Chicken with Plums (2006)

2005 winner: Poulet aux prunes Marjane Satrapi's follow-up to Persepolis is short, sad and often funny: a celebrated musician in 1950s Tehran, his beloved instrument broken, takes to his bed and decides to die. Over the days that follow, flashbacks and flash-forwards fill in the life and the family around him. It reads in an evening, and it is the better choice if you already know Persepolis and want Satrapi at her most concentrated. The English edition is Chicken with Plums.