Inspiration: hyphenated author

I have to admit that some of these inspirations are easier to blog about than others - and this one is challenging!

Mostly, I'm just trying to get you to step outside your comfort zone and pick a book for a weird reason, and this one is a stupid, arbitrary piece of punctuation! Have a little fun with this one, and don't take it too seriously.

PS: It doesn't matter if the hyphen is in the first name or last name!

• Jussi Adler-Olsen (Danish mystery, thriller)
• William Baring-Gould (Sherlock Holmes scholar)
• Lily Brooks-Dalton (Good Morning, Midnight)
• Ivy Compton-Burnett (Victorian novelist, English)
• Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn (literary fiction, Jamaican)
• Caite Dolan-Leach (suspense, mystery)
• Seth Grahame-Smith (classic-contemporary horror mashups)
• Patrisse Khan-Cullors (timely activism nonfiction)
• Chang-Rae Lee (literary fiction, Korean-American)
• Jo-Ann Mapson (fiction about women in the American Southwest)
• Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir)
• Gina McMurchy-Barber (teen fiction, Canadian)
• Lori Rader-Day (mystery, suspense)
• Antoine de Saint-Exupery (The Little Prince)
• Jean-Paul Sartre (French philosopher)
• Gil Scott-Heron (poet, the "godfather" of rap)


• Hugh Trevor-Roper (European history)

Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording with Wilco, Etc. by Jeff Tweedy

In an honest, funny look at his life, indy musician Jeff Tweedy opens up about his family, his career, and how his brain works. It's fascinating!

It's no secret I love a good music bio, and what separates the good from bad is honesty and introspection. Tweedy owns it here, with a self-deprecating humor that certainly entertains. He's thoughtful about his creative process without being precious about it, and he reminisces about former friendships, band breakups and makeups, and even how his marriage works.

Confession: I will read this book again, on audiobook, because Tweedy narrates it himself! (I couldn't wait, so I read it on paper first.)

Behind You by Jacqueline Woodson

In a follow-up to If You Come Softly, Woodson explores what a life without Miah feels like for his family, friends, and girlfriend.

It's a short book (about a hundred pages) and I'm not sure how strongly it would stand on its own if you haven't read the first book. But as a continuation of the story - as a pondering of "what comes next" I enjoyed this revisiting of the characters. Each character deals with grief in their own way, and for that exploration, it might be valuable for teens - you get to see lots of different ways to react to life's changes.

Fox 8 by George Saunders

The effect of our mass consumerism is reflected through animal allegory in this brief novella, a letter to "yumans" by an inquisitive fox.

Construction of a shopping mall disrupts life for a skulk of foxes, disrupting their entire ecosystem. In an attempt to understand and overcome, Fox 8 defies his leader and investigates this new complex.

At just 64 pages, the story is both funny and heartbreaking. It's the kind of tale that requires some afterthought, and I may be pondering it for quite some time to come.

Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

How do you recover your life after a youthful indiscretion makes you a pop culture punchline? Jane Young reinvents herself but finds that avoiding her past may not be the path to happiness.

In a stupid scandal with a much-older married congressman, political intern Aviva destroys her intended future. She successfully completes her college degree but finds no one will hire her, no matter how far away from her Florida past. So she changes her name, cuts ties, and moves to Maine to start a business as a wedding and events planner. Eventually, though, the past is bound to catch up with her.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, as I expected - I've loved Zevin in the past, and she's again at top form here. This could have been a fluffy light chick lit kind of book, but she gives Aviva/Jane more depth with a heart and a brain. The revelation of her past isn't a real tragedy for Jane, and how she chooses to face it down is a real 21st Century triumph.

Inspiration: graphic novel

I've enjoyed comics since I used to borrow them from the boys in junior high, but it was only once I started working in libraries that I learned about graphic novels.

Generally, graphic novels differ from serial comics and manga because they're longer, compiled in a single volume, and meant to stand alone. You know, like a book!

I have to say the graphic novel has gained serious literary cred in the last two decades. People will scoff that comics "aren't really reading" or that they're simple - and that just means they've never actually read one.

Many graphic novels are complex, thoughtful, literary, and true, real art. Some are for kids, and some are decidedly adult: you can find nonfiction, reinterpretations of classic literature, superheroes, dark fantasies, light comedy, sex ... really, just about anything you're into can be found in graphic novel form too.

One graphic novel even won a Pulitzer Prize! The nonfiction graphic novel "Maus: A Survivor's Tale - My Father Bleeds History" by Art Spiegelman is a memoir, where the author interviewed his Polish Jewish father about the Holocaust. It's also widely regarded as one of the greatest graphic novels ever written.

A few others of note:

• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel - Family, funerals, and figuring out you're gay. It even spun off a Broadway musical!
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - A memoir of girlhood in Iran.
• El Deafo by Cece Bell - Childhood is even more awkward when you wear a giant hearing aid.
• March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell - An autobiographical trilogy about the Civil Rights Movement.
• This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki - The growing-up summer that things changed.
• Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang - A nested pair of novels set in China during the Boxer Uprising.

Since 1997, the Ignatz Award has given awards for graphic novels. See nominees and winners here.

I found a wikipedia list of award-winning graphic novels that may be useful. The comics industry and the book industry have many, many awards, but graphic novels aren't usually segregated from other content.

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson

My sewing friends and fans of historical fiction will love this one - a novel based on the real-life women who sewed the gown worn by England's future Queen Elizabeth when she married in 1947.

Two women, survivors of the recent wars, become friends over their embroidery frame working in the London fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Because of their skill, the friends are chosen to work on a very special, ultra-secret dress. Their stories are contrasted with a modern Canadian woman seeking information about her recently deceased grandmother, who bequeathed her some unexplained samples of exquisite lace embroidery.

The book is very, very well done. I was captivated by the historical fiction sections, with these brave women who had survived so much. Also, there's so much of the story that's true and it's possible to lose yourself for hours researching the real fashion houses of Europe and royal sartorial history.