"Ninja" Paul Gravett, the one man comics crossroad of Britain, has reviewed Tove Jansson Rediscovered, the collection edited by Kate McLoughlin and Malin Lidström Brock [Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2007]. Scroll down past the pillowcases to find the review.As his primary interest is comics, he really only reviews my piece which he mostly seems to like. But he's positive about the project as a whole:
Late last year, the organisers, Kate McLoughlin and Malin Lidström Brock, edited for Cambridge Scholars Publishing a 256-page collection of nineteen essays by these conference attendees, interestingly the majority of them women. It's perhaps inevitably a rather pricey hardback but it is well worth seeking out, perhaps by getting your library to order it in for you. A joyful photo adorns the dustjacket showing an elderly, radiant Tove swimming, her hair garlanded with flowers, and sets the tone. Inside, a six-page section of colour plates includes a striking self-portrait painted in 1942 entitled 'The Lynx Boa' and one of her illustrations from 1966 for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
Get your library to order it today!
2 comments:
Kate's too humble, I guess, to mention that Paul Gravett is one of the most respected and authoritative comics critics in the UK, if not the world. He's the author of Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life and Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics; and co-author (with Peter Stanbury) of Great British Comics: Celebrating A Century Of Ripping Yarns & Wizard Wheezes. So he knows a thing or two about comics, and a review from him carries a lot of weight.
Therefore, when Paul says "I found [Kate's] detailed reading perceptive and refreshing, because she notices those subtle nuances in Jansson's drawings and compositions, ones that veteran comics readers like myself can too easily take for granted," that's a heck of a compliment. Accept it, Kate, accept it! :-)
(Full disclosure: Paul is a friend to both Kate and myself. But when he wrote this review, he had no idea that Kate writes under the name "K. A. Laity." [I know; I asked him!] So this wasn't a "give-a-good-friend-a-positive-review" review; it's an honest and unbiased appreciation.)
Nice!
Would anyone like to write to my library and ask them to dig up the cash for this book?
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