Graphic Novels to Read If You Can’t Get Away This Summer

If I could spend the entire year traveling, I would. But like most people, I can't afford it. So I take pleasure in reading leisurely paced graphic novels that take me on virtual adventures. They are not packed with lots of information like travel guides and don't demand a lot of commitment like a novel.

An Age of License by Chicagoan Lucy Knisley is a travel memoir of her travel-expenses paid trip to Norway, Sweden, Germany, and France for a book tour and conference. She contemplates life, career and happiness over crêpes and wine-tastings in France and romantic walks at the Brandenberg Gate.

Yumiko is the heroine in Just So Happens by Fumio Obata. She was born and raised in Japan but has made a place for herself in the bustling city of London. Everything was going well until she received a phone call about her father's death that required her to return to Tokyo. The book shows Japanese burial rites, mountains, and bullet trains in beautiful watercolor images. It also deals with issues of identity and assimilation in a foreign country.

La Perdida by Jessica Abel is about Mexican American Carla who travels to Mexico to get in touch with her father's roots. She crashes with her ex-boyfriend Harry and joins his circle of American expatriates who drink their way through the capital a la Burroughs and Kerouac. She eventually moves out of Harry's apartment, makes friends with the locals and continues her search for authentic experiences.