BookOwl

5/5 stars *Spoiler alert!* What a beautiful art style that Debbie Tung has! Everything is OK was a fantastic reminder of that, as well as the poignant and relatable stories she tells in her works. This one tackles the difficult subject of mental health, particularly dealing with depression and anxiety. I laughed, I cried, and I smiled as I read Everything is OK . I think it’s one of her best yet, as she shares her story to try and help others feel not as alone, as depression and anxiety are wont to do. “Even if the world around me is silent, it's always loud inside my head.” This is where trouble can begin. Like Tung, I have an active imagination, fueled by my own creativity, relationships, and the books I’ve read. However, the clumps of neurons and their connections that make me who I am spits out negative thoughts. The trouble is that sometimes these negative thoughts can glom onto each other until you feel overwhelmed and despairing. After a while, you start to believe t...

  4.5/5 stars *Spoiler alert!* Coming back to this series is such a pleasure! Volume four of the “Lore Olympus” series sees Hades and Persephone continuing their slow-burn dance around each other. Persephone wishes to enact some boundaries, to see if a romantic relationship between them will develop gradually, instead of all at once. They both have work to do on themselves so as not to bring the baggage into their potential future together. On Hades’ side, he has to make some changes in his personal life. His on-off relationship, in which Minthe employs emotionally abusive tactics against him, is starting to wear him down. Moreover, he has an unhealthy entanglement with Hera, Zeus’ wife, that he has to extract himself from. (Hera is in her own abusive relationship and uses these occasional hook-ups as revenge, as much as Hades does when getting back at Minthe.)   If you know Greek mythology, you know that the Greek pantheon is a mess. While Hades is a complex and lovable chara...

4/5 stars *Spoiler alert!* Change the Game is a middle-grade graphic novel by NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Even if you aren’t an avid sports follower, you may remember the huge political controversy raised when Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem as a protest against systemic racism and oppression. I was intrigued to see that Kaepernick had started a publishing outfit to go along with his off the field activism and had to check out Change the Game . For the audience this graphic novel is purporting to target, I found the material satisfyingly challenging when it comes to confronting everyday racism and the general travails of growing up and trying to pick a path in life. (Gosh, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up, and I’m close to thirty years old!) The graphic novel follows Kaepernick’s upbringing in a small town with a mostly white population. He describes how he was set on the path of future college then MLB baseball player, but incre...

  *Spoilers alert!* 4/5 stars “I need to tell you this—there is no knowing Cape Breton without knowing how deeply ingrained two diametrically opposed experiences are: A deep love for home, and the knowledge of how frequently we have to leave it to find work somewhere else.” Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands  chronicles cartoonist Kate Beaton’s two years of working in Canada’s Albertan oil sands (from 2006-2008) to help pay off her student loans. Like many from the eastern coast of Canada, (in Beaton’s case, Cape Breton) Beaton migrated west to seek the most lucrative work possible: working in the oil sands. It is a familiar tale in which people are forced to move away from small, economically impoverished communities in order to make a living. The various shades of gray and black help make the point that this tale is very bleak. It does not shy away from the ugliness of the experience, where women are outnumbered 50 to 1 and sexual assault is rampant. Isolated as all the ...

  For those who need to make lemonade out of life's many lemons, here are some books that will keep you sane in a crazy world.  Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson Jenny Lawson has become my favorite humor writer. In Let's Pretend This Never Happened , one of her first memoirs, she highlights the comedy found in everyday life moments. Chronicling her unusual upbringing in rural Texas, in particular, her fascination with the taxidermy work of her father, Lawson's book is for anyone with an odd sense of humor. Just be warned that this book is peppered with swear words and does meander a bit back and forth in time. For me, that ride was definitely worth it! Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh Allie Brosh is one of my favorite go-to authors if I need a laugh. Also poking fun at her own life, Allie Brosh's graphic novel memoir-of-sorts has a unique art style that contributes to her impeccable dramedic timing. Some of my favorite moments come as Allie deals...

Graphic novels are a great way to get into reading, and contrary to popular belief, explore complex themes through both the written word and visual arts. Here are my picks of nonfiction graphic novels, both stand-alones and series alike. The March series (3 volumes) by John Lewis Primarily geared to a young adult (YA) audience, this graphic novel series explores the life of the late Congressman John Lewis. In particular, his struggle for civil and human rights as a young man. A good example of educational graphic novels that explore both biographical and historical themes. The Persepolis series (2 volumes)  by Marjane Satrapi I read these as an undergraduate and found them to be incredibly helpful to explore cultures different from my own as well as history I don't know much about. In the case of Persepolis , Marjane Satrapi remembers her childhood in the tumultuous times of the Islamic Revolution. It's a coming-of-age story as well as full of Iranian history.  Hyperbole and a...