Literary Life Revisited

I discovered recently that one of my favorite cartoonists, Posy Simmonds, had a book out I didn’t know about. (This is common, as not many of her works have been published over here. Thank goodness for easy overseas ordering these days.) Literary Life Revisited is an expanded edition of the 2003 Literary Life, a savagely funny collection of cartoon pages about authors, publishers, and booksellers. The revisited edition is well worth it, as it has the occasional color cartoon, and […]

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Cassandra Darke

Thank goodness we have global internet commerce, because it’s the only way I can keep up with the work of one of my favorite artists, Posy Simmonds (Tamara Drewe, Gemma Bovery). I think someone mentioned on Twitter that she had a new book out at the end of last year, so I eagerly ordered Cassandra Darke. The title character is thoroughly unpleasant. She used to run an art gallery with her ex-husband, whom she feels wronged by, until her cheating […]

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Lighter Than My Shadow

I don’t remember where I heard about this graphic novel last year, but it sounded good enough that I imported a copy from the UK, where it was published by Jonathan Cape. (It’s in good company — they published Posy Simmonds and one of the best graphic novels of 2012.) Now, Soft Skull Press is bringing it to the US. (My comments are based on the UK edition.) Lighter Than My Shadow is Katie Green’s story of her life with […]

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Literary Life

After enjoying Mrs Weber’s Omnibus, I thought I’d pick up the remaining Posy Simmonds comic collection, Literary Life. The slim (76-page) squarish hardcover was published in 2003, reprinting strips from the Guardian. The format is such that this feels like a picture book, only for adults. It’s very approachable. It would make a terrific companion for anyone who enjoyed Simmonds’ Tamara Drewe, either book or movie version. The characters in these strips — aspiring country writer, bookseller complaining about chain […]

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Mrs Weber’s Omnibus

I’m a huge fan of Posy Simmonds’ work, at least those bits — Tamara Drewe, Gemma Bovery — that have made it over the pond. I was very curious about Mrs Weber’s Omnibus, given that it collects six of her previous books, published between 1979 and 1993: Mrs Weber’s Diary True Love Pick of Posy Very Posy Pure Posy Mustn’t Grumble With what I’ve mentioned and the short cartoon collection Literary Life, that’s everything she’s done that aren’t children’s books. […]

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Please God, Find Me a Husband!

I asked for a copy of this not-yet-published-in-the-US graphic novel because I thought it sounded like an intriguing take on chick lit in illustrated form. I was pleased by what I found, although Please God, Find Me a Husband! turned out to be something else altogether. This autobiographical tale begins with Simone Lia being dumped. She feels like a spinster, although she’d like to be in a relationship, so since she’s Catholic, she asks God for help. His answers — […]

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