#keum suk gendry kim

[smokefalls]

When you land in hell, you need the will to survive. You need something like a lifeline that’s connecting you to hope. So that you don’t go crazy. So that you can keep breathing when one day feels like ten years. When basic instinct takes over instead of reason, maybe you need to believe in a concept like love to bear everything.

Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, Grass (translated by Janet Hong)

[yexuscomic]

Suplemento cultural Sotileza (EL DIARIO MONTAÑÉS)

[mangacapsaicin]

keum suk gendry-kim’s grass || 김금숙（ギムグムスク）の『풀』（プール）

[smashpages]

Out this week: Dog Days (Drawn and Quarterly, $24.95): 

D+Q present an English language verison of South Korean creator Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s story of a couple who adopt a dog and the changes it bring to their life.

See what other comics and graphic novels will arrive at your local comic shop this week.

[godzilla-reads]

❄️ The Naked Tree by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (trans. Janet Hong)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4

Adapted from the beloved novel by the same name written by Park Wan-suh, this graphic novel is taking place during the Korean War and follows young woman who begins to fall in love with a painter. Lee Keonga struggles at her job and struggles with her mother after disaster and this story gives her a look at unlikely friendship and a brush with desire.

I originally read Gendry-Kim’s book “Grass” and fell in love with the way she tells stories and her art style, the overabundance of symbolism and how stark it is in black and white. This book continues on her style and shows us a world torn into parts by a war and how that affects people. I liked seeing the progression of all Keonga’s relationships through the story and how the trees ended up becoming a constant motif of perseverance and growth. Keum Suk Gendry-Kim shows a whole new way to share stories through comics.

[date-prisa-estamos-leyendo]

La espera, Keum Suk Gendry-Kim.

[various-stormsnsaints]

#39

[librarycomic]

These are the "new" books I finished during my trip.

Comedy Book by Jesse David Fox.

My favorite book on standup comedy ever. Go listen to past episodes of Jesse David Fox's podcast Good One -- if you enjoy those (he mostly talks to comedians about a single joke of theirs) you'll likely love this. No one thinks about comedy as much as or as thoughtfully as Fox.

Dog Days by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

A nonfiction graphic novel in which Gendry-Kim moves to the country and adopts multiple dogs, plus helps take care of a few others. It's personal but less heavy than Grass and The Waiting, though it still has cultural significance and may help folks understand South Korea a little better. Gendry-Kim made me love her dogs Potato and Carrot, as well as others who appear in the book.

Jimmy's Elbow by James Kochalka

I needed a dose of silliness, and young Jimmy's adventures with the talking spirit of his elbow -- it comes to life after he whacks it on something -- fit the bill. Gloriously ridiculous.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. And three of its sequels: Carl's Doomsday Scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook, and The Gate of the Feral Gods.

These books are also ridiculous, and light reading in the best way. Aliens destroy human civilization and open doors into an underground dungeon across the globe. Those who enter become contestants in a deadly RPG-like reality show that involves magic, combat, leveling-up, convoluted storylines, sponsors, off-world royalty, and a lot of Earth culture that has been appropriated and adapted in the name of making a buck (for our new alien overlords). At the center of it all are Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Donut, whom you'll love if you hate dogs (or just like cats who aren't afraid to shit-talk them to their faces). So much fun.

I've kept reading the series since returning home, and I've finished the 5th book. I plan to read book six and the newly released book seven soon. (Thanks for the recommendation, Mike!)

[jbbartram-illu]

After failing to do so for the last two years, I’ve gone through my books-read for the year & compiled a list of my favourite reads!

While doing this I also discovered that I’d missed putting four entire books on my master list that all should have been in my best-of list, so here’s the final top 22 (in no particular order)…

Matrix - Lauren Groff

My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell

Echo - Thomas Olde Heuvelt

The Kingdoms - Natasha Pulley

The Waiting - Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

Nightbitch - Rachel Yoder

The Glass Hotel - Emily St John Mandel

These Ghosts Are Family - Maisy Card

Greenwood - Michael Christie

Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss

A Master of Djinn - P. Djèli Clark

What is Home, Mum? - Sabba Khan

The Women of Troy - Pat Barker

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina - Zoraida Córdova

Fevered Star - Rebecca Roanhorse

Blackfish City - Sam J. Miller

Just Like Home - Sarah Gailey

The Book of Form & Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy - Becky Chambers

The Galaxy, And the Ground Within - Becky Chambers

Stormsong - C.L. Polk

Soulstar - C.L. Polk

If you want to look at all the books I read/re-read this year, you can see my entire messy googledoc list here!

Turns out that being absolutely terrible at managing a library holds list + feeling obliged to finish almost all the books I take out = reading the most I've ever read in a year (Total was also helped by a visit to the used bookstore in the town closest to my cottage + buying a huge stack of British mystery novels to devour during my time up north)??

Also, I'm always looking for book recommendations! What were your favourite reads of 2022? Are there exciting books you know are coming out in 2023/any books that you've got on your list for the new year (new or old pubs)? Please tell me them!!

*illustration at the top there is by me, from the book that I finished illustrating back in the summer...hopefully I'll have an idea of when that's coming out soon!

[smokefalls]

Title: Grass Author: Keum Suk Gendry-Kim Translator: Janet Hong Publication Year of Translation: 2020 Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly Genre: nonfiction, biography, history, graphic novel

The history of “comfort women” (i.e., girls and women who were forced into sexual slavery by Imperial Japan’s military) is one of the many heartbreaking parts of Korea’s dark history during the twentieth century. In Grass, Gendry-Kim illustrates the life story of one survivor, the late Lee Okseon, starting from Lee’s childhood leading up to the present. Lee had a difficult life even before she was forced into sexual slavery, and she recounted life under Japanese occupation and those who suffered under their rule (particularly Koreans). Unfortunately, life remained difficult for her even after she and the rest of Korea were liberated, facing enough adversity throughout her life that she stated, “I’ve never known happiness from the moment I came out of my mother’s womb.”

I thought Gendry-Kim did a wonderful job presenting Lee’s story with great respect, as she never turned Lee’s suffering into a spectacle, as well as emphasizing that Lee is more than a survivor. I really liked the brushwork art style that Gendry-Kim used, and I got the impression that she was heavily inspired by traditional Korean brushwork. She noted at the end of the graphic novel that she “refrained from provocative expressions to give lightness to a story burdened with such brutality.” On this note, I did feel that she found a relatively good balance between restraint and freedom in her illustrations, the freeing moments especially highlighted when opportunities arose to show the beautiful landscapes of Korea, as well as the occasional smiles and laughter given by Lee in the present.

Lee was one of the few remaining comfort women survivors (at least based on those registered with the South Korean government), and she passed away in 2022. It breaks my heart to know the number of survivors is growing smaller, with neither those who have passed away or are currently alive having received full reparations and a proper apology from the Japanese government. It’s imperative that their life stories are documented in all forms, and I truly appreciate that Gendry-Kim did so with great care through a graphic novel form.

Content Warning: rape, sexual violence, war, murder, violence, trafficking, death, misogyny

[yexuscomic]

EL DIARIO MONTAÑÉS

[mangacapsaicin]

keum suk gendry-kim’s grass || 김금숙（ギムグムスク）の『풀』（プール）

[smashpages]

Out this week: The Naked Tree (Drawn + Quarterly, $29.95):

Keum Suk Gendry-Kim adapts Park Wan-suh’s beloved novel of the same name, about a woman trying to survive in post-war Korea.

See what else is arriving in comic shops this week.

[godzilla-reads]

📖 November Reading Wrapup 📖

I started off November with 149 books in my pocket and left at 164 books, meaning I read 15 books this month! My top 3 are starred below:

🌎 What You Need to be Warm by Neil Gaiman

⭐️ Rules for a Knight by Ethan Hawke

🪐 Alone in Space: A Collection by Tillie Walden

⭐️ Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee

❤️ Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales by Melanie Gillman

💍 The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

🗻 So Far So Good: Final Poems 2014-2018 by Ursula K. Le Guin

🧟 Zombie Penpal by Ken McMurtry

🧄 Garlic & the Vampire by Bree Paulsen

🐥 Poems About Birds edited by H.J. Massingham

❄️ The Naked Tree by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (trans. Janet Hong)

🐲 The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

⭐️ Things You May Find Hidden in my Ear: Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha

🏴‍☠️ One Piece Vol. 6: The Oath by Eiichiro Oda

🍄 How to See Fairies and Other Tales by Charles van Sandwyk