November 5th, 2008 |
Reading at least 6 graphic novels during 2008.
Wow, wasn’t this one of the best challenges all year? I really want to thank Dewey for introducing me to this genre. Almost all of these were simply fantastic. My least favorite was X-Kai, which was really a manga anyway. It, too, was interesting, though, as I’ve never read a book backwards before.
I can’t thank you enough, Dewey!
What I read:
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Maus II by Art Spiegelman
- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
- The Arrival by Shaun Tan
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi
- Blankets by Craig Thompson
- The Borden Tragedy by Rick Geary
- X-Kai by Asami Tohjoh
November 5th, 2008 |
Hillary Jordan has written a very good debut novel that speaks on war, racism, marriage, and living off the land. The story is told by various narrators throughout the book. Henry and Laura are a white married couple who move to the Mississippi delta to raise cotton. Henry loves the land, but Laura misses city life and is deeply unhappy. She also has to live and deal with her racist father-in-law for the first time.
Hap and Florence are a black couple living on Henry’s farm as renters. Hap is a preacher, while Florence is a midwife who also helps Laura with some of her housework. Their oldest child Ronsel is in the military and serving in Germany, and when he comes back, he has to adjust back to a way of life that he is no longer accustomed to. He does find a friend, however, in Jamie, Henry’s younger brother. But, this doesn’t sit well with Henry and Jamie’s father, and trouble ensues.
This book all too painfully illustrates how much African-Americans have had to go through in this country. It does seem like the tide has changed with the historic election of our first black President, Barack Obama. I sincerely hope that this event will be the turning point in race relations in the United States.
(All along while reading this book, I was thinking it was going to receive a 4.5 rating, but then at the end something is stated by Jamie that I was deeply offended by, and I changed my rating to a 4. It didn’t ruin the book for me, but I think a better choice of words should have been uilized to avoid offending some readers.)
2008, 328 pp.
November 5th, 2008 |
Winner of Beloved by Toni Morrison is Ramya, of Ramya’s Bookshelf.
Novels Now winner of So Long at the Fair by Christina Schwarz is Sunny, of That Book Addiction.
Congratulations!
by Marian Engel