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Diagnosed with bipolar disorder near her 30^th birthday, Ellen wrestles with the boundary between her creativity and her condition. Fearful that pharmaceuticals will destroy her creativity, she strives for balance, conversationally reflecting on the enjoyable highs yet abysmal lows and deftly using illustration to graphically communicate her states of mind. This in turns humorous romp and informative delve into clinical aspects of the disease explores the concept of the artist as madman. Like a diary of her therapy, the reader is carried through to her conclusion that there is reward in persisting with the process.
Forney, Ellen.  Marbles: mania, depression, Michelangelo & me, London : Robinson, 2013.

http://www.tcj.com/reviews/marbles/

https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/books/detail.page?

isbn=9781472106896

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As a staff cartoonist for the New Yorker, Roz Chast is well versed in graphically ommunicating the comical and the ridiculous in everyday life with her signature scratchy line style. She applies her wit to the aging and eventual demise of her own parents in this four colour graphic memoir Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, their repeated response to any attempts to confront these uncomfortable truths. This painfully humorous take on a situation we may all someday face and her understandable frustration at the eccentricities of her parents is relieved by humour in this darkly comic bestseller.
Chast, Roz. Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? : A Memoir,  New York, NY : Bloomsbury, 2016.

City of Sydney libraries: 741.56973 CHAS

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s4284837.htm

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/cant-we-talk-about-something-more-pleasant-by-roz-chast-book-review-9549052.html

http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/cant-we-talk-about-something-more-pleasant-9781620406380/

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An afternoon in her grandmother’s parlour in 1990’s Tehran sees the young Marjane listening in to the important women in her life discuss life, love, marriage and of course sex. This bittersweet graphic novel memoir is a humorous, poignant telling of tales and sharing of secrets that reveal an inner view of women’s lives in Iranian society. Illustrated by the author in a striking b&w cartoon style, this at times bawdy tale from the life of the best-selling author Marjane Satrapi is an enjoyable reminiscence and reflection on life’s experience that women everywhere will identify with at times, lament at others and yet definitely raise a hearty smile at.
Satrapi, Marjane. Embroideries, New York : London : Jonathan Cape, 2008.
City of Sydney libraries: 305.40955 SATR

from the film persepolis, too good to not include!

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/marjane-satrapi/embroideries/ 

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/160889/embroideries-by-marjane-satrapi/