Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative--like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it--but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly. So I decided to just make a list of things that are in the book:

Pictures
Words
Stories about things that happened to me
Stories about things that happened to other people because of me
Eight billion dollars*
Stories about dogs
The secret to eternal happiness*

*These are lies. Perhaps I have underestimated my sneakiness!

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I have to admit that I am not really a graphic novel person. I have read a few, and while I don't dislike them per say, it is not a genre that I seek out often. This graphic novel was quite enjoyable, however. It had me laughing out loud, especially the stories about her neurotic dogs that reminded me of my own, and a particularly humorous story involving a rouge duck. There are also some serious stories in there dealing with identity and depression. The illustrations are not high art, but they were an essential part of the stories. I'm not sure that I would have found some of the stories as humorous without the accompanying pictures.

This is an overall enjoyable read, even if you are not a graphic novel fan. Just be careful about reading it in pubic. You will laugh out loud.

2015 Reading Challenge: A graphic novel

Twilight: The Graphic Novel Vol. I & II and New Moon: The Graphic Novel Vol. I by Young Kim

I am not a graphic novel fan generally, but my love of all things Twilight demanded that I give this series a chance, and I'm glad that I did. Had I not already been a fan of Twilight, I'm not sure how I would have responded to the graphic novels. I'm not sure that they added anything to my overall love of the stories. It just offered me a way to experience the story again in a different medium.

Some of the illustrations were quite beautiful - I especially loved the meadow scenes at the end of Twilight, Vol. I and the ending of Twilight, Vol. II. I also really liked the close up shots of the characters' eyes throughout the novels. I was surprised at how well the emotions of the story were conveyed in the pictures and couldn't help but compare some of the scenes to the movie versions. I'm sorry to say that the emotion played out better in the graphic novel than on the big screen for some of the scenes.

Fans of the books do not need to fear, all the text is taken directly from the books and there isn't any reinterpretation of the original story. These novels are a great addition to any Twihard's library.

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Coming soon...

New Moon: The Graphic Novel Vol. II - expected release April 2014