Episode · The Book Review · 2017-12-15
Mary Beard on The Book Review: books mentioned
Mary Beard on 'Women & Power'
Gilbert Cruz discussed Women and Power by Mary Beard and Why Comics? by Hillary Chute. Mary Beard discussed The Odyssey. Hillary Chute recommended The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu and Monograph by Chris Ware by Chris Ware, and discussed Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham, A Contract With God by Will Eisner, Binky Brown Meets The Holy Virgin Mary by Art Spiegelman and others, Maus I: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware, and Building stories by Chris Ware. Greg Cowles discussed Angle of repose by Wallace Stegner. Jennifer Szalai discussed Omensetter's Luck by William H. Gass and Life sentences by William H. Gass. Gal Beckerman discussed Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus. John Williams recommended The Idiot by Elif Batuman, and discussed Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Women and Power
Women and Power by Mary Beard is a concise and impactful manifesto that examines the historical roots of misogyny and the structural silencing of women in public life.
Discussed“Mary beard is here to discuss that question and her new book women and power a Manifesto”
Where to get it
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Why Comics?
Why Comics? by Hillary Chute is an insightful exploration of the medium, tracing the history and cultural impact of comic books and graphic narratives from underground movements to mainstream prominence.
Discussed“Hillary Cho is here to talk about her new book why comics from Underground to everywhere”
Where to get it
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The Odyssey
The Odyssey by Homer is an epic ancient Greek poem that follows the arduous ten-year journey of Odysseus as he attempts to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, encountering mythical creatures, divine wrath, and numerous trials along the way.
Discussed“for those who don't necessarily think of Homer in this way or immediately know what this anecdote is is tell us it's very beginning of the Odyssey”
Where to get it
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Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud is a seminal nonfiction book that uses the very medium it analyzes to explain the history, structure, and psychological impact of comic books.
Discussed“so the cartoonist and Comics serus Scott McLoud in his 1993 book understanding Comics put forward that awkward syntax”
Where to get it
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Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham is a 1954 polemical book by a psychiatrist that argued comic books corrupted youth and directly fueled juvenile delinquency, triggering a massive cultural panic and sweeping industry self-censorship.
Discussed“but I think the real shift started to happen in the 1950s and in the 1960s because the psychiatrist Frederick Wortham published um his bestselling book called seduction of the innocent in 1954”
Where to get it
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The Ten-Cent Plague
The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu is a comprehensive historical non-fiction book that explores the cultural panic surrounding comic books and the subsequent censorship movement in mid-century America.
Recommended“this was chronicled very beautifully by David hadu in his book 10cent plague from a number of years ago”
Where to get it
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A Contract With God
Discussed“the very first book that had the words a graphic novel on the cover was will eisner's book a contract with God which was published in 1978 and Eisner claims to have coined this term”
Where to get it
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Binky Brown Meets The Holy Virgin Mary
Discussed“but I actually think that the work called this is kind of a mouthful Binky Brown meets the holy Virgin Mary which is a 44 page comic book from 1972 might qualify in my mind if I'm thinking of substance”
Where to get it
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Maus I: A Survivor's Tale
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman is a landmark graphic novel that uses animal allegories to portray the horrors of the Holocaust and a father's survival story.
Discussed“so Arts spelman's mouth the first volume came out in 1986”
Where to get it
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Monograph by Chris Ware
Monograph by Chris Ware is an immersive, beautifully designed visual book that explores the intricate cartooning and artistic process of the renowned graphic novelist.
Recommended“I would highly recommend Chris wear's book monograph which just came out”
Where to get it
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Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
Discussed“but his book Jimmy Corgan which was published in the year 2000 also really shifted up Comics culture”
Where to get it
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Building stories
Building Stories by Chris Ware is an innovative and terrain-shifting graphic novel published in 2012 that is famously packaged as a box set containing a variety of print formats.
Discussed“and and one of his more recent terrain shifting moments for Comics was the publication in 2012 of his book Building stories which is a book in a box”
Where to get it
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Angle of repose
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner is a sweeping historical fiction novel that follows a historian researching his grandparents' lives on the nineteenth-century American frontier.
Discussed“that is Wallace stagner and I'm reading what's considered his Masterpiece angle of repose which is a big kind of family epic set in the frontier days”
Where to get it
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Omensetter's Luck
Discussed“and I decided that I would try to start again a book that I never finished by him Omen Setter's luck and I think I'm failing again at Omen Setter's luck”
Where to get it
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Life sentences
Discussed“and then I was also dipping into some of his essays and he's you know he had put out several really Sublime Collections and this one is life sentences which I think might have been the last essay collection he put out in 2012”
Where to get it
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Girls to the Front
Discussed“I think for the moment it's a Sarah Marcus's book girls to the front which is uh a history of the riot Girl Movement”
Where to get it
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Outer Dark
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy is a bleak, atmospheric early novel that follows a brother and sister navigating a nightmarish, hauntingly desolate landscape filled with mysterious violence.
Discussed“im reading outer dark which is the second of his first three novels and the third that I'm reading on this little jaunt I'm on”
Where to get it
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The Idiot
The Idiot by Elif Batuman is a brilliant coming-of-age novel that follows a young woman navigating her freshman year at Harvard and her nascent, epistolary romance with an older student.
Recommended“so I also decided this week to read something else alongside it which I won't talk because you guys have all read it recently and talked about on the podcast which is ell Bachman's the idiot”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (8) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“she is of course also the author most recently of spqr and many other books”
“the public voice of women was one and women empowers the other”
“she is the author of many books most recently the bestselling spqr”
“there's the comic book which was really popularized in 1938 with the first issue of Action Comics which is the first appearance of a superhero”
“and Garfield”
“she's very famous now for fun home and and her other current works”
“it's a book that puts me a bit in mind of Carol Shield's Stone Diaries or the novel Stoner by John Williams in that sweeping look at an American Life”
“it's a book that puts me a bit in mind of Carol Shield's Stone Diaries or the novel Stoner by John Williams in that sweeping look at an American Life”