2000s decade

bergg: Drawn in black and white, Persepolis is one of the most well-known graphic novels of the decade. It tells the immigration story of the author, Marjane, and how she dealt with it. The book is soaked with themes of nostalgia. -dailyiowan.com

bergg: First person narrative from a 15 year old autistic who is trying to find a dog murderer. A insightful look into the mindset of persons with autism and the difficulty they have with normal situations. -randomnonsenseaboutthings.blogspot.com

bergg: Set in an alternative England during the Napoleonic wars, Clarke envisages a world in which magic is a reality, albeit practiced in a mundane, academic fashion. -ign.com

bergg: At the suggestion of an editor, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich attempted to live for two years on the wages of the average unskilled American worker. She worked as a waitress, maid and Wal-Mart clerk, shacking up in dives and dining on fast food, in an effort to find out how America’s working poor make it. Her answer: A lot of them don’t. If her efforts to suggest remedies are often rebuffed by her own subjects, her visceral dispatches from the ragged fringe of the American dream remain indispensable. -salon.com

bergg: The Tolstoy-esque family novel got its 21st-century upgrade early, and has withstood all comers since. The Lamberts’ disintegration under the pressures of work, illness, and love unfolds with a cynical humor that strips the family’s pretensions away until only their most craven selves survive as they struggle to break free. As these unsympathetic characters go through the wringer, Jonathan Franzen outlines the symptoms of modern malaise, whose only cure is being able to see through the layers of protective self-delusion. The modern dysfunctional family wriggles under Franzen’s microscope, but its features are all too familiar. -A.V. Club