The very existence of my book blog makes it clear that I read a lot and love books. But what few people know is that this love isn’t just a casual hobby; it’s a deep passion for collecting and cataloging that started in my childhood. Once I could afford to buy books with my own money, I would purchase far more than I could actually read. It brought me immense joy to lay out my collection, admire the covers, and revel in my growing library… “My precious!”
For a long time, I resisted transitioning to digital formats, but circumstances eventually forced me to. I simply had no more space for physical books, and it was far easier to bring an e-reader on business trips than to lug around several books (though I still remember carrying a 950-page tome with me everywhere and reading it at every opportunity).
Why am I telling you all this? Debbie Tung’s book Book Love immediately won me over the moment I read the synopsis: “If you love the rustle of book pages, the smell of fresh ink, find bliss in bookstores, and devote all your free time to reading or searching for new books, then this comic is about you and for you!” I thought to myself, this is exactly about me! Plus, the book was described as “a sharp, subtle, and humorous take on people who are deeply in love with books.”
And indeed, this book is a collection of very short sketches (one page equals one “story”), somewhat comparable to the famous Love Is… series. However, instead of exploring romantic love, the author attempts to depict a love for books through these single-page comics.
In practice, though, this collection of humorous comics fell short of my expectations. Sure, it “reads” in less than an hour. And yes, it starts out amusing. But it’s only mildly amusing—not “sharp and funny,” as the synopsis promised. Occasionally, you’ll smile, recognizing yourself in a situation. But calling it brilliant humor would be a stretch. Moreover, the author quickly begins to repeat herself, presenting the same “joke” from different angles five or six times. It becomes obvious that she was “grasping at straws,” trying to fill the pages. Given her minimalist style, some “episodes” even feel like outright “self-copying,” where the drawings seem almost identical (or minimally altered).
As a result, after about a quarter of the book, it starts to feel tedious. You finish it out of inertia, knowing it won’t take much time and hoping that perhaps something interesting will come up. Spoiler: nothing does.
I’m aware that this author-illustrator has released other books in a similar vein, such as Quiet Girl in a Noisy World and Happily Ever After. But it seems to me that everything she had to say on these topics—introversion, relationships, and love for books—was already covered in the first quarter of Book Love. This also raises another question: what do relationships with her boyfriend have to do with books?
So, as excited as I was by the synopsis, I ended up equally disappointed by the book. A real shame…
My rating: 2/5
