Yesterday was my Book Club day.

I started a book club this year with my golf club and before the event, I headed to the Cheltenham Library.

I wanted to find out more about their Book Club Stacks. They provide a stack of 10 books for local book clubs to use. I signed up so that for some months, I’m able to hand out books at our club so some people don’t have to buy them or struggle to find them.

I got to chatting with the librarian who told me that he was responsible for the graphic novel collection. I had wondered who was behind it because they have a great range. It’s one of the best collections compared to other libraries in the area.

I borrowed Return To Eden by Paco Roca that depicted the reflection of a Spanish family under Franco’s regime.

He then offered a couple of other suggestions which I borrowed and for the last day or so been immersing myself in to the art and story.

I read Days of Sand by Dutch cartoonist Aimee de Jongh about a photographer sent out to the dust bowl of Oaklahoma to take photos of the poverty. It made me gasp a few times. The mix of real photos from the time and the images of the dust were quite confronting.

I also read one by French cartoonist Chabouté which had no writing at all. It was called The Park Bench and it was simply brilliant. I like writing which you read and then create images in your head, looking at a graphic is akin to watching a movie. I think the expressions of people’s faces, the artwork, the colours, and the textures is what gives the reader an immersion into the story.

I wanted to read Graphic Novels as part of an upcoming “Framed In September” challenge (as told by Heather below) on YouTube. There’s a few Booktubers who are doing this so I thought it was a great idea to do the same.

For now, I’ll reread them and do a bit of research on the cartoonists. I’ll lend them to my father as well as he’s an artist (and has drawn many cartoons himself over the years). I think both he and my mother would appreciate them. I’m mindful that whenever I get together with them and other families, we don’t delve into talking about the current state of the world, war and politics. Instead talking about art, music, books and the things in life that are a little bit more pleasant.

However reading these graphic novels, just like reading literature, tells me that as humans, we haven’t changed – or learned.

We repeat problems of the past but in new and more modern ways.

Here’s the last time I wrote about graphic novels. It’s been a while!!! 👇

Slow Reading