Reading on a Rainy Day

I first heard about Jerry Craft's  New Kid  and  Class Act  over on Helen's blog . Both books have always had a long waiting list at my library and then after a few 'Deliver Later' attempts, it was some time before I finally got to reading New Kid .  In New Kid , Jordan Banks would like to go to an art school, but his parents have a different idea - they enroll him at a prestigious private school that had mostly white students and a social makeup that didn't match his current lifestyle or neighborhood. He isn't sure if he will ever fit in even after he meets the handful of black or brown students enrolled at the school. As the school year progresses, he learns how to deal with micro-aggressions and also respond when he is expected to teach the black perspective and experience to his white teachers or students. His friend, Drew Ellis, who is also black, struggles more than Jordan does, if it is even fair to compare experiences in racism and micro-aggressions. Cla...

  Published in : 2020   ||    Format : ebook   ||    Location : South Korea, US One line review : When Ha Chuna's mother decides to relocate them to the US from Seoul, little does Chuna know just how challenging a year is ahead of her while she tries to fit in despite not understanding the language. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Thoughts : Ha Chuna is very happy with her life in Seoul - she has friends she loved to hang out with, favorite haunts that she visited after school with her friends, and a mother she loved. Every summer, Chuna and her mother went overseas on vacation so this year, right before she was to start eighth grade, when her mother said that Alabama was their destination this time, she did not think much of it, even though she had not heard of the place before.  Once in Alabama, she learns that they will stay with her mother's friend, Kim Minsik, and his entire family. So far, this is turning out to be an unusual vacation for Chuna. St...

I've recently read a ton of graphic novels and memoirs - some I loved and others not so much but were still a thrill to read. Guts by Raina Telgemeier I am always on the lookout for Raina Telgemeier's comics, so when I found Guts available at my library's Overdrive catalog last year, I had to request it right away. Her comics are always delightful, designed for the middle-grade audience, and written very well. Guts is a continuation of her Smile nonfiction graphic memoir series (see Smile and Sisters ) and recounts a period in her childhood when she experienced IBS for the first time. When Raina wakes up one night with an upset tummy, she just assumes it's a stomach bug as her mom is also showing the same symptoms. But when it doesn't go away soon but is instead influenced by the daily highs and lows of being a middle grader - good friends, not so good ones, and then the bullies, she realizes there's something else going on. If you have not read the previous...

Published in : 2017 Format read in : ebook Location : Vietnam, US Rating : 5/5 Why I read it : Always a fan of graphic memoirs, I had this one on my list as soon as it was released.  One sentence review : If there ever was a book that showed the resilience of the human spirit or the sacrifices someone made for a loved one, this was it.  Who should read it : Pick it if you enjoy graphic novels or memoirs. Pick it if you like to read about the immigrant experience. Pick it if you want to learn about the human impact of the Vietnam war on one family. Just pick it. About : This illustrated memoir is about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves. At the heart of Bui’s story is a universal str...

On first glance, this is a series that only some would consider to be their cup of tea. After all, it involves a complex inter-galactic network of living beings, much like Star Wars , with some characters appearing human while many are not. It is a still-running series, like The Walking Dead and superhero comics, so it requires a different kind of reading - one with lots of waiting, recollecting, and rereading. This is also a series that may need the right mindset before you start it, because sometimes you want to read about humans in a real world, and fantasy just wouldn't cut it. This is where Saga breaks a lot of conventions. Yes, it involves very fanciful-looking characters. Yes, it is sort of in the space-operatic genre, though it actually is not (bear with me here). Yes, it is fantasy too, which is a genre you either read or don't. But, it is also none of those things. It is not about fanciful characters or space opera or fantasy. It is very much about this world th...

When it comes to graphic novels or memoirs, I rarely ever read the back of the book or try to find out what the book is about. I am usually done with a graphic book within half an hour, and those 30 minutes either got wasted on a dud or spent with the most amazing comic book. Usually, it's the latter. If it's turning out to be the former, I tend to bail out very early. I am also usually indiscriminate with graphic books. As long as they are not part of a series or are not from the manga category, they find their way to my hands. However, when it came to Blue is the Warmest Color , I found myself ignoring that book. The cover art, as gorgeous as it is, didn't fascinate me for some reason. Plus, it kinda looked manga-ish to me. I know that's a stretch but who knows what the my brain sees when it looks at a picture. It was only after coming across a few articles / reviews recommending this book that I decided to give it a try.  The 30 minutes I spent with this ...

I just realized that it has been a while since I talked about the Walking Dead books. I posted about the first 8 volumes here , but since then I've caught up to Volume 22, so that's 14 books since Compendium 1. Volume 23 just got released yesterday so it will be a while before I purchase it and then Volume 24 is coming in September. So far I love how far the series has come. We started with the undead being the biggest threat but now, it is the people who are alive who cannot be trusted. No surprise because isn't that the motif of most apocalyptic books? Still, it's interesting how many different ways this idea can be portrayed. I just hope it doesn't become old news. There have been some awfully sad and sometimes very graphic events in these books. Much like in the TV show, but sometimes I feel that even the show doesn't always go to some of the places the books have been to. There is one particular incident concerning the death of a much-loved characte...

This One Summer  by Mariko Tamaki Every summer, Rose and her parents stay at a lake house in Awago Beach. Once there, Rose and her friend, Windy, who also visits there with her mother and grandmother, explore the Beach and spend a good amount of time swimming, shopping, or watching movies. Except this time, things aren't going to be quite as fun as Rose wants it to be. Her parents have been fighting, her mother has not been getting along with some company, and Rose has been a little too interested in one guy at the only store at the beach. I had mixed reactions to This One Summer . On the one hand, I really enjoyed the story. Rose is at that age when she is extra sensitive to triggers around her. When a girl comes to the store crying about something, she and Windy go to great lengths to find out what the deal was. When her mother starts behaving strangely, she worries that she could be part of the problem. And Windy being an exuberant and lively character, Rose struggles to...

This food memoir probably needs no introduction. I have seen this graphic book on so many book blogs that I don't know why it took me this long to get to it. Maybe because it was a food memoir, which is something I always want to read but never feel like it is for me. But I love reading graphic memoirs and decided to give this one a try. This book definitely lived up to all the good stuff that everyone has ever said about it. I loved it. I love food and I like cooking but I don't have the persistence to spend more of my time cooking though I always have this vision of me cooking more than I really do. Lucy Knisley owes her love and respect for food and cooking to her parents and the food-loving social circle she grew up with. Her father is a connoisseur of all things classy. He likes good wine, good food, good clothes, and good restaurants. He didn't cook but every time he traveled, he used it as an excuse to find and eat at the amazing restaurants in his travel destin...

Marbles  by Ellen Forney Marbles is a super important book for everyone to read because 1. it is a memoir, 2. it is a graphic memoir (so you see the world from the artist's eyes), and 3. it is a book about how the author realized she was bipolar and how she battled it. Honestly, you have to read it to appreciate it. Although the beginning of the book felt like being thrown into a wild roller-coaster ride without really having the time to understand what was happening, I loved that it was also a reflection of the author's true nature. Ellen has a wild personality, when she is manic, which she is when the book starts. She is an unimaginable bundle of energy who has a zillion ideas about what to do and what projects to start and what parties to plan. It is exhausting just watching how she spends her time. Her social worker recommended that she meet a psychiatrist and that is when she learns that she is bipolar. But she doesn't want to do anything about it, becaus...

Ever since I read Raina Telgemeier's Drama , I was enamored by her illustrations. I loved Drama . I read Smile next and loved that too. Then I read her Baby Sitter's Club graphic novels (even though I hadn't read the original books nor wanted to) and I loved those too. Then I sat waiting for her Sisters to come. I had the book penciled in my calendar against its release date and I just had to wait patiently, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the book to to get released. But when I saw it listed on NetGalley, I had to request it right away. Sisters is being advertised as a sequel to Smile , but you don't have to read  Smile  to be able to follow  Sisters . Since I had already read  Smile ,  Sisters  was like a return to a family I enjoyed reading about so much. When Raina was fourteen and her sister, Amara, nine, they go on a road trip along with their six year old brother, Will, and their mother, from California to Colorado. Thei...

As any long time reader of this blog will probably know, I am a big fan of books in the graphic medium. Not comic books, but literary fiction and memoirs in the graphic format. I don't know exactly how I came to love this medium. Which is the first graphic book I ever read? I don't know. When did I read my first graphic book? I don't know that either. Did I always love graphic books? Pretty sure, I did not. I do know that the first graphic book I remember reading is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. For the longest time, I had the misconception that graphic books = comic books, of the Superman and Batman variety. Not that I have anything against them, but they are not exactly my cup of tea. And then, I found the book Persepolis in my best friend's bookshelf. I have to say - that moment was certainly very momentous for me, because that was probably the day I started looking for graphic books actively. I devoured Persepolis in two sittings, and I wan...

( Photo credit ) I am a big big fan of The Walking Dead show. Before you stop reading, hear me out. I generally have zero tolerance for anything zombies. Zombies disgust me - they look horrid, have terrible table manners, have no concern for hygiene, can't even properly string two words together, and shamelessly ogle at people. Disgusting. Did I already say that? So when The Walking Dead started making the waves, a few years ago, I justifiably gave it the cold shoulder. I didn't want to watch another teen show, glamorizing the dead. (I really believed it was a teen show making zombies look like lovable creatures.). When my brother started watching this show one evening, I scornfully looked at it in passing. That went for about three episodes. Fourth episode on, I was sitting with him, wide-eyed, engrossed, and all chores forgotten. I have no idea how it got there, and to this day, I still haven't rewatched the first three episodes that I watched snippets of. Al...

Gene Luen Yang's Boxers and Saints is set against the Boxers Rebellion in 1890s China. In Boxers , Little Bao is so enamored by the kung fu strategies shown by a visitor that he secretly trains under him and becomes highly skilled. Around the same time, the winds bring plenty of news about how the foreign Christians in China are mercilessly killing several Chinese people. When things reach almost tragic proportions in his own village, he harnesses the power of a ritual to take on some heavenly power to crush the enemy. There begins the Boxer rebellion. After training several people, they head to the capital to slaughter the 'foreign devils'. A strip from Boxers Saints provides the other side of the picture. Four-girl, named thus because she was the unwanted fourth daughter born to her mother and never given a proper name, feels oppressed by her family. Eventually, she discovers Christianity and how much it has to offer her. Running away from her apathetic fam...