone 