IF - Undone

Christmas Card 09

This was the final card sent out. Marketing did the layout and added the text.

5 Favorite Books of 2009

I started keeping track of everything I have read in August or September and since my memory is horrible this list is really “5 favorite books of the latter half of 2009”.

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A Place of My Own::Michael Pollan

Best architecture reading. Pollan, known more for his non-fiction on food, wrote this book describing the building of his writing retreat. He really delves into all that goes into making a building from architectural theories to sanding window sills.

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American Gods::Neil Gaiman

Best Neil Gaiman. I read (or listen to) a lot of Gaiman this year so he gets his own category. Sandman was a close contender as was Stardust. The use of setting, finding all the unusual but forgotten places in America, was especially impressive for someone who was born across the pond.

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Planetary::Warren Ellis

Best comic book series I read this year. About a group of “archeologists of the secret history of the twentieth century” whose job is to save the world by unearthing the weird stuff that normal people won’t acknowledge or comprehend. Great concept, great art, great characters. Runners up: Fables, Mouse Guard Winter , Persepolis, Maus, and Sandman.

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Jungle Book::Rudyard Kipling

Best classic fiction. The story of Mowgli really shines when compared to the overly polished Disney rendition. The man/nature dichotomy is used to full effect as a twelve year old boy without fear or hesitation pwns Shere Kahn in the wolf council.

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Life of Pi::Yann Mantel

Best unexpected reading. We picked this up on a whim and it turned out to be really interesting. For a work of fiction that does a stellar job at playing itself off as non-fiction, it does a remarkable job at allegory. The island chapters recall Lewis’ brilliant sci-fi trilogy and the end twist is heart wrenching. Add to that a great character in Pi, a lot of interesting thoughts on zoos and religion, and some great survival writing..

IF - Hatch

A hatchling rendered with hatching.

Random Angel sketch

IF - Crunchy

I started wondering what Captain Planet would look now, over 15 years after his TV show. I imagine he would be a crunchy hippie in his mid-thirties living in a off the grid bungalow in Arcata.

Suburb Stations

A dallas fort worth metroplex map that I just finished. It is done in the style of subway maps though I don’t think it makes anything any clearer. In fact I could have used it for this week’s IF.

Speaking of maps, Laura found a great website dedicated to the cartography of the weird:

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/