Since leaving uni (and during uni, tbh) I’ve found reading for fun incredibly difficult. My attention span is terrible and I fall asleep after a couple of pages. However, I have recently found a solution and that is in the form of graphic novels and manga. So I thought I would write up a list of a few of my favourites; I would love recommendations too (tweet me @isobeljournal)
1. Azumanga Diaoh and Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma
It was getting the Azumanga omnibus last Christmas that really got me started down this road. I had never really read a manga before (except the first Yotsuba book which I will come back to) and I guess I had always dismissed them as I’m not really interested in magical stuff or anything like that, which I had imagined all manga was full of. However, Azumanga is the total opposite of anything like that. It’s a “slice of life” manga that follows a group of high school girls, and apart from a few surreal (and funny) dream sequences, there is none of the “weird manga stuff” I had imagined. Just a group of characters who you just learn to love and lugh at a lot, and in the end when the girls graduate from high school, it brought a tear to my eye because I had grown so fond of them, I felt like I was there.
Kiyohiko Azuma is the king of slice of life, not just for creating Azumanga, but because he also created the wonderfully sweet and hilarious Yotsuba&!. Whilst this series has a younger lead character and a younger target audience, it honestly warms the cockles of my heart so much, and each panel is so full of expression (he’s brilliant at showing emotion on Yotsuba’s little face) that even the simplest thing can make me laugh out loud reading it. Yotsuba is a little girl who seems to know nothing about the world, and through these comics we watch her experiencing the world through fresh eyes, led by her dad and neighbours.
2. Isabella Bird in Wonderland (Fushigi no Kuni no Bird) by Taiga Sassa
I found out about this manga just the other week after a holiday to Scotland and in particular, a visit to Tobermory (Balamory) on the Isle of Mull. At a museum there I learned a bit about Isabella Bird, an explorer who had lived there and traveled the world in the 19th century. When I went on Wikipedia to find out more about her, I discovered that her journey to Japan had been translated into a manga, and I was even more excited when I found an English version available to read online.
I didn’t think that a historical manga would appeal to me this much but I devoured the whole thing in a couple of afternoons. Much like the first two, this book is very grounded in reality with none of the outlandish “manga” conventions those unfamiliar with the genre imagine it would contain. It is also really lovingly done with real attention to detail (especially in the translation notes) and even tackles the issues of Westerners travelling and colonising the East, whilst still being funny and warm and enjoyable to read.
Here is a link to the online version, as it isn’t available to buy in English unfortunately.
I was given this graphic novel by a literary agent a few years ago and I really really enjoyed it and it’s one of those books I’ve even lent out to friends because it’s such a short, sweet, funny, and sad book. It looks at first glance like a children’s book but it’s actually an adult graphic novel with quite a lot of substance about anxiety and family and just life, really. Yet it is still light hearted; Fluffy is a bunny (who believes he is a child) with a Yotsuba-like outlook on the world. His exhausted dad/owner Michael tries to balance his bunny looking after responsibilities with an unsuccessful love life and family that is falling apart. A lot of unconventional narrative techniques such as looking into the inside of Michael’s brain or the narration being conducted by a dust particle make it stand out from other similar books (if similar books exist!)
4. Never Goodnight by Coco Moodysson
If you have seen the movie We Are The Best you will know this story anyway, as this graphic novel is written by Lukas Moodysson’s (the film’s director) wife, Coco, and it was the inspiration for the story. I recommend both the film and the book - I like her unique drawing style and the sweet and the funny tale of growing up punk in 1982 Sweden is brilliant on page and screen.
5. Ripples by Wai Wai Pang
I’ve followed Wai Wai Pang on the internet for years and always loved her work, and when this comic came out I was so eager that I ended up being the first person to order it from her shop. The artwork in this Milton Keynes-set detective story is really ingenious and uses techniques taken from detective stories such as maps, collections of evidence, and character info cards to tell the story in a really interesting and visually beautiful way. I also like how the characters are a mix of a humans and animals.
6. Solanin and Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano
These two critically acclaimed manga’s are a bit darker and weirder than my other choices, and most suitable for adult audiences, however they’re both well worth a read, Solanin in particular if you are in a similar life situation to myself and want to read a depressing story about post-uni life. The art work is beautiful in both, particularly in the backgrounds, which are contrasted in Goodnight Pun Pun in his simply designed main character, who is a bird I think? Or maybe a ghost under a sheet. Either way, it looks great.
Solanin is a stand alone book, whcih makes it a good place to start and see how you feel about Asano’s work, whereas Pun Pun has more installments which I am yet to read, but I am looking forward to finding out what happens next in Pun Pun’s dysfunctional world.
(7. I guess I should be Annoying and remind y’all that I wrote a sort of graphic novel called The Isobel Journal which you can still buy!! Ok thanks bye!!)
