LJ Best Books 2010: Niche Nonfiction
By Martha Cornog (graphic novels), Lauren Gilbert (memoirs), Barbara Hoffert (poetry), Julie Kane (memoirs), and Steve Raiteri (graphic novels) Nov 18, 2010We call it "niche nonfiction" because graphic novels, poetry, and memoir command passionate, if not always sizable, audiences. For the purposes of our best books coverage, we thought it wise to group them so you can easily look up leads for your patrons.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Carey, Mike (text) & Peter Gross (illus.). The Unwritten. Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity. Vertigo. ISBN 9781401225650. pap. $9.99.
Tom Taylor learns that he may be linked to his father's Harry Potter-esque fictional creation Tommy Taylor by more than name alone, when he becomes the focus of a worshipful cult, a shadowy and murderous cabal, and a mysterious girl full of strange advice and cryptic hints about his past. A brilliant fantasy exploring the relations between stories and reality.—S.R.
Díaz Canales, Juan (text) & Juanjo Guarnido (illus.). Blacksad. Dark Horse. ISBN 9781595823939. $20.99.
A poster-child for the adult comic, this reinvents "funny animals" to a whole new purpose: suspenseful, sophisticated, and beautifully visualized drama with violence and sensual sex quite appropriate to plot and readership.—M.C. (LJ 9/15/10)
Ellis, Warren (text) & John Cassady (illus.). Planetary: Spacetime Archaeology. WildStorm: DC. ISBN 9781401209964. pap. $24.99.
Ellis's widescreen creativity, full of bold ideas and super-science, is ideally matched by Cassady's dynamic art, with its iconic cover images and immense, detailed vistas.—S.R. (LJ 9/15/10)
Hickman, Jonathan (text) & Dale Eaglesham (illus.).Fantastic Four. Vol. 1. Marvel. ISBN 9780785143178. $19.99.
Hickman starts his tenure on the Fantastic Four with a stunner: the story of idea #101 in Mr. Fantastic's room of 100 ideas, and the cosmic and emotional consequences of his quest to "solve everything." Rooted in exploration, adventure, super-science, and family, with wide-scale ideas and marvelous artwork to match.-S.R.
Tardi, Jacques. It Was the War of the Trenches. Fantagraphics. ISBN 978-1606993538. $24.99.
Originally inspired by his grandfather's first-person stories, Tardi has created not a formal history but a masterful graphic and visceral tone poem about war.—M.C. (LJ 5/15/10)
Trudeau, G.B. 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective. Andrews McMeel. ISBN 9780740797354. $100.
Described as the strip that "has angered, irritated, and rebuked every president since Nixon," Doonesbury introduced over 40 major characters spanning three generations. This volume delivers 1800 strips marking key adventures of the cast, plus 18 Trudeau essays and a four-page foldout matrix of the characters' relationships.—M.C.
POETRY
Carr, Julie. 100 Notes on Violence. Ahsahta Pr. ISBN 9781934103111. pap. $19.
In evocative, powerfully disquieting knife thrusts of verse, Carr examines the human propensity to violence, displayed here in "notes" that range from personal anecdote to news reports to a lullaby shouted down by the voice of a murderer. (LJ 1/10)
Carson, Anne. Nox. New Directions, dist. by Norton. ISBN 9780811218702. $29.95.
The utterly original Carson offers not merely a book of poetry but an art object—it even comes in a box-that interweaves images, ancient Greek etymologies, and fierce, pointed verse to eulogize the death of a brother actually lost to her years before. (LJ 4/15/10)
Ellis, Thomas S. Skin, Inc. Graywolf. ISBN 9781555975678. $23.
In an edgy, urgent explosion of verse blended effectively with Ellis's own photographs, Ellis challenges the very concept of literary culture-and of postracial society ("we did not arrive after us"). (LJ 10/15/10)
McLane, Maureen N. World Enough. Farrar. ISBN 9780374292959. $25.
An exquisite writer who can capture a scene in just a few lines or tell a story without merely telling a story, McLane is by turns witty and philosophical and ends by giving us "testimony weaving its own/ shimmering cloth." (LJ 4/1/10)
Wright, C.D. One with Others. Copper Canyon. ISBN 9781556593246. $20.
Wright lets us relive a violent incident that occurred in her native Arkansas during the Civil Rights era, drawing on a range of voices to deliver a one-two punch to our senses and our understanding of race in America.
MEMOIR
Charles, Bryan. There's a Road to Everywhere Except Where You Came From. Open City Bks. ISBN 9781890447571. pap. $14.
Full of insightful, transcendent regular-guy moments and bad decisions, this didn't make me like the author, but it knocked me on my ass.—J.K. (BookSmack! 9/16/10)
Mason, Martha. Breath: A Lifetime in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung: A Memoir. Bloomsbury (USA). ISBN 9781608191192. pap. $16.
The life of the mind was paramount to Mason, who describes herself as a "collector of people" and a true humanist whose life is informed by Marcus Aurelius's injunction to "do every act of your life as if it were the last." Truly inspiring stuff.—L.G. (BookSmack! 6/14/10)
Pineda, Jon. Sleep in Me. Univ. of Nebraska. ISBN 9780803225350. $21.95.
Pineda lays bare his struggles with family duty and identity in this literary standout. Read: This is for reading, not for entertainment. Very good. Very sad. That is all.—J.K. (BookSmack! 9/16/10)
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