Avril 2012

When I went to pick up this book from the library—reserved online—the librarian kept insisting it had to be a travel guide. Wrong. It's a graphic novel. About a comic book artist, actually. Simon's stuck in creative limbo, can't draw anymore, life's falling apart. So he does what desperate people do: runs away. Destination? Portugal, his father's homeland. A place he barely knows but maybe needs.

Everyone knows the best part of any trip is planning it. That's why I'm currently buried in Russian and Chinese novels, travel guides, dictionaries, adventure memoirs. Found this illustrated book at the library. Perfect timing since I'm dreaming about that legendary train route myself. The artists took the journey and documented everything—sketches, watercolors, observations, the whole visual diary.

Kore-Eda completely won me over with Still Walking—gorgeous film about grief and family dynamics, the space left by absence. I Wish tackles family too, but lighter. Way more joyful. Two brothers separated by their parents' divorce, living in different cities. They hear that when two bullet trains pass each other at top speed, you can make a wish that'll come true. So they plot to be there when it happens.

"And what you see will strengthen your love, to love even more what you're about to lose." Shakespeare opens this one. William Stoner grew up on a dirt-poor Missouri farm. His whole childhood was nothing but work, helping his parents survive. Then university happens. He discovers literature. Everything changes. But life doesn't get easier—it gets complicated in different ways.

Failed writer, drunk, author of crappy "witch novels." Hal Baltimore shows up in some depressing small town for a book signing. Nobody cares. Except the sheriff, who fancies himself a writer too and thinks they should collaborate. Things get weird fast. Dreams, ghosts, murdered girls, Edgar Allan Poe showing up. Classic Coppola strangeness.

Ten years after ditching Ohio, Prudence Bly's exactly where she wanted to be: top billing. 1930s New York, crowds of artists and hangers-on buzzing around this fashionable singer. The city's her stage. But success brings its own mess—jealousy, betrayal, the whole predictable circus. Powell writes it sharp and unsentimental.

This massive novel is THE Chinese classic. Every Chinese person's read it or studied it in school. Adapted endlessly for opera performances. Based on real events, transformed into legend over centuries. Outlaws, rebellion, honor, betrayal—it's got everything. Think Robin Hood meets The Godfather, Chinese dynasty edition. Epic scope, dozens of characters, battles and brotherhood.