Swap Info:

Looking to try a book in a new-to-you genre? Or looking for an excuse to read a book off your Mt. To Be Read? Every month, we'll explore a different genre by reading a single book and sharing our thoughts with our partner. January's genre is graphic novels. Whether you're new to the scene or just using this swap to read one you've had your eye on for a long time, this is the swap for you.

Genre Definition:

(Wikipedia) A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word "novel" normally refers to long fictional works, the term "graphic novel" is applied broadly, and includes fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work. It is distinguished from the term "comic book", which is used for comics periodicals.

The term is not strictly defined, though one broad dictionary definition is "a fictional story that is presented in comic-strip format and presented as a book."[1] In the publishing trade, the term is sometimes extended to material that would not be considered a novel if produced in another medium. Collections of comic books that do not form a continuous story, anthologies or collections of loosely related pieces, and even non-fiction are stocked by libraries and bookstores as "graphic novels" (similar to the manner in which dramatic stories are included in "comic" books). It is also sometimes used to create a distinction between works created as stand-alone stories, in contrast to collections or compilations of a story arc from a comic book series published in book form.[2][3]

Whether the Japanese form manga should be included in the term is not always agreed upon.

(For the purposes of this swap, let's say no manga; that can be a future swap. But graphic novel fiction, nonfiction, memoir, biography, etc. all count for this swap.)

Swap Instructions:

Choose any graphic novel and read it! There are tons of online suggestion guides that might help.

Send an email or swap-bot message to your partners with ALL of the following info:

• Title & author of the book you read
• Why did you choose this book?
• A brief summary of the book
• A brief review--what did you think of it?
• Your experience with the genre (have you read a lot? a little? was this your first?)
• Your thoughts about the genre overall and if this book was a good representation of it
• Would you read more of this genre in the future?

Let me know if you have any questions/comments. Group rules & ratings apply.

Previous genres covered so far: romances, picture books, biographies, young adult fiction, dystopias, mysteries, horror, tie-in novels, re-reads