Exploring Graphic Novels

One of my reading goals (set out in my post of January 11) is to read some graphic novels.  I've been looking for something that is not super-hero comic book stuff.

My search has uncovered a wide range of material that I can't really call "novels."

I've found poetry, short stories, and some non-fiction, much of it geared for young people.  Most of our local libraries shelve graphics in the YA section, so I did a little shelf browsing there and didn't find any that interested me.

On Goodreads I found a few that sounded interesting.  I managed to find some of them in my local libraries and put ILL requests in.  (I also put in for a couple of givaways--no luck so far.)

Here's what I have in my library stack:

  Give it Up! and Other Short Stories; by Peter Kuper, Franz Kafka, Jules Feiffer (Introduction)
      I read this last night and it is amazing.  In addition to being a satisfying read itself, it does something else a good book should do.  It leads to further exploration. Several paths in this case: find more Kuper, look for other illustrations of Kafka, revisit Jules Feiffer.

     There is something to love about a call number that reads:
                                                      YA
                                                GRAPHIC
                                                   NOVEL
                                                      KAF


  The Beats: A Graphic History; by Paul Buhle (Editor)
     This looks promising.  An era I know something about, seen from a different perspective in time as well as genre.
     
  Senegal Taxi; by Juan Felipe Herrera
      I found this on the new book shelf at my favorite library. I picked it up because the cover looked like it might be a graphic novel but it's not really in the graphic category.  It's a book of poetry with some illustrations. It has an innovative format. I'm looking forward to it.  It's not going to be an "easy read" because of the subject matter.