Bootblack

 Bootblack by Mikaël (2022) 128 pages

I enjoyed the realistic art. Ultimately Al is a kid who is so patriotic, claiming his American-ness, that he turns his back on his immigrant parents. When they die and he ends up an orphan on the streets of New York City in the '20s, he becomes a bootblack with a gang of young friends. He develops a young crush. He further develops his hatred for newer immigrants. He moves money for organized crime families. He goes to prison then gets out just before WWII. All these stories are told as flashbacks from G.I. Al serving overseas in Germany. There are some details from his life that connect in unexpected ways, but fate is cruel and his life ends ironically.

Another selection of graphic novels read in December

Closing out the year that I've been focused mainly on reading graphic novels. Genres of all types are available in the graphic format, and I've sampled quite a few. I won't stop reading graphic novels next year as I really love them, but they won't be my sole focus.

It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood (2022) 196 pages

I love the summary on the back cover. "[This graphic memoir] is an intimate and metanarrative look into the life of a selfish artist who must create for her own survival." The meta use of the graphic form is one of my favorite things about it! The author struggles with anxiety and depression. I will not use the overused word r******** that she hears from so many people at comic conventions that it becomes meaningless. I have empathy and understand some of her challenges with these mental health issues. The different versions of herself are a great visual way to illustrate the way she copes with life.  Revealing the script and the process of creating a graphic memoir is fun.

Stone Fruit by Lee Lai (2021) 231 pages

This is about the joys and tensions of a queer couple who are aunties to a six-year-old niece. There is a bit of Where the Wild Things Are. And the hard conversations between couples with the psychological and emotional wounds passed down through families are featured. Intimately emotional as sibling relationships are repaired.

Yucatan 1512 by Alex Vede (2025) 80 pages

This reminded me I wanted to watch the Aztec Batman movie on HBO Max. And it reminded me of the video game Shadow of the Colossus. I loved the visual style. The story is simple and less than 100 pages, but it serves the purpose. Spanish conquistadors search for Mayan gold and slaughter innocents. One rogue soldier helps a Mayan girl escape. The cover image shows the type of creatures that rise to push back the conquistadors. I'm curious to see what else Alex Vede can do as he is just starting his career as an illustrator.

The Reprieve by Jean-Pierre Gibrat (2008) 128 pages

WWII historical fiction from France that is a prequel to the author's Flight of the Raven. Paintings are gorgeous and cozy of this French town under German occupation. The main character is witty and jokes around a lot. Julien deserted conscription by the Germans, goes into hiding, and continues falling in love with a high school girlfriend. The humor and the beauty of the art made me forget the dangers of war and the role of fate/death that cannot be escaped. I did not see the final dramatic turn coming.

Life After Life

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (2013), 611 pgs. 

In England on November 11, 1910, a baby girl is born. Soon after she takes her first breath, she takes her last.
In England on November 11, 1910, a baby girl is born, and the presence of a doctor saves her life. The girl, Ursula, lives happily with her family in the English countryside until an accident once again cuts her life short.
In England on November 11, 1910, Ursula is born over and over again, as new choices and chance happenings slightly alter the version of her life she is building. She must do what she can to protect herself and those around her from making fatal mistakes, while also navigating young adulthood during a devastating war. Will the cycle ever end? Ursula does not know. All she knows is that she must make the most of her life each time she lives it. 

This is quite a long book but also a very captivating one--especially for those interested in historical fiction. The horrors of WWII on Europe are central to this story, but they are not the only thing that proves fatal. Danger lurks around every corner of Ursula's lives in the form of strangers on the road, faulty gas lines, and sudden air raids. The way the chapters are organized in a jumble of time allows readers to put themselves in Ursula's shoes for a moment by knowing the things that could happen at any given time. It is scary to think how close we all may have come to death, but perhaps, as Ursula does, we are simply living out our second/third/fourth chance.

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel, 384 pages

Colette Marceau has been a jewel thief since she was a child, taught the family trade by her mother, Annabel, who would only use the things she stole for the benefit of others. When World War II came to Paris, Annabel started supporting the French Resistance with the jewelry she took, with one exception: a pair of interlocking bracelets that she reclaimed on behalf of a friend whose jewels were stolen as she was sent to Auschwitz. Before being captured herself, Annabel sewed the bracelets into the hems of her daughters' nightgowns, and while Colette's sister and the bracelet were lost, Colette held onto her bracelet, hoping to someday bring them back together. Decades later and an ocean away, Colette finds the bracelet in a museum exhibition of jewelry and embarks on a plan to reunite the pair and return them to the family to whom they once belonged.

This was a quick and engaging tale of a fascinating (and sadly fictional) woman, and I loved the vast majority of the book. However, the end felt a little to neat, given everything that had happened to the characters before.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 277 pages.

London is recovering from the devastating effects of World War II, and author Juliet Ashton is at a loss for what to write about. That is, until a stranger happens to write her a spontaneous letter after finding her name in one of her used books, and she is drawn completely into the story of the German wartime occupation of the English-owned isle of Guernsey. She is soon exchanging correspondence not only with Dorsey (the original letter writer), but also many other eccentric residents of the island, who she soon considers food friends. Soon Elizabeth is completely enthralled by the allure of the isle of Guernsey and its residents. 

I like a good epistolary novel, and I found the characters in this novel very charming. It was a little light on plot for me personally, and I think it didn't help that this isn't a period of history that is particularly interesting to me. However, I do think that fans of WWII historical fiction, especially centered on women and relationships, would probably like this book a lot. 

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.

Dr. Seuss Goes to War

Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of  Theodor Seuss Geisel by Richard H. Minear  326 pp.

Long before he was known for The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss was an illustrator for magazines and advertisements. While working for a periodical called PM during the build up to throughout World War II, he created political cartoons about the war. The author gives background commentary about Seuss's career and the evolution of the cartoons. I can't say I agree with all of his opinions and they frequently became tiresome to read. The cartoons are the high point in this book. Seeing the cartoons as they were published, with their racist depictions of the Japanese, the illustrated buffoonery of politicians, and depictions of Hitler, Mussolini, and others was very interesting. Everyone, including the American people who opposed the war, were fair game in his cartoons and should be read while always remembering this was wartime.

West Point 1915

West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On by Michael E. Haskew  235 pp.

The subtitle of this book refers to the fact that of the 164 graduates of the United States Military Academy in 1915, 59 of them achieved the rank of Brigadier General (1 star) or higher. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar N. Bradley reached the rank of General of the Army (5 stars), an honor only given to nine others in history. While the book mainly focuses on Eisenhower, who is the most famous due to his Presidency, there is much about Gen. Bradley, and the others, especially their accomplishments during World War II. The last of the "stars", Gen. James Van Fleet died in 1992 at the age of 100. The last member of the class of 1915 was Col. Edmund Ellis who lived to be 104 and died in 1995.

A friend of mine was an Army Bandsman stationed at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX in the late 1970s. Gen. Bradley lived the last years of his life in a house on the grounds until his death in 1981 at 88. When the band played Retreat each evening, Bradley would attend if his health permitted. His personal aide, a major, would bring him out in his wheelchair, then help the General to stand as the band played. He served on active duty for 69 years, 8 months, and 7 days, the longest active duty career in the United States Armed Forces.

The Irregulars

The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant 416 pp.

Before the U.S. entered World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was doing his best to convince President Franklin Roosevelt to join the cause against Hitler. Part of Churchill's efforts included establishing the top secret organization called British Security Coordination, a branch of the SIS/MI6. These were spies tasked with finding German spies in the U.S. and countering the influence of the anti-war "America First Committee". The fact that one of our closest allies used such a spy network is somewhat disturbing. One of the early recruits was Roald Dahl, a pilot who had suffered career ending injuries in a crash. One of Dahl's main tasks was to infiltrate the social lives of the movers and shakers in Washington, D.C. where he became a popular guest at parties, people's homes, and even the White House. Dahl, in his pre-James and the Giant Peach days, along with others in the BSC spread fake news, passed rumors through whispering campaigns, forged documents, and used every method available to vilify Nazi Germany. Dahl accomplished most of his work through wining, dining, and illicit romances with notable women, including Claire Boothe Luce, powerful Congresswoman and wife of Henry Luce, the publisher of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazines. Author Ian Fleming, also a BSC agent, later used some of these exploits as a basis for his character James Bond's way with the ladies. The last chapter of the book continues Dahl's biography through his fame as an author of popular children's books and his marriages to actress Patricia Neal and Felicity Crosland. I listened to the audiobook version because, to be honest, I probably would not have finished it otherwise.

Bomb

 

Bomb: The Race to Build -- and Steal -- The World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin, illus. Nick Bertozzi 262 pp. 

This is the graphic novel adaptation of Sheinkin's 2012 book Bomb focuses on the development and building of the atomic bombs during World War II and the spies who stole vital information that made it possible for the USSR to develop their own nuclear weapons shortly after the end of the war. There is also a brief account of the Norwegian soldiers who sabotaged the Heavy Water plant and caused a massive delay in the Nazi development of a similar bomb. Other aspects of the Manhattan project were touched on including the selection of Captain Paul Tibbets to lead the training of the air crews designated to drop the bombs on Japan and the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, NM. Of course, it is impossible to include everything about this slice of history in a 260 page book but this was nicely done. Now I need to read the book this was adapted from.

Seen and Unseen

 Seen and Unseen by Elizabeth Partridge 124 pp.

The subtitle of this book "What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Mitatake, and Ansel Adams's Photographs Reveal about the Japanese American Incarceration" tells exactly what this book is about. It begins with a brief explanation of how the Japanese living on the west coast were rounded up and sent to camps after the war with Japan began. Partridge goes on to explain how Dorothea Lange was hired by the government to photograph the camp at Manzanar for the U.S. Government and how many of her photos were censored by a Major Beasley in a very arbitrary manner. Toyo Mitatake had a photo studio in California before incarceration and, with home built camera he secretly took photos in the camp until he was made an "official" photographer for special events. Ansel Adams, known for his landscape photography, was also hired to photograph the camps. Unlike Lange who opposed the incarceration, Adams thought it was necessary. He used his photographs to show the beautiful surroundings of the camp's location. This is an interesting and accessible look at one of the dark periods of American History.

The bomber mafia

 

The bomber mafia / Malcolm Gladwell, read by the author, 256 pgs.

Like many of Gladwell's books, this one can knock your socks off if you are a war buff, a history buff, an airplane buff, or a strategy buff.  Or maybe you just like having a book take you on a trip.  Gladwell uses clips of actual historic interviews with his main subjects and talks to present day historians in his research.  It makes the audio version a superior way to read this book. 

A History of What Comes Next

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel, 302 pages

For thousands of years, a family of women has been gently (and sometimes not-so-gently) nudging scientific advancement forward. They're now on the 99th generation, and in the waning days of World War II, are creeping up on their goal of "sending them to the stars," though who exactly "them" refers to is unclear. Unfortunately, there's a similar competing family of men that has been chasing, and attempting to wipe out, the generations of women for as long as they can remember, and these trackers are getting closer to their goal too.

This is an intriguing take on the post-WWII scientific advances, particularly the Space Race and competing missile innovations of the U.S., Germany, and U.S.S.R. I'm not entirely sure what I think of the clone/spy-vs-spy feel of the not-quite-human men and women, but it's certainly interesting.

A Peculiar Combination

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver, 296 pages

Ellie McDonnell grew up with her locksmith (and sometimes thief) Uncle Mick, who did his best to steer his niece toward an upstanding life, providing her an education and finishing school. But Ellie just couldn't resist following in his footsteps, both legal and illegal. But when the pair gets caught after cracking a safe during a World War II blackout, Ellie must put her lock-picking skills to work for straitlaced Major Ramsey to ensure Uncle Mick's freedom. Unfortunately, that assignment doesn't go quite as planned, throwing Ellie into a tangled mess of murder, spycraft, high society, and yes, more thievery.

I'm a sucker for a heist, so perhaps I'm a bit biased, but I found this a wonderful beginning to what's sure to be a great mystery series. Ellie is a plucky young woman who can hold her own in a male-dominated world, and her interactions with Uncle Mick, handsome Major Ramsey, and Felix, the boy next door who has always been a bit sweet on Ellie, are simply sparkling. I absolutely loved it, and I can't wait to see what else WWII brings for Ellie and her compatriots.

The Things We Leave Unfinished

The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros, 429 pages

During World War II, British debutante Scarlett fell desperately in love with an American flying ace, Jameson. After moving to Colorado with their young son, Scarlett became a bestselling romance author, despite the sad ending to her own love story. Some 70 years later, Scarlett's great-granddaughter Georgia is grudgingly working with top writer Noah Harrison to finish Scarlett's final unfinished novel, which happens to be her own story with Jameson. Known for his heartbreaking "poignant"endings to romantic stories, Noah is determined to give Scarlett and Jameson the happily-ever-after they deserve (and Scarlett's readers have come to expect), while recently-divorced Georgia wants something truer to life. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this dual-timeline romance novel, which I expected to be sappy and weepy (I mean, look at that cover!). It was certainly emotional and came with a heavy heap of generational drama. But it also had a lovely twist and featured a pair of relationships that I could really get behind. Guess this one proves the old adage: don't judge a book by its cover.

The Rose Code

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, 624 pages

During World War II, Great Britain put thousands of great minds to work at Bletchley Park, a bland manor that served as the headquarters for those who cracked the coded messages sent by the German and Italian armed forces. This novel outlines the experiences of three women — tri-lingual debutante Osla; tall, ambitious Mab; and shy, sheltered village spinster Beth — during their time working at Bletchley Park, as well as after, when one of them believes that she has proof of a traitor amongst the codebreakers. 

It's a fascinating story of at-home heroism, complete with building tension in the form of races to decrypt messages; personal growth away from tyrannous parents; and even the elegance of a long romance with Prince Philip. I don't want to like World War II historical fiction novels (because there are a TON of them), but darn it, this one's too good not to like.

They Called Us Enemy

 They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker, 208 pages.

This graphic memoir follows the journey of George Takei (of Star Trek fame) during his time in Japanese internment camps during WWII. This is a phenomenal memoir. The fact that Takei was a child during internment gives a very different perspective on a historical event, and it does a really good job balancing life as he experienced it and the things he has realized and learned about those experiences as an adult. In addition, I really appreciated the notes on legal history throughout. This memoir manages to be simultaneously very personal and very historical, which makes for a very engaging book overall. 

The Kitchen Front

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan, 406 pages

In the midst of World War II, while the men are off fighting, the women of England are making do the best they could on rationed food, clothing, and other necessities. To keep up morale and suggest some tasty ways to use those rationed foods, the BBC creates a cooking contest pitting four local women — an exhausted widow, an uppity lady from a manor house, the uppity lady's kitchen maid, and a displaced Cordon Bleu-trained chef — against one another, making appetizers, entrees, and desserts over the course of three months. As the competition continues, the women get to know one another and realize that while they're all suffering in some way, none of them are alone in their struggle.

This was a charming WWII story that doesn't have any of the blood and guts and violence that so often occurs (no Blitz! no bombs!). It's also a wonderful reading suggestion for fans of the Great British Baking Show. The characters aren't all necessarily likeable, but they are relatable, and I ended up caring so much about all of them. A lovely story.

Code Name Helene

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon, 450 pages

Nancy Wake was an Australian ex-pat working as a journalist in Paris when she began working for the French Resistance during World War II. Eventually, she was forced to flee from her beloved husband and dog, making her way to England, where she joined the Special Operations Executive and was dropped back into France to fight the Nazi occupation by leading a small ring of British spies and partnering with French guerrilla troops. In doing so, she earned the respect of her male companions and served a major role in defeating the Germans.

Everything in the preceding paragraph is true.

In Code Name Helene, Lawhon presents a fictionalized account of Nancy's life in France, both before fleeing and after returning to the war. It's a captivating and wonderful story, made all the better by the fact of Nancy's real-life existence (check out her photo at the front of the book). Yes, there have been a lot of good books about brave women in World War II (The Nightingale, A Woman of No Importance, even the young adult novel Code Name Verity, which I kept thinking of throughout this book), but this one is a worthy addition to your TBR list. It's excellent.

Katalin Street

Katalin Street / Magda Szabo, Lex Rix, trans., 235 p.

A novel of three close-knit families residing on a comfortable street in Budapest, in sight of the Danube.  The children, shy little Henriette, sisters Iren and Blanka, and the only boy, Balint, are inseparable.  But as they grow older, romantic entanglements complicate things, and there is the small matter of Jewish Henriette's parents being 'taken away' in 1944, despite the efforts of Balint's father to save them.  When one of the group is killed soon after, the lives of all are forever separated from their youthful idyll, with lifelong consequences.

Szabo does a wonderful, strange thing here with foreground and background.  Most novelists would place the deportation (and murder) of Hungarian Jews, Soviet repression of Hungary in the 1950s, and the 1956 Revolution in the front of the story, and dangle their characters from these big, hulking events like ornaments on a tree.  But Szabo places the interior lives of her characters at the front, adopting their euphemistic ways of thinking about various horrors, so that the reader participates in their repressed, damaged mentalities.  Subtle and lovely.