"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."- PJ O'Rourke
I'm spoilt for choice when it comes to graphic novels. Not because I'm any good at picking them. (If anything, I'm absolute rubbish at knowing what to try next. It's because I have next to no filter when it comes to books. I will try anything and everything at least once, and sometimes this goes against me). It's more that I'm lucky enough to work with amazeballs people who, almost daily - by email, text, Facebook message, Twitter, and in person - give me suggestions. Totally unsolicited. Once they've given me one, I find a whole heapload more that I just have to read. Which results in a Top 5 list much like this one. My parents encouraged me to read comics as a child. They wouldn't just buy them, though, we'd also talk about them. I distinctly remember, as a 9 year old, falling in love with Peter Bromhead. Well, his editorial cartoons in the Auckland Star, that is. My parents noticed my interest, and so Bromhead would, often, be a part of our dinner conversation. We would discuss the point of the cartoon in relation to whatever current events were taking place both nationally and internationally at that point in time. I am lucky enough to work with people who do the same - recommend titles or writers and, afterward, want to talk about them. The other day, someone told me to give Marbles: mania, depression, Michelangelo, & me : a graphic memoir by Ellen Forney a try, so I've requested it already, and am impatiently awaiting its arrival. Once I've finished it, we'll catch up and trade opinions and thoughts. And, as is usually the case when I'm in the catalogue, I came across 5 other graphic novels that, really, have to be bumped to the top of my TBR list. Today's list is: 5 graphic novels you need to request now right now. Have I steered you wrong yet? (Don't answer that just in case I have). They're an unusual mix of books, too - cooking, fantasy, life in Jerusalem, love in a time of a galactic war, and aliens in Australia. I know, right? You're welcome!
What graphic novels are you reading right now?
