books,
I'm pumped for this one! Although I don't really use audiobooks too much, I love all kinds of graphic novels and comics, and equally love getting recommendations from others. Can't wait to check out other videos and posts this week!
So, in no particular order, here are my favorite non-written novels:
#1: "Hyperbole and a Half" by Allie Brosh
Drawn in a computer paint program with rounded out stick figures, "Hyperbole and a Half" is Brosh's
part memoir-part guide to dealing with depression. I read this book a couple years ago, and I remember it as being the first book I had laughed with while reading for a looooong time. I had needed that book. Some parts of this book are hilarious stories (like a young Brosh attempting to steal and eat an entire birthday cake) and other are accounts of how Brosh handles life when life seems too much. The chapter where she talks about 'the dead goldfish' situation was incredibly helpful to me personally.
(hey, even Bill Gates liked this one! READ THIS BOOK)
#2: "Giant Days" by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, & Whitney Cogar
I kept seeing this on my Goodreads dashboard, so I picked up the first volume of it from my library. Then I immediatley went back two days later to find the second volume because this series is fantastic. "Giant Days" follows three university students, Susan, Esther, and Daisy, three very different women, as they handle college life. This includes wayward romances, sexist websites, a rampant flu, and academia among others. It's a story about being a twentysomething young woman trying to handle whatever life throws at you while not completely losing it. Plus, the female friendships in here are so so SO well done, and these three girls are one of my favorite fictional groups to read about. I'm also a big fan of the artwork- it's vibrant and distinctive, and the facial expressions are spot on.
#3: "Supermutant Magic Academy" by Jillian Tamaki
To be perfectly honest, this right here is probably my favorite standalone graphic novel of all time. I bought this at my local comic shop after hearing Ariel Bissett rave about it in one of her videos. At the shop, I flipped through it a little hesitantly, because the art style seemed a little bland. But, I almost always like Ariel's recommendations so I went for it- and it was excellent. "Supermutant Magic Academy" is a bit nonlinear: almost every couple pages flips back and forth between different student sho have crazy abilities or qualities. The plot? Life. School. Crushes. Existential crises. Magic powers. It's beautifully subtle, humorous, and surprisingly relatable.
#4: "Death Note" by Tsugumi Ohba
I've slowly been expanding my manga reading over the past couple years, and have a couple series that I not only read but also buy to add to my personal collection. Among those are "Bakuman", "Tokyo Ghoul", "Princess Jellyfish"- and "DEATH NOTE". Boy, lemme tell you- this is not a series I expected to enjoy as much as I do now. The basic premise is that a young man finds a notebook called a Death Note that a shinigami (Japanese god of death) purposely dropped into the human world. The shinigami was bored and wanted to see what would happen. I'm not going to say more on the plot but I will say that this 12-book series is darkly humorous, edgy, and full of the pushing of morals that had me reading these non-stop. I'm currently on Volume 8, so I don't have an opinion on the series ending yet, but at this point, it's going to take a lot for me to became disappointed by "Death Note".
#5: "Hark! A Vagrant!" by Kate Beaton
This book is a collection of comic strips that offer up a slightly (sometimes very) skewed yet hilarious look at notable historical and pop culture figures and events. There's Batman, Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, Nancy Drew, Gatsby, and others. No event is safe from Beaton's witty hand as she calls out Canadians, or pens a bromance between Poe and Jules Verne (those are some of my favoriteeee). I will admit, a handful of the historical references went over my head, but I was laughing my butt off for 95% of this book. Like, tears in my eyes, side hurting laughter. It's that good! I would recommend this to any history or literature buff, but I'm sure anyone can get a chuckle out of this book.
In case anyone wants to check out future T5W topics, here's the link to to Goodreads group!
Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Non-Written Novels
Here's the prompt for the Feb. 15 T5W: "This is all about books that are not 'written' novels! So graphic novels, comics, manga, audiobooks, etc. Shed some light on books in other forms."I'm pumped for this one! Although I don't really use audiobooks too much, I love all kinds of graphic novels and comics, and equally love getting recommendations from others. Can't wait to check out other videos and posts this week!
So, in no particular order, here are my favorite non-written novels:
#1: "Hyperbole and a Half" by Allie Brosh
Drawn in a computer paint program with rounded out stick figures, "Hyperbole and a Half" is Brosh's
 |
| credit to Allie Brosh |
(hey, even Bill Gates liked this one! READ THIS BOOK)
#2: "Giant Days" by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, & Whitney Cogar
I kept seeing this on my Goodreads dashboard, so I picked up the first volume of it from my library. Then I immediatley went back two days later to find the second volume because this series is fantastic. "Giant Days" follows three university students, Susan, Esther, and Daisy, three very different women, as they handle college life. This includes wayward romances, sexist websites, a rampant flu, and academia among others. It's a story about being a twentysomething young woman trying to handle whatever life throws at you while not completely losing it. Plus, the female friendships in here are so so SO well done, and these three girls are one of my favorite fictional groups to read about. I'm also a big fan of the artwork- it's vibrant and distinctive, and the facial expressions are spot on.
#3: "Supermutant Magic Academy" by Jillian Tamaki
 |
To be perfectly honest, this right here is probably my favorite standalone graphic novel of all time. I bought this at my local comic shop after hearing Ariel Bissett rave about it in one of her videos. At the shop, I flipped through it a little hesitantly, because the art style seemed a little bland. But, I almost always like Ariel's recommendations so I went for it- and it was excellent. "Supermutant Magic Academy" is a bit nonlinear: almost every couple pages flips back and forth between different student sho have crazy abilities or qualities. The plot? Life. School. Crushes. Existential crises. Magic powers. It's beautifully subtle, humorous, and surprisingly relatable.
#4: "Death Note" by Tsugumi Ohba
I've slowly been expanding my manga reading over the past couple years, and have a couple series that I not only read but also buy to add to my personal collection. Among those are "Bakuman", "Tokyo Ghoul", "Princess Jellyfish"- and "DEATH NOTE". Boy, lemme tell you- this is not a series I expected to enjoy as much as I do now. The basic premise is that a young man finds a notebook called a Death Note that a shinigami (Japanese god of death) purposely dropped into the human world. The shinigami was bored and wanted to see what would happen. I'm not going to say more on the plot but I will say that this 12-book series is darkly humorous, edgy, and full of the pushing of morals that had me reading these non-stop. I'm currently on Volume 8, so I don't have an opinion on the series ending yet, but at this point, it's going to take a lot for me to became disappointed by "Death Note".
#5: "Hark! A Vagrant!" by Kate Beaton
This book is a collection of comic strips that offer up a slightly (sometimes very) skewed yet hilarious look at notable historical and pop culture figures and events. There's Batman, Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, Nancy Drew, Gatsby, and others. No event is safe from Beaton's witty hand as she calls out Canadians, or pens a bromance between Poe and Jules Verne (those are some of my favoriteeee). I will admit, a handful of the historical references went over my head, but I was laughing my butt off for 95% of this book. Like, tears in my eyes, side hurting laughter. It's that good! I would recommend this to any history or literature buff, but I'm sure anyone can get a chuckle out of this book.
 |
| credit to Kate Beaton |
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