Tell Me Something Tuesday was hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings, but she has (temporarily?) stopped blogging. So a group of us that had been doing posts (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Karen from For What It’s Worth, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About and me) decided to get together, come up with some more topics and keep the meme going.Michelle made us a logo and we’re off and running. For more details, check out this post where I reintroduced the meme.
I can be sporadic, but when I do join in I will always share next week’s topic at the end of the post. So, today is about…
Do you read graphic novels? Why or why not?
No, I don’t. I’ve tried — I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer so I tried to read season 8 and I just couldn’t get into it. I honestly think there’s something about the way graphic novels are written that disconnects me from the story being told? And I know part of it is just… I’m not a picture person. My brain doesn’t interpret pictures well. It’s taken me years to realize that this is what’s going on. You’ve probably read me complaining about Apple products and this is actually one of my MAJOR complaints — they use pictures instead of words for instructions instead of words and it confuses me. I have the same problem with things that you have to put together and they only use pictures. And I do best learning how to do something by reading detailed instructions, not watching videos or looking at images. I like pretty pictures but I have a hard time extracting information out of them. And so yeah, graphic novels just don’t work for my brain. And I KNOW I’m missing out – I’ve seen some reviews and just some really truly gorgeous graphic novels. The closest I get are illustrated novels… where the pictures are not part of the story, they just illustrate what you’re reading. If the pictures are part of telling the story, it just doesn’t work for me. I often wonder if there’s a word for this? When your brain can’t read pictures?
If I do I want the eight kind of pictures so I can connect, and no dark colors. Super picky
Graphic novels just aren’t something I am really drawn to. No real reason, I guess, other than I feel like (for the most part) I’m not going to be as invested or emotionally connected to a graphic novel as I would be with a novel. The only exception to this would be Heartstopper. I’ve really loved each volume and I love the characters. 🙂
I’ve enjoyed a few but it take s me a while to process what I’m reading. I’ll read more but I don’t think I’ll ever be really hooked on the format. .
Karen @For What It’s Worth
I feel similar. I am a visual person, but I agree, the way the stories are written – they are too broken up and it’s hard to submerse myself into the story. I did read Buffy Season 8 for a while (I still have all the books), but eventually I just gave up.
yeah I don’t read them very much either. Although I have a couple. There are Mercy Thompson and Harry Dresden ones. And I love the look of the Annette Marie ones. I also want to listen to some graphic audio which is another type of thing.
I use to ignore graphic novels and comics, but over the past few years I’ve been really getting into them! I love reading them between novels as something….less wordy? I guess. I have a terrible imagination, so the pictures really help me visualize the story better! I’m super glad I gave them a try.
I kind of have a similar issue as you but with audiobooks. I can only listen to books I’ve read before, otherwise my brain just cannot comprehend the story at all. I’m not a “bad listener” exactly, it’s just not my preferred way to absorb information. I love podcasts though, which is weird. Audiobooks just do not work for outside of rereads.
Yeaaaa – I used to read them more in my youth. I still try and read one or two a year.
I’m like you…I mean, I used to read tons of comics when I was a kid (Disney), along with “regular” books , but as an adult, I need the written word.