We're already almost 2 months into 2012 so I figure it's time for last year's reading wrap-up. I had an interesting crop last year -- 11 graphic novels, 5 of which were "nonfiction" (biography or autobiography/memoir) and 9 novels, including one by a Nobel Prize winner, two comedies, one horror, and one for young readers. 9 of the 11 graphic novels I read were chosen by Ryan Evans' for his graphic novels book group (thanks Ryan!). Overall, I didn't get a lot of reading done in 2011, but what I lacked in volume I made up for in diversity. I'll put them in the order I read them with a brief description for each.
Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds
This graphic novel is set in the countryside at a writer's retreat in contemporary England. It was based on Thomas Hardy's
Far from the Madding Crowd, but since I've never read that novel all that went right over my head. I enjoyed it (much more than the film adaptation of it) and gave it to a friend as a gift.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I read this mostly because everyone else seems to have read it, and like everyone else, I, too liked it. In case you've been living under a rock for the past few years, it's a novel about racial and social barriers in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. All the main characters are women. It was a good read and I really cared about the characters. This is the first full novel I read in digital format. I haven't seen the movie yet.
George Sprott by Seth
This graphic novel is hard to describe. It's the fictional biography of a Canadian television show host, pieced together from interviews with family members, friends, and associates after his death. Very sad. Loved the art.
Special Exits by Joyce Farmer
This graphic novel is about the decline and death of the author's father and stepmother. Some parts were touching in their honesty, and others were humorous. But overall, it was not the escapism I was looking for.
Johnny Tremain by by Esther Forbes
I read this as a child and loved it. I think it was one of my first (maybe the first) historical fiction novels. I found it on a bookshelf at my parents' house and got drawn into reading it again by the endpapers that show a historical map of Boston. Many of the places that Johnny visits in the book are places that I walk through on my way to work, and it's wonderful to read the book again as an adult and picture the city as it was during the Revolutionary War.
Shallows by Tim Winton
I am a big fan of Tim Winton and have measured out his books over the years. This one is just not as good as many of his others, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you've read all the others and want to fill in the blanks.
The Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Emmanuel Guibert
My main problem with this graphic novel is that the lettering was so small that I could hardly read it. The title pretty much sums it up; it's a biographical piece that is based on the photos and journals of the photographer Didier Lefevre during his trip to Afghanistan in 1986. I really liked the combination of the actual photographs with the illustration, and the story was riveting.
How Right You Are, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Bill got me this book because I wanted to find something to read that was light and funny. I don't know how he knew about the Jeeves books, he has never read any himself, and they were published in the 1930s I think. Anyhow, it was a joy to read -- witty, eccentric, very British, extremely silly, and of course with a happy ending. Just what I was looking for.
Beanworld Book 1: Wahoolazuma! by Larry Marder
Whoah! This is weird stuff. Morgan and I both read this, and we both loved it. You can't say that for many books.
Summertime: Fiction by J.M. Coetzee
This novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2009 but lost out to the book I am currently reading, Wolf Hall. It's constructed in a way that is very interesting to read but I don't want to say too much about it since the fun (okay it's a stretch to use that word to describe this book) is in reading it without reading the back cover first and figuring it out as you go along. I read a review that called this book "inventive" (which it certainly is) but also "unsparing" and "painful".
Louis Riel by Chester Brown
This is a non-fiction historical graphic "novel" about the life of a 19th century Canadian folk hero. Yeah, it was a bit dry. It was worth reading just for the artwork.
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
This novel had me hooked in early and I enjoyed reading it. The story managed to be about the disparity between first and third world countries without being too preachy or irritating.
The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar
This delightful book was my favorite graphic novel for the year. Read it! You'll like it.
Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
This is another in the Jeeves series. I found this lovely quote in its Wikipedia entry, which pretty much sums it up: Stephen Fry,
in an article titled "What ho! My hero, PG Wodehouse", remarks on the
popularity of the work, especially the prize-giving episode:
The masterly episode where Gussie Fink-Nottle presents the prizes
at Market Snodsbury grammar school is frequently included in collections
of great comic literature and has often been described as the single
funniest piece of sustained writing in the language. I would urge you,
however, to head straight for a library or bookshop and get hold of the
complete novel Right Ho, Jeeves, where you will encounter it fully in
context and find that it leaps even more magnificently to life.
Carnet de Voyage by Craig Thompson
This was really more of a sketchbook and travel diary than a graphic novel. We read this for our graphic novels group the month that Craig Thompson made an appearance at the Brattle to promote
Habibi and we all went during our regular meet-up time.
Carnet de Voyage was kind of "eh", but I really enjoyed hearing Thompson speak, which led me to my next book...
Goodbye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson
This was recommended by a friend as something by Thompson that I would enjoy, and she was right. Naive, sweet, sad, and funny.
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
This book isn't something that would I have thought to read on my own, but my friend Jen recommended it so highly that I purchased it last winter and was all set to read it then, but Jen said I had to wait to read it in October, when it takes place. I'm glad I did. It's a great read for Halloween time; creepy, oh so creepy. But also poetic and moving, with an autumnal melancholy.
Epileptic by David B.
This graphic memoir of growing up in France with an epileptic brother and parents desperate to find him help is amazing -- the art and the story are perfectly interwoven.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
This novel was recommended by a friend and I enjoyed it so much that I gave it to my sister as a gift. I loved the setting (mostly in Ethiopia in the 1960s and 70s) and the characters and the richness of the descriptions and the way the story was told. I got a little bit impatient with the main love story (how stupid can people be?) but still found it a good read.
Feynman, a graphic novel by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick
This graphic novel tells the true life story of a very interesting and renowned scientist, and has great art. What's not to like?
