Staff Review: Adventure Time ... and cats!

Lately, I've been in a bit of a reading funk. While it seems impossible, I may have grown tired of YA dystopia (at least until Horde, Flame or UnSouled finally come out). In the meantime I've been picking up short, humorous books and graphic novels, many of them offshoots of television shows or websites and many of them about cats. Here are some of my favorites:

Adventure Time, vols. 1 & 2

If, by some chance, you're not an avid watcher of children's cartoons like I am, Adventure Time is an animated TV series on Cartoon Network created by Pendleton Ward. Imaginative, silly and subversive, the series follows Finn the human and Jake the dog and their adventures in the Land of Ooo. Adventure Time Volumes 1 and 2, written by webcomic veteran Ryan North and illustrated by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb, are wonderful companions to the TV show. I was a little wary that the show's magic wouldn't translate well onto the printed page, but I'm happy to say I was wrong. One of the best parts of the books are the hidden messages at the bottom of each page, some of which require decoding! Spin-offs the the original comic books have been published, including Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens by Meredith Gran and Adventure Time: Playing with Fire by Danielle Corsetto and Zack Sterling. Even if you haven't seen the show, I highly recommend the comic books!

Tiny Confessions: The Secrets of Dogs, Cats and Everything by Christopher Rozzi
Tiny Confessions is a collection of single-panel illustrations in which the subject - cat, dog or seashell- confess their most intimate secrets. Rozzi sells art prints of select confessions and maintains a Tumblr, dailytinyconfession. The book is funny, short and, on occasion, hits a little too close to home ...

Henri, le Chat Noir: The Existential Musings of an Angst-Filled Cat by William Braden
Henri, le Cat Noir, rose to Internet celebrity status through his series of black-and-white videos on YouTube, in which he expresses his special brand of angst-ridden feline philosophy (narrated in French, bien sûr). His book, written by William Braden, is a selection of his most profound observations and meditations. I challenge anyone to read this book without a French accent.

I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano and Sorry I Barfed on Your Bed: And Other Heartwarming Letters from Kitty by Jeremy Greenberg
In the same vein, both I Could Pee on This and Sorry I Barfed on Your Bed are collections of humorous (unintentional of otherwise) writings by cats. I Could Pee on This is collection of poems written by comic strip author Francesco Marciuliano (he also writes Sally Forth and the webcomic Medium Large) that allows us to peek into the inner thoughts of feline companions. Not always profound (unlike Henri) but always hilarious, these poems are perfect for cat owners. Not to be left out, dog owners can look forward to I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs later this month.

Sorry I Barfed on Your Bed offers similar insight into our cats' lives. A collection of letters written to the humans in their lives, such as "Clump Scooper" or "Enabler," they address such pressing issues as the need to sleep more than 12 hours a day, to concern over a perceived addiction to eating grass. Each letter is accompanied by a photo of the "author," presumably in mid-dictation.

Two upcoming web-inspired books that I'm looking forward to reading are Lil' BUB's Lil' Book: The Extraordinary Life of the Most Amazing Cat on the Planet (early September) and Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened (late October). Fortunately, I'm finding plenty of other books to occupy me in the meantime!

~ Allison, Adult Services