Ryokan: Zen Monk-Poet of Japan

Translated by: Burton Watson

First line: Though travels/take me to/a different stopping place each night/the dream I dream is always/that same one of home

Why you should read this book: It's a curated collection of the poetry of the late 18th/early 19th century Zen monk Ryokan, including the three Japanese forms of waka, sedoka, and choka, along with a selection of his Chinese kanshi, all beautifully rendered into English that evokes the complex simplicity of the subject matter. These poems tend toward observations of the natural world (often focused on seasonal changes or animla behaviors), musings on his own life as an ascetic who begs for his meals and also likes to play ball with the village boys, and his thoughts on the people and world he knows, including his memories of the past. Reading these poems may perhaps offer the reader an understanding of the unspoken ideals of Zen Buddhism, or at least Ryokan's particular take on his beliefs.

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you were next in line for a position of power, you'd take it. 

Big Tree

Written by: Brian Selnick

First line: "Hello, stars."

Why you should read this book: It's the rare story told almost completely from the point of view of plants, and not just any plants: the main characters are two prehistoric sycamore seeds, desperate seeking a safe place to set down and grow roots before all their fluff falls off and they can't travel anymore. Merwin is the cautious realist who seeks to protect his impetuous dreamer sister Louise as they escape a forest fire, journey beneath the waves, and travel by butterfly, among other adventures. Is Louise communing with an ancient power, or does she just have a vivid imagination, and will her visions help them find a place to grow, and help fulfill a bigger destiny than any sycamore seed has ever imagined?

Why you shouldn't read this book: Other than the art style, it doesn't have much in common with Hugo Cabret. 

The One and Only Ruby

Written by: Katherine Applegate

First line: Nobody ever listens to the littlest elephant. 

Why you should read this book: The third in what appears to be a trilogy, this book tells the story of little Ruby's Tusk Day (a special elephant holiday for a young elephant coming of age) and her anxiety in the days leading up to it. Although Ruby lives a safe and comfortable life in the park with a herd of loving elephant matriarchs, her gorilla uncle, Ivan, and her dog uncle, Bob, she still suffers from the unresolved trauma of the things she saw in Africa in her earliest memories. Although she trusts all her family, it's difficult for her to put into words her complicated feelings about her tusks, and the plight of elephants, and the sorrow of her past, but until she can share her truth, she's always going to be scared. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's not as good as the first one, although it's better than the second one. 

Jane Morris and Me: Learning to Listen

Written by: Jane Herlihy

First line: It is over. In the love of his friends -- not all, but some of his closest. 

Why you should read this book: While recovering from a horrific case of Dengue fever, the author becomes fascinated with the Victorian artist's model Jane Morris, darling of the pre-Raphaelites, and the ways that women's stories are so often dictated by men who have no inkling of their rich inner lives, and begins to write a meticulously researched diary revealing a very different Janey than the one described by the artists who painted her. From there, the project blossoms into an examination of disability and illness, sitting quietly with information and waiting for understanding, opening oneself up to the freedom and possibility of the creative life, and grappling with permanent change, among other issues. This fascinating work of creative nonfiction is both biography and autobiography, nonfiction and historical fiction, traditional and feminist, and one hundred percent art. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You've happily devoted your life to the care of invalid relatives, despite being something of an invalid yourself. 

Year in Review: 2023, the Year I Forgot to Read

Every year I vow to review 100 books, but this was the year I failed most abysmally. Part of it was my health: I was sick in bed for almost the entire month of February, and then again for almost an entire month between November and December. But there's no excuse for the summer, when I pretty much just fell into my phone. I'm even 3 weeks late writing this post, but I'm going to back date it so it looks like I wrote it on New Year's Eve. 

Anyway, here's my sad little list.

Dragon's Reading Year in Review

Picture books:                16

Middle grade/YA:          2

Nonfiction:                    3

Graphic novels:             13

Memoir:                        1

Novels:                          4

Poetry:                          1

Short story collection:  1

Total books reviewed: 41

I'm going to do better this year! 

 

Invisible

Written by: Christina Diaz Gonzalez and Gabriella Epstein

First line: I came as soon as I heard. 

Why you should read this book: When the principal insists that Jorge "George" Rivera agree to community service hours "with students like you" so the school can win an award, he assumes that means working with the other gifted kids, not cleaning the cafeteria with the Spanish-speaking students who already think he's a gringo. Despite the principal's blithe categorization, the five members of this breakfast club seem to have nothing in common, until they bond over the common cause of helping a mother and daughter living in a car across the street from the school. Each child has their own secrets, fears, strengths, and weaknesses, but they all find that they're willing to risk punishment in order to do what they know is right. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You only talk to people who share you exact ethnic background and financial circumstances.

Squished

Written by: Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter

First line: Welcome to beautiful Hickory Valley, Maryland...home to my family, the Lees.

Why you should read this book: Avery Annie Lee already has a rough time being the second-oldest child (and oldest girl) of seven siblings, but when her parents inform her that they're moving her toddler brother into the room she already shares with her sister (who plays multiple instruments badly and practices constantly in their room) because her older brother is "having a hard time," it really throws a wrench into the gears of her carefully-thought out plan to finally have her own space. Her next plan, to earn enough money to transform the basement, seems doomed, and all the while, she still has to deal with the trials of taking care of five younger siblings and all the tribulations of moving from elementary school to middle school. As Avery considers the emotions of the people around her carefully, she starts to feel less squished, and to see more possibilities in the world. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're morally opposed to large families. 

The Waters

Written by: Bonnie Jo Campbell

First line: Once upon a time M'sauga Island was a place where desperate mothers abandoned baby girls and where young women went seeking to prevent babies altogether.

Why you should read this book: For Bonnie Jo Campbell's forthcoming (WW Norton, January 2024) novel, I have to abandon my typical 4-sentence format. If you're not familiar with my creative relationship with Bonnie Jo Campbell, you can learn a great deal about it here on my visual art website. If you do know about the 4 volumes of comics based on her work I've published, you probably won't be surprised to learn that I drew the map that will appear as the frontispiece of this new novel, and that I read an early draft (the version she sent to the publisher) last year and that I just finished reading the ARC. I'm deeply inspired and I've just been telling people for well over a year to keep an eye out for this book, because I think it's going to knock people's socks off. 

Obviously, this is a biased account and not a true book review. Because I freaking love this book. 

Like most of Campbell's work, it's set in rural southwestern Michigan, is deeply tied to the land, and features a quirky and colorful cast moving through circumstances that perfectly balance comedy and tragedy. It covers new ground by opening the world up to a fairy tale sensibility and the possibly of true magic.

Hermine "Herself" Zook, age unknown, has always lived on M'sauga Island, and has long been the resident witch of the town of Whiteheart, guided by the spirit of her mother, Baba Rose, who haunts her right arm and also the eternal flame of her stove. In addition to providing natural remedies to those who need healing, she also adopts unwanted babies, and, if approached properly, provides herbal abortions. And thus the tale unfolds. Now raising her granddaughter Dorothy "Donkey" Zook in her footsteps, Hermine finds herself increasingly at odds with a hypocritical world that want to use and control her strength even as the poison of modernity seeps into the swamp from every direction. 

I have a million things to say about this book, which I'm saving for the comic I want to write about it. However, if you like rural noir, fairy tales, strong female characters, strange children, the state of Michigan, nuanced debates about ethics and religion, or detailed descriptions of the natural world, you will probably like this book. 

Pre-order it from your local bookstore or public library and be the first to know. 

The Dragon Prince: Bloodmoon Huntress

Written by: Nicole Andelfinger and Felia Hanakata

First line: You shall both be missed, Lain.

Why you should read this book: This is the second graphic novel in a series of prequels to the popular cartoon The Dragon Prince, depicting the young Moonshadow elf, Rayla, at a pivotal moment in her childhood. Filled with anger that her parents have chosen their sacred duty to Xadia as Dragonguards over family life in Silvergrove and left her in the care of foster parents, Ethari and Runaan, Rayla is more furious when she learns that Runaan is an assassin whose job is to kill those who threaten the elves. A chance meeting with a lost Skywing elf leads to a confrontation with an ancient evil, and Rayla learns what it means to sacrifice for your family and embraces her future career path. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you're a fan of the series, it's a fun, if lightweight backstory, but if you haven't seen the show, it probably makes very little sense. 

Satan in Goray

Written by: Isaac Bashevis Singer

First line: In the year 1648, the wicked Ukranian hetman, Bogdan Chmelnicki, and his followers besieged the city of Zamosc but could not take it because it was strongly fortified; the rebelling haidamak peasants moved on to spread havoc in Tomaszow, Bilgoraj, Krasnik, Turbin, Frampol--and in Goray, too, the town the lay in the midst of the hills at the end of the world.

Why you should read this book: When news comes that the messiah has arrived in the form of a man called Sabbatai Zevi, a strange religious mania overtakes the beleaguered shtetl of Goray, where Jews have long adhered to the biblical traditions of their ancestors. Turning away from their rabbi and the old ways, the people embrace mysticism and prophets and follow kabbalists who declare that the rules of decency and morality are suspended, creating a strange, lawless world in advance of the paradise to which they believe they will soon be delivered. But Zevi is no messiah, and their prophets are less holy than they had been led to believe, and the people of Goray will not be delivered to paradise.

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you haven't got a decent grounding in European Jewish tradition or history, a lot of this probably won't make much sense.