FollowMy friend Bex .. @BexPWM on Twitter had a fantastic idea a few weeks ago to have a young adult and graphic novel book club.
I have been reading lots of YA, comics and graphic novels recently and think this is a wonderful, marvelous idea.
I love the directness of graphic novels, and how they can tell stories both with pictures and text. A great example of this is Guy Delisle’s “Pyongyang” ****1/2 about a French Canadian Animator going to North Korea to supervise in-between animation. The book would have been interesting as a short work, but the graphic novels of seeing the 2 Kims on every wall and every person, and the absurdities of being on an island for foreigners with its own hotel works so much better with a graphic novel. It’s also nice that Delisle both illustrates and writes his work. Other works of his include Shenzhen **** (where your iPhones and many other devices are made, a Chinese city next to Hong Kong that’s a major industrial Center) and Burma Chronicles ***1/2 (his wife works for Doctors Without Borders, and he Myanmar (formerly Burma) is one of the most repressive places in the world). Marvelous author.
The Facebook group for the Young Adult book club has started. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Book-Club-for-Young-Adults-of-All-Ages/311776385507394 The first book in the club is one of my recent favorites: “James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl. Amazing that James is Dahl’s first juvenile/children’s book, great imagery, excellent story. It just makes you smile.
What have you been reading lately?
— Edmund