Novels, graphic novels, children’s books and non-fic, but no poetry? How did that happen?

23. The Game, by Ken Dryden
(Wiley, 1983, 2005)

Continuing reading the Canada Reads 2012 shortlist in reverse order of elimination,⁽¹⁾ I read The Game despite my complete lack of interest in hockey. And loved it.

I have little idea who most of the players are, and fortunately lists of statistics are kept to a minimum. What you get with that the jacket copy calls “the best hockey book ever written,” is a surprisingly well-written and thought-provoking overview of the industry from the perspective of an insider, Ken Dryden being, of course, a former goalie for the Montreal Canadiens.⁽²⁾

I can see why this was in the top five, and further, I can see why it almost made it as this year’s pick. It’s definitely worth the read. Continue reading »

Footnotes:

1. See Shelf Life: February 2012 for more. [↩]
2. I saw “of course,” as if I knew that before. I didn’t. But I assume most people know more about hockey than someone who’s spent her childhood trying to ignore that team sports exist outside the classroom. [↩]

This month I tackled most of the Canada Reads short list in reverse order of elimination. Though I still haven’t yet read Something Fierce.

14. Kenk, by Richard Poplak
(Pop Sandbox, 2010)

The graphic biography of Toronto’s Igor Kenk, told through grainy punk-style photocopied stills excerpted from filmed interviews. Poplak reveals a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of the radical environmentalist who probably stole your bike.

One of the best graphic biographies I’ve ever read.

15. Saltations, by Jennifer Still
(Thistledown Press, 2005)

Still’s first collection, I put this on order before picking up Girlwood, though it came in to the store much later. A lovely book. Continue reading »

I’ve never really set targets for my reading before, beyond a general expectation that I’d read at least a hundred books a year, but last year a friend pushed me to challenge myself to commit to 150. According to Goodreads I surpassed it, but according to my own count I read 135. I read twenty-seven graphic novels that I hadn’t added to the count. For the past three years, I’ve listed the graphic novels I’ve read, but not included them in the total number of books I read.

This was, admittedly, due to a foolish prejudice I’d acquired that graphic novels somehow didn’t count as “proper books”. Most of them can be read in about an hour, often they’re picture (rather than text) heavy, and though I read comics prodigiously in high school (Marvel universe FTW), I couldn’t quite convince myself to put them at the same level as the classic lit I was also reading.

I know, I know. It was snobbish and stupid. There are tons of wonderful and highly literate examples in the medium. Marjane Satrapi’s Persopolis, and Blankets by Craig Thompson, Skim, by Mariko Tamaki and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series is rife with literary allusions, both overt and more subdued. It’s not all men wearing underwear over their spandex leotards and large breasted women bursting from their flimsy costumes. Graphic novels count. Books like Kate Beaton’s excellent collection of comics Hark! A Vagrant count.

So, for the first time I’m including comics and graphic novels in my official tally of books read. I feel like I’ve grown as a person. Continue reading »