Alison Bechdel's Reading List

"I’m fascinated with the dividing line between fiction and memoir, so this book is a perfect storm."

"It’s the (ostensibly) true version of the childhood Winterson fictionalized so brilliantly in “Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit” over 25 years ago."

"This quiet woman in a plain cotton dress came onstage and proceeded to stun everyone in the room with the most hair-raising, bloodcurdling, fantastical, yet utterly believable, tale I’d ever heard. It was a primal storytelling experience, and the book is even better."

"As a kid I just thought it made me want to be a spy. But now I see that it’s an excruciatingly accurate depiction of the compulsion to write (and draw — Louise Fitzhugh illustrated the book herself), and the toll that this exacts on one’s life."

"We had two books of John Ciardi poems that were illustrated by Edward Gorey. I loved those, not so much for the poetry as for the curious tension between the poetry and the pictures."

"I also loved “Ounce Dice Trice” for the same reason — the weird fusion of Alastair Reid’s words and Ben Shahn’s drawings."

"David Carkeet is one of my favorite comic authors. I love his linguistic mystery, “Double Negative,” but the sequel, “The Full Catastrophe,” is even funnier."

"David Carkeet is one of my favorite comic authors. I love his linguistic mystery, “Double Negative,” but the sequel, “The Full Catastrophe,” is even funnier. It’s about a linguist who works as a live-in marriage counselor, trying to solve a couple’s communication problems scientifically."

"My desert-island choice, I have to say, would be the two-volume combo of Hergé’s “The Calculus Affair” and “Prisoners of the Sun.”"

"My desert-island choice, I have to say, would be the two-volume combo of Hergé’s “The Calculus Affair” and “Prisoners of the Sun.”"

"And this isn’t a graphic novel, but I seriously love Kate Beaton’s crazy literary/historical Web comic “Hark! A Vagrant.”"

"I love diary comics. My mainstay is James Kochalka’s “American Elf.”"

"Gabrielle Bell’s “Lucky” is also a great autobiographical series."

"I adore the comic strip “Rhymes With Orange,” but I don’t see it regularly because it’s not in my daily paper."