Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs

Ethel & Ernest is a true story of Briggs' parents, from their first encounter to their deaths. It's a story of two ordinary people, who experience the changing of the world around them: Second World War, the arrival of television, people landing on the moon, as they brought up their only son. It's really nice for a change to read a book about ordinary lives. No abuse, violence, extreme poverty, and all the things that make the world dark and gloomy. This time, it's intimate insight into life of a simple working class couple, who have simple wants and dreams, who are happy and sad for things that are important to them (not necessary to the world of course).

Read my complete review here...

This is my first post for this blog. The other graphic novels that I've read for this challenge:

1. The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot (finished 02/09, rating 4/5)
2. The Sandman Vol 1: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman (finished 03/09, rating 3.5/5)
3. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman (finished 03/09, rating 5/5)
4. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham (finished 03/09, rating 4.5/5)
5. Burnout by Rebecca Donner (finished 04/09, rating 3.5/5)
6. Fables Vol 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham (finished 04/09, rating 4/5)
7. Clockwork Girl by Sean O’Reilly and Kevin Hanna (finished 04/09, rating 3.5/5)

I was going for Minor, but I'm now aiming for Major :)

Catching Up

I'm so behind on posting my reviews here. I've already read 8 books for the challenge, but I only posted about the first. So I thought I'd catch up by telling you about the other 7 briefly and linking to my full reviews.

The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot is a gorgeous book in every sense of the word. It's a story about a girl who survives her father's sexual abuse, and it has the most gorgeous artwork you can imagine. This is my second book by Talbot (the first was Alice in Sunderland, which I also very much recommend), and so far I'm very impressed with his work.

Then I read lots and lots of Fables. Books 7, 8 and 9 and then 10 and 11. Most of you have probably heard of this series, about fairy tale characters living in our world, so I won't go on for long. I'll just say that it keeps getting better and better.

Finally, We Are on Our Own by Miriam Katin is a WW2 memoir. The protagonist survived the Holocaust when she was a very young girl by escaping Budapest in disguise along with her mother. The book is also gorgeously illustrated, using black and white pencil drawings for the war scenes and colour for before and after. It's a survival story, but it's of course still very sad at times. I highly recommend it.