I received a lot of fun books, CDs, and DVDs for Christmas this year. I'll try and post about things as I finish them. N. gave me volumes 1-4 of Brian Lee O'Malley's comic series Scott Pilgrim. I just finished reading them and enjoyed them a lot. They're a really fun read. Basically, it's an action/romance: Scott meets his dream girl and has to fight her evil exes to win the privilege of dating her. It's drawn in the style of Japanese manga. The narration incorporates some post-modern touches such as characters' awareness that they're in a comic and video game conventions (during fights characters level up and gain extra lives), etc... that work well with the story. Over all, the books are fun and sweet without being too precious.
One person who did NOT like Scott Pilgrim was N.'s grandpa. Grandpa was in town last week and stayed with us for a couple of days. I had left volume 2 on the kitchen table and one morning Grandpa started reading it over his breakfast of FiberOne.
Grandpa didn't think that the story made a lot of sense (perhaps due to his beginning with volume 2), and he was scandalized by the book's only love scene. I believe his exact words were "she was in her panties and he was patting her nudie bottom!"
I think it was this page he stopped at.
So, Grandpa=not a Scott Pilgrim fan. Stay tuned next week for his take on Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut!
Labels: books, comics, Grandpa, recommended
