Top Ten (July 2010)

My favorite things from last month...



1. THE DREAMER. I picked up this new one at the library. It was face out on display at our library. The cover alone was striking enough to pique interest. Always awesome Peter Sis illustrates this superb Pam Muñoz Ryan telling (with some creative liberties, I take it?) of celebrated poet Pablo Neruda's defining childhood years. Wonderfully written and illustrated.




2. TOMIE DePAOLA. Somehow I managed to never see a Tomie DePaola book for this many years. Then, a couple of months ago, I found a copy of THE POPCORN BOOK in with some of Julie's old childhood book collection. Loved it. Little by little I've worked my way through his books. My faves are, of course, STREGA NONA as well as the autobiographical pic books he's done. I also especially love the art in THE KNIGHT AND THE DRAGON. His work has a sweet style. Very stylish and very approachable.




3. ABE LINCOLN CROSSES A CREEK. I really like John Hendrix's work. And I really like how this book's written, by Deborah Hopkinson. I like how it reads. It's a neat boyhood tale of Abraham Lincoln. And it's almost like some old dude is sitting on the porch of a log cabin out in the woods spinning off this story. That's the voice of it. Real cool.




4. HUNGER GAMES. If you haven't read the HUNGER GAMES books, now is the perfect time to do it. The third and last (correct me if I'm wrong) book comes out in a few short weeks. Last month, I was poking around for something new to read. Turns out I'd somehow missed the brilliance of Suzanne Collins. Julie recommended these to me (as she does most all that I read) and they are G-O-O-O-O-D.





5. THIS CITY by STEVE EARLE. This song closed up the first season of TREME. He wrote it just for the show. After it ended I looked all around the internet to try and hear it again. Last month, it popped up on YouTube.




6. POP CHIPS. Don't know if these are healthier than the standard greasy crisps (I think they are, somewhat), but they are crunchy tasty salt bombs.




7. SLAM. I have only read one other Nick Hornby, HIGH FIDELITY. I liked it. I also liked the movie adaptation of ABOUT A BOY (not having read that one). At some point last month, I came across SLAM. It had me laughing out loud in parts. About midway through it takes a turn for the somewhat unexpected. And by the end, it leaves you feeling like, "well... not great, but that's what would likely happen in real life". And for all these reasons, I totally dug it.




8. JETS TO BRAZIL. This now defunct post-punk (correct me if I'm wrong), post-Jawbreaker rock band was all up in my ears back around '99 and '00. One day while sketching around at the library, I dialed into this music again on my ancient 2nd generation iPod. Takes me back in a good way.




9. HOT NEW NIB. As previously mentioned, I'm all about these new Dormer-donated nibs. Can't wait to see what else I can get outta these boys.




10. ICE CREAM MAKER. I wonder if every married couple registers for a gift, receives it after the wedding and never uses it. This was destined to be Julie's and mine of that nature. One day, Julie had an itch to crack the seal on the box and to read the manual and to see how some homemade ice cream might taste. Dang. It's good.