Frida by Sébastien Pérez & Benjamin Lacombe, tr. from the French by Alison Anderson
Published by Ginko Press, 2017
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Short, poetic musings weave together with actual extracts from Frida Kahlo’s diaries to explore some of the most prominent aspects of her life and work. The text is suitably ornate and poignant, but scant enough that neither newcomers nor longstanding fans of Kahlo will glean much of any substance.
The real highlight, however, is Lacombe’s stunning art. He draws heavily on the iconography and style of Kahlo’s own pieces to pay tribute to her genius, exploring the legacy of the trail she blazed.
The House of Former Lovers by Kirsty Logan
Published independently, 2021
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
A short selection of unnerving flash fiction, focussed on the themes of transformation, sexuality, consumption, and the animal within. It is unashamedly strange, but I tend to find that magical realism works best in short, sharp bursts like this, presenting us with a series of striking images and ideas without requiring a prolonged suspension of disbelief.
Each story is accompanied by a two-page illustration by Maria Stoian. These are suitably sumptuous and otherworldly in style and colour palette. A beautiful little chapbook.
This is one of those reads that’s tricky to quantify my feelings for. In a nutshell: I liked it, but I wanted to love it; and I think it’s a good book, but it had all the component parts of a great one.
This is a gentle and ruminative look at how much our mood/mental health can be affected by the changing seasons. The text itself is relatively simple, though it does have an air of prose poetry to it. So while it may not discuss any particularly unique experiences or offer up any ground-breaking insights, it is likely to resonate widely.
I’ve been an admirer of Giordano’s work ever since I took up embroidery myself. Specialising in characterful, hyper-realistic woodland animals, her pieces are brought to life in her own distinct style of thread painting. In this book, she breaks down her creative process – in general terms, and on a piece-by-piece basis. It’s definitely easy to draw inspiration from her work, and though most of us will never come close to her standard, it is a joy to pore over such high-quality reproductions of her designs – the book itself having been produced to a wonderful standard.
In this collection of poems, Hosein tackles numerous big topics, including abusive relationships, the painful loss of her mother, the emotional strain of trauma, and the racism she faces as a POC living in Canada. All are approached with honesty and verve, employing simple yet effective imagery to hit home her themes:
Following the huge success of their previous collaboration, The Lost Words, poet Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris have created another ode to the beauty of the natural world, and the importance of preserving the language we use to describe it.
If Morris’s collaborations with Macfarlane hint ever so subtly at something magical, here she leans fully into it. A series of vignettes crafted in text and watercolour, The Unwinding is best described less as a short story collection, and more as a series of dreams rendered on paper. You shouldn’t expect a rounded narrative arc or in-depth development, but you certainly can expect stunning artwork that evokes enchanting worlds, enigmatic characters, and an ethereal atmosphere. This elusive beauty is perfect for stimulating the imagination.
Like any collection of poetry, there were themes, styles, and individual poems in this that impacted me more than others, but on the whole, it’s another impressive selection that proves Brown’s ability to pack a punch.
Mackesy’s artwork is incredibly charming, and the sentiment throughout this book is lovely. There’s no story; it’s simply a series of random, fleeting vignettes about a lonely, sensitive young boy who befriends some animals, the ragtag group wandering the landscape and sharing musings on life.
This short from Tor Books is about a mission to make contact – and attempt to draw up a peace treaty – with the first newly discovered alien race. It has many hallmarks of classic sci-fi, and is a quick, engaging read, but it’s the subtext that helps this one stand out – even if it does become a little heavy-handed by the end. Essentially, the story is a riff on the idea of what constitutes power, and where, as a society, we place credence. Chiefly, Older asks the reader to consider why we feel compelled to supress pain.
This graphic memoir of Frida Kahlo offers a particularly insightful look into life with chronic pain, and the transformative power of art. It’s very interestingly structured, both in its forgoing of traditional panels in favour of a freeform layout, and in its narrative framing, with the book presented as though a first-person discussion between Kahlo and Death. Having suffered many losses throughout her life, and flirted dangerously close to death many times herself, this has effective thematic resonance.
Reading a collection of Duffy’s poetry is an odd experience, in that her work often oscillates between the clumsily blatant and the impenetrably obscure. When she strikes the sweet spot between the two, there’s no denying her ability to pack a punch with a limited word count. The highlights here were the poems that explored the loss of her mother, particularly the pieces, ‘Water’ and ‘Cold’.
This encyclopaedia of gods, monsters, and mortals from Ancient Greece serves as a fantastic entry point or reference guide for those at all interested in mythology. The book highlights 50 key figures, and though the text for each character isn’t exactly exhaustive, we’re given a condensed snapshot of their role within the canon, and a few interesting facts about them. Seasoned myth enthusiasts are unlikely to learn anything new, as such, but having been written by a Classics scholar and Greek mythology expert, the information is succinct and reliable.
“Horizontal collaboration” is a term coined to describe French women who embarked on romantic or sexual relationships with German soldiers during Occupation. This graphic novel opens in the present day, with a young woman visiting her elderly grandmother, lamenting the complexities of modern love. This inspires her grandmother to finally open up about her own past, divulging the details of a tragic love affair she became entangled in back in 1942.
