breath

i’m feeling a certain tightness in my chest, pinching my breath back and making me ache all over on the inside. all this because i’ve never wanted to read something so much in my life. i’ve been going through the interviews, the reviews, the blog posts, photographs… and i haven’t heard a single unflattering thing about Habibi. everything about it is sublime, from the art to the story to the themes on beauty, Islam, ugliness, the fantastical, romance, sexuality… it sounds like Craig Thompson has really outdone himself this time. or maybe he has just filled out his true potential over those last 7 years of silence and solitude and now this is it, the chef d’oeuvre. of which i have a copy. pre-ordered a month ago. delivered a week ago. and sitting in goddamn London because i was too cheap to order it on Amazon.fr.

the last time i ached this much was over the Unbearable Lightness of Being. i’m wondering what the actual reading experience will feel like.