Jim Davis. Garfield at Large (1980)

     Jim Davis. Garfield at Large (1980) The first of the Garfield books shows very clearly how the drawing has changed. Garfield in 1978 was a fat cat with jowls and a Kliban look. By 1980, his image was simplified, as was Jon’s. The content got a little edgier, too, but in the long run there’s only so much you can do with fat-cat jokes. The introduction of Odie helped a lot, but again, there’s only so much you can do with dumb-dog jokes. I’ve had enough of Garfield. ** (2003)

Michael Pitts, Footprints Through Avebury (1992)

     Michael Pitts, Footprints Through Avebury (1992) This is one of those thorough and beautifully organised and illustrated guide books that the British do so well. I have found no others like it anywhere in the world. This one takes the reader/walker on a series of walks in and around Avebury, noting everything worth seeing (at least to someone – tastes will differ), and providing brief histories of them all. The walks range in length from a few hundred metres to a few kilometres in length. The sights range in age from several thousand years to a few decades. Not the kind of book one reads just for fun, unless one has an obsessive interest in pre-historic Britain; but one that one would re-read after one’s visit as a reminder of the pleasures of seeing what there is to see. As Yogi Berra said, You can learn a lot by just looking; and one can learn a lot more when one has a friendly, lucid guide such as this booklet. **** (2003)

Humbert Fink. Kärnten (1998) (book review)

     Humbert Fink. Kärnten (1998) A book of lovely photographs of the Province, along with an introductory essay which is written in that terribly convoluted academic style that so many educated Germans and Austrians think they must inflict on their readers. It was sent to Mother and Father as a gift, and I got it when Roswita was sorting Mother’s things. It’s worth looking at, and reminds us of our happy visits with our Carinthian cousins. Pictures ****, text * (2003)

Maeve Binchy Heart and Soul (2008)

     Maeve Binchy Heart and Soul (2008) The title alludes to the setting: a newly established cardiac clinic in Dublin hospital. There are hints of office politics, but Binchy’s real interest has always been love and courtship. Bad things do happen (Dr Declan Carroll is severely injured in a car accident), and bad people take advantage of good people (Ania is seduced), but these events are little more than bumps in the road. Dr Carroll makes an almost perfect recovery within weeks, Ania (hard worker that she is) earns enough money to set her mother up in a proper shop, and she and Nick will be married despite Nick’s mother, who gets a well-deserved comeuppance. The cardiac clinic will continue, as Clara discovers that merely setting it up isn’t enough. She now has a team that works.
     Binchy writes the kind of romantic fantasy in which even the most fraught courtships end happily, or at least amicably. No one is permanently deprived of their one true love. Everyone pairs up at the end, and the horizon glows with sunshine and rainbows. One almost sees bunnies cavorting in the lush grass, nibbling the flowers. Bad things happen, but they are almost entirely random accidents. The bad people are either thwarted and disappear, or suffer a change of heart and become nice people (albeit sometimes grudging ones). In Binchy’s world, evil doesn’t exist.
     You might infer from the above that I didn’t like the book. You’d be wrong. I loved it. The fantasy is so disarmingly presented, the narrative moves so swiftly, each character’s backstory is so thoroughly explored, that one can’t help being drawn into the story. Binchy’s world may seem to be a naive fantasy, but the fact is that kindness, decency, joy in simple things, knowledge of what one really wants and willingness to work for it, are virtues that do make people’s lives better. That Binchy can’t bear to look evil in the face doesn’t diminish this truth.
     People with gloomier outlooks writing gloomier books may fancy themselves as being more realistic, but gloom and doom is just another fantasy. I’ve just begun The Murder Room by P D James, and while she is willing to gaze into the face of evil and show us the harm even minor vices can do, James also believes that kindness, decency, and joy in simple things are cardinal virtues. Where she differs is that she’s willing to acknowledge that these virtues don’t guarantee a happy life. At best, they help create islands of delight in the murky stream of time. Binchy presents us with the wish-fulfilment vision that evil cannot win, that we can arrive at and inhabit those islands. It’s pleasant to spend some time in her world. ***

Yoshihiro Tatsumi A Drifting Life (2009)

     Yoshihiro Tatsumi A Drifting Life (2009) Tatsumi is one of the major manga artists of the 20th century. He was one of a group that in the 50s and 60s transformed the medium from short strip comics to full length graphic stories, a development that influenced the growth of graphic narratives in the rest of the world. He was obsessed with manga from childhood. His family was not well off, and somewhat dysfunctional. His father was a feckless man, always looking for the One Big Score, and drinking too much. That left his mother to support the family by doing laundry.
     Tatsumi got his start submitting four-panel manga to the weekly magazines that wanted visual jokes to lighten the mood. His strips often won, which meant some extra income for his family. His older brother competed also, and was annoyed that Tatsumi won more often than he did.
     Tatsumi dropped out of high school for a time to devote himself to writing manga, dropped back in when things didn’t go as well as he hoped, met one of his heroes, an early proponent of extended narrative manga, joined a group of like-minded young men who promoted their own work, acquired an agent, was hired by a publisher who wanted to dominate the manga market, was seduced by his landlady, and so on and so on. Throughout he was obsessed not only by his desire to tell stories but also by his desire to draw them well. He watched a lot of movies, especially American ones, which influenced not only his stories but also his handling of the panels. He realised that a successful graphic novel was in effect an enhanced storyboard. The techniques he and others developed at the time have become standards. Modern graphic novels differ primarily in graphic style and narrative pace. It’s a very flexible medium, available for any genre.
     Tatsumi’s really was a drifting life: one damn thing after another, with failures as frequent as successes. The book ends at the cusp of the success that enabled him to make a living as a manga writer. I know nothing of Tatsumi’s subsequent life, but I do know that manga have become a stereotyped style of graphic story, have been transferred into movies (anime), and I infer that anyone who is famous in this subculture is worth knowing about. This memoir introduced me to a major talent. I will be looking for his work. Jon bought the book some time ago. I don’t know if he ever read it. ***

Euromodel Rail Review, Nos 1-25 (1983-87)

     Euromodel Rail Review, Nos 1-25 (1983-87) This was a short-lived and erratically published magazine that couldn’t find its niche, and in particular couldn’t compete against Peco’s Continental Modeller, and presumably the European magazines such as Eisenbahn.
I found a copy of it, then bought back issues and subscribed. Rereading it reveals clues to its demise. The layout sketches (one can’t call them plans) are heavy-handed, with hard to read lettering, possibly blown up from smaller originals to fill space. The photo reproductions range from fairly good to execrable, especially the model shots. A lot of the editorial content is thinly veiled advertising. Too many of the photographs are mere variations on the same subject. And the ads constitute 20% of the page count or less, always a bad sign. The layouts featured in the early issues are generally of a mediocre standard, with too much of the European penchant for spaghetti bowl track plans, and so-so scenery at best, with toy-like trees, and buildings apparently chosen for their cuteness rather than their contribution to a believable illusion. It’s no wonder that a reader survey revealed a desire for more prototype information.
     And it’s because of the prototype information that the magazine does have value. There is a great deal about particular lines and branches, the colour photos are very well done, and if you want to work a layout prototypically, there is more than enough information about timetables and train makeup. A special issue about the centenary of the Arlbergbahn has a long essay, with goodly number of pictures (even if their subjects are somewhat repetitive). The occasional studies of locomotive classes are also well done, for example the ÖBB’s 1020 (DB E194) class. But the large scope of the magazine means that the information one wants is scattered; most of the magazine deals with railways one doesn’t care about.
     As I write this, I’m considering whether to clip the magazines for the stuff I want to keep, or whether to keep them intact. * to **** (2003)

Dale Wilson. A National Passenger Chronicle, Vol. 2 (2000)

     Dale Wilson. A National Passenger Chronicle, Vol. 2 (2000) A jackdaw’s collection of information and pictures about CNR and predecessor lines’ passenger services. The bias is towards Ontario, not surprising when you consider Wilson’s location (Sudbury). One of the more interesting chapters consists of W. A. Corkill’s recollections of his travels as a boy, mostly during wartime. The human interest bits add to the chronicle, and I hope Dale has more of them in future editions.
     The pictures are all interesting, though (as Paul Levin pointed out) they could have been reprinted a little better. Some of them show enough of the station and yard to have increased value, but most are cropped tightly on the trains. Pity; I like the incidental information in the background.
     Nevertheless, this is a valuable book for anyone interested in the subject, and full of other incidental information. For example, most of the local trains were short, half a dozen cars or less, including the head end cars. Also, heavyweight cars lasted well into the 60s, especially on local trains, and as work cars lasted into the 70s. Most sleepers and other special cars were rebuilt several times; they must have ended up like the legendary grandfather’s axe, which had two new heads and five new handles.
     The other tidbit I noted was the number of cars bought or leased from US roads; a table listing these would be useful to anyone trying to figure out which US models are convertible to Canadian roads. The lack of tables is the only real fault; but I guess Dale had enough troubles putting the book together. He alludes to desk top publishing, and must have used this book and its predecessor as a learning project. **½ (2003)