Comics For A Strange World: A Book of Poorly Drawn Lines by Reza Farazmand

Title: Comics For A Strange World: A Book of Poorly Drawn Lines
Author: Reza Farazmand
Publisher: Plume Books, Penguin Random House USA
ISBN: 9780735219885
Genre: Comics
Pages: 197
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 5 stars

First read of June 2019. Yes it’s a book of comic strips and yes it counts. I’ve been following Poorly Drawn Lines since some time now and love what Reza does with not only his seemingly simple art, but also so profound when it comes to the writing of the comics.

Comics for a Strange World is the kind of book that worries and also strangely comforts as well. It is the kind of comic that upsets you, because what Reza has laid out – some of it might actually come true. Global warming is a reality. So is our dependency on technology. There are alternative realities, taking us through space and time, and some really bizarre scenarios.

The entire book is a parody of human life, much like the account here on Instagram. Follow him if you aren’t. Also, the book mocks modern age like no other. It’s a testimony to our troubled times and honestly nothing is too weird. The book is divided into 5 sections: The Human Experience, Social Creatures, Changes, A Strange World, and Thoughts on Things. Each is superbly funny and outlandish. Read it.

Book Love by Debbie Tung

Title: Book Love
Author: Debbie Tung
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ISBN: 978-1449494285
Genre: Comics, Humour
Pages: 144
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 stars

What better moment for readers than to see themselves in a book? To relate to it so hard and strong that with every turn of the page, you know every situation because you have been in that or multiple situations more than once.

Book Love by Debbie Tung is that kind of a book. It is a book about loving books (as evident by the title), but more than that it is about readers and how we function around books and our relationship to them. Book Love is the much-needed warm blanket on a winter’s night. It is the cup of tea that hits the right notes and lingers long after you’ve drunk it.

Being a book lover, I just didn’t want the book to finish. It is a book of comic strips depicting our collective love of books and reading. This transcends everything – colour, race, skin, creed, caste – just about it all. Because when it comes to reading, you and I, and all of us, are the same people. We are the tribe of readers and Tung has a way of putting that beautifully through her comics. The words and images combine to present a beautiful gift to the reader. I know I am getting all sappy, but hey this is a book about books and I shall get this way.

Debbie Tung’s concept is not new, but the execution is brilliant and well-done. The book captures it all: book lovers in bookshops, in libraries, in their favourite reading spots, how readers feel when a good book ends, and how we pack for a vacation. With every turn of the page, all I did was nod my head in agreement, because there was nothing else to do. Most readers are guilty of what Tung expresses and only more happy for that.

Tung knows how readers are and that can only come to you if you are a reader and feel the same. Tung’s illustrations always manage to hit home and that’s the beauty of a book such as this one. Where essays could be written about every situation (and that is also quite delightful to read), simple drawings depicting who readers are does the trick and more. Book Love makes you want to reach out to your favourite books and hug them for being a part of your life. A must-read for all lovers of books and reading, and also for ones who are just starting out.

Barefoot Gen, Vol. 1: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima by Keiji Nakazawa, Translated by Project Gen

Title:
Author: Keiji Nakazawa
Publisher: Last Gasp
ISBN: 978-0867196023
Genre: Graphic Novel, Manga
Pages: 288
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 5 Stars

Never a good time to read about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and yet something draws me to picking up more books about that time and what happened to them during WWII. I don’t know what it is – maybe just some fascination or dread even (which I will never admit) – the fact that we know how it ended and yet we want to know more about it – the horror of it all, but more than that it is the human stories that come out of it, with every new read on the bombings. Yes, that’s why for sure. And this time in the form of a graphic novel.

“Barefoot Gen” is a series consisting of 10 books. The story begins in Hiroshima during the final months of the World War II. Six-year-old Gen Nakaoka and his family live in poverty and struggle to make ends meet. Gen’s father Daikichi is critical of the war. He hates the idea of it. And then in all of this, his brother Koji joins the Navy and on August 6th, the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, killing Gen’s father and his siblings. His mother and he escape and “Barefoot Gen” is the story of that survival, as they witness the horror of war and the bombing.

The book is autobiographical in nature and though you think it is only but a comic, it manages to wrench your heart. The perspective of war from the eyes of a six-year-old and the maturity as well of it will leave you speechless.

Books such as “Barefoot Gen” will always be so relevant (sadly so) – given the atrocities of war and the common folk who are always in the eye of the storm. For most part of reading the book, I just didn’t know how to react. There was a lot of sadness and love and more than anything else, a lot of anger at a chosen few who decide to do what they do, when all that the majority wants is peace and the chance to be alive and thrive. A read not to be missed out on for sure. Can’t wait to read the other nine parts.

 

Baking with Kafka: Comics by Tom Gauld

Title: Baking with Kafka
Author: Tom Gauld
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd.
ISBN: 978-1786891501
Genre: Comics, Graphic, Humour
Pages: 160
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 Stars

Till now, I have just read one book by Tom Gauld and that is “Mooncop”, which I absolutely loved and couldn’t stop raving about for a long time. And now, the same is the case with “Baking with Kafka”. This one is a series of comics, some of which have been previously published in various publications and most of which focus on books and reading. There are some here and about on pop culture references, but essentially, this one is a treat for all booklovers.

Gauld has this minimal sense of drawing which works wonders for me (it isn’t for all, let me also tell you that). The words may not have that kind of impact (mostly, they do) but the drawings most certainly do and sometimes I thought to myself that maybe the words weren’t even needed. I found myself smiling a lot at the literary cartoons. It reminded me of the times when I was growing up and would wait eagerly for the newspaper, only to read the comics page.

For instance, there is this cartoon on Jonathan Franzen and how he is averse to any kind of marketing to how a romance novel should be written to when the book is adapted to a movie and the book’s reaction to my most favourite one of how books are classified on bookshelves. As a reader, I could connect to most of what is there in this book. I had never read any of these strips before, so the experience was new and refreshing and did not seem jaded at all.

“Baking with Kafka” is a funny, wry book that will leave you with a lot of laughs. If you are having a bad day or in general a grim time, this is the book to go to. Will cheer you like no other.

Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier

Title: Ghosts
Author: Raina Telgemeier
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN: 978-0545540629
Genre: Graphic novel
Pages: 256
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 Stars

Another graphic read of the month. A tear-jerker of sorts, well not really, but it did choke me up for sure. Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novels hit home. They are not just graphic novels, but the ones with a lot of heart and soul. Whether it is “Sisters” or even “Drama” for that matter, and the same goes for her latest release “Ghosts”. It is the kind of book that will make you laugh, perhaps even make you identify the sibling behavior you shared with your brother or sister and most of all, it will make you want move to a ghost town for sure. At least, it did that to me.

Catrina and her family are moving to the coast of Northern California because her sister Maya is sick. Maya has cystic fibrosis and the air that comes in from the sea will do her good. Cat hates leaving her friends and the town she was used to, but Bahia de la Luna will be good for her sister and Cat loves her sister way too much to make this change. The new home and new town come with one caveat though: There are ghosts in the new place and Cat wants nothing to do with them but Maya loves the idea of interacting with them and Cat would have to look at doing one more thing for her sister.

The book is simple. It has a simple plot and it doesn’t reek of the usual graphic novel smartness which some people have come to expect. There is cheer, sadness, courage, fear and love in this book for children and teens like no other graphic novel I’ve read in the last couple of months. It is a heartwarming book and that’s that to it. I would urge you to read it, smile and give it to someone else who could use a smile or two.