Mike Suggests Guy Delisle

Being a librarian means that I'm in danger of contracting a type of book malaise, because I'm constantly inundated with pre-publication information and I never can seem to get a handle on the torrent of books that I come across daily. That malaise was overcome today when I realized that one of my favorite graphic novelists, and a fantastic travel writer to boot, is going to be releasing his newest on April 24th. Guy Delisle has written and illustrated insightful travelogues that focus on societies traditionally closed to Westerners, largely because he worked in these countries as an animation supervisor or traveled with his wife (who works at an NGO). Delving into societies and the cultures of Burma, China, and North Korea, Delisle's graphic novels provide us with a perspective of an everyman struggling to understand and make himself understood in these societies while displaying the humanity, inherent in the cultures, that's being perverted by totalitarian cultures. This makes it all the more interesting that this round he's focusing on Jerusalem, which is rife with topics for him to explore. To top it all off he'll be at the Harvard Book Store on the 25th, and I'm sure it'll be a treat for all who go.