Heavy on the graphic novels this month. I don’t know why.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

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I thought this  was cute and sweet and an interesting take on a young woman’s life through food. If you’re looking for recipes and innovations, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a light autobiography through food, beautifully illustrated, you’ve got a winner.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

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I was looking through collections of graphic novels suggested by the ALA, and I kept lamenting that I’d never read this one (it’s on basically all of the “best of” lists). Then I got it from  the library and realized…I had read it. To my credit, it only takes about an hour to read. It deserves to be on every “best of” list. Oh, and if you don’t like Secret! Religious! Allusions! To! JESUS! you’ve got to calm down a little, and also, you shouldn’t read this. Or live in America. Or, as the Religious Allusionists call it, George W. Bushlandia.

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie. A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

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A biography about Marie Curie (with a little bit o’ Pierre), and also the history of radiation? You’ve got yourself a fun read! No, okay, not fun, but beautiful artwork and very insightful.

The Last Girlfriend on Earth  by Simon Rich

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I read this ages ago, and I can’t remember if I told you about it. As with all collections of short stories and essays, some of them are better than others. But the first story in this collection should be read by every nineteen year old heterosexual boy. It was so good I read it out loud to three different sets of people, and every time I laugh-cried.

Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren

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I have read a loooooot of romance novels, and most of them are Not Good. Christina Lauren’s are always good. Funny and well-written and consistently what you want and expect as a romance novel reader, and yet even with following a predictable story line, uniquely entertaining. Definitely my favorite writers of romance lately.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

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This was sweet and cute. I had to put it down because the main character and her sisters annoyed me a bit. Okay, her older sister bugged the crap out of me, but she’s supposed to bug the crap out of the reader. But Jenny Han writes YA romance perfectly, and very cleanly. I’d have no qualms letting a mature middle schooler read this (there is talk about sex, but no, you know, Doing It).

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Have you heard of this novel? You should read it! It’s pretty good! Okay, so I had to reread this for a workish thing, and at the end I was like, ATTICUS FINCH I LOVE YOU PLEASE MARRY ME NOW. Every man, woman, child and animal in the country should marry Atticus Finch. He’s fictional Gandhi, except super hot. I mean, unless you’re into emaciated Indian guys, which, cool?