Stories - Neil Gaiman & Al Sarantonio

Really good stories, mostly. It's nice to get a collection by established, successful writers because when you want to read something more by one of them they are easy to find, unlike the writers who appear in compilations of promising newcomers. I will definitely be on the lookout for Joyce Carol Oates and Michael Moorcock now (previously just names I had heard). One or two of the stories here were kind of lame, but the majority have that solid, rich, fulfilling feeling a short story should have. Inspired me just in time for Bridport.

Dark Rain - Mat Johnson & Simon Gane

Another excellent graphic novel. This is the story of a bank heist during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. It's a good story well-told, and well drawn too, in (mostly) black and white, with lots of detail but without ever becoming cluttered or hard to take in (even when depicting the detritus and chaos). I like the way it keeps musings, mourning and tributes and all the other things you'd expect in a story about this incident, to a minimum. It's there but it's never allowed to get in the way of the story. It remains a story.

The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi

Took me more than a month to read, which should say something. As sci-fi it is brilliant. It's brilliantly imagined. The amount of work that went into researching, imagining and plotting it must have been phenomenal. But it's not very well written. Maybe I'm just spoiled on Auster and King lately, but I kept running into characters "forcing back anger" or being "flooded with relief". Lazy. And wordy, undisciplined sentences. I think that's why it took me so long. In the end it was worth it though. By the climax of the last hundred or so pages, I was finally invested.

A Taste of Chlorine - Bastien Vives

A very simple but very engaging story with beautiful, beautiful artwork. Very little dialogue. There are whole scenes without dialogue and sections of 10 or 20 pages without any text, so you're just looking at the pictures and taking in what's happening. There's a bit of an art to this. The ending is rather mysterious. I'm not sure if I'm missing something or not, which is slightly frustrating. Anyway, this is a very good example of simple, minimalist, stripped down visual storytelling.

Batman: Year One - Frank Miller & David Mazzuchelli

Very good and beautifully drawn, but perhaps a little underwhelming. Probably just because it's such a familiar story by now. After the epic crash-bang-wallop of the Nolan films - and the attendant excitement in the run-up to the third one - it's hard not to be underwhelmed by a fairly simple version of the story without much fanfare (much current fanfare, anyway). It is very well-written though, and it's easy to see how it's influenced the Nolan films' scripts. Also, I like the placing of Gordon in a more central role than usual. He makes a good, relatable counter-protagonist to Batman.

Locke and Key Vol. 1 to 3 - Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez

Best comic to have come out in the last few years, surely (ok, I don't read that many). Very reminiscent of Hill's dad, and not just because it's about a haunted house in New England. It's got that perfect balance between human drama and supernatural shenanigans. The characters are, without exception, deep and relateable. Themes of childhood and adolescence (kids and teenagers are running the show while the adults struggle along as best they can) shine through with just the right emphasis between the awesome, magic-imbued action scenes. Can't wait for the next one!