After not completing last year’s Book Riot Read Harder Challenge I am back at it again for 2018 with a new set of challenges. My first stop was seeing if any of the books I did not manage in 2017 would suit a 2018 challenge, and low and behold the book I had picked out for last year’s task 8: Read a Travel Memoir would suit this year’s task 4: Read a Comic Written and Drawn by the Same Person.
A couple of years ago I read and enjoyed Relish and was looking forward to another visit with Lucy Knisley. An Age of License chronicles approximately a month of Knisley’s life in the fall of 2011 when she cobbled together a few segments of travel to allow herself time to roam around Europe (specifically Norway, Sweden, Germany, and France). It is also a look at a woman in her mid-twenties flailing about a bit, if you’ll forgive the less than complementary descriptor.
Knisley through her own eyes is finding her footing professionally, mourning the end of a relationship, settling herself into a new city, and taking off to see a bit of the world and a boy she met. We join her as she files away a variety of new peple, new experiences, and ruminates on how to settle into her adulthood. My experience with Knisley’s art is rather limited, but one of the issues I had with Relish was that the panels were so tightly drawn, with so much happening in each panel. In An Age of License Knisley spreads out a bit, using the white space to help foster the feeling of floating in the ether that she is experiencing in her month of travel. I prefer this visual style, but the narrative is thinner than I would have hoped.
A good, quick read, but not too much more.
I didn’t finish last year’s Read Harder, either! I learned my lesson this year, though. I’ve already got books picked out for all but two categories, and I’m going to hit at least two a month. (Haven’t picked out a one-sitting book yet, or a book with a cover I hate, but those shouldn’t be too hard!)
I liked this book, but it’s definitely her slightest in terms of content. I loved Relish, and especially Displacement. Super excited for Kid Gloves.
Technically this book could qualify for a one sitting book since that is how I read it, but I think I’m going to pick out a novella instead. I’ve only picked out books for a few tasks, but I’ve slotted in Michelle McNamara’s book for posthumous and true crime. I might bother you about some of the other tasks later. :)
I’m reading the McNamara, too! I really hope it’s good. I know it will make sad either way.