Brian’s tip top tap of 2007

Shout-outs to a few of the books and events which shaded my glassy eyes throughout .
Novel of Roy Orbison In Cling-film, by Ulrich Haarbürste (Serapion Books)

I can totally see this book at home in some ruined castle in Lacoste.. Or Master Shake reading it in an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Either way, books such as Roy Orbison Wrapped In Cling-film are the reason why Quimby’s Bookstore is so great in the first place. Ja und was sonst?


Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow, by Anders Nilsen (Drawn and Quarterly)

Remainder, by Tom McCarthy (Vintage)

Tasty mindfuck and first novel by Tom McCarthy, about a mysterious accident (meatball!), a lot of money and a scrambled brain. I’m surprised this book didn’t get more play considering the territory of National Book Award winner The Echo Maker. Then again, that one was totally dreary. Other map points at Memento, Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, JG Ballard, Vertigo.

Mingering Mike, by Dori Hadar (PA Press)

Found art — in this case, handmade albums found at flea markets across the country — document the life of Mingering Mike, “the patron saint of crate diggers”. Not to be confused with “the patron saint of girls” Henry Darger, though the visuals and stories are almost uncomfortably similar. Minger’s talents and obsessions are strange and massive, making this a must for geek record collectors and artists alike.

Enter Naomi, by Joe Carducci (Redoubt Press)

There were a lot of great music books published in 2007. This is one of them. Joe Carducci’s memoir and story of photographer Naomi Petersen verges on the sacchrine (trust), which is why Carducci’s take on the rise and decline of LA, punk rock and SST records is so compulsively readable in the first place.

The Source, by Isis Aquarian (Process)

Isis Aquarian’s oral history of Father Yod and The Source family is totally adoring, but it’s still a hoot to read. Sacred herbs, raw foods, psychedelic cults, yoga, tantra, hangliding! I’d like to see a second volume that confronts what a creep Father Yod was, but I doubt it will be as entertaining or engaging as Isis Aquarian’s. Peace.

Works Cited, by Zach Huelsing and Matt Kessler (Eye Rocket Books)

Goes the description, “Works Cited is a collection of papers chronicling the classroom episodes of an antagonistic elementary school rad dude, an introspective girl with a bad case of Brad-lust, and a budding poet who may or may not eat her own boogers.” The experience is something akin to Vulcan mind-melding with Principal Skinner: cute but ruthless, empowered and awkward.

The Walking Dead vols 6 and 7 by Robert Kirkman (Image)

Life sucks. Especially if your world is confined to a prison surrounded by zombies. Still, shit happens: fucking, killing, eating, it all goes on. This isn’t the killer bluetop like vols. 1-4 are, but that’s how they get you hooked… If you’re a Walking Dead junkie like me and I know there are a few then this installment will get you through the day.

Photobooth

We got one that looks like it fell out of the Sears Tower! So cool.

Skyscrapers of the Midwest #4, by Joshua Cotter (Adhouse Books)

Cotter’s skill blows me away — Anders Nilson meets Reed Waller.

Minicomix wall

I miss the couch. What I don’t miss is the garbage salad mess that was Quimby’s minicomix before we had the additional space.