July 2026 Book Recommendation
A crisis of faith, health issues and career crossroads. Those are only some of the major themes in Ginseng Roots my July book recommendation.
This masterpiece of a graphic novel, written and illustrated by Craig Thompson, on the surface seems to be memoir of a man’s years working on ginseng farms in Wisconsin from the ages of 10 to 20, interwoven with journalism, economic history, travel writing, folklore, psychology and more.
But don’t let those topics or its size (it runs 448 pages) scare you. This book has a lot to teach writers and other creative people about determination, observation, creative re-frames, story structure and identity.
First serialized as twelve individual comic issues, Thompson added seventy new pages to this collected edition creating a narrative arc that pulls the entire book together.
Ginseng Roots isn’t about one thing.
It’s a story about people, culture, family.
It’s a story about time—past, present and future.
It’s a story about mindset.
It’s also a story about struggle—the ginseng root itself facing different environmental threats, the workers who tend and harvest it, the distributors, and the writer/artist himself dealing with heartbreak, career crisis, and health issues. Those who’ve dealt with carpal tunnel or other physical issues that affect their work and how emotionally these health issues can be draining, will gain key commiseration from his story.
Ginseng Roots has a lot to offer, but here are three points writers may learn from.
1) Vulnerabilities can be harnessed
“I have been ready to throw in the towel completely on this nightmare disaster of a career.”
Thompson faced a career-level crisis of faith. He’s said the book was born out of a midlife crisis, both in terms of his age and “a real profound questioning and doubt if this was the career I was going to continue with for the second half of my life.”
However, it’s also a powerful story about the creative work and physical labor.
2) Sometimes success needs a detour
Thompson owns what few successful people will admit in the creative fields: work had “just become a job like any other.” Part of what sent him back to the ginseng fields of his youth, after more than 20 years as a graphic novelist, was an attempt to recover the feeling of a joy that a job well done can give a person, even if the job is tedious and poorly paid.
3) Using your doubts as fuel can keep the creative spark burning
Thompson does this brilliantly. Instead of treating his crisis of faith in his career as something separate, he made it part of the story. In the words of the publisher it’s “an investigation of what determination looks like through difficulty.” If you’re stuck in a doubt spiral, questioning your next project, worried about your health and how it may impact your future, Craig Thompson will remind you you’re not alone.
This book offers a lot of courage and inspiration.
So I hope that whether you check this book out at the library or you take the time to purchase it, that you may gain some insight on how you wish to go through your writing career and your writing life. And life in general.
Get your copy – Retailer link Bookshop.org
Get your copy – Public library link https://search.worldcat.org/