Book Review - Expand a mind

A wordless graphic novel. A collection of lost dog posters. The intimate thoughts of Kurt Cobain. Those are just a few of the subjects plumbed in a grab-bag of books the staff at Creative Loafing recommends as excellent gift-giving alternatives to those stupid table-top Zen gardens you gave everybody last year.

Eric Drooker takes the term “graphic novel” literally; his new creation, BLOOD SONG (Harcourt, $20), unfolds a compelling fable of lost innocence and the inhumanity of industry — telling the story completely through pictures. Using arresting black-and-white paintings and absolutely no dialogue, the graphic novel shows the journey of a native girl whose village is plundered by an unwelcome army. The heroine and her faithful canine flee to a stark Western metropolis, where she finds only an uncertain redemption. Not just suitable for comic art fans, this book finds universal appeal in its clever storytelling and lush visual appeal.

The slow-mo chase of O.J. Simpson in the infamous white Bronco, Muhammad Ali making grown men weep as he lights the centennial Olympic torch in Atlanta, Nixon’s cheesy Checker’s speech. These are some of television’s greatest moments, and now you can watch ‘em over and over again thanks to Joe Garner’s STAY TUNED (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $49.95), a compendium of TV highlights from the world of news, entertainment and sports. What makes this book so cool is that it includes two DVDs that contain the actual broadcasts covered in the book.

Lost. Perdu. Perdito. Pozor. LOST: LOST AND FOUND PET POSTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD (Princeton Architectural Press, $14.75) compiled by Ian Phillips is an unassuming little collection of crudely drawn, mostly black-and-white posters. The heartfelt, simple renderings hastily cobbled together in states of grief have an immediacy that gets under the skin and speaks to the almost-human status pets have acquired in First World countries. The result is a somehow charming, simplistic cumulative effect of universal heartache. Behind the scrawl on every poster is a tale of loss, love and, ultimately, hope.

Sometimes honesty is the only answer for a world gone to hell in a hand basket. And the clip-art corporate lemmings that inhabit David Rees’ online comic strip “Get Your War On” take honesty to absurd, sometimes scandalous extremes in their vain attempts to weather the perpetual panic attack that rattled us all in the weeks following Sept. 11. GET YOUR WAR ON (Soft Skull Press, $11) compiles 10 months’ worth of the strip. Naked desperation never sounded so funny — or so reassuring.

Found photographs culled from estate sales and flea markets are used to intriguing effect in Martin Parr’s FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOUR HOUSE (Dewi Lewis Publishing, $16.95), a collection of old-fashioned Christmas cards made from family snapshots. Dated from the ’30s through the ’90s, these homespun holiday greetings are sweet, funny and sometimes just plain goofy. Along the same line is Babbette Hines’ PHOTOBOOTH (Princeton Architectural Press, $19.95), a captivating collection of self-made portrait strips taken in automated photo booths. More than 700 head-and-shoulder shots of crying children, sailors, lovers and dandies are featured, most of them taken during the heyday of the photo booth from the ’30s through the ’50s.

An essential possession for devoted Nirvana fans, KURT COBAIN’S JOURNALS (Riverhead Books, $29.95) offers insight into the concerns — both big and small — that occupied the mind of the musical maverick. Pulled together from multiple journals, the entries provide fascinating fodder for the trivia minded, including song lyrics; music video concepts; custom guitar designs; a recipe for “Mom’s Seashell Shrimp Salad”; a letter firing a drummer for missing rehearsal; a rough sketch of the Nevermind album cover and a list of its songs, each one denoted as “sad,” “mad” or “happy.” As the book progresses, the entries get darker. There’s a letter to his father expressing bitterness over his parents’ divorce. Another letter, addressee unknown, details Cobain’s decision to use heroin every day to mask the chronic stomach pains that plagued him for much of his short life.

THE BREAST BOOK: AN INTIMATE AND CURIOUS HISTORY (Workman Publishing, $13.95) by Maura Spiegel and Lithe Sebesta covers the function, fashion and fun of breasts. What appears to be more of a 32A-size book turns into an eye-popping 38D of information on everything from wet nurses, nipples, brassieres, implants, fine art, women’s lib and more. From baring them to binding them, Spiegel and Sebesta chronicle important historical and sociological moments of the luscious, fleshy orbs — all with a dash of humor.

Kevin Murphy gleefully shredded cheesy old flicks on the cable TV show “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” For A YEAR AT THE MOVIES: ONE MAN’S FILMGOING ODYSSEY (Harper Collins, $14.95), he resolved to go to the movies every day for a year, and the book unfolds as “weekly” essays on subjects ranging from the Cannes and Sundance film festivals, movie genres like Hong Kong action imports and self-imposed stunts like smuggling Thanksgiving dinner into Monsters Inc. He still unerringly skewers cinematic skunks, but more than that, Murphy’s a passionate advocate for film as an experience.

David Thomson takes a historical perspective on the cinema for the latest edition of THE NEW BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF FILM (Knopf, $35). The exhaustive volume features 1,300 entries (300 added this year) that span from Abbott & Costello to Ghost World director Terry Zwigoff. Thomson’s short essays combine critical assessment with thumbnail personal sketches, and his opinions can be caustic and provocative but crafted with crystal clarity.

Contributors: Tray Butler, Jane Catoe, Curt Holman, Hobart Rowland, Suzanne Van Atten??