http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews Book News & Reviews Sun, 03 Feb 2008 04:17:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Matrix 79 will be on the shelves soon, with reviews of: The Real Made Up by Stephen Brockwell The Notebook of Roses and Civilization by Nicole Brossard, translated by Robert Mazjels, Erin Moure The Girls Who Saw Everything by Sean Dixon At the Bottom of the Sky by Peter Dubé Long Story Short: a novella ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/matrix-79-reviews/ DC Books, 2007 Read by Vincent Tinguely At The Bottom of the Sky is a collection of linked short stories. A main character in one tale might reappear as an incidental figure in the next, lending the overall impression of a loosely-knit community – vaguely artistic, decidedly intellectual – interacting against the ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/at-the-bottom-of-the-sky-by-peter-dube/ Matrix 78 Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid by Simon Armitage Vermeer's Light by George Bowering The Athiest's Bible by Shalom Camenietzki Avatar by Sharon Harris Basement Tapes by Andrew Faulkner, Nicholas Lea and Marcus McCann Six Ways to Sunday by Christian McPerson Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan The Complete Peanuts, 1963 to 1964 by Charles Schultz The Milk ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/matrix-78-reviews/ Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan Drawn & Quarterly, 2007 The Complete Peanuts, 1963 to 1964 by Charles Schulz Fantagraphics, 2007 Read by Joe Ollmann I first discovered the work of Rutu Modan in Drawn & Quarterly Volume 5. In the story Jamilti, she told the story of an average, bickering, engaged couple, whose day out buying wedding ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/exit-wounds-and-the-complete-peanuts-1963-to-1964/ Nightwood Editions, 2007 Read by Laura Roberts “Dirty pool halls, greasy restaurants, suburban skateboarder showdowns, and dangerous drug dens—some things in life just aren’t very subtle,” begins the back cover blurb for Christian McPherson’s collection of short stories, Six Ways to Sunday. True enough, these stories are about the gritty parts of ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/six-ways-to-sunday-by-christian-mcpherson/ The Onion Union, 2007 Available at www.theonionunion.com read by Jesse Patrick Ferguson In Basement Tapes, three bright young poets have created a wry and surprisingly uniform collection—that is, uniform tonally and stylistically, not in terms of the relative success of each poem.  The collection works within the constraints of a “call-and-answer” framework, with ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/basement-tapes-by-andrew-faulkner-nicholas-lea-and-marcus-mccann/ Mercury Press, 2006 Read by Jenny Sampirisi “I love you.” The word love in poetry is often noosed with cynicism. Love brings with it an expectation of sentimentality that is (or has become) too abstract and sarcastic to be considered sincere. But what is that if not a poetic challenge?  In Avatar Sharon ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/avatar-by-sharon-harris/ Thistledown Press, 2006 Read by Aaron Tucker Despite the title, The Atheist’s Bible is a compilation of stories that is deeply indebted to faith. While Judaism leaks into every story and guides each character, direct religiosity itself is at the fringes of the work. This collection instead puts a great deal of ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/the-atheists-bible-by-shalom-camenietzki/ House of Anansi, 2007 Read by Aaron Tucker There is a joy in Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus The Corduroy Kid that readers will be hard pressed to find in many other books of poetry. Armitage employs a child-like wit and innocence through the images and tone of his poems, which allows each piece ... http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2008/02/tyrannosaurus-rex-versus-the-corduroy-kid-by-simon-armitage/ Coach House Books, 2007 Read by Maria GiulianiIf the name Marvin sounds like it could belong to a geeky, nerdy little boy, you can safely assume that a town called Marvin would be a geeky, nerdy little town.  It is in this small Albertan town that The Milk Chicken Bomb exists. http://matrixmagazine.org/reviews/2007/12/the-milk-chicken-bomb-by-andrew-wedderburn/