« older | Main Largehearted Boy Page | newer »
April 17, 2014
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Books of the Week - April 17, 2014
In the weekly Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Books of the Week, the Montreal bookstore recommends several new works of fiction, art books, and comics.
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly is one of Montreal's premiere independent bookstores.
Every week, Montreal's Librairie Drawn & Quarterly bookstore recommends a selection of new books, including fiction, art books, magazines, and comics.
Over Easy
by Mimi Pond
Lovers of the graphic memoir rejoice! Mimi Pond has described Over Easy as her magnum opus, and it's easy to see why; Over Easy is a sprawling, jaunty fictionalized memoir about the fast-paced, diner-working life of art student turned dishwasher turned waitress Madge Pond in 1970s California. Mimi Pond has been around forever, and is responsible for writing the very first episode of The Simpsons, among other beloved pop-culture institutions. She's a legend, and it's about time she gets her very own epic memoir. Pick it up. You will love it. That's the D&Q guarantee.
This One Summer
by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki
Cousins Jillian and Mariko Tamaki are beloved for their prize-winning, collaborative 2008 young-adult graphic novel Skim. Jillian has beeen active as an illustrator and comic artist since then, as has Mariko as a writer, but This One Summer is their first collaborative graphic novel since Skim. It tells the story of Rose and Windy, summer friends whose families have visited Awago Beach for as long as they can remember. But this year is different, and they soon find themselves tangled in teen love and family crisis. The two Tamakis are particularly adept at capturing the tumultuousness of teenhood, full of secrets and scary new knowledge.
Bourbon and Eventide
by Mike Spry
The rest of this week's picks are all Montreal authors who are launching their new books at our store over the next week. First up is Mike Spry, whose new book of poetry, Bourbon and Eventide, confronts the history and mythology of a failed couple with biting humour and raw honesty. Spry's verse is relatable and refreshingly straightforward as it deals in some of literature's most timeless tropes: booze and heartbreak. Spry has written for The Toronto Star, The National Post, and Maisonneuve and is also the author of JACK and Distillery Songs, which were nominated for the AM Klein Poetry Prize and shortlisted for the Journey Prize, respectively.
Sweet Affliction
by Anna Leventhal
Anna Leventhal has been an important figure in Montreal's literary-punk scene for years, having worked on the local Bookmobile project and co-founded the Bibliograph/e Zine Library, among other things. Leventhal has also performed experimental collaborative theatre pieces in New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal. She also served as editor of the hit short fiction anthology The Art of Trespassing (2008). Sweet Affliction is her first solo book, and it's a collection of fifteen short stories that are by turns caustic, tender, and darkly funny. In it, A pregnancy test is taken at a wedding, a bad diagnosis leads a patient to a surprising outlook, and a civic holiday becomes a dystopian nightmare. It's a book suffused with frailty and perversion, but also resistance and resilience. Praise from lauded Canadian authors like Tamara Faith Berger and Lee Henderson marks Leventhal as a name to watch!
New Tab
by Guillaume Morissette
Having appeared on HTMLGIANT and Thought Catalog ("Liveblog of Getting My Cat Spayed," "Breakdown of Montreal's Personal Brand"), Guillaume Morissette's credentials as an Alt Lit author are in good order. In 2012's I Am My Own Betrayal, his first collection of short stories and poems, he explored anxiety, email relationships, owl people, awkwardness, social networks, humiliations, shortcomings, and other such depressing topics and happy/sad moods. New Tab is his first novel, it's set in Montreal, and it spans a year in the life of a twenty-six year old videogame designer as he attempts to reset his life, with all the sordid details that entails: Facebook chats, Concordia University, bilingualism, good parties, bad parties, a backyard cinema, social anxiety and running a possibly illegal DIY venue. He'd probably prefer we not mention it, but it can't really be avoided: if you like Tao Lin, you'll probably like Guillaume.
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly links:
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly's blog
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Facebook page
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Tumblr
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly on Twitter
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Books of the Week
52 Books, 52 Weeks
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly new comics and graphic novel highlights)
Largehearted Word (weekly new book highlights)
Book Notes (authors create music playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Short Cuts (writers pair a song with their short story or essay)
WORD Bookstores Books of the Week (weekly new book highlights)
