Ry Herman's Blog, page 7

Woo-hoo!

Been bursting with excitement about this for a while. I can now officially announce my next book!

“The Unicorn” comes in a close second with “You know what? Not a problem for me, actually.”

OK, “Florinda” definitely wins the prize for “best fairytale princess reaction to realizing the knight you have been married to is actually a woman in disguise.”

(Loosely translated:)

FLORINDA: Now that it is our wedding night, I must confess… I am a woman.

PRINCESS: YEEESSSSS THIS IS AWESOME!

Favorite Books — September 2023

My absolute favorite book this month was the very last one I read, and adds a new member to the surprisingly long list of the graphic novel memoirists I greatly admire (along with, for example, Allie Brosh, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman, Alison Bechdel, and Kate Beaton):

IT’S LONELY AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH, by Zoe Thorogood

Zoe Thorogood records six months of her own life as it falls apart in a desperate attempt to put it back together again in the only way she knows how. An intimate and metanarrative look into the life of a selfish artist who must create for her own survival.

There are no easy answers in this messy autobiographical narrative of the months spent trying to draw this autobiographical graphic novel, all while the author grapples with depression during the Covid pandemic. It’s a work that’s paradoxically kept from being self-indulgent by acknowledging how self-indulgent it can be. What elevates it more than anything else for me is the fantastic artwork, a dizzying variety of styles that really marries the visuals to the narrative in a way that few graphic novels manage to achieve. If it reminds me of anyone else, maybe it’s Scott McCloud at his best, but that’s a loose comparison at best; this is very much an artist with her own unique voice.

Other great books I read this month included THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH by Andrew Joseph White, THE QUIET AMERICAN by Graham Greene, THORNHEDGE by T. Kingfisher, US by Sara Soler, THE SERPENT’S EGG by Caroline Stevermer, THE SEEP by Chana Porter, THE LADY OF SOULS by Jenn Gott, RUTH & PEN by Emilie Pine, and THE DROWNED WOODS by Emily Lloyd-Jones.

Favorite Books — August 2023

This has been an odd year so far, reading-wise. Some months I have three standout favorite books, some months I have none. This is another month with none. But there were quite a few I liked a lot:

EMBASSYTOWN by China Miéville, THE UNFAMILIAR by Kirsty Logan, WHITE CAT, BLACK DOG by Kelly Link, NETTLEBLACK by Nat Reeve, THE MEMBRANES by Chi Tai-wei, GWEN & ART ARE NOT IN LOVE by Lex Croucher, OTHERBOUND by Corinne Duyvis, THE LAST GODDESS by Kateřina Tučková, and IF TOMORROW DOESN’T COME by Jen St. Jude.

The Ry Fringe Awards

The Edinburgh Fringe is done at last, and the whole city looks vaguely hungover, which means it is time for the startlingly unprestigious Ry Awards for the best shows seen by Ry!

BEST MUSICAL — Public

BEST PLAY — The Night Children

BEST NORSE MYTHOLOGY THEMED WRESTLING SHOW — Mythos: Ragnorak

BEST SPOKEN WORD — MEAT

BEST IMPROV — Austentatious

BEST CIRCUS — Circa: Peepshow

BEST DANCE — Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring

BEST POLEDANCE AND STANDUP COMEDY — Siân Docksey – Pole Yourself Together!

BEST NON-POLEDANCE STANDUP COMEDY — Grace Jarvis: This Is The Last Goldfish That I Am Going To Eat For You

BEST NON-POLEDANCE NON-STANDUP COMEDY — Elf and Duffy: Heist

BEST MUSIC — Bojangles: Dracula in Space

Third Week of Fringe

There were two standout shows I saw this week at the Edinburgh Fringe. Only one weekend left to go!

Circa: Peepshow — I’ve seen several Circa shows over the years now, and I’m always impressed. They do the seemingly impossible, over and over again.

Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring — Actually an Edinburgh International Festival show rather than a Fringe show. There’s a reason this is considered one of the great choreographies of the 20th century.

Second Week of Fringe

Didn’t get to quite as many shows at the Edinburgh Fringe this week, but managed to catch some really good ones. My picks for the top shows were:

Mythos: Ragnorak — I suspect that very few plays are performed entirely by professional wrestlers.

Austentatious — Always a blast. That day’s improvised Jane Austen novel was Barbie Comes to Pemberley.

Elf and Duffy: Heist — A wild brilliant mess of a show.

First Week of Fringe

After one week of the Edinburgh Fringe, I’ve managed to check a number of things off my show-seeing to-do list — musical, stage play, solo show, and dance piece — but still have a lot left to go (comedy, late night, free fringe, circus, and so many more…)

For the first week, the standout shows have been:

Public — Musical. Great dialogue, great songs, great acting.

MEAT — Solo show. Brilliant and powerful.

Angel Monster — Riveting contemporary dance piece.

Favorite Books — July 2023

This was a excellent month for reading, and there are no less than three books I want to highlight as particularly fantastic:

ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT, by Mieko Kawakami

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition.

You might not think a book in which almost nothing happens could be so powerful. But as a portrait of isolation, loneliness, and depression, I think this one has few equals. Some of it felt so honest that it was difficult to read, in the best kind of way.

I’M SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY, by Rebecca Wait

For Alice and Hanna, saint and sinner, growing up is a trial. There is their mother, who takes a divide and conquer approach to child-rearing, and their father, who takes an absent one. There is their older brother Michael, whose disapproval is a force to be reckoned with. There is the catastrophe that is never spoken of, but which has shaped everything.

I picked this one up on the strength of the title, and I’m so glad I did. What a delight! Funny, painful, and at times too recognizable — I found myself laughing at one college-aged character a little unkindly only to realize a moment later that I’d done the exact same thing when I was in my twenties. This book is perfect for anyone whose family is, well, not at all perfect.

THE SHADOW CABINET, by Juno Dawson

Suffering from amnesia, Ciara can’t remember what she’s done. But if she wants to survive, she must fool the coven and the murky Shadow Cabinet — a secret group of mundane civil servants who are already suspicious of witches. While she tries to rebuild her past, she realizes none of her past has forgotten her, including her former lover, renegade warlock Dabney Hale.

The surprise shock ending of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven hit me so hard that I was almost afraid of starting the sequel. But it was even better than the first one. A book full of revelations and twists, with real emotional punch. And the one time I thought there was an implausible coincidence in the book, it turned out to be a clever, intentional set-up.

Other books I liked this month included FAMOUS MEN WHO NEVER LIVED by K Chess, NOT MY PROBLEM by Ciara Smith, THE DARK TIDE by Alicia Jasinska, ON STRIKE AGAINST GOD by Joanna Russ, A SLEIGHT OF SHADOWS by Kat Howard, THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL by Anne Brontë, SEVERAL PEOPLE ARE TYPING by Calvin Kasulke, AWAY WITH WORDS by Sophie Cameron, THE LIGHTHOUSE BOOKSHOP by Sharon Gosling, OSMO UNKNOWN AND THE EIGHTPENNY WOODS by Catherynne M. Valente, WITCH KING by Martha Wells, and TRANSLATION STATE by Ann Leckie.

Told you it was a good month!

Favorite Books — June 2023

Two very different books ended up being the standouts for me this month:

AMPHIBIAN, by Christina Neuwirth

It’s summer in Edinburgh. Rose Ellis arrives at MoneyTownCashGrowth one morning to find that the entire fourth floor has been flooded with water, in a desperate attempt to improve productivity. As the water steadily rises, her working situation becomes more and more absurd…

Strange, surreal, and delightful. This novella is like a funhouse mirror whose reflection is somehow truer than the reality. I loved it.

HOME, by Marilynne Robinson

Glory Boughton, aged thirty-eight, has returned to Gilead to care for her dying father. Soon her brother, Jack — the prodigal son of the family, gone for twenty years — comes home too, looking for refuge and trying to make peace with a past littered with tormenting trouble and pain.

This one was subtle, beautifully written, and emotionally real. While the book is set in a very specific time and place, it touches on many ongoing truths about family, regret, and the legacy of racism in the U.S. Although Jack may seem to be the center of the book, Glory is just as fascinating a character in her own right.

Other titles I thought were excellent this month included DAISY ON THE OUTER LINE by Ross Sayers, FRENCHMAN’S CREEK by Daphne du Maurier, TOWER by Bae Myung-hoon, TERRORTOME by Garth Marenghi, THE BEATRYCE PROPHECY by Kate DiCamillo, CAST ME GENTLY by Caren J. Werlinger, LORDS OF UNCREATION by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and THIS IS MY BODY, GIVEN FOR YOU by Heather Parry.