13. Read Watchmen (Alan Moore).

I finished reading Watchmen this morning.  I've been wanting to read this for probably two years now because a grad school friend of mine wrote a stellar paper about it and often talked of the graphic novel's greatness and importance.  I'll admit, I had to get over quite a bit of the, "Really?  You're taking a comic book seriously?" attitude, but it was worth it.  Now, I did not love this book as much as any novel I've read, but I did enjoy it quite a lot.  The film is being released March 6th and I am really very excited about that; it looks fantastic!

I don't think I'll become a fan of the graphic novel genre overall, but I will continue to work at being more open-minded about it.  Another grad school friend wrote his thesis about Maus and through our conversations, I really gained even more respect for the genre and a strong interest in Maus, specifically.  I and II will both be part of "16. Read 30 books I haven't read before."