Top 10 Tuesday: 10 Graphic novels to read if you've never read one before.

Top 10 Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we're particularly of lists here at The Broke and The Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top 10 lists.





I adore graphic novels, but when I look around the book blogs it seems that more often that not people seem to avoid them. I can understand why, it's a different way of reading, and if you aren't used to it, finding your way through the images and texts can be a little confusing or exhausting. But it's well worth a try. As I said, a  graphic novel is a very different reading experience to simply reading a book. You have to hunt through the pictures for the hints, emotion or subtext, and learn to read between the lines when the text and the image seem to be saying opposite things. It can be a real adventure, and lots of fun. And while creating a world in your head is always magical, sometimes it's nice to see that world in front of you, created by an extremely talented artist who can make you laugh or cry with a single image the size of a postage stamp. My world of imagination has opened up greatly since I've started reading graphic novels, and while I still read novels more often, there are graphic novels that make up some of my favourite reads of all time.

Below is a list of 10 (in no particular order) graphic novels that simply must be read. Most are very accessible for a first time graphic novel reader and several have been adapted from books or by traditional authors making them far easier to read that their comic author counterparts. Hopefully some of the artworks and descriptions below are enough to entice you to step into this wonderful world and experience something new and different from what you typically read. Enjoy!

1. Maus
If you ask for a graphic novel recommendation from a book fan you'll most likely be told to pick this one up, and for good reason. The story combines the biography of Vladek Spiegelman's survival during WW2 with his later life in America, as told by his writer/artist son Art Spiegelman. The dichotomy between the two time periods makes for an incredibly interesting story that must have been very difficult for Art to tell. Also, it's a little Animal Farm-y, with the Jews depicted as mice while the Germans are cats

2. The Great Gatsby

A graphic retelling of the marvellous Fitzgerald novel by the same name. The art is astounding in this graphic novel, it's made to look like a collection of old photographs collected in a photo album, and that sense of nostalgia is maintained through the entire story. The cast are depicted as sea creatures, which simply seems perfect for this story, don't ask me why. (my review)

3. From Hell 

Actually, just read anything by Alan Moore. He's a master graphic novelist, his other works including V For Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman and Swamp Thing. From Hell is the graphic interpretation of the Jack the Ripper conspiracy that it stemmed from a royal cover-up. It's a fantastic tale of the hidden and the covered-up, that is guaranteed to send you on a google search to check the validity of this theory! 

4. 30 Days of Night 
There are actually quite a few of these out now, but the only ones you really want to read are the original three written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Ben Templesmith. The first book (the best) takes place in a small Alaskan town that suffers through 30 days of night each winter. This year they're attacked by a posse of vampires who intend to make the most of the wintery darkness. The artwork is what stands this series apart, Ben Templesmith is one of my favourite artists, his work blends photo-manipulation with intense colour and ethereal illustrations that render everyone slightly manic and monster-ish.

5. Transmetropolitan 
Eleven issues of pure brilliance. This is the graphic novel series of what it'd be like if Hunter S. Thompson was alive and reporting in the very messed up future. However, in Transmetropolitan he's known as Spider Jerusalem, a controversial journalist who hates pretty much everyone. Just as HST told the story in the most honest, hard-hitting, gratuitous and venomous ways possible, so does Spider. Thoroughly entertaining, mercilessly funny, and dangerously good.

6. FreakAngels 

Another brilliant Warren Ellis series, FreakAngels tells the story of a group of slightly strange kids who destroyed England. The illustrations are by the wonderful Paul Duffield, and the entire series is available FREE on the FreakAngels website. So you have no excuse not to go read it! (my review)

7. The Arrival 
There really is truth to the saying "a picture is worth 1000 words". Shaun Tan's beautiful graphic novel/picture book charts an immigrants journey to a new and magical land. Each page bursts with expressive, detailed sepia toned pencil drawings that will literally bring tears to your eyes. There is so much going on in each image that it doesn't matter than not a single word is included, the story is there for anyone to see.

8. The Five Fists of Science

Yes you're seeing right, that is Mark Twain in the picture yelling "SCIENCE!" while a giant robot and monster take up the background. Other characters in this cheeky little comic are Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison (as the baddy) and many more. It's a fun revision of our history that plays around with real life grudges and personality traits to create a monster of a story. (my review)

9. The Stand 

The Stand is probably my all time favourite Stephen King novel, and this graphic adaptation does it absolute justice. It's almost word for word with King's version, and the illustrations perfectly match up with the way King meticulously describes his characters. I haven't finished this series yet, but so far they've been perfect. They've maintained King's sharp wit, shaped the characters perfectly and done everything possibly to make sure that this series is a knock-out. They've got some talented men and women working on this, and it really shows. 

10. Pyongyang: A Journey to North Korea
Cartoonist Guy Delisle worked in North Korea for several months in 2001. This is the graphic diary he kept while he was there. It's unflinchingly honest of life as a Westerner within the propaganda and weapon rich North Korea, and his insights are frank, to the point and rarely embellished. It's an interesting look into a side of life we rarely see, and it's perspective on propaganda and censorship provides food for thought. (my review)

Monday Links

*An enjoyable little puzzle game called Prose and Motion, where you have to find the 'perfect' word from the scrabble-like tiles on screen.

*I swear, the English get all the good stamps. First Doctor Who and now Roald Dahl. Any lovely English bloggers want to post me a little something?

*Horror fiction will soon make a comeback, at least according to editor Jo Fletcher.

*A stunning book sculpture by David Kracov called, Book of Life.

*I do love the Viking/Penguin Tumblr, me.

*A poem that details the complexity (and absurdity) of the English language. Could you make it all the way through?

Bookfest 2012

This week is Brisbane's BOOKFEST. Imagine an indoor arena the size of a football field with table after table  (after table after table) of books piled high, and you'd be coming close to the epic-ness of this sale. There are 1000s of books sorted into their special little categories (sci-fi, paperback fiction, hardback fiction, literature/classics, history, biography, cooking, computer etc. etc.) and waiting in the wings are containers of 1000s more, just waiting for the tables to empty out a little so that those who can't make it until the final day (it runs a full week) still have an opportunity for some amazing finds.

The hall is divided into three sections, the unpriced section, which is the dodgy books that are either in shocking condition or are readers digest editions of short-stories (that was where I got the books for my Christmas decorations), the priced section where all books are $2.50, or the high-quality section, where the prices are marked on the book and there is an additional section of "rare or out-of-print" books.

Unfortunately, the rare books that are a really good find are often snapped up in that first day (usually the first few hours - people make a real sport out of this fest) so I typically stay in the priced section, because the titles are comparable to the high quality section, equal quality and a much better price. Tom and I made our way through all the fiction, literature, sci-fi sections yesterday and loaded our arms with about 30 books (combined) and then took a seat to cull it down to 8 each, so that we'd each only be spending $20.

While there are dozens of classic authors and books available (i.e. Austen, Dickens and Shakespeare) it's much harder to get your hands on a more contemporary book that isn't by either Patricia Cornwell, Steve Martini, Dan Brown or Jack Higgins. While I do sometimes come out of this sale with some Gaiman, Ishiguro or other authors that are high on my TBR list, this sale is primarily a golden opportunity to collect a few more Stephen King titles and books from the horror/thriller genre. They're easily the most prevalent, and are often the books most lacking from our local book stores. We did quite well this year, if I say so myself!

So without further ado, I give you the books we've taken home and welcomed into our book family...

Stephen King - Gerald's Game
New Terrors Omnibus
Stephen King - Carrie
Stephen King -The Dead Zone
Stephen King and Peter Strab - The Talisman
James Herbert - The Fog
James Herbert - The Survivor
Clive Barker - The Damnation Game
Ramsey Cambell - The doll who ate his mother
Kazuo Ishiguro -The Remains of the Day
R. L. Stevenson - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Neil Gamain - Stardust
Stephen King - The drawing of the Three
Stephen King/G.R.R.Martin, Dan Simmons - Dark Visions
Stephen King - Needful Things
Richard Bachman - The Regulators

"Winter" Mini-Readathon

I've been wanting to participate in a readathon ever since starting my blog, but unfortunately, they've always been at the most inopportune moments possible so I've always been stuck unable to participate. Luckily, Sarah @Sarah Says Read has organised a "winter" (it is so not winter where I am!) readathon that not only is nice and short (12 hours) but on a day I can join in on. YAY!!!

In case you're thinking of joining (you should) you can do it any time on Sunday you like. So if you want to sleep in till midday you could do it from 12-12, or 1-1, or start early and do a 9-9, it's your choice! I'll probably get started by about 10-11am, and I'm going to set up under a tree in my backyard and just enjoy the crap out of it! There are also a few prizes and other goodies up for grabs, so if you think this sounds like the perfect way to spend a Sunday (it does) then sign up for yourself HERE!

A question to you about my rating system.

So I've been going through a bit of a blogger existentialist crisis, or as close to one as I could be, and it's all thanks to my god-damn rating system. The whole point of introducing it was so that at the end of my convoluted (not to mention long) reviews, there was a quick and easy way to see whether I liked a book or not. 5 meant is was the best thing since sliced bread, 1 meant it was utter dog-shit. Makes sense right? But now that I'm reviewing so many books, from so many genres, I'm starting to struggle with a rating. Like the other day, I finished a book and really enjoyed it and wanted to give it a 4, but then I realised a book I reviewed a few weeks previously, which was definitely not as good, was also given a 4. I could give it a 5, but it definitely isn't favourite book, multi re-read material, so I don't feel comfortable with that. I could give it a 4.5, but I feel like it's more than half a star better than the other one. You see my problem? 

I never wanted to have this sort of issue with my star rating. The whole idea was that the rating was supposed to indicate that specific book's appeal to me, and should never be held against another book, even one from the same genre. However that's obviously not working, because I'm definitely second-guessing all my ratings every time I finish a new book. So what do I do? I was thinking of scrapping the whole ratings thing all together, and hoping that you guys can all tell my general feelings and "read this now"-ness from the way I write my reviews, but I didn't want to scrap them all together without raising the issue with you guys, the people who read my reviews and potentially make note of the ratings. 

So let me know in the comments. Will it irk you to see the book review without a rating at the end of my review? And if yes, do you have any suggestions with how I should try and sort out my ratings issue? Perhaps it should be designated stars for aspects of the book, i.e. writing, characters, story etc. Or ??? 

Thanks in advance for the help guys!