{Weekend Reading} Even More Graphic Novels + Canada Love + A Reminder of Graphic Novel Week

Oh man … could I fit more things into the title of this post? It’s currently 6am on Saturday morning as I write this. I decided last night that my child is a good enough sleeper that I could probably stay up late reading. Nope. That meant he was up twice in the night crying and then I was up at about 4am for the day. And I have an event tonight I need to attend, so enter zombie mode!

Seriously … send some caffeine. Stat!

Naturally, since Graphic Novel Week is coming up soon, I decided to devote another weekend to reading even more graphic novels! A lot more from the library, some quirky titles, as well as a new one I bought of Neil Gaiman’s, AND, of course, more Canadian offerings! Who knew there were so many great Canadian graphic novels?!?

I’m hoping to get through most of this, but I’m also reading 3 books right now, so finishing at least one of them would be nice! I’m working hard on figuring out what to post during Graphic Novel Week, so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

In case you missed last week’s post, the last week of the month will be …

I’ve been trying to get back into reading Graphic Novels on a regular basis and it’s been so much fun! What better way to do this than to have a whole week dedicated to graphic novels! So far, there will be reviews, an interview with a special author, discussions … I’m not even sure what else!

If you want to participate, make sure you link your blog post in the comments!

And, since that’s leading into December, I thought something FUN should be in the works for that month, too!

That’s right … I want to hear your Canadian author love stories! Are you like me and have fallen hard for some of the authors and books Canada has to offer? I want to hear about it! Email me at readinginwinter(AT)gmail(DOT)com … tell me about your favourite Canadian books, or your favourite authors! Write a short blurb or paragraph and I’ll feature it on the blog!

Just like last week, PicMonkey ROCKS! The graphics in this post were created using some of their amazing (and FREE!) tools. I suggest you try them out sometime!

Are you a graphic novels fan? Are you in love with Canadian literature? 

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{Weekend Reading} ALL the Graphic Novels! Pow! Anyone interested in a Graphic Novel Week?

Since it’s November 1st and Halloween is officially over, I decided to get ALL the graphic novels out from the library to clean my brain of all the horror reading this past week. I also had some fun over at PicMonkey making a graphic for this post, so bear with me … (bare with me? Whatever.)

OK, so they’re not ALL non-Halloween-ish, but still.

These are all from the library and I’m sure I looked slightly ridiculous with the Binky the Space Cat books, but they do look great! I know there are some people (my husband included) who think that reading graphic novels is for kids, but it so isn’t! There are some AMAZING graphic novels out there, as well as manga and comics … I feel like I’ve barely touched the surface of everything that’s out there!

My library has an AWESOME selection of graphic novels, plus access to tons from other libraries. I’m excited to explore them more!

SO …

Who’s interested in participating in a Graphic Novel Week? Since October is over and December is usually devoted to all things Christmas-themed, I’ve decided to have the last week of November as a Graphic Novels week with ALL things Graphic Novels! Reviews, recommendations, and anything else I can come up with! Who’s with me? If you are, link up your posts in the comments and get ready to share some of your graphic novel fun!

Big thanks to PicMonkey for having amazing themes to create the graphics on this post! So much fun!

Are you a graphic novels fan? 

Weekend Library Reading (13) — Mini Reviews

WEEKEND LIBRARY READING is a feature of Reading In Winter! If YOU make use of your local library, feel free to participate. I work in a library that has a HUGE selection of awesome books, and even when I’m not working I seem to come home with a TON of them, so it only makes sense to showcase some of the beauties I plan to read from my local library over a weekend. 

Not a bad week for library reading …. it’s nice to see the piles dwindling on my kitchen table. I’m TERRIBLE for taking out heaps and heaps of books and just staring at the piles of them while I have my breakfast. Isn’t the library great for that?

Here’s what I got last week:

My thoughts:

One More Thing by B. J. Novak

This book was kind of a surprise pick up for me. I hadn’t intended on reading it, but I kind of loved Mindy Kaling’s book that I figured this one would be along the same lines. I was so wrong! I had no idea that this one was a collection of short stories and not a memoir/autobiography. Right off the bat, I was laughing out loud. It’s great that I loved B. J.’s sense of humour before I started because this book probably isn’t for everyone. I would liken it to how I really disliked Tina Fey’s book, mainly because I don’t watch her show and I just don’t know her sense of humour. But this one was perfect. I loved that the stories were short enough (with a few exceptions) that I could put it down when I had to and pick it back up when I had time and I didn’t feel like I was lost or anything. It was also fun because a few stories kind of overlap ideas, like a story with a guy in a red shirt, for instance. It really is a fun book to read and I love the simplicity of the cover design and everything. I’m glad to have seen this one on the new book list at the library or I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. I’ll be keeping an eye out for other books by Novak in the future, that’s for sure.

Flight, Volume 1, edited by Kazu Kibuishi

On a positive note, this was a really, really quick read. I think that’s one of the reason I’m starting to feel a little burnt out on graphic novels. On the one hand, they’re great if I want to feel accomplished and close a book after the last page having read it ALL. But on the other hand, I feel like I’m being too easy on myself. I need something meatier. Anyway, this was a decent book. Like I had mentioned, I took it out mainly because I love graphic novels AND because it had a short by Vera Brosgol, who wrote Anya’s Ghost, in it. While there were a few stories I really liked, I have to be biased and say that I think Vera’s was my favourite. There was a great mix of stories in this collection and I like how they all dealt with flight. There was dreamy stories, violent stories, and just plain weird stories. The art was extremely varied — some simple, some extremely complicated. There were some stories that I just didn’t get at all, but I guess that’s okay. All I can say is that this collection really has something for everyone and is a great way to find a new favourite illustrator. I’d be interested in trying out some of the other volumes of this series, too.

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No new books for me this weekend. I’ll be taking a little break from library posts since I can feel the books on my shelve staring me down!

Have you read these books? What are your weekend plans?