Hello, friends! This week we get philosophical and check in with two of my favorite graphic novel writers. Prepare to cry AND laugh with the recommendations this week.
Let’s get into them.
TOO LOUD A SOLITUDE
By: Bohumil Hrabal
Release: 1976
Page count: 98
KU: No Hoopla: Yes
Synopsis: A man who loves books must begin to come to terms with the ever-changing world around him.
First line: “For thirty-five years now I’ve been in wastepaper, and it’s my love story.”
Favorite line: “I can be by myself because I’m never lonely, I’m simply alone…”
Thoughts: Part satire, a philosophical journey, and emotional truths, Hrabal takes the reader on a ride they will not soon forget. Red and green buttons will never have the same meaning after reading this.
Rating: 5/5
Other recommendations: CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS, I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND
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THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE A TIME WAR
By: Amal El-Montar and Max Gladstone
Release: 7/16/19
Pages: 198
KU: No Hoopla: No
Synopsis: Two female agents, from different agencies, must fight against everything, including themselves, to keep the strands of time connected.
First line: “When Red wins, she stands alone.”
Favorite line: “To be unmade, that last written over - to be destroyed by you was easier, truly, than living with what you proposed.”
Thoughts: The love and desperation to destroy yet build what Red and Blue feel for each other is heartbreaking. This novel is the truest sense of Charles Bukowski’s quote, “Find what you love and let it kill you.”
Rating: 5/5
Other recommendations: THE HONEY MONTH
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OLD HEAD
By: Kyle Starks
Release: 8/31/21
Page count: 124
KU: No Hoopla: Yes
Synopsis: A former (and terrible) basketball player and his daughter must go home to bury his mother but ends up battling asshole monsters and Dracula.
First line: “Hey, Momma? Why ain’t there monsters in the zoo? Like dragons and stuff?”
Favorite line: “His head rolled some place safe. Some place the sun does not shine.”
“A butthole?”
Thoughts: As always, Starks writes a clever and hilarious graphic novel. The illustrations were so much fun! The characters were perfection - lil’ menopause, ha. A great, quick read for fans of Starks.
Rating: 4/5
Other recommendations: SEXCASTLE, I HATE THIS PLACE
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INVASIVE
By: Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by: J. Hervas
Release: 10/22/24
Page count: 129
KU: No Hoopla: Yes
Synopsis: An obsessed cop and a mother must find out who or what is playing into people’s insecurities and performing life threatening procedures.
First line: “Four months ago.”
Favorite line: “At first, I was trying to correct previous botched procedures. But… I kept shifting my goal justifying more.”
Thoughts: If you have ever thought of plastic surgery, this graphic novel will make you think twice. The writing is tight, the illustrations graphic, and they all culminate in an ending no one can see coming.
Rating: 4.5/5
Other recommendations: HARROW COUNTY, THE EMPTY MAN (not that garbage movie, though).
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