Plants, Animals and Books

Thanks to  Milena from the blog Somnambulistica who was kind enough to nominate me for the Liebster award. I don't know when I will end up answering and making up questions for this. Probably sometime in the future. Also, I really like Milena's blog because I've learned about all sorts of beautiful art and artists through reading her posts. 

  Here are some photos from around town:

(Kitten faces with cloying smiles hung up at a bar in Ballard, growth and decay by the art store, noble dino heads in Wallinford, a piece of earth adrift in red at the gyro shop.)

  Recently, I picked up some exciting things from the library:

• Mad Men Season Five! This show is very addicting. The beautiful sets and costumes give an extra realistic glimpse into the past. I also like the glimpse into the characters lives, most of whom are flawed and not always likable people, but I still find myself rooting for (most of) them. 
• Karen Russel's New Book! I loved Karen Russell's first short story collection St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised By Wolves and I am excited that she has a new short story collection out. Her stories are sad and beautiful and whimsical while still being powerful and thought-provoking. Her novel Swamplandia! was also great, but I like her short stories even better. My favorite part of Swamplandia! was the part about Louis and the barge which was almost like a short story within the novel. I really love her work and am excited to be immersed into her worlds again.
• Sweet Tooth, Volume Five! Sweet Tooth is a comic book with an apocalyptic theme. Comic books with apocalyptic themes are very popular right now. Walking Dead and Y's the Last Man are two more examples, both of which I love. Despite having a similar subject matter to these other comic books, Sweet Tooth feels completely unique. It is about animal children and a disease that is steadily wiping out humanity, except for these strange animal children. To me, Sweet Tooth almost has a Southern Gothic feel to it even though it doesn't take place in the South. I couldn't figure out why this comic felt so much like a Southern Gothic story until I looked up 'Southern Gothic' on Wikipedia. Here is their description: 'Common themes in Southern Gothic literature include deeply flawed, disturbing or disorienting characters, decayed or derelict settings, grotesque situations, and other sinister events relating to or coming from poverty, alienation, racism, crime, and violence."  Yes, yes, yes and yes in regards to Sweet Tooth having these thematic elements in the story.