Books

Graphic Novel Galaxy

Graphic novels have increasingly opened to women as well, with notable nonfiction titles including Marjane Satrapi’s Iranian-girlhood portrait Persepolis and Alison Bechdel’s familial tragicomedy Fun Home.

Book Review: The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo

By Bri Johnson

Just reissued in paperback, this tale of American volunteer Larry Kaplanski’s time spent in a godforsaken place where “even the baboons feel sorry for us,” is told in a picaresque manner well suited to the 21st-century attention span.

Book Review: A Worldly Country

By Caitlin McDonnell

If it’s loveliness you want, here, take some, hissed the black fairy. Waiting for the string quartet, on the corner, denatured I wondered what the heck.

Book Review: Bloodthirsty

By Anne Pyburn

Former sitcom and ad writer Marshall Karp blasted holes through Hollywood hypocrisy in his 2006 debut, The Rabbit Factory. Now the Woodstock mystery maven brings his comical cops back for another round in Bloodthirsty.

Short Takes for May

By Nina Shengold

These five new releases offer sustenance to heart, mind, and body, including John Cuneo’s romp through the lowest of chakras.

A Cowboy's Story

By Jay Blotcher

At his peak, Gene Autry was a cultural juggernaut.