Advice to artists: learn from the best!

If you're in the mood for something a little different, take a look at Drawing from Memory by Allen Say. Part graphic novel and part biography, Mr. Say tells his story of growing up in Japan and his desire to be a cartoonist, despite objections from his father.  At the age of 12, the author sought out Noro Shinpei, a famous Japanese cartoonist, with hopes of working for him and learning the art of cartooning.  Through a combination of drawings and sketches from the past and the present, the reader learns how Shinpei became Mr. Say's sensei, or teacher.  The format of the book takes getting used to, with the styles of drawings and the page lay-outs varying quite a bit, but the story is intriguing and gives good insight into the hard work required to excel as an artist.

Who exactly IS Lemony Snicket?

I don't typically pick up biographies, but I couldn't resist when I saw Lemony Snicket (David Handler) by Dennis Abrams. Many of you probably know that Lemony Snicket is the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, 13 novels about the sad, amazingly funny and awful lives of the three Baudelaire orphans. But you may not know that the author's real name is David Handler. Not too surprisingly, he's a pretty interesting guy, with interests ranging from humor to poetry to playing the accordion. That said, I had a hard time getting into the book. It felt like the author was trying to write like Lemony Snicket, whose style is so unique that imitation of it just doesn't work. I also thought there was a pretty weak connection between the text and the pictures. But maybe I'm not a good judge, since I don't read many biographies. What do YOU think?