Monkey Vs. Robot by James Kolchalka

Monkey vs. Robot may initially appear simple: it has a minimal art style, barely any words, and an essentially straightforward plot. But James Kolchalka is a master of the deceptively simple, and even a quick glance through makes it clear that his use of minimalism ultimately enriches this book, rather than impoverishing it.

Plotwise, you can read it as a straightforward tale about monkeys and robots duking it out in a jungle. Or you can read it as a metaphor for the way we each are torn by the struggle of oppositional forces within ourselves, or as an allegory about human evolution, or a critique of progress... The book doesn't rule any of these readings out, because the conflict has been stripped down to a kind of primal essence. The story, able to engage readers on many different levels ends up becoming tremendously engrossing.

Artwise, it is worth mentioning that minimalism is harder to do than it looks, and everything here works magnificently: each brushstroke is perfect, the placement and size of each panel contributes to a pacing that absolutely fits. With this book, Kolchalka comes close to establishing himself indisputably as a master of the vocabulary of comics.

A book that is dramatic but not flashy, surprising but not showy, complex but not pointlessly elaborate, simple but not facile.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

On one level, Ender's Game functions as a straightforward SF 'interstellar war' yarn, of your basic Earth vs. Insects variety. On this level, the book is certainly a pleasing read. But much of the book's merit derives from its thematic underpinnings: as much as it is about interstellar war, the book is also about childhood, pedagogy, technology, simulation, strategy, ethics, and, perhaps primarily, empathy. The interplay of these themes suffuse the book with a certain richness, and yet do not slow down the forward motion of the plot.

Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

This is Michael Ondaatje's most linear and most political book, but that doesn't make it a linear political novel. This book is structured around a series of vivid episodes told in lyrical prose — although the lyricism is more restrained here than in his other novels, and sometimes the episodes seem just slightly canned, as though Ondaatje is imitating his own style. This may just be a result of the reemergence of the familiar Ondaatje themes and imagery — obscure books, ruins, bodily sensuality, the lure of the anonymous. All rich themes, to be sure, tempered here with increased sobriety, perhaps as a result of Ondaatje's increased attention to political violence.

The book examines the recent strife in Sri Lanka, and its repercussions on everyday people. A civil war among multiple factions, the Sri Lankan conflict is a representative example of the face of modern warfare, something most of us in North America have little direct experience with. This energizes the book, as does the book's character as a modern detective story (forensics), but its plot still seems to stall out in places — the importance of the skeleton's identity is never quite established in the reader's mind once and for all. Ondaatje is a great writer, one of the best currently working, and he's at the top of his game, and this book truthfully is enjoyable, important, and often powerful; if it disappoints it does so only by virtue of not being a masterpiece.

Everyone Is a Designer! edited by Miekke Gerritzon

A tiny book of aphorisms, slogans, and brief thinkpieces on design and the "design economy," set in a deliberately "ugly" design. The bits are contributed from a wide range of designers and "new media" types, and the quality varies accordingly: some are genuinely thought-provoking, although these are few and far between. Others elicit little more than a shrug from me. The worst of them are from the pattern of that Wired-style "new economy" boosterism that has become so familiar over the past decade: these seem especially tired in the light of the post-April 2000 landscape. The book had begun to show its age before it was even published.