The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion
OLD TASK HELP THREADS
>
EMILY'S TASK - DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER...UNLESS IT'S REALLY WELL DESIGNED
date
newest »
newest »
I have never read any graphic novels. Can someone recommend some please?
What genre do you like, Erin? I've read a ton of manga (graphic novels). And a couple of other graphic novels.
I like general fiction, like Time Traveler's Wife, Shadow of the Wind, etc. Thanks!
Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi doesn't work DUE to page size. But you may check out her other works for page length.Lemme dig around my manga lists for something similar to general fiction. I've read so many!
Sand Chronicles, Volume 1 by Hinako Ashihara is a very touching series. It's more about the bonds of friendship by reflecting back to the beginning of their friendship. I continually check onemanga.com to catch up on the latest release but it's a slow published series.I'll add more here, Erin, once I get home and am able to surf around onemanga for the more general fiction types. Sand Chronicles is the immediate one I could find. Plus if you go to the website, you can read for free.
Watchmen by Alan Moore is a superhero award-winning classic.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...
These are my favorites-Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Superheroes
Watchmen: Alternative history where superheroes play a role in the Vietnam War and Cold War
Fables Legends in Exile: About fairy tale characters living in disguise in the everyday world
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1: 19th century literary heroes (Mina Harker, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, etc.) form a band of heroes together
Runaways, Vol. 1 Deluxe Hardcover: A group of teenagers find out their parents are supervillains
Other genres:
The Complete Persepolis: A memoir about coming of age during Iran's Islamic revolution
Blankets: Another coming of age story about a boy growing up in the midwest
From Hell: Horror about Jack the Ripper
Thanks Rachel Erin - Persepolis was the other one I was hunting! And Runaways is a fav of mine!Another sci-fi/fantasy one for you Jim Butcher fans...
Welcome to the Jungle. It's a prequel to the Dresden Files.
If you've never read Watchmen its a definate must! I'm going to read V for Vendetta.
Erin wrote: "I like general fiction, like Time Traveler's Wife, Shadow of the Wind, etc. Thanks!"I recommend The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Persepolis and Maus have been mentioned before and are good choices as well.
Also, seeing as you liked The Hunger Games, you might be interested in a Japanese story that is very similar, Battle Royale (graphic novel version) by Koushun Takami. Word of warning though, it is extremely violent.
For the Graphic Novel section of this task, there are a lot of great lists on Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/21...
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/41...
...if you do a search for "graphic novels" and then click on the list tab, there are a bunch of lists there!
Some of my favorites:
The Complete Persepolis
Y The Last Man Vol. 1 Unmanned
Watchmen
Fables Legends in Exile
Animal Man, Book 1 Animal Man
V for Vendetta
And if you were a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Long Way Home or Angel After The Fall, Vol. 1 you may enjoy the graphic novels that pick up where the television programs left off or Fray about a future slayer.
I've heard great things about Blankets and The Sandman Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes and may choose to read one of these for the challenge.
Stitches A Memoir also looks interesting though it's new and I haven't heard any reviews from friends yet.
For those interested in reading more about comics, Understanding Comics The Invisible Art is a comic about comics and is great.
For the cover design part, anything goes! But here are some links to some great examples of interesting cover designs:http://blog.bookcoverarchive.com/2009...
http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/2008...
http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&n...
I love this task! I was so excited to see a graphic novel task. That was going to be part of my idea if I won the winter challenge. ;) From comments throughout the group I've gathered that there are a number of members who are not terribly familiar with graphic novels as a whole, so here are some possible recommendations!Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is absolutely wonderful and I love it so so much, but I would not recommend it if you aren't familiar with comics/graphic novels (although it was my introduction to this type of work), unless you have an established interest in fantasy/sci-fi and can deal with some disturbing content.
Persepolis might be a good choice if you are used to more realistic fiction or enjoy memoirs. It's the memoir of a girl who grew up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It combines history with her personal history and is very good.
Watchmen is about superheroes (who are really not-so-super) and is dark, dense, violent, gritty, complex, philosophical, fascinating.
If fairy tales appeal to you at all, Bill Willingham's Fables series is an excellent choice. I was so excited when I found it! I'm working my way through the series now and I think it is fantastic. In a nutshell, many characters of fairy tales, folk tales and legends had to flee their homeland to our world and are living in secret in New York City. The story is great and the art is beautiful, too.
Y The Last Man is a totally addictive sci-fi series. Due to an unknown cause, every male on earth died simultaneously, with the exception of one man, Yorick Brown, and his pet monkey. It sounds ridiculous, but the world is very well-imagined, it is incredibly fast-paced and you will want the next volume immediately after finishing each one.
I'm *just* starting to get into manga, but the series that was most recommended to me to begin with is Fruits Basket, which I am currently reading. It's quite cute (a girl moves in with a family suffering from a curse which causes them to turn into animals from the Chinese zodiac at inopportune times) but it's not pure fluff- as the series progresses, I have begun to really care about the characters.
If you're a fan of zombies, lots of people like The Walking Dead series. I usually devour zombie lit like a zombie devours brains, but I never really got into this one, for some reason.
And of course, there have been numerous graphic novels made into movies, so if you are a fan of a movie like 300, From Hell, Sin City, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, 30 Days of Night, Ghost World, etc., you might want to try reading the book. There is also a graphic novel version of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, with beautiful art by Charles Vess.
Alice In Sunderland is a great Wonderland of information, trivia, and oddments about the area of England that Lewis Carroll was from.
Oh I have been meaning to read Persepolis! I am so glad I can fit it in here!
There are lots of graphic novel versions of literature, including Artemis Fowl The Graphic Novel, Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Manga Edition, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 The Authorized Adaptation, and Coraline-Graphic Novel. If you're interested in fantasy and folklore, Fushigi Yûgi The Mysterious Play, Volume 1 Priestess is one of my all-time favorites. A few Japanese manga artists have done their own adaptations of famous works, such as Emma, Volume 1. Someone above posted about onemanga.com, which is a great site with plenty of manga you can look at by genre, in case you're interested in something particular (or don't want something too insane for your first one...). I'm reading Ranma 1/2, Volume 1 for my graphic novel.
And I third Maus I A Survivor's Tale My Father Bleeds History. I think the second volume is better than the first, but both of them are absolutely amazing.
Jayme wrote: "Does manga count?"Manga works!
And thanks for all the great suggestions everyone is sharing! I am excited to check these all out!
Emily wrote: "For the cover design part, anything goes! But here are some links to some great examples of interesting cover designs:http://blog.bookcoverarchive.com/2009......"
Great recs! You took the words right out of my mouth! I especially second your recommendations of Persepolis and Stardust for the non-comic inclined. There's also a graphic novel version of Neverwhere A Novel by Neil Gaiman, but you'd be cheating yourself out of a very good time if you haven't read the novel first.
Also forgot to comment on HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS TASK!!!! Yay Emily!!!
Kristina wrote: "Also forgot to comment on HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS TASK!!!! Yay Emily!!! "Thanks Kristina! I love it too (it'd be confusing if I didn't since I made it up)! I am excited about this thread as well because I'm learning about new graphic novels that I haven't heard of before (thanks everyone!).
Hello!
I was reading the New York Times (on-line) this morning and came across this great ESSAY titled "When Bad Covers Happen to Good Books". It made me laugh and made me think of this task. I thought I would share it with you.
:)
Jennifer wrote: "Hello!
I was reading the New York Times (on-line) this morning and came across this great ESSAY titled "When Bad Covers Happen to Good Books". It made me laugh and made me think of this task. I t..."
THANKS! Like the author of the essay, I HATE now-a-hit-movie covers.
Emily wrote: "THANKS! Like the author of the essay, I HATE now-a-hit-movie covers."You're welcome. I really dislike movie-version covers too.
I FINALLY found a cover! I was walking the aisles at my library and noticed this tiny book hidden between the larger hardbacks. The cover lured me to read the back and I am glad to have selected it for this challenge!
Tanja wrote: "I FINALLY found a cover! I was walking the aisles at my library and noticed this tiny book hidden between the larger hardbacks. The cover lured me to read the back and I am glad to have selected it..."It's a great book...you'll love it
Tanja wrote: "I FINALLY found a cover! I was walking the aisles at my library and noticed this tiny book hidden between the larger hardbacks. The cover lured me to read the back and I am glad to have selected it..."that IS a gorgeous cover. the book sounds great, too. let us know how it is! :)
Tanja wrote: "I FINALLY found a cover! I was walking the aisles at my library and noticed this tiny book hidden between the larger hardbacks. The cover lured me to read the back and I am glad to have selected it..."That is an excellent little book. Very quick and easy to read as well. I liked it a lot.
Felina wrote: "If you've never read Watchmen its a definate must! I'm going to read V for Vendetta."I'm also reading V for Vendetta. I should hopefully be finished with it in the next two days or so.
I am also new to graphic novels. Some I have really enjoyed:Vampire Loves by Joann Sfar
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Kim Deitch
The Alcoholic by Jonathan Ames
Would reading a comic book or several for that matter work for the graphic novel?
Sarah wrote: "Would reading a comic book or several for that matter work for the graphic novel?"I would say yes only if the comic books that you choose are compiled into a graphic novel (for example the first five comic books in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 series are compiled to create the graphic novel Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Long Way Home). If the books you choose are, I don't mind if you read the comic books or the graphic novel as long as you are able to post to Goodreads as if you have read the graphic novel (so I couldn't for example, read the first 4 comic books in the Buffy series and say that I had read that graphic novel because I didn't read all 5). Let me know if I'm not being clear and I'll try to clarify.
Mod
Re: Buffy, I am a devoted Buffy follower. We play "name that episode" like "name that tune", and I have the soundrack on my ipod. I thought I would be able to pick up season 8 without too much trouble- but I guess I just expected too much. There were too many unanswered questions for me.
My daughter has a serious manga collection. The good thing is that I have hundreds to choose from in-house. (Glad she pays for them!) She recommended Death Note, Volume 1 Boredom as more plot based and The Tarot Cafe, #1 for a different visual style.
Have you read those?
Oh, I was thinking about reading Peanuts and Garfield... I have no idea what to read for this.
Sarah wrote: "Oh, I was thinking about reading Peanuts and Garfield... I have no idea what to read for this."Sarah,
There are several recommendations for graphic novels posted in the thread above. Look at the links in messages #7-13, #19, & #34 for some ideas. Or go to the local bookstore/library & ask a staff member to direct you to the graphic novel section (most should have one) & browse until you find something that appeals!
Sarah wrote: "What about from this list? http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/67..."And yes, that list appears to be fine - I'm not familiar with the majority of the titles, but they all appear to be graphic novels, so should be fine for this task!
Now, I'm going to have a big stack of these books waiting for me at the library! I don't see this challenge getting done now.
Unless... can we use graphic novels for the challenge?
Unless a task says that graphic novels are not allowed (or the graphic novel doesn't fit other challenge requirements like page minimum), you should be able to read graphic novels for other challenge tasks.
I'm heading out of town until January 14th and I'm not sure how much Internet connection I will have. I don't think this should cause a problem for anyone since this task isn't super complicated, but if you have a question, feel free to run it by Cynthia after checking to make sure that it hasn't already been answered in this thread. Happy New Year!
I know we are nearing the end of the challenge, but would Diary of a Wimpy Kid Count as a graphic novel?
Ruby wrote: "I know we are nearing the end of the challenge, but would Diary of a Wimpy Kid Count as a graphic novel?"Sure, I'll take it. It's not your standard graphic novel, but I'm ok with "not standard". Enjoy!
The Seasonal Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Girls I've Been (other topics)The House in the Cerulean Sea (other topics)
Cage of Deceit (other topics)
Realm of Knights (other topics)
The Key (other topics)
More...
Graphic Design Can Affect (Sometimes Drastically) The Experience Of The Reader And Can Also Influence Whether Or Not A Potential Reader Will Pick A Book Up Off The Shelf In The First Place.
For This Challenge Read Two Books:
A. Making A Great First Impression: Read A Book That's Cover Design Draws You In. (Either Post The Cover Image In Your Post And/Or Write About What You Liked About The Design)
AND
B. It's What's Inside That Counts: Read A Graphic Novel.
If you need suggestions for books to read for this task post a request here.