more book reviews (favorites):

MAMA: a TRUE story, in which a BABY HIPPO loses his MAMA during a TSUNAMI, but finds a new home, and a new MAMA

by Jeanette Winter

One of the best picture books (for content) that I have ever read. The simple story of an abandoned baby hippo who is adopted by a turtle. While this book is about animals, there is something very human about it. I cried in the library when i read this. Not very flattering; I was 22 at the time.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

An interesting and somewhat tragic coming of age in pictures. In my opinion, the book really shines in its discussion of sin (or what we are taught to believe?) and attachment. Whether you really like it or not by the end, it's very compelling and hard to put down.














Fruits Basket

by Natsuki Takaya

I started reading this series when I heard about it on NPR. The radio piece was about librarians at Comicon who were stocking up on manga for young and old readers. I have always avoided manga because it makes me think of weird homely girls and pornography. I read all 20 of the graphic novels in this series in about 2 days. Book 21 is released in America in November. This is "shojo" manga (geared more toward girls in that it deals more with character development and relationships than with action.) Fruits Basket is the complicated story of Tohru Honda, an orphaned Japanese school girl who discovers the family secret of a couple of her classmates, Kyo and Yuki Sohma. As readers, we learn that the Sohma family transforms into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. This curse, naturally or unnaturally, bonds the family members together and dictates the structures of their lives. Great discussions of death, longing, loss, abandonment, gender identity, familial bonds, power, and of course love (this is shojo!)

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Audrey Niffenegger's first novel and a masterpiece. So poignantly lonely and telling. I have never stopped thinking about it.