Well, because I’m quite interested and impulsive, I just ordered two graphic novels I’m really interested in reading — and looking forward to reading at that!

My Comparative Literature professor recommended the first one I ordered, “MAUS,” to us, and it really does look interesting. Simply put, it’s a graphic novel about the holocaust… an allegory of sorts because all the characters are (c’mon MAUS?) animals. Jews are portrayed as mice, Germans are cats, Americans are dogs, Poles are pigs, and so on and so forth.

I want to learn more about the holocaust, and it seems like a very powerful book, so I’m excited.

The next book is called “Pitch Black,” and it actually just came out. I read about it in the New York Times — it’s a graphic novel about homeless life in the subways of New York City. The author and main illustrator, Youme Landowne, spoke with a homeless man about his experiences, and the book is basically a graphical representation of that.

The subject intrigues me, and I have to admit that my heart was telling me to read this story, just to see what life for someone less fortunate than I lived like… and the conditions that people like him have to live in every day.

Books are really enlightening. Maybe I should have gotten that Barnes & Noble member card…

(And who put Joshua Radin on the Statesman computer? His music is good, actually.)