Bloggin 'Bout Books Blog

Hello Lovelies!! As per usual, I've fallen behind on my book reviewing. I haven't been this far behind in a while though, eep! So I'm going to make a couple round-up posts since most of what I've been reading can fall into a couple different categories. This one is about graphic novels I've read recently. While I've always enjoyed Sunday comics or on-line comics, I just started reading graphic novels as a genre within the last few years. And I recently started reading comics in the traditional sense (Marvel, DC, Image, etc.) which was a bad idea because now I have another obsession. So here's a few that I've read recently. El Deafo by Cece Bell Published: Sept. 2, 2014 Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Received: Borrowed from the library, but I need my own copy! El Deafo follows Cece through her childhood, as she loses her hearing as a child then utilizes a very large, very awkward hearing aid at school. Bell does a fantastic job convey...

   Fables Volume 1: Legends in Exile Fables Volume 2: Animal Farm Published: Dec. 1, 2002 and August 1, 2003 Publisher: Vertigo Received: Borrowed from the library "Once Upon a Time..." After the Adversary attacked the land of fables and fairy tales, a few of the characters made it out to the real world. For the last couple centuries, they've been living among mankind. Now, Rose Red has been murdered, and it's up to the Wolf to figure out who did it and why. Then Snow White must check out the Farm--where they send those fabled creatures who are inexplicable to humankind. Something's going on up there, and it's up to Snow White to figure out what it is and put an end to it. I was required to read these two comic collections for a Fairy Tale course. I enjoyed them to a certain extent, but they also frustrated me. I love seeing fairy tale characters in real life situations. I think retellings can be super fun and enjoyable (I'm obse...

The Wrenchies by Farel Dalrymple mostly just left me feeling confused. I'm honestly so ambiguous about this book because I feel like I have no idea what happened. I needed to read a graphic novel for the Popsugar challenge, and I'm always up to reading new and interesting graphic novels. I had seen The Wrenchies on Amazon and thought it sounded really cool, so when I saw it at my library, I picked it up. Instead of a super cool, superhero-eque storyline, I found a mish-mash time-travel pseudo-plot with largely one-dimensional characters and no explanations.  It seems like Dalrymple spent so much time on the idea of the world and the creatures which embody the antagonist that he left no room for who or why. I didn't necessarily hate it. I just feel nothing for it at all. The art style is pretty cool, occasionally more graphic than I would prefer, but that's just me. I also really like certain spreads, like this one:  I just wanted something more from...

Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction with David Aja and Javier Pulido is a delightful look into the world of one of the underrated Avengers.  I get tired of hearing people talk about the characters from the Avengers movie and leaving Hawkeye (Clint Barton) for the last in the line of their favorite heroes. Clint is freaking awesome. It's not his fault that his screen time was minimal and that he was a minion for half of the movie. My Life as a Weapon is a look at what Clint does outside of the Avengers. It's a wild and crazy life for someone with no "super skill" and normal human healing and strength. What amazes me--as usual when it comes to graphic novels and comics--is the amount of depth that can be shown between pictures and words. I feel like I just read enough for two or three movies/books, but it's a 136 page book. I thought I could read this at my work and not have to buy it, but after I read the first two comics, I had to take this g...

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi  is an intricate graphic novel that tells the story of one woman's childhood in Iran. Having been trained as a teacher, I have a problem where occasionally I'll be reading something and all I can think about it how much I want to teach that novel. And that's what I kept thinking when I was reading Persepolis. For years and years and years now, America has has the tendency to think of the Middle East as a homogeneous culture that is comprised of one belief set (and that is the belief set that has driven a very small minority to very big displays of patriotism (or terrorism if you prefer)). Satrapi writes about her experience growing up in a country that was experiencing some pretty intense revolutionary changes. She writes of the hypocritical nature of people--how people are so willing to move with the regime changes of a government. She writes of the confusion of being a young girl in a culture that keeps changing history and "facts...