I've never been much into comic books until I was introduced to a different sort of comic book at Evergreen. One of my reading assignments included Joe Sacco's Palestine. Joe Sacco is a journalist: he goes into a troubled area and reports on the story. But he takes it a step further. After he comes home, he sits down and spends many, many months drawing out and detailing his time in that war zone or political hot spot until the story comes alive in a way that it wouldn't on page 43 of Time or the international section of your daily newspaper. I've read much of his work and have always been amazed by his powers to move me to the front lines.

This past weekend I branched out a little further into the world of the graphic novel. I read Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Persepolis II which together chronicle Marjane's childhood in Iran, her teen years in Austria, and her return to Iran. I also read Craig Thompson's Blankets which is a coming of age story about a young man growing up in the Upper Midwest, experiencing his first love and distancing himself from his parents' oppressive religion.

I highly recommend any of these books, along with Joe Sacco's work. They deal with issues as deep as in any of the longer and heavier books out there, but they are quite accessible and can be read quickly ... how else would I manage to read three books in one weekend and still have had a life? Sure. I put off a few things, but that can be rationalized for a good read.