Hello, Bookish friends! This is the week every year that I bunker down and read all of the books that I missed during the rest of the year. When I was looking over my list, I realized that I had only read one graphic novel this entire year! I adore graphic novels, so I’m not sure how on earth that happened. So today we’re going to be talking about one that’s high up on my list. Plus, I’ll share a few of my favorite graphic memoirs. But first, bookish goods!
Bookish Goods
Birth Month Flower Gift, Birth Flower Personalized Journal by Engraving House USA
It’s almost the new year, so a lot of people are looking for their new reading journals. I recently bought something from this store for a friend, so I was delighted to discovered that they had journals too! $8
New Releases
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
Beaton is known for being a cartoonist, including Hark, a Vagrant! and Step Aside, Pops. Now she’s back with her memoir of working in the oil fields in Alberta, Canada. She finds the oilfields a harsh place, a job where terrible things happening is the norm. People keep telling her that the great pay should compensate for it. But can money really make up for the repeated traumas she experiences?
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast
Roz Chast grew up in New York City, her parents living in the same apartment for decades. As her parents age, she begins to think through how she will care for them when they get older and how she wants to spend as much time with them as possible. But her parents want to have nothing to do with any of these conversations. In her classic sense of humor, Chast captures the ridiculous moments in a very difficult time in her life. This graphic memoir is so good, no wonder it was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Baddawi by Leila Abdelrazaq
Leila Abdelrazaq’s grandfather was one of the thousands of Palistinians who fled Palestine after the creation of Israel and the war of 1948. He and his family spent the next several decades moving from one country to another, facing constant discrimination as they tried to make a life for themselves. At first, they thought that their exile was temporary, but as the years passed, they began to lose hope that they would ever see Palestine again.
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
In Good Talk, Mira Jacob describes how her son asked her why his Jewish paternal grandparents would vote for Trump, a man who hated immigrants, like Mira and her parents. This question launches her into even more questions that she’s not quite sure how to answer. She works through these conversations in Good Talk, illustrating them on the page and giving readers a fuller picture. I read this graphic memoir while waiting for a delayed flight at the airport. I felt consumed, and barely even noticed spending the extra four hours surrounded by disgruntled passengers.
That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave or over on Instagram @kdwinchester. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
Happy reading, Friends!
~ Kendra