books

The year 1955 was a watershed one for New York’s film industry: Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront took home eight Oscars, and, more quietly, Stanley Kubrick released the low-budget classic Killer’s Kiss. A wave of films that changed how American movies were made soon followed, led by directors such as Sidney Lumet, William Friedkin, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese. Yet this resurgence could not have occurred without a deeply rooted tradition of local film production.

The Clash would outlast their peers while creating some of the most influential albums in rock ’n’ roll history. Author Martin Popoff dissects each of the Clash’s ninety-one studio tracks, examining the circumstances that led to their creation, the recording processes, the historical contexts and more. In addition, introductory essays set the scene for the band’s six studio releases (including the double LP London Calling and the triple Sandinista!) and feature sidebars detailing studios, release dates, personnel, and more.

Get it all done with this realistic, hopeful, and refreshingly human weekly planner!  No toxic positivity. No handwriting anxiety over “perfect” pages. We’re all just trying our best here! Look ahead, set goals, make space, and keep track of all the good, bad, and “uhh????? wait ok fine” that you’ll experience in the new year. Check the product photos for weekly and monthly layouts, examples of activities, reminders, and more!

Legendary creator Dave Sim is renowned worldwide for his groundbreaking Cerebus the Aardvark. Now, in The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, Sim brings to life the history of comics’ greatest creators, using their own techniques. Equal parts Understanding Comics and From Hell, Strange Death is a head-on collision of ink drawing and spiritual intrigue, pulp comics and movies, history and fiction. The story traces the lives and techniques of Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon, Rip Kirby), Stan Drake (Juliet Jones), Hal Foster (Prince Valiant), and more, dissecting their techniques through recreations of their artwork, and highlighting the metatextual resonances that bind them together.

James Cameron has blazed a trail through the cinematic landscape with a series of groundbreaking films that have each become deeply embedded in the popular imagination. But while Cameron has created and employed advanced filmmaking technologies to realize his unique vision, his process of creative ideation began with pen, pencil, and paints long before he picked up a camera.

The Beatles landing in New York in February 1964 was the opening shot in a cultural revolution nobody predicted. Suddenly the youth of the richest, most powerful nation on earth was trying to emulate the music, manners and the modes of a rainy island that had recently fallen on hard times.

Author Surayyah “RayRay” Fofana knows what it’s like to grow up in a multiracial/multireligious/multicultural home and to wonder about what makes her different. As a 16-year-old, high school student, activist, and dancer with a full head of curly hair, Surayyah Fofana penned RayRay Paints a Self-Portrait, to share with the world a realistic and warm portrayal of a diverse home and to create a character that kids just like RayRay could identify with. 

I knew nothing of writer Filipe Melo and illustrator Juan Cavia. As I keep reading, the book flowed in a cinematic tone. How silly of me, both of the creators have cinema backgrounds. As most of you know your friendly bookstores are littered with superhero graphic novels. So it is very hard for good graphic storytelling to get through the mainstream audiences. Top Shelf Productions (an imprint of IDW) publisher of Ballad for Sophie, sums it as a music-themed graphic novel by Portuguese musician Filipe Melo and artist Juan Cavia that is packed with all of the drama of a rock ‘n’ roll biopic and with more twists than a night at the opera.

Rock star. Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In Led Zeppelin, Bob Spitz takes their full measure, separating the myth from the reality with his trademark connoisseurship and storytelling flair.

Flowers of Evil has always been part of my life since my college days. That is where most people get to hear about Charles Baudelaire. I own various translations of Flowers of Evil. Being fluent in French poses no issue for me to read the book in French, however, Aaron Poochigian’s translation shines the prose to a more modern contemporary tone. I am really excited about getting this version of Baudelaire’s classic book. It is hard to believe that it has been 200 years since Flowers of Evil was first published. It’s a great testament that Flowers still continues to influence both poets and singers for such a long time. I found myself reading Flowers of Evil even more in COVID times. The dark and sombre themes run through once again in our present time. It’s not every day I get excited about a translation but after hearing Aaron Poochigian’s passion for Baudelaire on Jacke Wilson’s podcast History of Literature has me sold. I highly recommend you buy The Flowers of Evil translated by Aaron Poochigian.

I love the Penguin Classics series books. You will find some of humanity’s greatest books ever written. Comics have come a long way since Superman hopped over buildings in Metropolis. Marvel Comics is now deemed as classic literature by Penguin Classics. The first three books in the series, Black Panther, Captain America, and The Amazing Spider-Man will be published on June 14, 2022. These three books should be hot sellers for Penguin Books and perhaps pump new sales for both Penguin and Marvel.

Woody Gutherie has to be the most important lyrist in the history of music. His words have weight if you study the man and the times he grew up in. Kung-fu introduced me indirectly to Woody Guthrie through David Carradine’s “Bound for Glory.” Carradine channeled Gutherie’s life as no other actor has done for a musical artist. Nora Guthrie the daughter of Woody with the help of Robert Santelli has brilliantly captured the essence of one greatest musician. Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom by Nora Guthrie and Robert Santelli collects some of Gutherie’s personal writings and scribbles. The book is graced with original Woody drawings and copies from the various copybooks of his lyrics that he jotted when he was alive. This is the most personal book on Woody Guthrie in book form. You get the see a passionate human fighting corruption in politics and big business with his music and various artistic extensions of his core believes. You don’t have to love Woody’s music. This testament to his legacy will surprise both and new and old fans. You can’t be more personal than this unless you talked to the man himself.