Graphic Novels: Another Cool Way to Train Your Brain

Let's get visual! More literary books are translating into Graphic Novels, and they're pretty darn good.

Tripping up my mind is a fun game I love to play. Puzzles, crosswords, word search, Nintendo games, and pinball. Yep. These things turn me on in a relaxing sort of way. I'm a bit of a couch potato when it comes to playing games and, of course, when reading novel after novel after novel. True pleasure. No matter the time of day.

Sharing the couch with me, along with my two pug mixes ---Anakin (a feisty 3 y.o. pug-Boston Terrier) and Amidalah (Ami for short. She's a pug-Yorkie mix living the kick-back life of a 10 y.o.) ---is my dear husband, Dan the Man. He buries his nose in superhero comics. He's a fanatic. Been dragging me for years to Comic-Con in San Diego and WonderCon in Anaheim (across the street from Disneyland), and to every Marvel & DC film that hits the big screen. Ugh. After a short time, popcorn no longer tasted delish to me.

I've never been a fan of comics but always a fan of my Dan the Man. HOWEVER ... I got my hands on a graphic novel version of The Handmaid's Tale. WOW! I couldn't put it down. I had read the book, like everyone else, and watched the series on Hulu. But the graphic novel sizzled my brain in ways that I hadn't previously experienced. From that moment on, I latched my curious mind to as many lit books translated into graphic novels I could find: A Wrinkle in Time, The Art of War, 1984, The Great Gatsby, Slaughterhouse-Five, Kindred, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Secret Garden, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Each graphic novel stimulating new ways for my brain to absorb these fantastic stories. Truncated language layered atop visceral imagery. I loved it, and I couldn't get enough.

Recently, I joined the Austin Library's Virtual Graphic Novel Book Club, and I'm all in! I've widened my view to include superhero stories, thanks to our librarian host. In some instances, I've experienced challenges in deciphering the imagery as language itself. According to our lovely librarian, "One must train their brain in a different way than reading regularly formatted novels or stories. There's a higher level of difficulty in comprehending what you're seeing and reading."

Cha-ching! My brain's getting bigger with each graphic novel that I read.

And all this time, I thought I was smarter than my Dan the Man---considering all the books I've read. But his brain could be as big as mine. Maybe bigger. Sssshh ... let's keep this a secret amongst ourselves. Wink-wink.