A selection of January graphic novels

 Battlefields: The Night Witches by Garth Ennis with art by Russ Braun (2009) 79 pages

It is fascinating that Russia did have women pilots in their air force during WWII. Half the story is following a German squad pushing into Russian territory with one conscientious young man as our narrator. The other half focuses on just a couple of the women pilots who fly night missions dropping bombs. One in particular, Nadia Anna, achieves the rank of Captain and is a survivor despite a brief romance with heartbreak and her plane going down. The story succeeds in showing the horrific tragedy of war. The art work is a bit cartoon-y, but not far-off in portraying the gritty realism.

Hokusai: A Graphic Biography by Giuseppe Latanza and Francesco Matteuzzi (2021) 128 pages

I really enjoyed the art and the biographical story. Like Hokusai making woodblocks to stamp multiple prints of his art, some of the graphic novel's images are repeated. In between the story of his life there are full pages of text with historical background about Japanese art, or explaining terms and historical periods. Some of this felt repetitive, unfortunately, like a different author had lost track of what had previously been explained. However, this did not drastically lessen my enjoyment. I thought the book was aimed at teens at first, but it does mention and show a bit of the erotic art that Hokusai made during one part of his life.

The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel (2021) 240 pages

I loved this even more than Fun Home. Bechdel is even more revealing about herself, and explores engrossing related topics. Exercise trends through the second half of the 20th century, Romantic poets, Transcendentalists, Kerouac, Zen Buddhism are all connected. She explores mountains as a symbol for human achievement. The aphorism "it is about the journey, not the destination" comes across.

Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City by Will Eisner (2006) 421 pages

I've read a couple of his other realistic graphic novels and highly recommend this one as well. "New York: The Big City" consists of short vignettes. "The Building" tells the backstory of four ghosts who hang around a particular intersection where a historic building has been torn down and a new one constructed in its place. These stories reveal the tragicomic world Eisner is drawn to portray. "City People" is filled with more observations in mostly one or two page vignettes. A longer tragic story is told in Collisions. "Invisible People" contains three longer stories. Sanctum tells the sad story of Pincus Pleatnik. The Power tells a symbolic story of a healer named Morris. Eisner says of Mortal Combat, "In relating the story of Herman, who became the unwilling prize in a clash of wills, I hoped to evoke the helplessness of a person caught in an intersection of the traffic of life."

Past Tense: Facing Family Secrets and Finding Myself in Therapy by Sacha Mardou (2024) 336 pages

A courageous memoir. I picked it up at my new comic shop because it is by a local St. Louis author. Her journey to overcome her anxiety and unpack her childhood trauma is fascinating. She specifically delves into a therapy model called Internal Family Systems (IFS) because she finds it helpful after some initial skepticism. Mardou's art style is a bit loose, but expressive. Freeing herself from generational trauma reveals truly healthy outcomes.

Enlighten Me

 

Enlighten Me by Minh Lê  140 pp.

Binh fights back against a bully who made fun of his Vietnamese heritage but then is punished for his actions. His parents decide to take the whole family on a silent Buddhist retreat for a week. Binh finds it all very frustrating until one of the monks shares stories of the Buddha with the children at the retreat. Those stories invade Binh's dreams and he discovers a new way to approach life. This short graphic novel is enlightening and entertaning.

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

 

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chögyam Trungpa  256 pp.

This book is a series of transcripts from talks given by the author in the early 1970s. I listened to the audiobook version which probably colored my less than stellar opinion of the book. The narration by Jim Gimian sounded a bit like a bored Sam Waterston. I am not Buddhist but have read quite a bit of Buddhist literature. Much of Trungpa's commentary was off-putting to me. The premise of the title, that spirituality should not be used for personal rather than spiritual gain makes perfect sense. However, his explanations of some other principals veered more toward a cultish mind control than "enlightenment." YMMV.  

Lamb

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore, 444 pages

Those who are familiar with the Bible will generally admit that there's something of a gap in the gospels, leaving a large chunk of Christ's life unaccounted for. This hilarious novel takes a stab at filling that gap, as told through the eyes of Christ's foul-mouthed, womanizing, and generally unscrupulous best friend, Levi, who is called Biff. According to Biff (and Moore), at the age of 12, Josh (which is what Biff calls Christ) has no idea how he's supposed to be a messiah, so he and Biff seek out the three wise men who attended Josh's birth. If they knew that this kid was the messiah when he was born, perhaps they'd be able to tell him what to do now. What follows is a physical exploration of Asia — including the grand home of a magus, a Buddhist temple, and a poor village in India — and a theological trip through Confucianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

This has long been one of my favorite books, but this time, I tried the audio version, read by actor Fisher Stevens. Stevens did a great job differentiating the voices and elevated the humor with his inflections. I highly recommend the book in either form, though be prepared for saltier language than you might expect in a "biography" of Jesus Christ.

Reincarnation Blues

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore, 371 pages

Milo is an old soul. He's lived thousands of lives and not one of them has reached Perfection. But when his 9,995th life ends, Milo is shocked to discover that he only has five lives left to achieve Perfection. If he can't manage it by then, he'll be cast into the Nothing. So Milo embarks on these last five chances with a renewed purpose, one that's complicated by the fact that Milo is happiest in the afterlife, where he has fallen in love with Death (who prefers to be called Suzie).

This is a wonderfully funny and refreshing story that explores human nature, perfection, Buddhism, and the elusive ability to meditate successfully (according to Poore's version of the Buddha, it's OK if you keep getting distracted by thoughts of cats). I enjoyed Poore's style, which seems like a quirky combination of Neil Gaiman and Christopher Moore (particularly Moore's Lamb, which is one of my all-time favorite books). Coming from me that's high praise. I will be reading more of Poore.

I Shot the Buddha

I Shot the Buddha by Colin Cotterill  342 pp.

This is the most recent book in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series. The 79 year old retired state coroner of Laos and his wife Madame Daeng are once again involved in solving mysterious murders, suspect spiritualists, and a missing monk. Dr. Siri is learning more ways to use the power of the resident spirit who inhabits his body while enjoying the process. The trail of the murderer leads Siri and Daeng across the Mekhong River into Thailand to capture the killer. Meanwhile Siri's friend Civilai investigates a phony reincarnation of Buddha and Inspector Phosey takes violent revenge on the man who nearly killed him. This installment in the series has crossed into more magical realism than the rest of the series. Now I have to wait for the author to finish another episode in the life of Dr. Siri Paiboun.

A Tale for the Time Being

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki  422 pp.

This is an intricate story within a story. Sixteen year old Nao is horribly bullied at her school in Japan. Her father is has been out of work since the dot com bust and has unsuccessfully attempted suicide. Nao has decided she will commit suicide also because her life is so horrible. She wants to first write about the life of her 104 year great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun. Nao's story is discovered by Ruth who lives on Canadian island on the Pacific Coast. She finds the "Hello Kitty" lunchbox containing Nao's writings and an vintage wristwatch on the beach after the devastating 2011 tsunami hit Japan. Debris from the Japan is turning up on west coast beaches. Ruth and her husband get caught up in Nao's story which includes elements of Buddhism, visits from spirits, World War II, and teen-age angst. This is a novel that sucks you in and you don't want to put it down because there are so many mysteries to figure out.  

Dinner with Buddha

Dinner with Buddha by Roland Merullo  344 pp.

This is the third book in the series about book editor Otto Ringling and his brother-in-law, the spiritual teacher Rinpoche Volya. This installment takes place several years later than Lunch with Buddha. Otto's wife has died of cancer and he is now unemployed and just floundering in his life. His daughter has begun living a the retreat center run by his sister, Seese and the Rinpoche. And their young daughter is growing up and seems to be of serious importance to the Buddhist world (think Dalai Lama-ish). Otto and the Rinpoche take off on another of their road trips to speaking engagements, odd small towns, casinos, and possibly in search of a new location for the retreat center. I enjoy this series. It is light, often funny, and yet has some serious spiritual chops to it. I wonder if the next one will be Nightcap with Buddha.

Zen and the Art of Faking It

Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick  264 pp.

Eighth grader San Lee starts the school year at another school yet again. His dad is in jail for fraud and his mother is struggling to keep them housed & fed while paying off his father's legal bills. San hasn't decide how he wants to re-invent himself once again for the new school. When he answers too many questions in World History about Buddhism because he'd learned about it at a previous school, he unintentionally finds his new persona as a Zen Master. What starts out as a way to impress his new found crush, a girl who goes by the name of Woody, San finds himself deeper and deeper in a role that he can't quite fulfill while trying to avoid getting beat up by Woody's stepbrother or losing Woody's friendship. But along the way, Zen changes his life without San realizing it. This was entertaining and the parts about Buddhism were accurate. Unfortunately the cd version I listened to  had lots of skips in it.

How to meditate

How to meditate / Pema Chodron 175 pg.

A very straight forward book on techniques, reasons and results from meditation.  This book starts with the actual technique of meditation....how to sit, breath, and stabilize  your mind.  It then takes you through working with your thoughts, emotions, senses, and finding your way to enlightenment. We often see life as a struggle, why is it that we want it to be something that it is not?  If meditation can bring you closer to acceptance, you don't have to waste your time focusing on the struggle.

Many interesting concepts along with practical advice for those wanting to get started.

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The Sea, the Sea / Iris Murdoch 495 pp.

Charles Arrowby is just retired from a sparkling life as a London theatre director of some fame.  He chooses an isolated house on the south coast and begins his memoirs, in which he will presumably write of his long love affair with a much older actress.  Instead, he almost immediately becomes haunted by visions and strange sounds in his house and in the wild water where he daily swims.

And the isolation doesn't last.  He stumbles across Mary, a woman he loved as an adolescent and was mysteriously separated from.  She is frumpy and seems unhappy; Charles is a man of action and determines that he will rescue her and finally experience true love.  As he hatches his bizarre and rather frightening scheme, he is visited by a host of characters from his past, all crowded into his poorly-equipped cottage.

Charles is a horrible egomaniac but a fascinating narrator.  Toward the book's end, he acquires a kind of wisdom in beautiful passages that owe much to Eastern religious tradition.  I can't categorize this novel, but I recommend it nevertheless.

Zen Confidential

Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk by Shozan Jack Haubner 269 pp.

Jack Haubner was raised conservative Catholic, studied philosophy and abandoned Catholicism in college, and went on to become a failed screenwriter/stand up comic/drug abuser before making his way to a Zen Buddhist Monstery to ultimately become an Osho (Teacher). This memoir recounts humorous, touching, and occasionally awful anecdotes about his life as a Zen Buddhist monk. The point of much of this book is to show that, while much of society thinks that because monks are striving for a type of perfection, it doesn't mean that their thoughts, emotions, and actions are all Zen all the time. Flares of temper, relapses into bad habits, and personality quirks that are blatantly un-Zen frequently arise. It is in how these faults are recognized and dealt with that makes the monks different from the "average person."

The Dalai Lama's Cat and the Art of Purring

The Dalai Lama's Cat and the Art of Purring by David Michie  232 pp.

The sequel to The Dalai Lama's Cat finds HHC (His Holiness' Cat) a bit out of sorts. The kittens she was expecting at the end of the first book have all been given away to special friends and she is now at loose ends. To make matters worse, His Holiness is going away for several months. Before he leaves the Dalai Lama tells his "Little Snow Lion" to discover, "What makes you purr?" While he is away Rinpoche (another of her nicknames) is left in the capable hands of the monks and her friends at the small cafe/bookshop in McLeod Ganj, the town outside the temple. Through her encounters with angry dogs, strangers, friends, a professor, and a very wise Yogi she learns more about herself than she ever imagined. The side plot about the cafe and the people running it fleshes out the story. This is a sweet book and I hope there will be a third in the series.

How to wake up

How to wake up: a Buddhist-inspired guide to navigating joy and sorrow by Toni Bernhard 231 pgs.

I read Toni's first book How to be sick when it came out in 2011 and was excited to hear that she had written another.  This one is, perhaps, even more powerful because there is no question that everyone can relate to joy and sorrow in life.  Each chapter is short but provides a solid method with examples to be a better person and lead a fuller more satisfying life.  If any part of it seems too optimistic, the author provides personal examples of where she has failed in the past and how she coped with the failure.  One of my favorites is just deciding that is is OK to fail occasionally.  YES!  Even at our best, we are never perfect and it is ok, give yourself a break and move on.  As always, the lessons here are abundant, helpful and will lead to a better life if practiced.  I'm already looking forward to Bernhard's next book.

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A tale for the time being

A tale for the time being / Ruth Ozeki 422 pgs.

This is a really beautiful novel with epistolary elements between two authors...Nao is a young Japanese girl who is going through some "issues".  She has recently relocated to Japan after her dad was laid off from his job in Silicon Valley.  She has few friends and is actively bullied by her peers in Japan.  We know about this because Ruth, an author living on a small Canadian island finds her diary and other documents when they wash ashore. Ruth and Nao start a "relationship" based on Nao's writing and Ruth's reading.  It is interesting to follow Ruth's thoughts as she reads.  There are a couple of other important characters.  Ruth's husband Oliver (and their pesky cat), Nao's father who attempts suicide several times, Nao's granny who is 104 and a Buddhist nun and Haruki #1, Nao's great uncle who died in the war.  Many of the characters never meet but know each other through the written word and stories from other characters. It is not easy to explain the attraction to this story because the relationships are not easily explained but take the time to explore this book.

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The Dalai Lama's Cat

The Dalai Lama's Cat by David Michie  240 pp.

This charming little book is written from the point of view of a Himalayan kitty who, as a small kitten, was rescued from certain death by the Dalai Lama's staff. She becomes affectionately known as HHC (His Holiness' Cat) and spends most of her time around His Holiness, his staff, and a string of prominent and not so prominent visitors. She also earns a place of respect in the town near the monastery where she frequents a cafe run by an American.
As the "bodhicatva" she sits in on many spiritual conversations and relates many of the most important bits of Buddhist thought. She also strives to live up to her title of HHC by applying them to her own life. There is a sequel The Dalai Lama's Cat and the Art of Purring.

 

Breakfast with Buddha

Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo  323 pp.

Otto Ringling has recently lost his elderly parents in a car accident. Otto, a cookbook editor for a book publisher and his flakey, new ager sister, Cecilia are set to drive from the east coast to the family farm in North Dakota to make arrangements for selling it. At the last moment his sister announces she is not going but wants her brother to take her guru, Volya Rinpoche (Rinpoche is a title given to respected teachers) to see the property. She has decided to give away her portion of the estate for the Rinpoche to build a meditation center. Otto is highly suspicious of this little man in the saffron robes but has no choice but to agree. However, the little man turns out to be a fascinating companion and Otto can't help but become the recipient of his non/teaching in spite of his anger and frustration over the situation. Otto even learns about meditation and yoga--the latter to a painful degree. The Rinpoche imparts his wisdom while enjoying new experiences like bowling and miniature golf. I enjoyed this book and the gentle way the Rinpoche teaches Otto how to change his outlook. While not laugh-out-loud funny you can't help but smile while reading it.

Fire Monks

Fire Monks by Colleen Morton Busch  256 pp.

In June of 2008 one lightning storm sparked 2000 wildfires across the state of California. One of the places in danger of burning was the Tassajara Zen Buddhist Retreat Center near Jamesburg. The Center is located 1600 feet up in a remote mountain valley. The monks had protected it with assistance from firefighters twice before. This time, however, authorities could not promise them help. During the month preceding the arrival of the fire the monks and visitors set up "rain" systems to keep essential buildings wet and less likely to burn, ran fire drills so the monks knew how to handle the fire hoses, pumps and other equipment, cleared away flammable brush & debris, dug fire breaks, and secured a communication line so they could keep in contact with the "outside world" should they become cut off. When the fire moved close, fire officials ordered the evacuation of everyone at the center because there would be no outside help to protect the center. Five of the monks, including the abbott turned back and returned to the center to protect it the best they could. Amazingly, these four men and one woman managed to save the center without serious injury to themselves and with the loss of only a few structures. The story is an amazing one and also raises the questions as to why the center was denied assistance, even water drops, when water planes & helicopters were sitting on the ground unused.  It's an interesting story.

How to be sick

How to be sick by Toni Bernhard 191 pages

I bought this book for the library and put it hold for myself based on Eliana's review and I'm glad I did because 3 other people already have it on request! This book really opened my eyes to so many things...You certainly don't need to have chronic illness in your life or be a caregiver to get a lot out of this book. The author DOES suffer from a chronic illness but she has managed to make a good life for herself by falling back on her Buddhist beliefs which has allowed her to cope with the pain and disappointment that comes with being sick. I admire her for her honesty and her attitude and her ability to give me hope that I can be a better person.

The 14th Dalai Lama Manga Style

The 14th Dalai Lama: a manga biography by Tetsu Saiwai   208 pp.

This book is exactly what it says it is, a biography of Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama. It begins with the death of the previous Dalai Lama and the search for his successor, his reincarnation. At just two years old, he was able to answer the questions that proved he was to be the next one. The book covers the frequent conflicts between China & Tibet which led to the Chinese takeover of Tibet, the 1959 Tibetan Uprising, the Dalai Lama's escape to India and the establishment of the Government of Tibet in Exile. He also established educational facilities for the nearly 100,000 Tibetan refugees in India to keep the Tibetan culture alive in hopes that they one day would be able to return to their homeland. This book is simple but well done. It presents the story clearly, with good illustrations. It is a very good introductory biography to the Dalai Lama.