Book Review: French Milk by Lucy Knisley

This past Christmas, my wonderful hubby gave me for Christmas several books that were on my Amazon Wish List. One of those, French Milk by Lucy Knisley, had been on my list for a while.

French Milk is part travel journal, part sketchbook, part "Dear Diary." Now, I admit, these travel memoirs are a favorite genre of mine. You've got your soul-bearing expose, your cultural commentary, or should I culture clash comedy. It just so happens that many of these books are about France, as this one obviously is too... (hmmm... maybe that's my "fascination" with French culture... perhaps books about France are all that are commercially available... H.K., time to write A Year in the Sheisse... =) )

Knisley details a month-long trip she took with her mother to Paris just before she graduated from college. In my opinion, the story line is a bit too insipidly-generic-college-graduation-angst-y. But the drawings that comprise the bulk of the heft and beauty of this book are delightful. As it is said, "A picture is worth a thousand words," and I believe this goes for drawings as well. When Knisley sat down in a spot and drew what was around her, you're seeing everything that was important her. It's like a glimpse right into her heart, and that is cool.

So, if you love to travel, and you love Paris, and you love graphic books, this book will be interesting to you. But if whiney college-aged kids grate on your nerves, you'd better pass this one up.

For the Mixology 2010 Challenge, this will count as a book about another culture. This means, that I've already wiped that (not very challenging) category! Hey, I take what I can get. Progress is progress. Two down thirteen to go.

P.S. If you're interested, you can click here to see some sketches I did way back when when I did some traveling "last century."