Some Books With Graphics

It's been a little while since I talked about any books over here. That's mostly because I haven't managed to finish all that many books lately because I'm back to reading like five books at a time again :/ Which means that none of them ever get finished. I wish my brain would just learn that yes, Chris...even though the books ALL LOOK AMAZING, that doesn't mean that they have to be read at the same time and RIGHT NOW. In fact, you'd probably get to read them all faster and enjoy them more if you read them one at a time. One day I'll learn that. In the mean time, I'll tell you about three books that I have finished recentlly!

First up is volume #1 in Bill Willingham's House of Mystery graphic novel series. This is one I've had my eye on for awhile but didn't really know what to think of it. Typically, a good way of solving that dilemma is to just read the book, so that's what I did. I liked it! A lot actually! And wanted to go get Volume 2 only to find that it's out of print. Yep...volume 1 is in print as is volumes 3, 4, 5, etc. etc. but not volume 2.....seriously...how much sense does this make???? And the obsessive part of my brain is not going to allow me to just get volume 2 from the library or whatever and buy the rest...I'm going to have to actually own them all so this will be a dilemma.

The good thing about the above paragraph is that I liked volume one enough to WANT to read volume two. The series is literally about a house of mystery from what I can tell from volume 1. It's a house that exists in another dimension of sorts where various people and creatures come and go and the price of a drink at the bar is to tell a story to the other patrons. But there are some people who come to the house that can never leave no matter how they try, as is the case with Fig, a young woman who finds herself in this house, a house that she swears she has dreamt of and designed in her dreams throughout her life. Quite a good book and I'd love to find volume two somewhere!

Next is Volume 5 of Wandering Son by Shimura Takako and I can't really tell you anything about

volume 5 of course because it would spoil the series. But for anyone who's read any of this series, KEEP READING! This is one of my favorite mangas ever. And I love that these are large, hardback mangas, too. The presentation of them is as special as the story. For those who aren't familiar with this title, it's the story of a transgendered boy and a transgendered girl as they come of age during middle school and it's so beautifully told. The story is delicate and what I absolutely love about Takako's writing is that it's almost never even about the characters being transgendered. That's not the focus of the story. The focus of the story is on the characters themselves and that's who you fall in love with and the fact that they're transgendered just happens to be a part of who they are and what they face. I really can't recommend this series enough!

And finally there's Hyperbole and a Half which I just finished and OMG I loved that book so much! I first learned of Allie Brosh's blog when Ana posted a link to her brilliant post "This is Why I'll Never Be An Adult" I always get excited when she puts up a new post and was of course thrilled when I heard that she had a book coming out. The book is fantastic! For readers of her blog, you'll find some of her "best of" posts in there like the above post, but there is also plenty of new material as well. Brosh just has a way of making you laugh your ass off while at the same time going "oh yeah.....I know that feeling." I love her honesty, I love her reflections, I love her humor....she writes nothing at all like David Sedaris, but she reminds of Sedaris in a way. Just like with him, I can be laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes and then all of a sudden the purpose of the story hits me and it takes on a whole new meaning. And I might still laugh some more, but I'm left a better person after having read it.