Everything in Color

 Everything in Color: A Love Story by Stephanie Stalvey (2026) 528 pages

I am loving the works publisher 23rd St, under the umbrella of First Second Books, is putting out in the world. This shares some themes with Craig Thompson's Blankets that I reviewed earlier this year. This story of a church kid growing up in purity culture and later deconstructing their Christian beliefs through falling in love with a man (a seminary student) and becoming a mother is so honest. The art (both black & white and color) is stunning. I especially love her use of the wolf imagery. Stephanie Stalvey has the revelation that the message of love, sold by many churches, is in reality primarily concerned with obedience and a punitive system for sin. The narrative of this graphic memoir is clear and strong.

Fantasyland

 

Fantasyland : how America went haywire : a 500-year history / Kurt Andersen, read by the author, 475 pgs.

500 years in slightly fewer pages, much of this is a very interesting thread of how attitudes and beliefs have changed in this country.  Some where we picked up the idea that we are all so "individual" that we have the right to believe things...whatever things we want to believe.  Reason went out the window and conspiracy theory's and fantasy took over.  On the one hand, I found this fascinating, on the other hand, it was terrifying.  As a librarian, the idea that facts are optional isn't popular.  Surely we can do better, but will we?