Dear Book Club members,
Thank you for your contribution to our discussion about graphic novels last week. It was lovely to meet for one final book discussion for 2020.
The genre of Graphic Novels is always an interesting one to explore together. The following books were discussed (click on the links to reserve a book in eLibrary / connect to an ebook copy in Sora):
- Thornhill by Pat Smy (recommended by Gretel). A dark mystery and suspense story. Don’t be deterred by the size of this book.
- Rachel discussed manga in general. If you have not read manga before, read this first to help guide you. Rachel’s manga recommendations include Pandora’s Hearts (good action); Attack on Titan; and Cardcaptor Sakura. Rachel also recommends starting with a small series if you are new to manga. After this meeting, I think that we could have a future book club discussion just about manga.
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (recommended by Ms McNamara). Persepolis 2
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi recommended by Mrs Sylaprany for older teens and adults. For your interest, Persepolis was the capital of the Persian Empire (you can read about the history of Persepolis here). I recommend this blog and video by CultofPedagogy about Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It offers great insights and perspectives to consider in regards to this graphic novel.
- The Red Pyramid: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan (recommended by Mrs Ryan). You can access the ebook version in Sora here. Mrs Ryan loved the quality of the graphics on screen. It would be interesting to compare the print and digital reading experience for books with much visual content.
- Space Boy (Volume 1) by Stephen McCranie. Mrs Lacey highly recommended the first book in this series (I agree too). Unfortunately, Mrs Lacey found French Milk by Lucy Knisley not to her taste and a bit dull, but she highly recommends the graphic version of The diary of Anne Frank. The content is difficult but it is beautifully portrayed through this visual medium (I would second this too).
- Mrs Hanratty discussed graphic novels she has recently read including Fangs by Sarah Andersen (a sweet tale of a vampire and werewolf); Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu; and Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (Mrs Hanratty’s favourite pick).
Mr Llewellyn-Evans has reviewed Such a lovely little war by Marcelino Truong. This was Mr Llewellyn-Evans first experience in reading a graphic novel. I highly recommend his review and the book, Such a lovely little war, to you, especially if you are interested in biographies and early history about the Vietnam war.
The sharing of graphic novels absorbed most of our discussion time but Mrs Lacey was also able to share two lovely books on ikigai including this one. This diagram beautifully presents the concepts in ikigai. The last few minutes of our book club discussion reminded me about how books are special gifts.
As this unforgettable year draws closer to an end, I would like to warmly thank everyone who has been involved in Book Club this year (including those of you who have listened in or read this blog). Your presence and participation has been an ongoing gift in which we share our love for stories and reading. I know for many of us this year, books have also been a stabilising force, offering comfort, escape, new skills to try or new ideas to challenge or stimulate our thinking. Continue sharing books over the summer holidays in any way you can and find a nice spot where you can enjoy some reading time every day.
Wishing you a happy and safe holiday season with your family and friends.
We look forward to our next Book Club chat early next year.
Mrs Sylaprany, Mrs Ryan & Mrs Hanratty
PS: we did not set a novel for our next meeting but if you have not read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens you might like to read this Christmas classic. If you would like a Christmas YA read, try Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares or Let it snow (there’s plenty of print copies of both of these novels available in the library for holiday borrowing). Happy holiday reading!
