The original version of this newsletter was sent out on Tuesday, May 19.
Sign up for All Booked, our bi-monthly newsletter exclusively for book lovers.
Hello, fellow bookworms!
This week, we dip into the world of sci-fi as Christina McDermott brings us two graphic novels and a novella that will transport you through space and time. If the current time and place are feeling a little overwhelming, I definitely suggest picking up one of these books to escape for a while!
I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having recently. Happy reading!
-- Tessa, allbooked@independent.com
I remember when NASA published the first ever image of a black hole. I sat at my kitchen table staring at my computer screen at the blurry red donut of light, the remnants of some massive star, warping space and time. I have only a basic knowledge of physics and astronomy, but the landscape of space -- its void, punctuated by bright colors -- and the breakdown of time as I understand it fascinates me. That image of the black hole encapsulated the unknowability of space, its otherness.
It's ironic, then, that science fiction graphic novels, including those set in space and between time, are so good at telling stories that get the crux of what it means to be a human being. They do it all while displaying art that is both sweeping and static, lines you can trace and study, color inked on a thick paper page. It's why I love them dearly. I could wax poetic about them for the remainder of this article. Instead, here are two titles I recommend.
It's November 1, 1988, and 12-year-old Erin Tieng is up early for her shift delivering the daily newspaper around her hometown, Stoney Stream, Ohio. After an encounter with a group of older bullies, Erin teams up with three other paper girls in the area to finish her route. There's chain-smoking Mac, whose tough exterior masks her compassion; Tiffany, a technology and video-game nerd with an acute sense of how to react to danger; and KJ, an athlete with a deep loyalty to her friends.
So begins an epic that spans space and time as the girls find themselves stuck between warring time-travel factions. The art in Paper Girls is reminiscent of that classic superhero style, but with a wider range of colors and saturations than you may find in old comic books. The book also nods toward linguistic evolution -- those characters from the far future speak an altered kind of English, parsable but difficult for the girls (and reader).
I remember reading this book on the New York City subway, turning brightly colored pages as the cars bumped and jolted. The noise of the city disappeared around me. Paper Girls immerses you in its adventure and invests you in the girls themselves -- their courage and the friendships they create.
Currently, I'm reading On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden. Walden, who wrote the script and did the art, is a master of worldbuilding. The story carries its reader through two timelines. In one, schoolgirl Mia falls in love with a mysterious new student, Grace. We watch them grow together inside a stately boarding-school building somewhere in a corner of space where stars are always shining. In the other timeline, set five years later, Mia journeys with a crew to forgotten relics in space to repair them and make them suitable for reuse. The story takes a turn, however, when Mia discovers that one of her co-workers is from the same highly isolationist world as her school love.
Walden's art style is frankly magical. Spaceships are giant fish swimming through the stars. Relic places depict beautiful old buildings geometric in style and often surrounded by strange forests or interwoven with trees, reaching into open courtyards and cracked interiors. Walden's use of negative space -- from the white borders of panels to the black of a starless sky and the sweeping orange of space storms -- keep causing me to stop and just stare for a while at her work.
On a Sunbeam is a coming-of-age novel. But it's also relatable regardless of age. "Sometimes I just wish everything would slow down," Mia says in the book. "I fuck things up, or everything turns sour, and it just rushes by me. And I'll take a second to catch my breath, but by then it's too late. Everything ... everything is gone." I've felt like that -- I don't know about you. But Mia's struggles are also her catalyst to grow and thrive, all with a found family and love story. That, along with the art, keeps me reading.
Becky Chambers's novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate is not a graphic novel. Surprise! But it would make an excellent one. Consider this my plug. The story follows Ariadne O'Neill, a flight engineer traveling to far reaches of outer space along with her research team to search for planets capable of supporting life.
The title of the book references the opening lines of the recording on the Voyager Golden Record, a phonograph intended to reach extraterrestrial life, sent on the Voyager spaceship in 1977. On the recording, UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim says, "We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate."
This desire to be taught weaves its way into the plot, even as the cost of discovery grows more dire. As Ariadne and her crewmates travel in and across dangerous worlds, they find themselves more and more distant in space and time from their home. Eventually, they are faced with a heartbreaking choice. The locals in this book are so vivid and energetic, they would make for fantastic art that could complement the beautiful dialogue and prose in this work. Regardless, this book is an excellent (and short) read.
-- Christina McDermott
We've had some great author visits and interviews recently, so don't miss out. Here is some of our book-related coverage from the last two weeks! Read all this and more at Independent.com.
Illuminating Disabilities via Audiobook by Leslie Dinaberg
Busting Out of the Stigma of Bipolar Disorder by Dale Zurawski
Below, you will find a few bookish events coming up in Santa Barbara. If you are hosting a bookish event in Santa Barbara, be sure to submit the event to our online events calendar.
Romance Book Club
Wednesday, May 21, 5:30 p.m. | S.B. Central Library
Chaucer's Book Talk & Signing: Arvind Ethan David
Thursday, May 22, 6 p.m. | Chaucer's Books
A Reading and Conversation with Jonathan Lethem
Tuesday, May 27, 5 p.m. | S.B. Museum of Art
Chaucer's Book Talk and Signing: Sarah Allaback and Monique F. Parsons
Wednesday, May 28, 6 p.m. | Chaucer's Books
Chaucer's Book Fair & Fundraiser: S.B. High School, AVID Program
Thursday, May 29, 6-8 p.m. | Chaucer's Books
Village Book Club: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Thursday, May 29, 6p.m. | Vandenberg Village Library
We at the Independent get many books sent to us by area authors, sometimes too many! It's practically impossible for us to read and review them all, but just because we are busy bees does not mean that they aren't worth the attention. In an attempt to not completely drop the ball, we have compiled a list of books here that are either written by a Santa Barbara author, feature someone in our community, or have another tie to Santa Barbara. I urge you to look through this list. Perhaps you will find your new favorite read!
The following are the most recent titles that have been sent to us.
If you are a local author and would like us to feature your book in this section, please email allbooked@independent.com with the subject line "S.B. Spotlight."
Thanks to the generous contributions of David Starkey, Brian Tanguay and their team of reviewers at California Review of Books, we are able to provide a steady stream of book reviews via our content partnership. Recent reviews at Independent.com include: