What Do Librarians Read? Part Two

It might go without saying that librarians (and library support staff - we answer to "librarian", but in truth we go by many titles) like books! Library workers are encouraged to read (though not at work), and to have a working knowledge of the library's holdings - helpful for book recommendations, book clubs, and the like. With that in mind, and inspired by an article from Book Riot (because when we're not reading books, we're reading about reading books), we asked a smattering ABC Librarians to share their reading habits, including:

1. What I'm reading now
2. What's on my to-be-read list
3. How I choose my next book
4. Favorite book to recommend

Here are their responses! (For more responses, check out Part One.)

Hannah

1. What I'm reading now: I've really been enjoying re-reading the Harry Potter series and just started book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  I've also just begun one about vermicomposting called Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof.  As fascinating as the worm book is (I'm not being sarcastic), it's pretty hard to pick it up when I have Harry Potter on hand!

2. What's on my to-be-read-list: I currently have 68 books on my list.  Oh my, I didn't know it was that bad.  And a good portion of them are series.  I want to read the Legend series by Marie Lu (it's young adult).  I want to read several kid's trilogies, including the Half Upon a Time series by James Riley.  I also have a ton of non-fiction I'm looking forward to.  For one, there's Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart L. Brown.  Also, cookbooks: Nourishing Broth by Sally Fallon Morrell.  I'll stop there.

3. How I choose my next book: Usually it's just what feels right.  Something catches my eye and I usually just write down the title, but every once in a while I'll see a book and think to myself "I need to read this now because I'm just THAT excited about it."  People recommend books to me all the time, but if my heart's not in it, I won't pick it up.  It has to be the right time.

4. Favorite book to recommend: I think people asking for a recommendation often want a novel - we'll pretend that's true for my purposes in answering this question, at least.  So in that case, I would say The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.  This one is the first of an epic fantasy series, The Kingkiller Chronicle.  It's hard to get into at first, but so worth it - I adore it.  The second one, The Wise Man's Fear, is also great.  If you ask for my recommendation and don't like fantasy, you might be out of luck!  All I read is fantasy and most of it is for kids.  The Name of the Wind is definitely not for kids, but may interest young adult readers.


Nichole

1. What I'm reading now: I am currently reading Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.

2. What's on my to-be-read-list: My to-be-read list is about 600 books long (literally) and is made up of everything that has caught my eye or recommended to me by a trusted source.

3. How I choose my next book: I choose my next book my randomly selecting something off my to-be-read list. I refuse to just go down the list one by one, I need a little spontaneity.

4. Favorite book to recommend: My favorite book to recommend seriously depends on the person. Children: The Phantom Tollbooth. YA: Cinder or Legend series. Adult: Lies of Locke Lamora or Where'd You Go Bernadette?.


Lisa

1. What I'm reading now: Thunderstruck and Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken, What the Fork Are You Eating? by Stefanie Sacks, Get in Trouble by Kelly Link, and on the Overdrive Media Console app on my phone I am listening to The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford.

2. What's on my to-be-read list: I have over 400 books on that list and it gets bigger every week.  I use Goodreads to help me keep track of it, as well as random scraps of paper stuck in random places.  Goodreads is nice because I can tag books as being available to borrow from the library, or needing to suggest the library purchase it, or having to get an Interlibrary Loan, or just buying it outright.  The books I am MOST excited about reading are In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume, The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits, Delicious Foods by James Hannaham, A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott, Single, Carefree, Mellow: Stories by Katherine Heiny, and Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver. 

3. How I choose my next book: Mostly by how I feel, but sometimes by what comes in for me through my library hold list.  I try to listen to books that will motivate me to walk every day, so a suspense book like The Pocket Wife is good, because in order to keep "reading" it for a long period, I have to walk for a long period, which is my daily exercise.  I listened to Reconstructing Amelia, and My Sunshine Away, for the same reason.  I also get advance reader copies sent to me occasionally, and I like to read those before I read my library books since they are often copies of stuff that hasn't been published yet, which makes me feel smug and superior.  I often look through my Goodreads list of stuff that is in the library collection and see if it's available on the shelf at my branch, when I am looking for a last minute read.  I also follow every book account (including ABC Reads!) I can find on Twitter to keep up with what the collective book world is reading.

4. Favorite book to recommend: This changes, especially since I HATE it when people ask for a recommendation, and then when you recommend this awesome book you just finished they say something like, "Oh, I never read fiction," or "Oh, that sounds too sad for me.  I wanted to hear about something funny."  However, my newest book that I'm a psychotic weirdo for is Night At The Fiestas: Stories by Kirsten Valdez Quade.  This book made me wish I still worked in a bookstore so I could force people to buy it.  The stories mostly take place in Northern New Mexico, and they are so well done, especially when describing the people of New Mexico.  Sometimes I will come across a book that I love so much that I want people to read it even if they hate, just so they will read it, and be aware of it, and this is how I feel about Night At The Fiestas.  I felt the same way about The Book Thief, Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell, and Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney.


 Teri

1) What I'm reading now: Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal: The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman’s Discoveries and the Man Who Stole Credit For Them by Alan Kaiser

2) What's on my to-be-read list: Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles by Les Standiford,  Bettyville: A Memoir by George Hodgeman, and Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum (because sometimes you need fluff)

3) How I choose my next book: I process the new books, so I “browse”…..Also Mental Floss has an awesome book list for non fiction

4) Favorite book to recommend: The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Set in post WWII Los Angeles, an awesome look into how Los Angeles used to be (that’s my hometown!). Completely twisted and dark, not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. But absolutely compelling. Based on an actual unsolved murder that has become legend in Southern California.

Kathleen

1. What I'm reading now: Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death, The Castlemaine Murders, The Big Four (audio), Best Tent Camping in New Mexico

2. What's on my to-be-read list: Next up: Leaving Tinkertown, a Donna Leon mystery on audio, all (yes, all) of the cookbooks

3. How I choose my next book: Depends on which one is out.  Lunch reading alternates between mysteries and nonfiction, tending towards NF and for that I look at the new shelf.  Bedtime reading is a mystery (literally) and I tend towards the cozies.  For the car it’s also usually a mystery.

4.  Favorite book to recommend: For grown-ups I sometimes recommend Louise Penny.  For chapter books Dealing with Dragons and for kidlets anything by Nicholas Oldland.  Because they are awesome.


Joy

1.What I'm reading now: I am currently reading The Life I Left Behind by Colette McBeth a novel of suspense.

2. What's on my to-be-read list: Anything mystery or suspense ends up on my to-be-read list. The next book I plan to read is Life or Death by Michael Robotham.


3. How I choose my next book: I select titles based on the author, book reviews and book recommendations by friends, co-workers and customers.

4. Favorite book to recommend: I generally read mystery and suspense, currently a favorite mystery to recommend is The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny.  Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall was recommended by a customer and I have shared that title with others looking for a good general fiction read. The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim is my pick for historical novel.  For children I like to recommend A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck and for YA Epic by Conor Kostick.

New & Novel: New Mexico Authors

There is a lot of writing talent here in the Land of Enchantment.  We all know about George R.R. Martin and Rudolfo Anaya; there are libraries named for Ernie Pyle, Erna Fergusson, and Tony Hillerman.  But did you know romance author Jude Devereaux has ties to New Mexico? How about mystery writer Martha Grimes?

If you are looking for books by New Mexicans, we can help! We have a LibGuide (which includes links to New Mexico author groups) and you can also search in the library catalog for the tag "New Mexico authors". If you search by author in the LibGuide, you will find the author's New Mexico connection - Armistead Maupin is now a Santa Fe resident and Michael McGarrity has degrees from UNM and served as Santa Fe County Deputy Sheriff, for instance - and a link to their books in the catalog, as well as to the author's website.

We hope you will check out some of New Mexico's literary offerings!  You might be surprised to find your favorite author listed in the LibGuide - or you might discover your next great read.

Here's a quick roundup of some of the latest New Mexico literature, in a variety of genres, which can be found in the library catalog:

Fiction

The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob

Night at the Fiestas: Stories by Kirstin Valdez Quade

Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones

The King and Queen of Comezón by Denise Chávez

The Cane Creek Regulators: A Frontier Story by Johnny D. Boggs

Written In My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon

Exo by Steven Gould

Kansas Bleeds: Colton Brothers Saga by Melody Groves

Artemis Awakening by Jane Lindskold

Backlands: A Novel of the American West by Michael McGarrity

The Golden Princess: A Novel of the Change by S. M. Stirling 
  

Non-fiction

Singing at the Gates: Selected Poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca

Hoe, Heaven, and Hell: My Boyhood in Rural New Mexico by Nasario García 

Goin' Crazy with Sam Peckinpah and All Our Friends by Max Evans with Robert Nott

The New Mexico Farm Table Cookbook: 150 Homegrown Recipes from the Land of Enchantment by Sharon Niederman

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette by Hampton Sides


If you are looking for New Mexico history,  library staff recommend the Images of America series.


Links

ABC Library's New Mexico Authors Guide

G. E. Nordell's New Mexico Authors Guide

NM Children's and YA Authors, Poets, and Illustrators [New Mexico State Library]

Books Set in New Mexico [Goodreads]

Wordharvest

"Founded by Anne Hillerman and Jean Schaumberg in 2002, WORDHARVEST is devoted to the art and craft of writing. From our headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we celebrate the legacy of iconic mystery author Tony Hillerman with the Tony Hillerman Prize for first mystery novel, and the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference, a  three-day workshop offering how-to advice on writing techniques and the business of writing."

 

What Do Librarians Read? Part One

It might go without saying that librarians (and library support staff - we answer to "librarian", but in truth we go by many titles) like books! Library workers are encouraged to read (though not at work), and to have a working knowledge of the library's holdings - helpful for book recommendations, book clubs, and the like. With that in mind, and inspired by an article from Book Riot (because when we're not reading books, we're reading about reading books), we asked a smattering ABC Librarians to share their reading habits, including:

1. What I'm reading now
2. What's on my to-be-read list
3. How I choose my next book
4. Favorite book to recommend

Here are their responses!

Kelly

1. What I'm reading now: I'm currently reading The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski, Sure Signs by Ted Kooser, and The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley.

2. What's on my to-be-read list: My to-be read list is really big. Here are the next five on the list:
    A. 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith
    B. Like No Other by Una LaMarche
    C. Period 8 by Chris Crutcher
    D. Caged Warrior by Alan Sitomer
    E. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira (this one's a re-read)

3. How I choose my next book: I'm currently choosing my next book based on a list of books I have to read for a paper that I'm writing for YALSA. Typically, though, I choose my next book based primarily on my mood.

4. Favorite book to recommend: My favorite book to recommend is The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. It has an amazing opening chapter, and I just really loved it.


Brandon

1. What I'm reading now: Prince Lestat, by Anne Rice

2. What's on my to-be-read list: Next up is Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers, by Alexander McCall Smith

3. How I choose my next book: Either choose something new by a favorite author or try something I saw a good cover for - I will initially judge a book by its cover, but follow up with a read of the jacket description before I commit

4. Favorite book to recommend: I love to recommend The Caliph's House, by Tahir Shah; it's the entertaining story about a London man who buys a run-down house in Morocco, and the year-long struggle to refurbish it to its former glory - it's educational and funny; never a dull moment


Barbara

1. What I'm reading now: Revival, by Stephen King

2. What's on my to-be-read list: What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, by Randall Munroe

3. How I choose my next book: Favorite author, interesting return coming down the rollers, word of mouth

4. Favorite book to recommend: Depends way too much on who I'm recommending it to


Carrie

1. What I'm reading now: I’m reading A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. I just started it, and it’s been some time since I put it on hold, so I can’t remember much about it! But, I think this says it all:  STEP INTO A UNIVERSE OF DARING ADVENTURE, THRILLING POWER, AND MULTIPLE LONDONS.

2. What's on my to-be-read list: So many books, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind: A Dangerous Place (Jacqueline Winspear), Blackout (Connie Willis), As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (Alan Bradley), The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins), Chew vol. 8 & 9 (John Layman and Rob Guillory)

3. How I choose my next book: I follow a few different libraries on social media which adds to recommendations from my colleagues. I also read reviews from NPR, Slate, Wired, io9, and a few other places. And, I look for new books from my auto-read authors.

4. Favorite book to recommend: I like to recommend The Dog Stars (Peter Heller) and To Say Nothing of the Dog, or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last (Connie Willis) for very different reasons. One makes me laugh just to think of, and the other affected me so deeply during the read that I still think about it a year later.


Laura

1. What I'm reading now: I’m reading Without You There is No Us: My Time With the Sons of North Korea’s Elite by Suki Kim and just listened to Another Man’s Moccasins by Craig Johnson (Audiobook)

2. What's on my to-be-read list: Next up is Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Héctor Tobar
 
3. How I choose my next book: I choose books to read by NPR reviews, through book ordering, and checking in other peoples’ holds!

4. Favorite book to recommend: No real favorites - I read a lot of nonfiction about Afghanistan, North Korea and the Middle East because I think we ought to know what the history there is. Things that have relevance to current events - like Ghettoside by Jill Leovy. And about once a year I go back and reread To Kill a Mockingbird because it just is such an amazing and thoughtful piece of literature to me.


Alan

1. What I'm reading now: The Whites, Richard Price, writing as Harry Brandt

2. What's on my to-be-read list: Night at the Fiestas, Kirstin Valdez Quade
    World Gone By, Dennis Lehane
   Girl in a Band, Kim Gordon

3. How I choose my next book: New and Recently Released Library List, New York Times Book Review

4. Favorite book to recommend: A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan


Shana

1. What I'm reading now: The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia by Michael Booth; A Woman Unknown by Frances Brody; Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace by Anne Lamott

2. What's on my to-be-read list: The "Want" list I've created in my library account has 95 items, but I'll just list the ones that sound most interesting right now - The Wicked + The Divine: Vol. 1, The Faust Act by Kieren Gillen; 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater by Sarah Ruhl; Life, On the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas; A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 by Victoria Wilson; My Struggle: Book Three - Boyhood by Karl Ove Knausgaard

3. How I choose my next book: I'm not doing any reading challenges right now, but sometimes those are a great way to put some variety into your reading (or just get you through your TBR pile).  A good site to find lists of book challenges is An Adventure in Reading. I once did a challenge called "Take a Chance" that listed some unusual methods of selecting your next read - very fun!

4. Favorite book to recommend: Tana French and Donna Leon if they like mysteries; Alice Munro, because I think short stories get short shrift by a lot of readers, and hers are some of the best; Fruits by Shoichi Aoki for arty types; Finn Family Moomintroll and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend for the young at heart; The Who, The What, and The When: 65 Artists Illustrate the Secret Sidekicks of History compiled by Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman, and Matt Lamothe is a light read, but illuminating; "They Call Me Naughty Lola": Personal Ads From the London Review of Books edited by David Rose and The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell for fellow Anglophiles; and if they like graphic novels, Bad Houses by Sara Ryan or Air 1: Letters from Lost Countries by G. Willow Wilson.

Humans of New York

My favorite kind of books are often those that make me think about the deep things of life: what matters the most in the short time each of us has on earth, the circumstances that can affect us all, human nature.  Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton gets me thinking about such things.

I hadn't yet heard of "HONY," so when I first picked it up, I thought it was a fashion book.  It does have significant elements of fashion, as it is full of pictures of people, however, it is more a "photographic census of New York City," as the author puts it.  Adjacent to most of the photos are a quote from the subject, or a humorous (or even, to my dismay, political) comment by Stanton.  I love that he is able to bring out the spirit and humanity of each individual simply with a photograph and a quote.  As I look at each person, I feel strangely well acquainted with them.  I feel I am glimpsing into their soul, and it is humbling.  Holding in my hands such a wide variety of people is moving as well, and brings up those sorts of questions I love pondering: how can there be so many people in the world, and yet each of us is truly unique?  Even the people most similar to us, perhaps our friends and family, have many differences.  From our worldviews to our clothes, our preferences to our dreams, not to mention our physical distinctions, each of us is so varied one from another.  And yet, these photographs remind me that we all have the desire burning somewhere inside of us to be the best we can be, to find love and connection, and to have a good life.  HONY manages to harmonize human difference and similarity in a touching yet jocular way.

Humans Of New York grew out of, first Stanton's personal Facebook posts of his photographs, then a HONY Facebook page, and finally, a blog on Tumblr.  The addition of a short interview to his photos is, in my opinion, what makes what he does so compelling.  See Stanton's daily posts continuing this work at his website, Humans of New York.

Also, check out Stanton's version of HONY for children, Little Humans. Because the text is speaking to 2 to 6 year olds, it lacks the same depth as in the adult version, but it's still really worth a look!

Comics 101: Comic Books for Adults Who Don't Read Comics

Let’s clear things up right now. Age, sex, gender, religion, shape, size, reading habits, interest, political beliefs…. it doesn’t matter. Comics are for everybody and you don’t have to be “into comics”  to enjoy them. Like books, comic book genres run the gamut, you’ve got everything from superheroes to memoirs to weirdo sci-fi nonsense to sports. Just because the medium uses art to facilitate the storytelling process doesn’t mean that all comics are juvenile. Comics can be lighthearted all-ages read, but they can also be dense and violent. Story-wise, you would be hard pressed to find a comic that didn’t fit someone’s interests. Then, you’ve got your art. It’s not all just newspaper comic strip art. Some of it is photorealistic, others abstract. There’s pencil and ink art, there’s painted art, there’s computer art. Again, there’s something for everyone.
~Eric Margolis, "You Don't Have to Be 'Into Comics' to Read Comics" 

I started out with Fables, since I have a fondness for adapted fairytales. It came through as a repair job when I worked in the conservation lab at UCLA. Until then, I didn’t realize that there were comics for adults that didn’t have superheroes in them.
~Carrie, librarian

We want you to read comics! No excuses.  No exceptions. ABC Library's collection of comics (search the catalog for: graphic novels - there's a big debate on what they should be called) is exploding, and it's not all superheroes and manga - though there's plenty of those, that's not what we'll be discussing here.

Many adults say they aren't interested in comics because they are for children.  Many parents have to be convinced to let their children read comics because they consider them fun or light, not serious reading. To the first point, Scott McCloud, a comics theorist, would argue that "...our minds become the driving force behind reading a comic or graphic novel. Reading graphic novels is the most participatory form of reading, and your brain learns to read in an entirely different way." Besides the complexity of the text and drawing that a comic can exhibit, there are a whole lot of comics out there with themes suitable for mature readers these days - memoirs and mysteries and beyond. To the second point, Neil Gaiman would say: "The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them." As comic book readers ourselves, we can tell you that some of us started with Asterix and Tintin and Archie comics in childhood, later became English majors and read more than our fair share of the literary canon, and as gainfully employed adults still find time to read literary fiction - in our experience, seems like reading comics and graphic novels does not necessarily stunt your reading growth.

The other side of the coin is people sometimes tell us they find comics difficult to read.  There are a couple of books in the system that delve deep into the medium, with discussions of  the history, theory, art, and meaning of comics, cartoons, and graphic novels. We recommend, to start: Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean by Douglas Wolk and Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud. Or, take a look at Scott McCloud's TED Talk about "The Visual Magic of Comics". If Scott McCloud's enthusiasm doesn't reel you in, we don't know what will.

How to do you find comics that you might be interested in? Well, Albuquerque certainly has its fair share of comic book stores, and, though we've all see the stereotypical Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, comic book retailers are not all like that! (But "How to Combat Comic Store Rudeness" is out there, just in case.) Another nice option - and a free one! - is to check the catalog at your local library! We've compiled a list below of comics in a variety of genres to get you started, running the gamut from some heavy-hitters of the genre such as Art Spiegelman, Alan Moore, and Will Eisner to newer comics from different points of view.  We recommend checking a handful out to see what your comic style is - we find that if we don't like the art, it doesn't matter who the comic is by or what its subject is, we're not going to like the book - but there are many different styles out there, so don't give up on the first try!

ABC Library also has a Graphic Novel Club which meets at the Lomas Tramway branch at 2 p.m. on the first Saturday of the month. They welcome new members and don't mind if you haven't read the book! This is a great opportunity to discuss comics with like-minded enthusiasts or to find out more about the genre.

We hope you'll consider checking out some comics today! If you would like to add to our list or have questions, please let us know in the comments.


Crime/Mystery

Scalped: Volume 1, Indian Country by Jason Aaron

Richard Stark's Parker, Vol. 1: The Hunter adapted by Darwyn Cooke

Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales

Fairy Tales

Fables: The Deluxe Edition, Book One by Bill Willingham

Horror/Paranormal

Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill 

Morning Glories: Vol. 1, For a Better Future by Nick Spencer

The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

The Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book One by Alan Moore

War 

The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time - A Doonesbury Book by G.B. Trudeau

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. Vol. 1 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

The Unwritten: Vol. 1, Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey & Peter Gross

Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage by Grant Morrison

Saga: Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

Air: Letters from Lost Countries by G. Willow Wilson  

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

The Finder Library: Volume 1 by Carla Speed McNeil

Bone: Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith

Interiorae by Gabriella Giandelli 

Memoirs

Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Aya by Marguerite Abouet

Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel by Anya Ulinich

Blankets by Craig Thompson

To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel 

Quirky/Miscellaneous

The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories by Will Eisner

The Graphic Canon - Volume 1 : From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons edited by Russ Kick

The Complete Concrete by Paul Chadwick

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

Fanny & Romeo by Yves Pelletier

Daytripper by Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá
 

If you want to learn more about graphic novels, consider: The Graphic Novel: An Introduction by Jan Baetens; Masterful Marks: Cartoonists Who Changed the World edited by Monte Beauchamp;  Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe by Tim Leong; Outside the Box: Interviews with Contemporary Cartoonists by Hillary L. Chute; and Gene Kannenberg, Jr.'s 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide.

Links

7000 BC - independent comics from New Mexico

How to Get Started Reading Comics That Have Been Running For Decades [Lifehacker]

How to Read Love & Rockets [Fantagraphics]
"The Hernandez brothers' decades-spanning œuvre can seem overwhelming to new readers, but it's actually much easier than you might think, and we've put this handy guide together to prove it. We envy the pleasures that await you."

Grovel 
Graphic novel reviews

No Flying No Tights - "Why Should I Read Comics?'

Panels
"Panels is a celebration of comics, the people who make them, and the people who love them."

Get Graphic
"'Graphic Novel' is a format, not a genre. Graphic novels can be fiction, non-fiction, history, fantasy, or anything in-between."

Internet Public Library [IPL] - Graphic Novels

Great Graphic Novels [American Library Association]