The Unwritten 4 & 5

Along with being a big book reader, I also love graphic novels. My husband got me into reading comics when we started dating and I have a few series that I love. They are mostly published by Vertigo, which is part of DC comics (you know, the guys who publish Superman, etc).

I started reading The Unwritten last year and I love it. It's about a man named Tom Taylor whose father wrote the Tommy Taylor books, which are essentially Harry Potter. Tom was the inspiration for the main character, who the world obsessively loves.

The amazon description is better than anything I feel like writing right now:
Tom Taylor's life was screwed from go. His father created the Tommy Taylor fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom's real life that fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it's even implied that the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans more excuses to harass Tom. 

When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that's secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his own life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, eventually finding himself at locations all featured on a very special map -- one kept by the deadly group that charts places throughout world history where fictions have impacted and tangibly shaped reality, those stories ranging from famous literary works to folktales to pop culture. And in the process of figuring out what it all means, Tom will find himself having to figure out a huge conspiracy mystery that spans the entirety of the history of fiction.

So I read the fourth and fifth trade over the weekend. Each book has a different feel to it. The fourth book throws Tom into Moby Dick's world - they go to Arrowhead in the beginning and pass by the Hancock Shaker Village, which is near where my family lives in the Berkshires. The fifth book has a 1930/40's early pulp comic feel to it. There's still quite a lot of mystery in these grades. Tom still doesn't 100% understand his origins, but he's making progress in figuring things out. He also has his very own Ron and Hermoine but they're adults too and the trio forms a very funny little group. The scope of the comic is impressive and the story is really engaging. Even if you don't think you'll like graphic novels, this is definitely different and more "literary" than other books you might read.

After finishing those, I started Julian Fellowes' Snobs. Fellowes wrote the movie Gosford Park and my favorite show Downton Abbey. So I had to check out one of his novels. So far, I'm enjoying it. Stay tuned for the review!