After being sadly ignorant about graphic novels for far too long, I have been diving into the genre with great gusto this year. My favorite iteration is the graphic memoir, a fast-growing sub-genre that showcases a phenomenal range of storytellers and artistic talent. The combination of story and art in the graphic memoir allows for an insight into the author’s history that is extraordinarily engaging, fast-paced, and fascinating. I recently devoured two graphic memoirs by Alison Bechdel – Fun Home and Are You My Mother? – and they are among my top-rated reads of the year.

Bechdel had an emotionally difficult childhood and she draws liberally on this source material in these two autobiographical texts, the first of which focuses on her relationship with her father, and the second, with her mother. The subject matter is at times traumatic, undoubtedly, but Bechdel’s storytelling style is compelling and eminently readable. These two books combined offer an extremely detailed and intriguing glimpse into the life of Alison Bechdel, both past and present. While her relationship with both of her parents was frequently fraught, they both instilled in her a love of art, as well as an ethic that prioritized creative expression above all else. And as a newly avid reader of her work, I am very grateful for that.