I read a lot. This is a selection of what I read this week (1/18/2021 through 1/24/2021) that I think you should read, too.
Articles
*Karen Grigsby Bates’ The ‘Racial Caste System’ At The U.S. Capitol for NPR: A disparity exists between who holds powerful positions and who doesn’t in the halls of Congress… and it’s usually divided along racial lines.
*Caroline Davies’ Stone-age toddlers had art lessons, study says for The Guardian: This article is almost a decade old, but still fun and interesting! So much about archaeology needs to be tempered with understanding that it’s speculation based on evidence rather than definitive, however. Still, though, there’s plenty to support the idea that Stone Age kids were encouraged to express themselves through art! Stone Age parents knew more in that area than far too many contemporary parents… not to mention school administrators.
*Tabitha Stanmore’s The spellbinding history of cheese and witchcraft for The Conversation: A charming overview of how milk and cheese have factored into spells and other witchy practices for centuries, and the way their roles have both changed and stayed the same over time.
Comics
As always, my weeklies/weeklies-ish:
*Huda Fahmy’s Yes I’m Hot in This
*Phylecia Miller and Jules Rivera’s Hi, Phylecia!
*Taejoon Park’s Lookism
*Jules Rivera’s Mark Trail
*Linda Sejic’s Punderworld
*Jessi Sharon’s The Sea in You
*Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus
*Sensaga’s Ham and Mat
*Steenz’s Heart of the City
I needed some comedy in my life this week, because I need comedy in my life every week. Eiji Nonaka’s Cromartie High School, vol. 1 is hands-down one of the most hilarious manga titles I’ve ever picked up, sending up Japanese delinquent tropes and populating an absurd world with characters playing everything almost entirely straight. Which is one of my favorite approaches to comedy. I am going to keep reading this series because of how much I love it. I love the ridiculous school with its ridiculous robot, Freddie Mercury, and gorilla students. I love the super serious tone everyone takes when speaking. I love that the stories are vignette-style so it’s easy to read the books in chunks.
Anyway, I love Cromartie High School.
Books
Almost halfway through N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became, ending this week at the part where the basics of the book’s universe are established. I know I’m in for an extremely fun cosmic horror collision for the second half and am, honestly, hoping to finish this post as soon as I can in order to get back to reading it! Jemisin plays with some great concepts here, such as living, breathing cities and the personifications of their “soul”… as well as what harm may befall them if another universe decides this isn’t what it wants to see.
See you next week, fellow bookish buffs!
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Love the artwork for this feature? That’s all from the magical mind of Jules Rivera. Support her on Patreon.
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