Habibi

An artistic and epic story that is a feat of drawing and literature.  Thompson (native of my hometown Portland) places his story of loss & love in an unidentifiable time period and a corrupted eden.  One understands why it took seven years for his sophomore release when viewing the intricately detailed pages of his book - they are at turns beautiful and grotesque.  I cannot recommend this to everyone - so much horror happens to the central children and it never truly attains a 'happily ever after.'  The artistry in Habibi surpasses his previous, award winning book Blankets, but Blankets realized its message and felt agonizingly truthful, while Habibi leaves one wondering what to make of it.  I still loved reading the story, seeing the depths of admiration Thompson expresses here for the beauty and familiarity of the Islamic culture, and enjoying the interweaving of stories throughout in an Arabian Nights style.  The power of a story is perhaps the main message the artist/author succeeds in revealing, and in this, I can be satisfied.  But I suspect there were a great many more messages trying to be heard.   I've never seen someone manage both words and drawings so beautifully as Mr. Thompson - he's really accomplishing something unique here.  But Blankets let me know that his writing can compete with any others (at least when it is his own tale) and so ultimately, he set the bar fairly high himself.  I'm hoping that his storymaking continues and improves to the point that his invented stories achieve the poignancy of his personal history.

October Reads Borrows and Bought

October Reads
The Male Brain - by Louanne Brizendine
Please Look After Mom - by Kyung-Soon Shin
Graphic Design For Non-Designers - Tony Seddon
Habibi - Craig Thompson
The Walking Dead Vol2 - Robert Kirkman (graphic novel)

October Bought & Borrowed
(Borrowed from the library)
Wild at Heart - by Barry Gifford
The Walking Dead Vol2 - by Robert Kirkman
(Purchased from Amazon and Powells)
The Male Brain (3 copies!) - by Louanne Brizendine
Habibi - by Craig Thompson
(Purchased from Friends of the Library sale - I'm an addict!)
Running with Scissors:A Memoir - by Augusten Burrows
Lies My Teacher Told Me - by James Loewen
Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - by Lisa See
Outlander - by Diana Gabaldon
Foucault's Pendulum - by Umberto Eco
How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents - by Julia Alvarez
Into Thin Air - by John Krakauer
The Witches of Eastwick - by John Updike
Reading Lolita in Tehran - by Azar Nafisi
Loving Frank - by Nancy Horan