Recent Book Reviews
Xerography Debt #25
Author: Davida Gypsy Breier, Ed.
Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
Genre: Zine
Pages: 64
Retail Price: $3
The 25th issue of this review zine is their first with the Microcosm seal o’ quality. The editor explains the partnership a little defensively (as there will be inevitable conflicts of interest with Microcosm being a big zine/indie book distributor), but I think it’s great that XD is back in print and has good distribution behind it.
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Vegan Brunch
Author: Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Publisher: Lifelong Books
Genre: Cooking
Pages: 240
Retail Price: $19.95
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I don’t respect brunch as a legitimate meal; I feel like clever restaurateurs created it to upsell stale breakfast food and give diners a shameless rationale for drinking before noon. High tea – now that’s an underappreciated appetite-quencher. When are you hungrier – between breakfast and lunch, or between lunch and dinner? See what I mean? High tea is the perfect in-between meal, with pleasant little sandwiches and a civilized pot of Earl Grey at around 4-4:30, just enough to get you through your cold, lonely commute home. The embracing of brunch over high tea in this country is testament to our collective stupidity and failure as a race and I eagerly await our deserved self-destruction.
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Snakepit 2007 & Snakepit 2008
Author: Ben Snakepit
Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
Genre: Mini-Comic
Pages: 100 pages each
Retail Price: $6
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These two volumes continue Ben Snakepit’s daily three-panel adventures of going to work, getting drunk/stoned, and watching tv. I am impressed that Ben is still chronicling his daily routine after all these years; I just wish that his expression of it were more interesting.
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Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills
Author: Raleigh Briggs
Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
Genre: DIY
Pages: 124
Retail Price: $7
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This little book packs a lot of info on health/first aid, housecleaning, and gardening, focusing on how to use herbs and other natural ingredients in place of your everyday toxic chemicals.
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Sick: A Compilation Zine on Physical Illness
Author: Ben Holtzman, Ed.
Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
Genre: Personal Zine
Pages: 90
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Sick compiles stories and essays from people in the radical/left/DIY communities whose lives have been impacted by medical conditions. As the editor notes, sickness and physical illness aren’t discussed much in the underground subcultures; like anywhere else, talking about illness is taboo, making it difficult for those afflicted by disease to find support within their community.
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A Regular Robert Frost: Bathroom Prose and Graffiti
Author: Troy Keon
Publisher: Two Tone Publishing
Publishing Link: www.twotonepublishing.com
Pages: 56 pages
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Have you ever been taking a dump in a bathroom stall and you just got so consumed with what you were reading on the walls that you didn’t want to get up just yet? No, well then you haven’t seen the bathroom walls in New York then! Troy Keon, Amateur photographer and punk rocker from the band Space Vikings decided it was a good idea to take pictures of graffiti and artwork in bathrooms. The photos were taken in coffee shops, dive bars, clubs, etc. in Sacramento, New York City, San Francisco and Berkeley.
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The Lost Symbol
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 528 pages
Retail Price: $16.47
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In this follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon takes a last minute trip to Washington DC to give a speech as a favor to a prominent Mason and his beloved mentor Peter Solomon. Langdon’s purpose in DC immediately changes when a terrifying object turns up on the floor of the Capitol Building. When Langdon takes a closer look he recognizes the object as an ancient invitation. The story then turns into an intense quest to find Peter Solomon, but first Langdon must face the agenda of his most unusual villain to date.
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Mama Makes Up Her Mind: And Other Dangers of Southern Living
Author: Bailey White
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Genre: Memoir/Humor
Pages: 225 pages
Retail Price: $14.00
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This is a reissue of Bailey White’s collection of anecdotes on growing up in the South. Originally published in 1993, they’re modeled after her commentaries on NPR’s All Things Considered.
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Dwelling Portably: 2000 – 2008
Author: Bert and Holly Davis
Publisher: Microcosm Press
Genre: Wilderness Survival
Pages: 168
Retail Price: $8.00
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This volume collects eight years’ worth of newsletters. On the surface, these newsletters look like lunatic ravings – the type is tiny with huge blocks of text offering creepy and seemingly useless bits of advice: Ways to cut twine when you lack a knife. When boiling pasta by the sea, try using salt water. Auto seat belts make excellent pack-frame straps.
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Don’t Stop Believin’: How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life
Author: Brian Raftery
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Genre: Music
Pages: 224
Retail Price: $16
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As you can expect from a karaoke addict, this book is more about the performer than the song. Don’t Stop Believin’ is more about Brian Raftery’s love of karaoke than about karaoke itself. (A history of karaoke isn’t even covered until page 111.) But this isn’t a bad thing.
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