17 for 2017: Mariko Tamaki recommends The Land of Forgotten Girls
By Chase Joynt
1. The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly recommended by Mariko Tamaki
Throughout my tenure as the December Writer-In-Residence, I will be assembling a list of 17 must-read-books for 2017. To accomplish this numerically satisfying task, I have asked 17 people whose work I adore to suggest one title for the list.
The first time I saw Mariko Tamaki read was in the basement of the San Francisco Public Library. We had been invited by Michelle Tea to participate in the RADAR Reading Series, and on that day, I was struck by the youthful, punchy and inspired tone of Mariko’s reading and writing. Best known for her graphic novels Skim and This One Summer, co-created with Jillian Tamaki, Mariko is currently writing a new Hulk series for Marvel Comics with Nico Leon, and her Supergirl: Being Super series, with Joëlle Jones for DC Comics will be out in December 2016.
From Mariko:
I'm going to recommend The Land of Forgotten Girls, by Erin Entrada Kelly. It’s a middle grade book I think young readers, old readers, really anyone who wants to read a really great story would enjoy. The Land of Forgotten Girls is about the place of make believe in the real world. It's about where make believe fits into real life, conflicts with it, shelters us from it in ways that are good and bad. I'd say it's like Peter Pan but with two sisters in modern America. As someone who spent the greater part of her childhood pretending to be a pony, I could definitely relate.
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Stay tuned as we build the ultimate 2017 reading list!
A new suggestion from an inspired thinker emerges every-other-day for the month of December on open-book.ca.
December Writer-In-Residence
Chase Joynt is a filmmaker and writer. His latest two films Genderize and Between You and Me are now streaming live online with CBC Digital Docs. His first book, You Only Live Twice (co-authored with Mike Hoolboom) was published by Coach House Books and just named one of the Best Books of 2016 by The Globe and Mail and CBC. His second book The Case of Agnes (co-authored with Kristen Schilt) is forthcoming from Duke University Press.
The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book.
Chase Joynt is a Toronto-based moving-image artist and writer who has exhibited his work internationally. He recently received a Mellon Fellowship in Arts Practice and Scholarship at the University of Chicago.
You can write to Chase throughout the month of December at writer@open-book.ca.