Brought to light : photography and the invisible, 1840-1900
From an exhibition of photographs of the previously unseen at the dawn of photography: microscopic, x-ray, stop-motion, even spirit photography. Pretty neat! I’m not sure why I feel guilty skipping the essays in photography books, but I do. Four stars.

Store front : the disappearing face of New York
Another photo exhibition, this time of old storefronts in New York (like http://www.londonshopfronts.com/ ). Very interesting to see the signs and shop designs, and even recognized a few (Russ and Daughters, from Calvin Trillin’s work). But only focusing on older stores can make a town look a bit shabby, but on the plus side it also makes a town look chock full of delicatessens, appetizers (like a deli but with dairy and fish), and pork stores (!!). Four stars.

Tintin : the complete companion / Michael Farr.
More books where I just look at the pictures (it’s easy on the brain). Turns out that Herge collected a lot of photo reference for his work and it’s pretty cool to see what he used. Three stars.

Stories in stone : a field guide to cemetery symbolism and iconography / written and photographed by Douglas Keister
A great idea, and I was looking forward to learning about cool graveyard symbols, but full of errors and omissions. Boo! I am both disappointed and a disappointed ghost. No stars.

Schooled / Gordon Korman (Y)
Very plot-driven, but a mostly light 8th grade drama. I liked it. Two stars.

How to Cosplay vol. 1
So you know those amazing costumes you see at conventions? Yeah, they took all year and at least $1000 to make. But here’s how to do some cool special effects make up to go with that outfit. Two stars for being neat and not applying to my life. (Note: two of the models work at a cross-gender maid cafe in Japan. What in the US could possibly sound as foreign to the Japanese?)