Favorite Book Club Picks

When I moved back to Athens after college, I found I did not know nearly as many people in town as I did when I moved away.  After a few months of staying in doors and keeping to myself, I set out to meet new folks.  One of the places I spent a lot of my time was our local bookstore, Avid.  Avid Bookshop is a truly magical place, a small store front filled to the brim with books.  I have attended two of their many book clubs, Book Club of the Fantastic and Graphic Novel Book Club.  The following are some of my favorite books I have read in these groups.



Collages, written by Anais Nin, is made up of short vignettes--some linear and connected, others out of order as well as out of the blue.  One of my favorite descriptions in a book ever is the character Renate living in Mexico trying to embody the vibrant color of the Orange dress she is wearing. Orange has been one of my favorite colors ever since I was young because of its warmness (To quote Jonathan Adler, "Orange is the Prozac of colors") but I avoided wearing it because I didn't think I looked good in it. I bought an orange dress shortly after reading this.



Nimona is written by one of my now favorite graphic novelist, Noelle Stevenson.  One of my favorite parts of this fantastical tale is the gender fluidity of the characters which at first had me somewhat confused, but by the end of the book left me feeling refreshed.



Ms. Marvel, by G. Willow Wilson, is one of the most groundbreaking comics of the past year.  The first trade in the series No Normal follows Kamala Khan through her origin story of becoming Ms. Marvel.  I found Kamala to be a dimensional and relatable character, her love of Captain Marvel reflects many aspects of my own love for Wonder Woman.  The comic industry is often criticized as being sexist, but this series shows the growth that has taken place and hopefully predicts similar stories in the future.