Well, my 50 books a year... isn't really working out. Maybe I should just lower that figure to 25 or 30 or something but hey - 17 books so far is pretty good right? Here's the list and maybe some recommendations for those of you who need another book to read.

I'm not sure if I've recommended anything by Guy Delisle before, but he's a great author who writes and draws these clean-lined graphic novels about his experiences in other countries where he usually lives for a year or so. Burma Chronicles is a particularly interesting volume because of the politics involved.

Guy and his wife (a doctor for Doctors Without Borders / MSF France) travel to Burma (Myanmar) with their young son for a year of treating Malaria, HIV, and other illnesses. The country is run by a strict dictatorship and censorship is the norm. It's a fascinating, sometimes funny story that really gives you a great feel for the country.

4/5.

Fun House, A Family Tragicomic is Alison Bechdel's autobiography, but it's also a mystery/biography of her father. The "Fun Home" refers to the family business, a funeral home. This is a serious, funny, and extremely dark historical piece with a heavy focus on sexuality and gay culture.

4.5/5

fucking_read has a new layout for increased prettyness and whatnot. Enjoy~

runpunkrun is one of my favourite authors on LJ and I love reading her journal. She also posts book recs, like the ones in this post. There are some things in there I'm definitely picking up. You might want to check her out!

Shenzen is an award-winning comic book based on Guy Deslisle's three months spent in China managing an animation studio. He hates the area he's in but he loves the food; he has weird and pseudo-religious experiences in public washrooms; he has no idea what the Chinese are thinking.

The story is by turns creepy, funny, sad, and almost sweet though overall he hated his stay. Regardless, it's a fascinating read. This was similar to Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (about her youth in Tehran during the revolution). Really neat to read.

4/5

I was in Vancouver lately, and there I went to a store purported to be The Best BookStore in The Entire World. I don't know if it really was, but it was pretty, and the children's section was amazing. It included copies of classic books in all different languages. The books I bought though, were in English.

Oliver Jeffers is an Irishman who writes and paints these adorable, hilarious children's books. He's written three so far: Lost and Found, about a boy and his penguin (very, very cute); The Incredible Book-Eating Boy (about, surprise, a boy who eats books-- I highly recommend the hardcover); and How to Catch a Star (about a boy and his star).

I won't actually go into details because they're short and aimed at ages 5-8, but all three books are amazing and really the best things I've bought in months. You'll seriously love these. Give them a shot!

5/5 for all of them.

I'm a sucker for a good cover or some nice binding. I'm not afraid to admit it! I mean, shouldn't a good book have a good cover? It's kind of a shame when one doesn't. So when I hit the Beguiling a few months back, I picked up Castle Waiting by Linda Medley because it was hardcover, short, thick, beautifully bound and with a great cover.

( Okay, and the paper was nice and felt good under my fingers, too. But it's a great book! )

5/5

You can read a sample chapter here on her website.

It's not very often that a graphic novel shows up on a course syllabus, especially not for a Rhetoric class at Innis College. (Which actually surprises me a little.) So when my Professor said we were reading Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, I was a little wary of it. Doubly so when I found out that the prof doesn't actually really read graphic novels, either.

I was wrong to worry! It's a political piece, an autobiography, a kid's book, a travel book, a historical document. ( It's forcing me to use like, 18 tags for this entry. )

5/5

aishuu recommended a series starting with "Enchanted Inc" by Shanna Swendson a while back on her journal and I picked them up right before my vacation because I thought they would be good vacation reading. I was right and wrong. My mistake was packing only the first book. There are two out right now and the third comes out in May.

The title of this entry isn't a mistake-- it's basically what the books are. Urban fantasy chick lit with corporate espionage, a mystery, and a lot of magic.

( It's kind of the opposite of Harry Potter inside a romance novel. )

Endearing story, endearing characters, lots of actual plot and intrigue and, in the middle of all that fantasy, believable reactions and a sensible but funny narrator.

4/5