The first week of the new year is done. And even though the work week wasn't a full one for me, I am pleased that tomorrow is a day off. The week at work wasn't anything new, and much to my pleasant surprise, I wasn't as backlogged as I had thought I would be after the break, so work was a pleasant readjusting to the flow, rather than trying not to drown in a deluge.
Today I received my Library of America edition of Lynd Ward's "Graphic Novels." I used quotes because I don't think that term was active when he created them. They are books whose stories are told entirely with wood cuts. In the brief skimming I have done so far, I haven't seen any words cut into the blocks, so it is definitely a visual style of storytelling vastly different from what we are accustomed to in today's graphic novel form, where the story is told in a combination of words & pictures.
That is probably the highlight of my week, though I am working on "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe" by Charles Yu right now as well. It has mostly been my lunchtime reading after I have eaten, but it is proving a satisfactory read thus far, and I hope as I get further into it, that it can remain so. This book was a Christmas gift from a former room mate, and as I was an unexpected guest for the holiday there, I am rather enjoying the thought that it was not picked out for me (perhaps it was purchased for his own use), but that he thought I might like it regardless. I sometimes have a tough time with modern fiction, especially if it is too self-reflexive and draws one constantly out of the story, or worse when they are trying to be too clever, and everything falls flat. Initially, I was thinking this was the latter, but that opinion has changed a bit the further I have read, which is something that pleases me.
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