Didion's follow-up to her best-selling and critically-acclaimed memoir The Year Of Magical Thinking is here! While YoMT dealt with her grief after losing her husband, in Blue Nights she tells of the heartbreak of losing her 39-year old daughter Quintana Roo to equally sudden misfortune. As known for her deft handling of heavy subject matter as she is for her absolutely stunning prose, Didion has produced another spectacular mediation on loss and how it alters the lives of those left behind.
You can hear Joan herself reading from the book here.
At tension! We just received a new shipment from the wonderful
illustration and graphic arts small press Nobrow. In addition to
restocking your favourites, like the Nobrow magazine, we got a number of
their new releases. A few things I am particularly enamored with include this Flesh and Bones: A Colouring Concerta foldout poster...
And Robert Hunter's comic The New Ghost, which looks atmospheric and painterly with certain graphical semblances to the work of Chris Ware...
And--one I've been waiting for--Forming Volume 1, described as an "eon-spanning comedy" detailing "the spawning of worlds, and the trajectory of consciousness on Earth." How amazing does this look...
Thirty years after the debut of their Love and Rockets series, the Hernandez Brothers continue to impress readers with their incredible Love and Rockets: New Stories #4.
In this issue, Jaime carries on with his usual cast of Locas characters, following Maggie’s complex love life with the conclusion of “The Love Bunglers.” More than ever, Jaime demonstrates a mastery of line and pacing, making for emotional realism that is rarely matched in the world of comics. By incorporating flashbacks and letting his characters age naturally with time, Jaime endows his work with a sense familiarity, reminding us that his characters have grown and evolved along with the author during these last three decades.
As for Gilbert, he presents readers with the captivating “King Vampire,” a story which revolves around killer vampires. Although I have a slight bias against vampire stories (I prefer zombies since they tend to have more gore and less romance), Beto breaks the clichéd plot expectations popularized by tween Twilighters and goes for a bleaker and more sinister take on the genre. The result is a gripping tale filled with plot twists, violence, and absolutely gorgeous art. Just look at this panel and you’ll get exactly what I’m saying:
With Love and Rockets: New Stories #4, the Hernandez Brothers establish once more their immeasurable contribution to the world of comics. Instead of producing works that are stale and predictable, the duo is creating comics that are as imaginative and fresh as ever. I can’t even begin to imagine what they will come up with next. In the meantime, come on down to the store and get yourself a copy of New Stories #4! You will not regret it!
Everyone, clear your schedules. You've got some reading to do! Once you have completed Murakami's tome IQ84 (or Q-teen eighty four, as I'm told it is pronounced), there are some other new releases that say "Hey! (pokepokepoke) Buddy! what about me? I`m pretty fantastic too."
Giller Prize winner (and Canadian!) Johanna Skibsrud, of the much-aclaimed The Sentamentalists (2009), has just released a new book of short stories. Skibsrud goes into the lives of the ordinary folk, unraveling the extraordinary in the ordinary. The National Post describes the stories in the book as having "promising setups, and compelling premises, with the
intention of exploring the nature of alienation and isolation and the
manner in which both – ironically – bring human beings together while
cleaving them apart."
Aside from having a killerexcellent cover, Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox is also said to be a pretty killerexcellent novel. The novel starts with it's title character Mr. Fox, a writer (and a married fox, I should add) whose written muse has come to life. She becomes both a tangible and intangible escape from reality. They involve themselves in a flirtatious game of storytelling, each other adding on to the story that the other has told. ...Until! Mrs. Fox, Daphne, catches onto their game and involves herself into Mr.Fox and the muse's narrative. If the book sounds kind of bonkers, that's probably because it is. Though, bonker books tend to be the best kind of books. But don't take my word for it, the New York Times likes it too.
Colson Whitehead's Zone One presents a new interpretation of our doomed future. This post-apocalyptic novel imagines the future as a horror-filled reality. A plague has erupted, and all of civilization is separated into two categories: the infected and the uninfected. The infected are basically zombies, and Colson has invented a new sort of zombie figure: the straggler, one who exists in an suspended state, motioning only towards the routine of their former selves. A literary zombie novel, people! Just in time for Halloween.
What's that you say? Impossible! Sammy Clemens died in 1910, right? Relax, mister or miss, let's not debate it. Instead let's just see what he's been doing since his "death". Let's see... he had a "latin period" where he went underground in Italy, making a name for himself by trading crabs for scrap metal and becoming known as the "shoutiest man in Naples". Ok, and in 1952 he became a ventriloquist (or a "vent" to those in the biz) and became the most popular act in history at Sloppy's in Bridgeport, Connecticut after overcoming his initial fear of Woody, his dummy. Alright, and there was the time he and his buddy Albert Einstein traveled back in time using blunt-trauma-to-the-head-administered-by-a -lab-monkey method (it's no small disappointment when we find out later that the method didn't actually work and, in fact, they were just dumped at a movie lot by the frightened simian).
Look, the man achieved more during his "dead years" than he did before. He became a hypnotist, inspired the likes of J.D. Salinger and Charles Schulz (by talking him out of calling Peanuts "L'il Shits"), traveled to space, became a wacky radio host, and - when a viewing of The Wizard Of Oz changed his life- interjected more than just a little fantasy into the gangster films he was writing in Hollywood. Sadly movies like Bugs Manion in the Wonderland of Curious Elves never found the audience they deserved and he ended this part of his career in the dregs writing porn films like Little Sleazer and other assorted sordid sex vehicles for actors like Basil Rashbone and Beddy Davis.
Come on, that's a helluva CV know matter how you slice it. The least you could do is read about it.
Join us next Saturday, November 5th at 7:00 PMfor a triple author reading (that means three times the fun) with Kevin Chong, Sean Dixon, and Peter Dube presented by Arsenal Pulp, Joyland and Coach House Books and hosted by Montreal poet David McGimpsey.
Vancouver’s Kevin Chong is the author of four books, including his acclaimed debut Baroque-a-Nova and the travelogue Neil Young Nation. His new novel from Arsenal Pulp is titled Beauty Plus Pity. The west coast editor for Joyland, he’s also written extensively for The Walrus and The Globe and Mail.
Toronto’s Sean Dixon is a playwright, novelist and actor. His plays have been produced in Canada, the U.S., Australia and the U.K., and three have been collected in AWOL: Three Plays for Theatre SKAM. Sean’s first novel was The Girls Who Saw Everything (Coach House) named one of the Best Books of 2007 by Quill & Quire. His most recent novel is The Many Revenges of Kip Flynn.
Montreal’s Peter Dubé is a novelist, short story writer, essayist and cultural critic. He is the author of the novel Hovering World (DC Books 2002), At the Bottom of the Sky, a collection of linked short stories (DC Books, 2007) and most recently, the novella Subtle Bodies: a Fantasia on Voice, History and René Crevel (Lethe Press 2010).
Host David McGimspey is the Montreal editor of Joyland and the author of Sitcom (Coach House Books), which was a finalist for both the A.M. Klein Prize and the ReLit Award. His most recent collection of poetry is Li’l Bastard, also from Coach House.
The event will take place here at the Librairie (211 Bernard Ouest) at 7:00 PM next Saturday November 5th! See you there.
Here are a few shots of the last events that took place at the bookstore, enjoy!
Stephanie Bolster launched her fourth poetry collection, A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth, and Heather Jessup her debut novel, The Lightning Field.
Below is brilliant Delhi-based author Rana Dasgupta, who was in store yesterday to read from his 2010 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize-winning novel, Solo:
And here I am this morning, casually giving an impromptu halloween-themed reading to a class of adorable kids from Lambert-Closse:
This wasn't exactly an actual event, but if you're into our wonderful Kids
Days, stay tuned for the Montreal launch of Jordan Crane's kids book
Keep Our Secrets on November 27th! We will also be handing out cards for the new Librairie D+Q Young Readers Club, which will grant members 10% off all kids and young adult books!
Anyhow - you guys were great, hope you come back again soon! I love reading to you, we love giving you juice!
Next up on our calendar is the hilarious Kate Beaton launching her brand
new D+Q book, Hark! A Vagrant. She’ll
be with us next Tuesday night, November 1st at 7 pm. See you then!
Here's your chance to make a difference! Vote for the first Canadian graphic novel to turn the medium on its head in Canada and become the country's first graphic novel bestseller, as well invigorate the biographical comic genre around the world. Vote for the book that made people around the world understand just who is Canada's folk hero -- Louis Riel! VOTE FOR CHESTER BROWN'S LOUIS RIEL IN CANADA READS HERE!
We are absolutely delighted to be hosting a special appearance from Delhi-based author Rana Dasgupta this Thursday October 27th at the Librairie Drawn & Quarterly (211 Bernard Ouest). Rana Dasgupta will be reading from his 2010 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize-winning novel, Solo, a devastating and rapturous novel about the life and daydreams of Ulrich, a reclusive one hundred year-old man from Bulgaria.
Set in a country that has belonged sometimes to Asia and sometimes to Europe, Solo is a book about lost roots, broken traditions and wasted ambitions – and the depths of lyricism by which human beings overcome those failures. Originally published in 2009 in India, Solo was awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Writer's Prize in 2010, winning both the region and best overall book prizes, and has since been garnering great critical attention internationally, including glowing features in the New Yorker and The New York Times earlier this year.
Do not miss this opportunity to hear from the brilliant young literary talent who Salman Rushdie called, "the most unexpected and original Indian writer of his generation."
"A novel of exceptional, astonishing strangeness, Solo confirms Rana Dasgupta as the most unexpected and original Indian writer of his generation." -Salman Rushdie
"Solo is mannered in its strangeness, but utterly unforgettable in its humanity. It hums the inner and outer melodies of a life lived solo, until it becomes a discordant symphony of the human condition." -Kapka Kassabova, The Guardian
"In Solo – which is ultimately a meditation on what it means to measure success, failure and time itself – Rana Dasgupta, a member of The Telegraph’s 20 Writers Under 40 to Watch list, has created a work that is both literary and compelling, a prize-worthy feat indeed." -The Globe and Mail
N.B. This event is T.W.B.W. (There Will Be Wine) and will take place this Tonight, Thursday, October 27th at 7pm at the Librairie (211 Bernard Ouest) in the Smile End. R.S.V.P. on Facebook here. See you later, alligator!
3. On the Reese’s Peanut Butter Bar
Similar in basic structure to a Caramilk—chocolate chambers filled with,
you know, filling—but resembling nothing so much as the generic
“Chocolate Bar” of comic books and clipart, there is something
fundamentally aesthetically satisfying about the Reese’s Peanut Butter
Bar. It looks classic. But not good. I mean, not awful, but really just
not right.
To sweeten the deal (as if you need this!), he'll be bringing along snacks courtesy of Camilla Ingr and The Preservation Society! What more could you want from an evening? Next Thursday, November 3rd at 7 pm at the Librairie D+Q.
Join us for the launch of Stephanie Bolster's fourth poetry collection, A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth, and Heather Jessup's debut novel, The Lightning Field.
About A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth:
Bolster’s poems take us into richly troubled places – prisons of,
monuments to, museums for the lost natural world – where questions of
what it means to be human, to be animal, to be other and to be art are
tangibly in the air. Acutely angled, filled with intertextual resonance
and wit, the poems vacillate between wonder and horror, opening up the
possibility of honest, unsentimental elegy.
About The Lightning Field:
Set against the backdrop of Cold War Toronto, Jessup’s novel moves from
the thrilling construction of the Avro Arrow—the most advanced jet plane
of its time, whose wings Peter Jacobs has engineered; to his wife
Lucy’s search for meaning in the dead-ends and cul-de-sacs of post-war
suburbia. Amongst loss and unexpected offerings, personal dismantling
and reassembly, this novel sets the loves and discordant desires of one
family against the cold yet endless possibilities of space.
This one's an early one! They'll be reading from their books at the Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, 211 Bernard O., tonight! That's Wednesday, October 26th at 5 pm. RSVP on Facebook here.
Hopefully this post makes up for the fact that I have not written my blog post on Jeffrey Eugenides' THE MARRIAGE PLOT yet. I stopped by the Librairie today before it opened (one of the perks of the job, people!) to buy a copy of the new Murakami book 1Q84! NEW MURAKAMI! Can you hear me people? NNNNEEEEWWWWW MUUUUUUUURAKAAAAAMIIIIIIIII! (in my best Oprah voice)
As if the mere fact that there is a new Murakami book doesn't send you running to our store at this very moment, and you need convincing, check out the huge profile from Sunday's New York Times Magazine. Or you can read the excerpt of the book in the New Yorker.
Also design nerds, pal of D+Q, Chip Kidd, tricks the book out with a gorgeous vellum jacket. Note to self: buy books at the end of the work day not at the beginning unless you want to stare at the book all day.
Y’all
remember what I said about that cup overflowing with great comics events? Well the
fall season just keeps on giving! Next Tuesday we are lucky to have the
charming, hilarious, and whip-smart Kate Beaton in Montreal to launch her brand
new D+Q book, Hark! A Vagrant. She’ll
be at the Librairie Drawn &
Quarterly (211 Bernard O.) next Tuesday night, November 1st at 7 pm.
Kate will be doing a
reading and presenting a little talk about how she came to work in the comics
medium. After that she will sign copies of her book. If you live under a rock and have not visited her website, www.harkavagrant.com, don’t worry: one week is
just about enough time to read every single comic on that site and be hungry
for more by launch day.
Readers, may I present you to: kuš! A Baltic Magazine!
kuš! why don't you introduce yourself:
kuš! (speak kush!) is the only comics magazine in the Baltics. Every
issue contains comics from international and Latvian artists to a
certain theme which changes every issue. The aim of "kuš!" is to
popularize comics in a country where comics are practically
non-existent and promote Latvian artists abroad. (qtd. from website)
The pure variety found in their publications is astounding. Each artist contributing to the issues and anthologies is distinct and individual in their style. I especially love their anthology #8, which has the theme of gardens. Meaning: SO MANY garden gnomes!
Here is a small selection of the goods you will find in kuš!
I think Drawn and Quarterly is one of the only stores in North America to carry this publication, so come on by and check them out. Learn a bit about Latvia's comic scene.
Tonight Eric Drooker, acclaimed author and artist, will be hosting a 90-minute
lecture and discussion on visual art and activism, focusing on art as
communication, and its various methods of grabbing the public's
attention and imagination. Eric will discuss his recent work creating
protest posters for the streets and art for print publications (both
underground and mainstream). He’ll also discuss how new social media
tools can spread art and ideas in the internet.
The event will take place tonight, Saturday October 22nd, at 7pm at the Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, 211 Bernard Ouest in the Mile End.
This world-renowned and critically-acclaimed wine-tasting manga that the entire English-speaking world was dying to read for years is finally out thanks to Vertical!
This volume compiles the first two tankōbons of this ongoing 28-volumes epic wine adventure that actually changed the Asian wine market.
We are all out of Miranda July tickets here at the Librairie Drawn & Quarterly! Please check back on the blog for further updates concerning the event...
Oh jeez! You guys! It’s that time of year again, when our
great-comics-events-in-Montreal cup overfloweth! Tonight we have Daniel Clowes
(Ghost World, Wilson, this month’s The Death-Ray!) and Seth (Wimbledon Green; It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken; this month’s The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian
Cartoonists) in conversation at the Ukrainian Federation.
Now that you’re all riled up, buy yer tickets. You can get
them:
- from the comfort of your own home today!
- from the comfort of the Librairie D+Q (211 Bernard O., 514 279-2224) today (up until 6 pm)!
- from the comfort of the Ukrainian Federation ($6 at the door, 5213 Hutchison) tonight! Doors are at 6:30.
Did y'all know that the multimedia artist/storyteller and 21st centuryindieicon Miranda July is coming to town? And did y'all know that the event is FREE? Yes, you read correctly—free as the American spirit, gratuit, as in no charge. But here's the catch: seating is limited and the event is ticketed. As of today, Tuesday October 18th, tickets will be available at Media@McGill (231 Ferrier) and at the Librairie Drawn & Quarterly (211 Bernard Ouest). Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis and there is a limit of two tickets per person. Regretfully, we can not hold tickets.
ABOUT THE EVENT: We are absolutely thrilled to be hosting Miranda July as she launches her newest book, It Chooses You. This event is presented in partnership with McGill’s Art History and Communication Studies Department, the Canada Research Chair in Technology and Citizenship, and Media@McGill. The event will take place at the Ukrainian Federation (5213 Hutchison) on Monday, November 14th at 7:00 PM. ABOUT IT CHOOSES YOU: In procrastination mode while finishing the screenplay for her second film, Miranda July obsessively read the PennySaver. Who was the person selling Care Bears for two dollars each? She crisscrossed L.A. to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, grabbing hold of the invisible world in a book that blends narrative, interviews, photographs with July’s off-kilter honesty and deadpan humor.
ABOUT MIRANDA JULY: Miranda July is the author of No One Belongs Here More Than You, winner of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. July wrote, directed, and starred in the film Me and You and Everyone We Know, which won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Her second film, The Future, was released this summer.
Or as I prefer to call it, Literature of the Future. I am sorry to note that these are shortened descriptions so as to maximize content but you can read more on our 211 events page or follow us on Facebook.
Saturday October 22nd - Eric Drooker: Art and Activism
Eric Drooker, acclaimed author and artist, will be
hosting a 90-minute lecture and discussion on visual art and activism,
focusing on art as communication, and its various methods of grabbing
the public's attention and imagination, especially with the rise of social media. Read more on Facebook.
An example of Eric's work
Wednesday October 26th - Stephanie Bolster and Heather Jessup Joint Book Launch
Join us for the launch of Stephanie Bolster’s fourth poetry collection, published by Brick Books, and Heather Jessup’s first novel, published by Gaspereau Press. Read more on Facebook.
Thursday October 27th - Rana Dasgupta reading: SOLO
Delhi-based author Rana Dasgupta will be making a special stop in Montreal to read from his 2010
Commonwealth Writer’s Prize-winning novel, SOLO, a devastating and
rapturous novel about the life and daydreams of Ulrich, a reclusive one
hundred year-old man from Bulgaria. Facebook event here.
Tuesday November 1st - Kate Beaton launches HARK! A VAGRANT
We are thrilled to have web sensation Kate Beaton, of www.harkavagrant.com, launching her brand new D+Q book at the Librairie. I'd tell you about the book, but really, just go explore her site, and you'll know why we love her. RSVP on Facebook here.
Thursday November 3rd - Jonah Campbell launches FOOD & TREMBLING
What hidden evasions and exclusions lie behind the subtle perfection of
the BLT? What is the etymology of the croissant? Why did we drink all
that Bud Lite Lime? This collection of writing by Montrealer Jonah Campbell
—metalhead, misanthrope, unrepentant good eater— explores both the
finest and most furtive of culinary pleasures. Facebook deets here.
Thursday November 5th - Kevin Chong launches BEAUTY PLUS PITY
Join us for readings by Kevin Chong, Sean Dixon, and Peter Dubé, hosted by Montreal poet, David
McGimpsey. Vancouver’s Kevin Chong is the author of four books,
including the acclaimed BAROQUE-A-NOVA and the travelogue NEIL YOUNG
NATION. More information about the authors and the readings here.
Didion's follow-up to her best-selling and critically-acclaimed memoir The Year Of Magical Thinking is here! While YoMT dealt with her grief after losing her husband, in Blue Nights she tells of the heartbreak of losing her 39-year old daughter Quintana Roo to equally sudden misfortune. As known for her deft handling of heavy subject matter as she is for her absolutely stunning prose, Didion has produced another spectacular mediation on loss and how it alters the lives of those left behind.
