The first book I have finished in 2010 is the epic graphic novel A Drifting Life, a memoir by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. I first came across his work via being a fan of Adrian Tomine, who introduced Tatsumi’s earlier work to N. American audiences by getting his publisher Drawn & Quarterly to publish them. I’ve read Abandon the Old in Tokyo: Stories, Good-Bye, and The Push-Man and Other Stories, all of which present a gritty and often grim picture of 1970s Japanese city life.

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Lucky’s Comics on Main street had a launch event tonight for Podhaky, a graphic novel from Toronto based illustrators Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek.
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The Secret of Keeping Friends
By Emily Post
63 pages. Rust Craft Publishers. Out of print.*

[Warning - book spoiler!]

Call me stupid, but I have to admit I was actually hoping to learn Emily Post’s secret to keeping friends when I got this book, even if it was mostly relevant to the year MCMXXXVIII when it was published. And I guess I did.

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We Japanese is a book commissioned by the Fujiya Hotel to describe all the customs and traditions of Japan in one handy guide for tourists. We stayed at this hotel on our trip and I had seen the current version of the book on display in the lobby but been unable to buy it because the gift store wasn’t open and we had to leave.

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