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Masterpiece  Excellent  Very good  Good  Just okay  Not for me  Definitely not for me  |
1997, 80 pp. I only vaguely knew the story of Lizzie Borden, so this little graphic novel was really an engrossing look at this true crime. Geary’s drawings are great, and he presents cases both for Lizzie Borden’s guilt and for her innocence. The back of the book also has reproductions of the actual newspaper clippings. Fascinating story! This book is part of the Treasury of Victorian Murder series that I will have to look into!
1990, 84 pp. In this short memoir chronicling the author’s own bout with depression, Styron gives us a glimpse of the pain and madness of the disease. Styron not only provides us with details of his own illness, but also expounds on the suicides and/or depression of other authors. He also gives guidelines and suggestions for action to those who have a loved one suffering with the disease. Styron was the author of Sophie’s Choice and the Pulitzer Prize winning The Confessions of Nat Turner. He died in 2006 at the age of 81 from pneumonia.
1990, 89 pp. Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) is hilariously fun. Winner of the 1990 Governor General’s Award for Drama and written by the author of Fall on Your Knees, this play takes the main character, Constance, and puts her in the middle of Othello and Romeo and Juliet with very funny results. Plot lines are changed, lines rearranged, and we get to really know the players as never before. If you’re familiar with both plays you will be in stitches in parts. Lines from the original plays are in italics to help the reader know the difference between those lines and MacDonald’s. Even MacDonald’s are written in iambic pentameter. Highly recommended — especially for lovers of Shakespeare or those participating in the Canadian Literature Challenge. Bravo!
1976 Governor General’s Award
This clever children’s book by Mordecai Richler was written for his children and modeled after the same, and it was just simply a delight to read. Featuring not only Jacob Two-Two, but also I.M. Greedyguts, Miss Sour Pickle, and Perfectly Loathsome Leo Louse, this third installment of the Jacob Two-Two series made me laugh out loud at several points. I really, really enjoyed it. (It’s also a good short book for the Canadian Challenge — or if you need a ‘J’ title!) 1995, 144 pp.
Written in French by Gabrielle Roy and translated by Joyce Marshall, The Road Past Altamont captures a sweet young girl’s thoughts and feelings perfectly. I also enjoyed Roy’s descriptions of the vastness of the Manitoba prairie. The book is really four interconnected stories more than a novel. The first story, “My Almighty Grandmother,” tells of Christine’s love and awe of her matriarch. The second story, “The Old Man and the Child,” is about Christine’s relationship with an elderly neighbor and their visit to Lake Winnipeg. This one was my favorite as I found so much sweetness in the pair’s friendship. In “The Move,” Christine discovers that not everyone lives as she does, and in “The Road Past Altamont,” an adult Christine deals with her mother’s increasing age and unrealized dreams. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy Willa Cather or L.M. Montgomery. I would definitely read another book by Gabrielle Roy. 1966, 146 pp.
2006, 128 pp. Rating: This book has no words, just pictures, and the drawings are really beautiful. However, this is one where I might have wanted there to be captions, but I’m not sure. I loved the drawings, but I thought the way the animals were drawn was a little weird. Another graphic novel I wouldn’t have even looked at had it not been for the graphic novel challenge. Thanks again, Dewey!
Yuko is a poet who loves snow and writes Haiku poetry only about snow. The Poet of the Imperial Court thinks Yuko has great potential but thinks his poetry needs more color. He then sends him on a journey to a blind poetry master named Soseki where Yuko will not only learn about poetry, but also about love. I really loved aspects of this book and the language is lyrical, but parts of it just didn’t sit right with me. It takes only an hour or two to read, though, so I do recommend it as something different from the usual that is not too time-consuming. 1999, 100 pp., translated from the French
Sigh. This was a well-written novella; but again, it was just too graphic in parts for my tastes. I have a difficult time believing that one of the female characters would write a letter such as the one found in this book, but who knows. On a positive note, this is my first book completed for the 1% Well-Read Challenge, so I guess that means I’m 0.1% well-read. 1996, 91 pp. Have you reviewed this book? If you’d like, enter your link in Mr. Linky below.
“They were survivors, but did they really and truly survive?” Art’s struggles with his father’s personality — made so because of the war — are clearly shown. He is very honest in his portrayal, even to the point of demonstrating his father’s own prejudices — something you would think would be non-existent in someone who had been persecuted himself. Again, I highly recommend both books to all. Serialized from 1973 to 1991, 127 pp. 
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The Borden Tragedy
Darkness Visible
Ummm…..no. No, no, no, no, no. I don’t think I can recommend this title. That this book won the Governor General’s Award flabbergasts me. A librarian and a bear get kinky on a small Canadian island. That’s all you really need to know to realize why I didn’t like this book.
I have always thought that the human heart is a little like the ocean, subject to tides, that joy rises in it in a steady flow, singing of waves, good fortune, and bliss; but afterward, when the high sea withdraws, it leaves an utter desolation in our sight. So it was with me that day.
The continuation of Maus, and subtitled And Here My Troubles Began (From Mauschwitz to the Catskills and Beyond), Maus II is every bit as outstanding as Maus, and the two books really should be read together. In this book we learn more about the end of Vladek’s life, and one of the questions that is posed from the book is: