Friday, June 16, 2006

I think I have a favorite book of 2006

and I haven't even finished it yet (common sense kicked in late last night), but it is absolutely beautifully written/drawn and astonishingly literary and yet completely unpretentious and altogether one of the funniest and most striking things I have read in, well, forever: Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. It's so Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man that I think I must also go and reread that book, which I haven't read since high school; and of all the things I love about it (it's a graphic novel/memoir about Bechdel's father and the enigmas of identity), my absolute favorite is what she's done with the books he's reading in many of the scenes. Absolutely brilliant! Take up and read!

Here's Douglas Wolk's review at Salon (I rarely click through to Salon because of the annoying watch-an-ad-for-a-free-day's-pass thing, but in this case it's worth it, especially because Wolk includes a page from the book so you can see its charms up close & personal); and thanks to The Dizzies for the link and the original recommendation.

1 comment:

  1. ahhh..thank you for recommending another book!! im a voracious reader, and im always looking for new books to entertain me..and now, i have two.

    thanks!

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