1. Nick Bruel, Bad Kitty vs. Uncle Murray

[pauraque]

Hello! Happy to be here.

My 7-year-old loves the Bad Kitty series of books, but I didn't realize until recently that Nick Bruel, the author and illustrator, is Chinese-American. We just read the latest in the series together, so it gets to be my first post here.

The Bad Kitty series, which is about -- get this -- the travails of a disobedient cat named Kitty, hovers somewhere between picture books and chapter books. They're sort of graphic novels for younger kids. This one has 150 pages, many of which are almost all pictures, but some of which are almost all text, and lots that are a mix. (Some of the text pages got long for said 7-year-old to read; he wanted to get back to the pictures.)

Bruel really has a handle on how cats think; anyone who knows cats will greet Kitty's behavior and (internal) thought processes with a mixture of laughter and grim recognition. :P In this one there are also some non-fiction asides discussing why cats behave the way they do -- why they fear strangers and loud noises and so on -- which are lightly-handled and not too long.

The art makes these books. Bruel's style is loose and expressive, effortlessly nailing the facial expressions of animals and people on every page. He is fluent in the language of comics, and can make you giggle with just the turn of a line. My kid just about dies laughing when he sees some of these pictures.

I'm not sure what age group the books are aimed at, but 7 seems just about right, though a slightly older reader would be able to get through more of the text without help. Recommended if you have kids around that age.

(Not sure how to tag the subject beyond it being a children's book. It's about a cat who has to cope with being babysat by a stranger. What does that fall under? :P)


(eta tags: a: bruel nick, children's books, chinese-american)

10. Vikram Chandra, Sacred Games

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

10. Vikram Chandra, Sacred Games

If you ever wanted to know the Mumbai slang terms for 'motherfucker', 'ass-fucker' 'sister-fucker', or just plain old 'fucker', well, this is the book for you!

More seriously, this enormous novel is the story of two men: Sartaj Singh, a world-weary, slightly corrupt, recently divorced, low-level policeman; and Ganesh Gaitonde, the head of an organized crime syndicate, and probably one of the most powerful and wealthy men in India. The novel opens with Singh receiving a phone call from an unknown source, who tells him that Gaitonde is in Mumbai and gives an address. When Singh arrives, he finds a strange building, a sort of concrete bunker; a short conversation between the two men via intercom later, the police break down the door and inside find Gaitonde, dead by his own hand.

The rest of the novel follows two threads. The first is (mostly) Singh's, who is given the assignment to figure out why Gaitonde was in Mumbai and what he was doing in that building. This half of the novel is a crime thriller, particularly as it picks up speed near the end as consequences and meanings start to come clear and events take on an urgency (I admit, I didn't figure out the mystery at all, and once the truth comes out, it's genuinely scary and exciting). Despite that, other characters occasionally speak, ones usually related to the plot, but who fill out the world of the book. I found a chapter from Singh's mother, remembering her childhood during Partition, particularly moving. Partition and the violence then show up repeatedly throughout the novel as a recurring theme. The second half of the story is Gaitonde's; he speaks in first person, directly to Singh, though it's never clear if this is meant to be a ghost, the proverbial "life flashing before your eyes as you die", or what. He retells the story of his life, beginning as a child without a name or past, up through his struggles to get his first few followers, the growth of his mob, gang-wars with rival organizations, several stints in jail, advancing to become an international figure, his dabbles with Bollywood, his struggle with faith, and finally the explanation of how he ended up in a small building in Mumbai and why he killed himself. I liked the Gaitonde sections better than the Singh ones, if just because Gaitonde appealed to me more as a character; he has a incredibly engrossing voice and point of view. And his story is just more exciting, at least until the discoveries Singh makes at the end. The tone of the novel ranges from melodramatic gun shoot-outs or spy adventures to high-minded discussions of religion and the meaning of good and evil. There's lot of sex and violence, but just as many epiphanies and golden moments, and some seriously beautiful turns of phrase.

Highly, highly recommended, though be warned: this is seriously a massive tome of a book (my copy had nearly a thousand pages), so don't start it if you're on a deadline for something.