The
Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2015
by Jennifer Marie Brissett
What an amazing year it’s been for me! Kinda a “best
of times/worst of times” deal. With renovating and moving into my first home
and promoting my novel Elysium, my
hands (and brain) were full. I did manage to absorb many books again this year,
mostly audiobooks and graphic novels. Here are a few that I completed—
Gilgamesh.
The
Iliad
(The Fitzgerald Translation) by Homer.
The
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. This is the story
of Achilles as told from Patroclus’s point of view. It reminded me of Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Oedipus
the King by Sophocles. (The reading by Harry
Lennix is a must! Simply magnificent.)
The
Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.
The
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I fell in love
with this tale and listened to it over and over. What magnificent characters
are Rat, Mole, Badger and cray-cray Mr. Toad!
20,000
Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days
by Jules Verne.
Perdido
Street Station, The Scar, and I’m currently
listening to Iron Council by China Mieville.
An extra treat was listening to my own book Elysium
in audiobook
format produced by Blackstone
Audio and Skyboat Media. Even
though I hadn’t read it in over a year I still knew the words before they came
(because they are in fact my own words!) and it was kinda like having a mind-echo.
A little weird. Yet it was wonderful to hear my words interpreted by other
people.
Jamye Méri Grant did a wonderful job in the reading.
I was especially fond of how she handled the Saul Williams poem. She read it
like a spoken word artist (which simply makes sense) and said the “breaks” like
my computer. Simply perfect! And Jim Freund was the mastermind and magic behind
this whole project. It wouldn’t have happened without his persistent efforts to
love it into existence, and his sound editing makes this reading of my book
really very special.
This was also a year I spent reading graphic novels
again. What made my adventure into the form more exciting was finding titles
from independent artists and writers. I found several of them through a number
of Twitter conversations I had with friends where we exchanged lists of titles.
Reading graphic novels was made even more fun because of the handy-dandy
Samsung tablet I bought last year. I can flip pages, zoom in and out, and/or
choose a guided view all while listening to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd on my
headphones!
Here are a few of the titles that I enjoyed—
APB:
Artists against Police Brutality (Rosarium) edited by Bill
Campbell, John Jennings, and Jason Rodriguez. Confession: I have a flash
fiction piece in this anthology. I had no idea what I was signing onto when I
submitted the piece except that I joined with the editors’ passion to say
something about America’s police brutality problem. So when I read the book I
was wonderfully surprised by the power of its narrative. So many voices and so
many points of view all eloquently screaming for the end to the violence
against people of color.
Genius
(Top Cow) written by Marc Bernardin and Art by Afua Richardson. Who would guess
that there is rhyme and reason behind a spate of street violence? Who could
guess who is the leader with a vision for forcing the city to pay attention to
a group of citizens that it often ignores?
Luminae (Magnetic) art
and words by Bengal.
Mouse
Guard: Winter 1152 (Archaia) art and words by David
Petersen. It’s Lord of the Rings with
mice! (Thanks Jackie for this recommendation!)
Saga, Vol. 5 (Image)
written by Brian K. Vaughn and art by Fiona Staples. Following this mixed-race
family on their zig-zagging journey to survive and live in a time of war is
always an amazing adventure.
Trees (Image) written
by Warren Ellis and art by Jason Howard. Mysterious gigantic “trees” have
landed on Earth from space. For many years they stand dormant while humans used
to their menacing presence go on with their live. But what will happen when the
trees wake up? I have no idea where this is going but so far I love the ride!
(Thanks Fábio for this recommendation!)
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