What it Is

What is What It Is? Well, it's brilliant, it's also beautiful, amazing, insightful, truthful, joyful, and brilliant (I think that bears repeating). This is the kind of book that while reading it you think "yeah, yeah, she's right, that is so true, I never thought about that in that way."

What It Is, is Lynda Barry's graphic novel follow up to her excellent Eisner winning One Hundred Demons. What It Is, is an autobiography of sorts, but mostly it's a collection of musings on memory, the imagination, and creativity. Try this thought from What It Is on for size: "Is a dream autobiography or fiction?" or "Can we remember something that we can't imagine?" What It Is was a sheer delight to read, experience, and will have me pondering many of the ideas contained within for a long time to come. In the the last third of What It Is, Lynda Barry offers some exercises for rekindling one's creative energies and I think for many people that section alone will be worth the entry price of what I think is a front runner for graphic novel of the year.