BOTNS Books Podcast #43: When is a Graphic Novel not a Novel?

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 43 (19:02)

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We start today's episode with a question from a listener: Margie from Oaxaca, Mexico asks: have we ever heard of a book group where everybody reads a different book? Indeed we have; we call them book salons, and we brainstorm some ideas for starting a book salon around a particular theme, such as mysteries by the same author or set in similar locales, biographies, books about world events, books that are on the bestseller list, and memoirs.

Michael recently discovered that October has been named National Reading Group Month by the Women's National Book Association. In celebration, we plan on quite a few book-club-themed posts at Books on the Nightstand in the month of October, including brief spotlights on the book groups of our readers and listeners. If you'd like your group to be one of the featured book clubs, please see our earlier post: Show Us Your Book Group. We will try to highlight as many as possible. We look forward to reading all about your book groups!

In Segment 2, Michael talks about graphic novels that happen to be nonfiction. This category has been marked by such bestselling classics as Art Spiegelman's Maus, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld is the story of seven people in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Stitches by David Small, a memoir of a childhood spent in a severely dysfunctional family that is unforgettable.

In our "Two Books We Can't Wait for You to Read segment," Michael talks about Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall, a novel set in 1930s Kentucky with magnificent writing and a narrator who has been called reminiscent of Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. Ann talks about The Blue Notebook by James Levine, a heartwrenching and disturbing novel of a young Indian girl who is sold into child prostitution.
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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:

Maus by Art Spiegelman, Pantheon trade paperback
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Mariner Books trade paperback
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld
Stitches by David Small, W.W. Norton hardcover

Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Walls, Delta trade paperback

The Blue Notebook by James Levine, Spiegel & Grau hardcover

(all information is for the U.S. editions).