I started this in May. I had a bad time. I am a bit better. And throughout it all, Modelland was there.... not there for me. Not there for a
Modelland!!
Tyra Banks wrote a YA novel in 2011. It is perhaps the strangest thing I have ever read. It is a captivating fever dream of whimsy and body horror, where children are devoured by monsters made of harvested human flesh and a god-queen reigns from on high over a fashion school.
Text version of the review is here. This is my longest ever review for a single book: 33k! 4 hours! Please enjoy.
tyra banks' YA novel got absolutely eviscerated when it came out so this is going to be a spicy opinion: modelland is fantastic outsider art. like. this is good art. you can't convince me it's ghostwritten either. it's too weird for that. idk man it feels wrong to me to pan a work that is A) weird and fascinating and B) not created in bad faith. this is my bar for good art. which means the weird tyra banks novel is good actually
I haven't done one of these in ages... mostly because I've been kept way too busy to read much or even think about compiling what I did get around to reading orz But I have had a chance to read at least a few fun things this year so far and decided to round up some of my favourites!
Asterix and the Griffin
I finally read the newest Asterix comic. My main takeaway: it wasn't one of my favourite Asterix stories, but none of the new ones have been, but I do think it's one of the best by this new team so far. The finale was beautiful! Also, I hate Papercutz and would fistfight them in an alley.
The Complete Brambly Hedge
I read this back in January and it was so soft and sweet. I love these sorts of children stories, and the art was stunning. Honestly, I kind of feel like I need to buy this one. Any story about tiny little guys living in a big world is a set up for me to fall in love, and this one came complete with cute little mouse house cutaway diagrams!
Carry On
I was super skeptical about this one to start with, the Harry Potter satire just felt... way to heavy-handed, but when it finally clicked... boy did it ever click. I think this ended up being my favourite book that I've read this year so far, I am completely smitten with Simon and Baz, they were excellent protagonists and the audiobook I listened to did excellent work.
Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Caleb Widogast
I listened to a few episodes of Critical Role and enjoyed it, but never managed to stick with it, instead I mostly absorbed this series through dashboard osmosis. Still, I knew enough that reading the comic was a real treat. The art was beautiful, and poor Caleb really had a rough go...
Failed Princesses v5
The latest volume of Failed Princesses. Me and my brother are hooked, though as he put it you could cut the drama with a knife. In a good way. Bless these useless lesbians.
Heartstopper v1-3
I started watching the Netflix show, so obviously I had to go back and reread the first three books! And finally get my shit together and order the fourth in... Continues to just be cute as anything. Would recommend both the graphic novels and the show, they're both acting as a balm for my soul.
Kiki's Delivery Service
Did you know the Ghibli film was based off a children's novel?? Because I sure didn't! I bought this on a whim when I saw it in the local bookshop, and it's adorable. It fits that common 20th century kidlit genre where you have a main character going through little mini adventures/experiences in each chapter. The first book is almost a one to one with the movie, though it diverges at the end. Still, for a kid's novel, it was a delightful, quick little read.
Modelland
This is an actual nightmare that me and my girlfriend were reading outloud to each other for a few months. We finished it in January, but at what cost. I have never read anything so absolutely off the wall fucking weird. I have no idea what Tyra Banks was thinking and I'm not convinced she knew either. Way more fun than it should have been, it was captivating in the same way as a car crash.
Mr Popper's Penguins
A classic kidlit novel I had always meant to read and just had never gotten around to. Finally knocked it out in a day, and found it very charming. I can see why it's stuck around in our collective conscious.
The Outbursts of Everett True
I had seen comics of this floating around on tumblr for a while and finally decided to pick up a copy and read it. Despite how old the comics are, it really does tap into a timeless secret desire to just kick the shit out of people who mildly inconvenience us. Is it serious, or take itself seriously? Absolutely not. Have all the jokes aged well? HECK NO! But there was enough that felt VERY relatable and satisfying that I definitely though it was a worthwhile read!
The Purple Smurfs (and two other stories)
I had never read any actual Smurf comics, which feels odd given how big it was a few decades back. It was an enjoyable comic with very pretty art, though it reinforces, once again, my desire to feed Papercutz to rapid ladybugs. Why are they the only game in town for Smurfs comics?? These are classics, I'd thought they'd be everywhere!
Spiderwick v1-3
I've been working my way through the Spiderwick books this week, since I hadn't read them since I was a kid. They really are superbly written little novels. They never try to tackle too much in one book, and ensure what they do is imaginative, slightly horrifying, and accompanied by the most gorgeous art you can imagine. I'll never forgive the movie they'd attempted, because this series was a work of art.
My girlfriend and I are reading... a book. I cannot overstate how much of a book it is. Character description under the cut in case you don’t believe the accuracy of this design.
Have you ever seen her? The girl whose eyes are three centimetres too far apart and whose mouth is four centimetres too wide. Not that you’d break out a ruler, but when you look at her, it’s enough to make you say that something is definitely... off. She’s the girl whose hair has multiple personality disorder and can’t decide if it’s supposed to be quasi-curly, silky-straight, frantic-frizzy, or wet-and-wavy -- or maybe “power to the people” ‘fro. The girl whose body is a contradiction to itself: a slightly hunched back (from years of poor posture, one must presume), feet the size of snow shoes, and stick-figure arms and legs so fragile, you’d think you hear them screaming “feed me an entire grilled cow, now!” The girl with the humongous, punch-bowl-sized head, with a forehead that goes on and on and on, making her look like the weight of her cranium will topple her over and break her into a thousand pieces. And not only is her clothing painfully mismatched, so are her eyes, dahling. You heard me right. So has one green eye and one brown one. Have you ever seen Tookie De La Crème.
So I finished reading Modelland by Tyra Banks today
There is not nearly enough fanart in the world for this piece of literary art, and I'm pretty sure that's because no one who read it knows what the hell was going on.
