Not long after Christmas I was sent an unexpected, unannounced and utterly engrossing gift from my friend in Poland.

It is Building Stories, a graphic novel – a term which hardly does it justice – by artist Chris Ware. The novel comes in a large board-game sized box, containing fourteen different printed items.

You can read the items – a mix of books, single strip comics and even a hardboard map of the brownstone in which the story is largely set – in any order. Polish Friend had told me at Christmas how she had enjoyed this free-form aspect of the book, and I agree. I’ve never even touched a graphic novel before, but the way in which this book intrigues you with its various layers, and invites you to make connections yourself, makes it a very rich experience.

Buildings feature throughout, both as a backdrop to the action and as a theme.

And of course I love – as Polish Friend well knows cos she does too – those cross-sectional drawings of buildings that are so common in children’s books. This one, an inventory of everything that has happened in the house during its history – ‘5 spiritual crises’! – is just wonderful.

Although I am not a natural fan of graphic novels, this gift is just lovely and – I have decided – a great alternative to the Sunday papers for lounging about reading. Thanks Mrs Jones. I love it x