The Best American Comics 2007, edited by Chris Ware
click here to see this book in the I.S.H. bookshop
I have really enjoyed this so far, I have read the first 4 or 5 comics and they have all been really interesting. There is one from Robert and Aline Crumb that made me laugh out loud.
The R and A Crumb strip is, I think, autobiographical and they visit their daughter Sophie who is basically squatting in a building. Sophie and her boyfriend show the Crumbs about all the nice things people throw away on the street in garbage piles, and after the visit the Crumbs are walking along looking at the garbage for good things. R Crumb finds a box and exclaims that it is chocolate cake and then walks over and opens the box to find out that it is dog shit. It cracked me up.
I also received the third volume of John Richardson's biography of Picasso. I read the first two with a feverish passion, and the third volume really has his best work (except the Dora Maar stuff) so it promises to be really good as well.
click hereI have started reading it and it has taken place in Rome helping Diaghilev put on a ballet production called Parade, if you are a music buff Eric Satie is part of this story. It has a slightly dry beginning, but I am not that interested in theatre compared to painting and drawing so I have a bias.
Looks like I have some good reading in front of me for the next couple of weeks.
