Hi guys, it's Aisling back chatting to
you again on the Waterstones vlog. So
this month around I've got two
recommendations for you; one graphic
novel and one collection of essays. Look
it is such a beautiful book. So it's
Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, I think that's
how you pronounce that. It kind of
originally presents itself as a crime
story. I'll just show you some of the
panels so you can get an idea of what
the artwork is like, so here we go, isn't that
gorgeous? So it starts as a crime story. A
girl called Sabrina, the title character,
she goes missing and nobody knows where
she is.
And then the story from then on sort of
follows people on the periphery, like her
sister, her ex-boyfriend and her
ex-boyfriend's friend, Calvin, who actually
a lot of the story kind of revolves
around. And from there on in it sort of
takes a turn in this sinister
direction regarding the internet and
where we get our information. So a
video of Sabrina and her believed
kidnapper/captor or whatever you want to
call it surfaces on the internet, a very
unpleasant video, I don't want to put any
spoilers in here because I think
there's a lot of spoilers that could
ruin this for people. So this video
appears on the internet and then people
start sort of tracking down anyone to do
with Sabrina's life. They send them loads of
emails being like I know that you did it
or reaching out to them and it's really
overwhelming. And it just sort of, it
makes you think about in regard to
crimes that occur today or when people
go missing like the frenzy that's
created on the internet. It's
compared at numerous times like in
the story within the book to the
Sandy Hook shooting and how people
thought that that was a hoax. So people
then start to think that Sabrina's
disappearance is a hoax and that
everyone involved is an actor and it's
just, it's really eerie like the way
the art work is so simplistic and kind
of colorful it really is juxtaposed with
the subject matter of the story.
It's so opposite that it's kind of
jarring but in a good way. I really,
really enjoyed it. It will leave
you sort of thinking being like oh it's
that kind of ending. Like it's one that
would be great to discuss with other
people and see what they thought because
I really don't want to spoil it because
the ending is just, kind of, it's a little
bit of a jolt. It's a bit strange but
it's definitely a very deserving
nominee for the Man Booker Prize. So I
would recommend that to anybody who is
interested in new fiction, like not even
if you're just into graphic novels. I
would say if this is the first graphic
novel you've ever read it reads like a
cross between a crime novel and quite a
you know a modern piece of literature so
I would recommend that to anybody who is
into graphic novels and also into you
know literary fiction/crime fiction.
And the other book that I have to
recommend to you today is Notes to Self
by Emilie Pine. And this is published by
Tramp Press in Ireland. They usually
publish fiction, they published Solar
Bones by Mike McCormack. So I believe
this is their first nonfiction book
which is very, very exciting. This is the
kind of book that once you read it
you'll want to give a copy to your
friend or your sister or your mom or
like even your
boyfriend, your partner, anybody. I feel
like it's a book that probably a lot of
people should read. It's very, very
important, it deals with kind of
everything from addiction to fertility
struggles to kind of growing up,
relationships. There's a lot of pain in
it but what I will say is it's not a painful
read even though there is a lot of pain
and there's a lot of struggle in it.
After reading it you'll feel
like you know the author Emilie Pine so
well. Similar to Sabrina I'm gonna
say if you have not really read
many essays and you're kind of worried
you know when people mention essays you
think it's gonna be this kind of stodgy
sort of academic writing, it really isn't
that. Like it's quite cool and down to
earth and like
she is speaking directly to the reader
kind of getting across her personality
really well. And that was what I really
enjoyed. It feels really personal towards
the reader. It's just a beautiful,
beautiful book and again like another
gorgeous cover, a gorgeous edition.
I think it would make a great gift for
anybody because christmas is coming, sort of.
And yeah I think I think most people
would really, really enjoy it especially
if you are trying to get into essays,
or if you already like essays, you've
probably already heard of this. But if
you're trying to get into essays maybe
trying to read a little bit more
nonfiction and branch out I think it's a
really good place to start. It's very
personable, very easy to read and
you'll absolutely fly through it because
it is absolutely amazing.
So guys those are my two
recommendations for this month, I hope
you like them. I hope you pick them up
and I'll be chatting to you again on
another vlog very, very soon. Bye!