I didn’t know a thing about comics when I first began library school.  I had never even read one.  Sometimes I’d glance over at the graphic novels with curiosity, but I had no idea what to even look at if I went near the section.  One day I got brave, walked into the library, and headed straight for the graphic novels thinking today was the day I’d actually check something out and read my first comic.  I picked up an intriguing looking book that had been placed on display.  One of my fellow classmates that worked at the library passed by, looked at me, and said of the book in my hand “that is freakin’ awesome.”  I couldn’t think of a better endorsement, so I checked it out and promptly fell in love with the graphic format.  That first “freakin’ awesome” book I read was Black Hole by Charles Burns and my classmate didn’t lie, I loved it.

It only took that one book to turn me into a graphic novel convert.  The power of the graphic format to tell a story is unparalleled.  The images in a good graphic novel add layers to the text, lending these stories a complexity and emotion you can find in some of the best literature.  And, the graphic format can be enjoyed by anyone no matter what genre you prefer; there’s narrative nonfiction, mystery, literary works, history, memoir, fantasy, sci-fi, everything.  Anyone no matter what age or reading preference can find something to love (though please note that the books listed below were selected with an adult audience in mind).  If you don’t know where to find something to love, take a look at these recommendations and links – they’re sure to help match you to a graphic novel that is “freakin’ awesome.”

BodyWorld by Dash Shaw
A fictional story about a Timothy Leary-type professor and botanist that travels to a strange town to look into a strange plant found growing behind the local school. Turns out the plant when smoked gives people telepathic powers and this discovery slowly turns the world of each character upside down.

Daytripper by Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba
Set in Brazil, different episodes in the main character’s life are depicted revealing more about him, the life he has led, and his relationships with his friends and family in this literary fiction style work. The main character’s death is also depicted in each episode encouraging all who read it to take a closer look at their own lives. The author and artist are brothers from Brazil and the stunning artwork and profound musings will impress and inspire.

Epileptic by David B.
A moving account of the author’s brother’s epilepsy and how it effects his relationship with his brother and entire family. The author is also the artist and the intricate black and white drawings are worth pausing over.

FreakAngels by Warren Ellis & Paul Duffield
You can read this for free online (or, we have volume 1 at the library). It’s by Warren Ellis, a well-respected man in the comics industry, and chronicles a post-apocalyptic world in which 12 young folks that all look eerily similar and have strange powers seem somehow responsible for. Think Village of the Damned only modern and more imaginative.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
A powerful memoir about the author growing up in a dysfunctional family with her closeted gay father as well as her coming-of-age and lesbianism. Bechdel’s sensitive, emotional portrayal and beautiful artwork make this one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read.

Habibi by Craig Thompson
A magical, epic story following two lovers, former child slaves, through a difficult and cruel world. Thompson is best known for Blankets, a critically acclaimed memoir of his youth, and he does not disappoint in this much anticipated new book.

Locke & Key by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
This is a horror series by Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son, full of Lovecraftian influence. A family undergoes a terrible tragedy and relocates to an old family home in a small town. The house has many surprises in store and a few dark secrets it is desperate to share with the kids that now reside there.

Palestine by Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco is known for pioneering the comic journalism genre. After time spent in the Israeli-occupied territories, Sacco brings us a story of the people and the conflict there that you’ll never hear from mainstream news outlets.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
This now famous memoir of a young girl growing up during the Iranian revolution give us a character to fall in love with (Satrapi is a precocious and amusing child) and reveals much about Iran during this tumultuous time in it’s history. If you like Persepolis, you’ll love the famous Maus by Art Spiegelman and vice versa.

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman & Various Artists
This series is required reading for any graphic novel fan. It tells us the story of Dream primarily, but also his goth sister Death and a cast of characters referred to as The Endless. It’s hard to narrow this comic down and give a nice description, but Norman Mailer once called it “a comic strip for intellectuals” and I think that’s pretty apt.

WEBSITES

Best Books of 2011: Graphic Novels
The best graphic novels of 2011 as decided by Library Journal

Drawing on Reality: Graphic Nonfiction From Bechdel to Zinn
This is an article I wrote for Library Journal about the best graphic nonfiction for libraries. It includes a list (after the article) of some of the best graphic nonfiction I know of and each title has a nice description under it, so you can find something you’ll love.  It was written with an audience of librarians in mind, so feel free to skip the article and just look at the list of recommended books.

Graphic Medicine
An excellent site maintained by Dr. Ian Williams of Wales in which he recommends graphic novels that he believes can help patients and caregivers alike in coping with illness and health conditions. Check out his lists of recommended graphic novels here and here.

The Greatest Graphic Novels of All Time
From UGO.com

New York Times Graphic Bestsellers
Still don’t see anything here that catches your fancy? The New York Times keeps a graphic bestsellers list, just scroll down toward the bottom of the page to see this week’s list.

Posted by Bonnie, a second floor librarian

Image credit

Here’s the list of this year’s authors and their books.  Click on the links to locate copies of the books.

Suggested donation is $7, and all money raised goes to Linn Benton Food Share to alleviate hunger in our community.  For more information, go to the library’s literary events page .

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Image credit

My Dad has recently started reading a lot more, which of course makes me as a librarian happy. He’s a picky reader (like me) and is always on the lookout for new books to enjoy. I suggested he may want to use a website to keep track of what he’s read and to find new suggestions. Some of you may already be active on some of these sites, but hopefully others will find this information useful.

There are three large keep-track-of-your-reading sites out there. Take a look at them and see if any of them look like they might work for you.

• goodreads: how it works
• LibraryThing: take a tour
• Shelfari: take a tour

If you’re after automated recommendations based on the books you have read, both LibraryThing and Shelfari offer suggestions for other books you’d like based on a title. goodreads doesn’t appear to do that, but you can get recommendations from your friends on the site.

Of course, we provide you with reading suggestions here at the library. Take a look at our Books page for staff picks, check our Fiction page for lists of award-winners and classics, and browse our Nonfiction page for reading lists and suggestions. You may also want to give Novelist a try. We can also create a personalized reading list just for you!

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

Photo credit: Forest Path, by Jeff Power on Flickr

We will always have Paris, by waldopepper on Flickr

I grew up in a climate slightly rainier than Corvallis, so I  learned to appreciate sunny days! Because of this, I always feel guilty staying inside when the weather is nice – it just feels wrong.  So normally I would feel bad enjoying a great book on the couch in June, but since the weather is so crappy, I’m focusing on the bright side – guiltless reading!

And the weather isn’t getting me down too much, because I’ve discovered a new author (well, new to me anyway).

I’m reading The Blue Flower, by Penelope Fitzgerald. It was on my list of books to try for a long time and I’m pleased I got around to it. Fitzgerald won the Booker for her novel Offshore, and The Blue Flower was chosen nineteen times as “Book of the Year” in British newspapers in 1995, according to the back cover of the edition I’m reading now.

It shows -The Blue Flower is a great read. I’m never good at summing up books in an elegant way, so here’s a quote from the Library Journal review (3/1/97):

[Fitzgerald] reconstructs the life of 18th-century German romantic poet Novalis, focusing on his boisterous family, his struggle to articulate his longings, and, most tellingly, his passion for 12-year-old Sophie, a simple child he intends to marry despite the furious reservations of family and friends. Fitzgerald doesn’t make it entirely clear what draws Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis’ real name) to little Sophie–but that is precisely the point. Throughout, he is carried aloft by an inchoate desire for something beyond that is summed up in his little story of the blue flower: “I have no craving to be rich, but I long to see the blue flower….I can imagine and think about nothing else.” As a counterpoint to her protagonist’s beautifully captured romanticism, Fitzgerald successfully evokes the sights, sound, and smells–and the constant sorrows–of domestic life in 18th-century Germany.

The book isn’t very long, but I look forward to reading the other titles we have in our collection. I love when I discover another author I like, because then I know I have a guaranteed selection of good books ahead of me. I’m a pretty picky reader, so it’s a nice feeling.

As a person, Fitzgerald is interesting – she didn’t publish her first book until she was 60 years old. The Guardian has a nice obituary of her (she died in 2000), that includes interesting observations on her body of work. Harriet Harvey Wood writes about Fitzgerald:

What is striking is the accuracy of her observation, the aesthetically satisfying precision with which, stylistically, the arrow goes straight into the centre of the gold. The economy with which she achieved her effects – “I always feel the reader is very insulted by being told too much,” she said – and her ability to combine a microscopic with a panoramic perspective, made most other contemporary novels appear flatulent and over-written.

Anyway, I wanted to share my “discovery” with you. Are there any authors you’ve found recently that you want to share with other readers?

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

Here are a few suggestions from a selection of subject areas:

	You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier From Publisher’s Weekly: “Computer scientist and Internet guru Lanier’s fascinating and provocative full-length exploration of the Internet’s problems and potential is destined to become a must-read for both critics and advocates of online-based technology and culture. “
	Droppers: America’s First Hippie Commune, Drop City by Mark Matthews From Kirkus Review: “The story of America’s first hippie commune, as well as American utopianism from the Mayflower to the 1960s and beyond….  A brief, enthralling history of a specific place and time, and of an enduring American idea.“
	Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw’s Adventures in Moonshine by Max Watman From Booklist: “Watman… takes us on an exciting and often-eccentric ride through the history (and present) of the moonshine business, at the same time chronicling his own frequently disastrous efforts to produce home-grown alcohol.”
	Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman From Publisher’s Weekly: “Invoking Ralph Manheim’s metaphor, Grossman compares the translator’s art to that of the actor transforming a playwright’s words in performance. Thus asserts award-winning translator Grossman…. The art of translation expands our ability to explore through literature the thoughts and feelings of people from another society or another time.“
	Coyote at the Kitchen Door: Living with Wildlife in Suburbia by Stephen DeStefano From Booklist: “As adaptable as they are surreptitious, coyotes particularly love the suburbs, where food is abundant and natural predators rare. For wildlife biologist DeStefano, the coyote is thus an inspirational symbol of nature’s resilience: a wild animal that has learned to thrive amid human sprawl without our consent and in spite of our perennial efforts to banish them from our midst…. DeStefano’s willingness to probe his own ambivalence about the possibilities of coexistence with nature allows this selection to be about much more than just wild canines.”
	Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture by Alice Echols From Publisher’s Weekly: “…nothing seems to conjure up the seventies quite so effectively as disco. But while the decade’s weltanschauung is often dismissed as merely polyester and platform heels, Echols aims for and thoroughly achieves a range of higher cultural insights. Using an encyclopedic knowledge of the eras biggest stars, she shows how all sorts of musical disco styles played a central role in broadening the contours of blackness, femininity, and male homosexuality in America. “
	Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades by Jonathan Phillips From Kirkus Review: “A fresh, no-nonsense take on the causes, human cost and continued relevance of the medieval Crusades.”
	Invisble: A Memoir by Hugues de Montalembert From Publisher’s Weekly: “Blinded in a senseless attack in his New York home in 1978, de Montalembert, then a filmmaker and painter, was violently forced out of his intensely visual world. In this raw memoir, more a brainstorming session than a narrative, he approaches his new life with stunning directness, navigating the environs of Manhattan and, not much later, Bali and Greenland, with precocious new confidence and ability.”
	The Poker Bride: The First Chinese of the Wild West by Christopher Corbett From Library Journal: “In the 19th-century American West, for a white man to marry a Chinese woman was almost unheard of; to have won her in a poker game was also unusual. Yet here Corbett … tells how the Chinese concubine Polly became the bride of Charles Bemis, a saloon keeper who took her to his remote Idaho gold-mining community. Around this story, Corbett gracefully weaves the history of the Chinese in the 19th-century American West, from the arrival of the first “celestials,” as they were known, through the anti-Chinese agitation at century’s end.”
	About a Mountain by John D’Agata From Publisher’s Weekly: “In this circuitous, stylish investigation, D’Agata … uses the federal government’s highly controversial (and recently rejected) proposal to entomb the U.S.’s nuclear waste located in Yucca Mountain, near Las Vegas, as his way into a spiraling and subtle examination of the modern city, suicide, linguistics, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, ecological and psychic degradation, and the gulf between information and knowledge.”

Do you have any great books you’ve picked up lately that you think deserve a wider audience? Share in the comments, or on our Facebook page.

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

Most people think that librarians read a lot. Well, it’s not always true. There was an editorial by Susan Nielsen in the Oregonian recently which ended with the line “A candidate who doesn’t vote much is like a librarian who doesn’t read much. You can’t help but question the person’s true passion for the job. ” This set off a little flurry of discussion on the Libs-Or listserv, an email list for Oregon librarians.

Anyway, seeing the thread of emails on the topic reminded me that I’m one of those librarians that doesn’t read as much as I would like. That’s for all sorts of reasons. But either way, I’m resolving to get back into my previous habit of being a relatively voracious reader. (By the way, I do disagree that a librarian who doesn’t read much isn’t passionate about his/her job – I’m a case in point!)

Do you have any reading resolutions for the new year? Before we get too serious with ourselves on all those “should” reads (e.g. “I really should read War and Peace“), how about this as some encouragement?

The Reader’s Bill of Rights, by Daniel Pennac in Better than Life

1. The right to not read.
2. The right to skip pages.
3. The right not to finish.
4. The right to re-read.
5. The right to read anything.
6. The right to escapism.
7. The right to read anywhere.
8. The right to browse.
9. The right to read out loud.
10. The right not to defend your tastes.

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

Oia by Wolfgang Staudt (Flickr)

This time of year we could all use a little sunshine and warmth.

For a taste of life in the Greek Islands, join us in the Main Meeting Room at the Corvallis Library on Friday, Feb. 27th at 7pm.

Anita Sullivan and Alison Cadbury will be reading from their Greek Island-themed books, and an audience Q&A will follow. Grass Roots will be selling copies of both books at the reading. Of course, you can also find both Anita’s and Alison’s books in the library.

Admission is free. Hope to see you there!