February recs: a blog post and a graphic novel

[sophia_sol]

february was a bit of a wash as a month for me, and consequently I do not have the usual sort of recs round-up for this month. Here's what I've got!


1.

This post by Ada Palmer about looking at the Medici family in Renaissance Florence through a disability lens and through a tyranny lens, and how both are relevant, is an excellent read!

"We always worry about bias in history, but one part of bias is: What question were you asking in the first place?"


2.

it occurs to me that if any of you aren't familiar with the award winning graphic novel Digger by Ursula Vernon, which was originally posted as a webcomic, it is my duty to tell you about it, and let you know that the full story is available to read online for free. It is brilliant, highly recommended.

Digger is the story of a wombat who ends up far from her home after a run-in with magic underground, and who ends up on a quest to deal with the problem of a dead god. It's funny, it's heartfelt, it has amazing worldbuilding and characters, and the art is incredible.

Here's the link to the first page!

Comments

[china_shop]

<3 <3 <3

The art on Digger reminds me a bit of Bea Wolf, a retelling of Beowulf for kids, in graphic novel form. (It's surprisingly awesome!) /random :-)

(Hi, I have The Empress of Salt and Fortune out of the library but haven't had a chance to reread it yet...)

[sophia_sol]

<333

huh, the art I see in sample pages for Bea Wolf doesn't look much at all like Digger to me except in that it's also black and white, but it's possible I'm simply far too familiar with Ursula Vernon's art style so that her art is very specifically distinctive to me and nothing else looks like it!

and yayyy, looking forward to your further thoughts on Empress when you get the chance!

[china_shop]

Oh, oops, I remember Bea Wolf being blockier than it is. Yeah, it's probably just the black-and-white-ness, and the balance of them that ping my (extremely non-visual) brain. I don't read many graphic novels, so I have extremely limited referents. Ignore me! :-) :-)

[pauraque]

I feel like I have been linked to Digger like 20 times and I tuck it in a bookmark somewhere and never read it. Maybe this time will be different!

[sophia_sol]

ahhh yes, I know that feeling! I hope this time it sticks!

[jesse_the_k]

Ada Palmer on the world's biggest ramp and rampant gout is so great. Can't wait for the audiobook of Inventing the Renaissance!

[sophia_sol]

yeah I've loved Palmer's writings on the renaissance for years, and although her foray into fiction writing didn't work for me, I'm very excited for this nonfiction book by her!

[chestnut_pod]

Where DID February go?

I am definitely going to snatch a moment to read that Palmer post.

[sophia_sol]

yay, hope you enjoy the Palmer post too!

[lannamichaels]

That's a really great post on disability. I think there's a tendency to ignore both how common disabilities are in history and also how being rich/important is in some ways a disability accommodation (being able to hire servants, etc) and in many ways also not. I deal personally with a lot of chronic pain and it's amazing even in my own life how some things are disability because of the structures of society (even far down into all the times I struggle with being a leftie in a world designed for righties!) and some things would be disabilities even if those structures were replaced by more accessible ones. My absolute biggest disability is terrible eyesight... but I have access to opthamologists and can afford glasses, so my biggest disability really just means I can't see in the rain when my glasses fog. That's it. The entire history of humans losing eye sight as they age, and I'm like "ugh so this great eyeglasses place doesn't take my insurance, but it's still affordable, just a complaining-about price, rather than fully covered".