Books that blew my mind

I would not consider myself a huge graphic novel person, but I do have a deep appreciation for really good ones. The three listed below were probably three of my favourite books of the year.



1) The Rabbi's Cat--Joan Sfar:

This book was amazing. I read it while flying home from China and laughed out loud several times. It is a great example of the new wave of high quality comics and graphic novels coming out of France. In this book a cat that lives with a Rabbi eats a parrot and gains the ability to talk, the first thing he does with his speech is lie to the rabbi about eating the parrot; the second thing he does is insist on studying the Kaballah.

2) Night Fisher--R Kikuo Johnson

This is a coming of age story that takes place in Hawaii.
Both the story and the art are great, but the art is extremely impressive. It deals with both the light and dark sides of living in "Paradise" and really effectively addresses some of the post colonial problems present in Hawaii.

3) A Thousand Ships--Eric Shanower

All that can be said about this is that it is book 1 of a 7 volume series about the Trojan war. It's focus is on getting as in depth as possible well staying interesting. In my my opinion it is by far the most engaging way to learn ancient history.