Like that? Try this!
Illustrated books to begin with
(the formatting in this post seems to have gone mad, sorry).
A few years ago I compiled a list on twitter of graphic novels to read based on the kind of non-illustrated fiction you might be into. I think it was a good list and it spoke to a feeling I have that most people aren’t against the idea of a graphic novel (in fact many are keen to investigate) but there’s no obvious route in to the average bookshop visitor who might be overwhelmed by the choice and the seemingly haphazard way in which most large chain bookshops seem to organise their comics and graphic novels.
(Just put them in with the other books. That’s what I reckon. If it’s a fantasy put it in the fantasy section. If it’s a memoir then, well you get the gist).
I thought I’d attempt to put that list together again as, maybe, you might have read The Wreck or Alison and be on the hunt for something new. My focus here is really on books with pictures in as opposed to ‘graphic novels’ specifically. I think everyone can google ‘best graphic novels’ and end up reading Maus or Persepolis (both great, of course) but I guess I’m thinking about what might correspond to specific tastes or interests.
Non fiction
This is a family memoir about the two sides of Krug’s (German) family during the second world war. The text is woven into the images so it’s quite a visually full-on book but it’s really worth trying to adjust to the volume of information on the page as I found this so rich and affecting and so fearless.
Read if you like: Complex memoirs that cross over with world history like Joe Dunthorne’s Children of Radium.
(See also: The Crystal Vase by Astrid Goldsmith.)
You and a bike and a road- Eleanor Davis.
Eleanor rides her bike from Arizona to Georgia. It’s a simple premise but I found this book so deeply charming and warm and the drawing is great throughout. I’m not a cyclist but the interactions she has with strangers throughout her journey really make me want to do a big trip like this (I won’t) (unless I could swim it? Maybe I’d swim it?) (No, I won’t).
Read if you like: Sport stories? Cycling books? But also quieter stories about kindness and travel and the joy of connection. This is a great gift book, I think!
The Photographer- Emmanuel Guibert, Dider Lefevre
The Photographer mixes drawings (by Guibert) with the photographs of Didier Levevre, A French journalist who travelled through Afghanistan in the 80s with Doctors Without Borders. This is really testament to the power of images to immerse you in a world quickly and clearly but also, of course, to the incredible work of medical staff during wartime.
Read if you like: Memoir & War stories. Obviously. But also books about photographs? Or that employ photography in an interesting way?
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
I said I wasn’t going to include this but how could I not following the tragically early death of Satrapi last week. She’s such a bold, brilliantly vital writer and the illustrations are gorgeous. If you’ve only seen the film, get the book.
Fiction
A collection of short stories told through Tamaki’s fizzling, energetic drawings. They touch on the strangeness of modernity, loneliness, bodies. All the good stuff really. A good one for a literary fiction fan who wants something to dip into.
Read if you like: Contemporary short fiction about some of the more dystopian/digital aspects of modern life (maybe Tony Tulathimutte) Also stories that incorporate bodies in strange and uncomfortable ways like that of Julia Armfield.
This is the story of a relationship (and it’s breakdown) told through the medium of an auctioneers catalogue. Lenore and Harold are selling off everything and the notes that accompany this exhaustive collection of photos of objects explain, in the dry, detached language of a catalogue, the significance of each item. The author Sheila Heti appears in photos as Lenore so that might suggest that if you’re into Heti’s work then this could be for you. It’s playful, moving and was an integral book for me when I was a student in showing that a story could be told in whatever way you fancied.
Read if you like: Sheila Heti. Miranda July. Break-up stories. High-concept storytelling methods.
Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs
Another foundational stone in my book making life. Ethel and Ernest is the story of Briggs’ parents marriage, through the second world war and into the seventies and eighties. It’s as much a portrait of the changing social backdrop of working class britain as it is about the two main characters. I love it. It really showed me how a format you associate with children (Briggs is obviously most famous as a picture book author and illustrator) can be eloquent and complex.
Read if you like: Kitchen sink dramas, British films of the 50s and 60s. Tessa Hadley’s recent novella ‘the party’, wartime fiction.
Quick fire! (Ish)
Victory Point- Owen Pomery- if you fancy a story about who and how to be, hometowns and a dazzling shot of coastal modernism. It’s short and lovely and will certainly make you want to book a trip to the seaside.
Ducks- Kate Beaton- One of the big hitters. I could equally enthusiastically recommend Beaton’s earlier strips (Hark! A Vagrant!) but this is a massive, insightful and well constructed insight into a world I would, otherwise, have known nothing about. (Canadian oil fields). It’s sharp, bleak and humane.
Lee Lai- Cannonball/Stone Fruit Recommending both of Lee Lai’s books as they’re so beautifully drawn (clean and smooth yet energetic and alive, hard to pull off!). Stone Fruit’s queer family set up might appeal to fans of Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters. Whereas Cannonballs’ professional kitchen setting is obviously catnip to fans of shows like the Bear. Come for the cooking but stay for the complex family & friendship stuff.
The Black Project by Gareth Brookes- For fans of uneasy narrators and queasy narratives. The images in this book are made with embroidery which brings an extra dimension to this story of Richard and the girlfriend doll he makes for himself.
Internet Crusader by George Wylesol- An early internet story told through game screens and dialogue boxes. Inventive and impressive and would suit any one-time late nineties gamers as well as fans of John Darnielle’s Wolf in a White Van, and people who really responded to the gaming part of Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow as well as fans of (non-fic) Invasion of the Space Invaders by Martin Amis.
Through the Woods- Emily Carrol- For horror fans. This is not me at all. I am a baby. But when I have dipped into Emily Carrol’s gory, gothic storytelling I have found it, before I get too spooked, very compelling. Cannot compare to anything because I am too scared to read horror. Sorry.
Dear Historian- Joff Winterhart- I could recommend any of Joff’s books (and also the film adaptation of Days of the Bagnold Summer which is a great one for a quiet evening in with your family I think) but I’m going with his latest ‘Dear Historian’ which is sweet but spikier than it looks. I was so charmed by the two lead characters and the relief they find in their, brief, burgeoning friendship. If you like Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession then this will scratch a similar itch I reckon.
Maira Kalman- The Pursuit of Happiness. Does what it says on the tin, a joyous, playful confection laced with contemplative melancholy at times. A really great gift.
Florrie- Anna Trench- A women’s football story from the 1920s. Sweet, tender and quietly full of rage.
Mark Haddon- Leaving Home- A memoir with pictures. Much more at the wordy-book end of things but there’s images of Haddon’s painting and drawing and sculpture on every page as well as photos and diagrams and maps so it definitely counts as an illustrated book. I loved the knotty complexity in this; tricky parents and navigating difficult memories with extraordinary frankness.
And Finally! Another Jillian Tamaki- Supermutant magic academy- I recommend this to everything. It has the most comic-book title of any of these but its so funny, profound, moving and strange. Love love love. Get it, stick it on the coffee table as though you’re going to dip in now and again but read it all in one go. For fans of high school drama and lizard people.
Illustrated book recommendations? Drop them in the comments!!
Heimat and The Crystal Vase are two of my very favourite memoirs full stop. And the Joe Dunthorne - I’m absolutely the core market for ‘memoir that tells you all about some bit of world history’.
Great recommendations! (In the comments too!) I’ll add Julie Delporte’s This Women’s Work and anything by Lauren Redniss.