nomadreader

The backstory: Veteran comic artist Roz Chast's graphic memoir was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award (non-fiction), one of the top 5 New York Times  nonfiction titles of 2014, and a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award (Autobiography.) The basics: Chast, an only child, recounts her struggles with her parents, who lived into their 90's, refusing to plan for their death. My thoughts: I've enjoyed Roz Chast's cartoons in The New Yorker  for a long time, which makes sense given the back of this book tells me she's been drawing them for the magazine since before I was born. Parts of this memoir resemble comic strips, but I was surprised to see some pages have exclusively text (handwritten.) Chast plays with format in interesting ways in this graphic memoir, but it's her more traditional images I found most entertaining. What I liked most about this memoir was Chast's ability to provide some levity to the darkness. She writes ...

The basics: The Epilogue  is a photographic and mixed media exploration of Cammy Robinson's life and death from bulimia, as well as how her family handles their grief at her death. My thoughts: The Epilogue  is unlike any book I've ever read. At first glance, it's a big, beautiful book. The cover is (intentionally) creepy, but as I turned each page, I was fascinated by its contents and how photographer Laia Abril chose to tell Cammy's story. Inserted between some of this book's glossy pages are reproductions (that look real) of artifacts from Cammy's life, including report cards, letters, and hospital records. These objects, along with the photographs provide a mesmerizing reading experience. I didn't know what to expect when I started The Epilogue . It looked interesting and unique, but as I turned the first page, I didn't stop until I finished. I soaked this book up in a single sitting, simultaneously enjoying the reading experience and processin...

The basics: After surviving the plane crash that killed her father when she was 5, Artis Henderson recounts losing her husband during a helicopter crash in the Iraq War. My thoughts: I'm a huge fan of The New York Times  Modern Love column. When I heard Artis Henderson, whose Modern Love column I cried throughout, published a memoir expanding on the topic of losing her husband, I knew I wanted to read it, even if war widow memoirs aren't typically a genre at the top of my list. And I'm so glad I did. It's a good thing the reader knows about the joint tragedies in Artis's life from the book's beginnings, becuase Henderson still packs an emotinoal punch. As I read, I was crying hard enough I had to leave my bed, where my husband peacefully slept, to go downstairs where I could read and sob in peace. I'm not necessarily drawn to stories of tragedy, but I immediately connected with Artis as I read. She and I are almost exactly the same age, and I easily ima...