Shelf Love

13 Years of Comics for the New York Times Book Review

Last Sunday marked the end of an era. My final comic for the New York Times Book Review ran in their print edition. (At least, my final one for now—they are winding down the use of comics in the section.)

Here’s the very first piece I drew for the Book Review, published in 2012.

At the time I was anti-eBook. Now I’m an occasional, begrudging Kindle reader. It’s handy for carrying on trips and for reading in the bathtub. (I’m the not-so-proud owner of a few water-damaged library books.)

If I ever have to move house again and box up my entire library, I might convert to eBooks completely.

Fast forward to 2025. Though I’ve drawn countless comics about books, I can still never seem to remember what a “bildungsroman” is. So I decided to draw about it.

(One astute online commenter noticed the Sleve McDichael reference.)

Here’s the one other time sheep appeared in my Book Review panels:

Who reads novels, anyway? Lots of people, thank goodness.

A year or so before I began submitting to the Times, I read A WILD SHEEP CHASE by Haruki Murakami. Soon I was deep in a Haruki Murakami phase, devouring all his novels and short stories.

I started to notice some recurring themes. And I remembered a “Hipster Bingo” board I saw in college during peak indie hipster era. Murakami Bingo was born.

You can now get a Murakami Bingo t-shirt and tote bag from Out of Print. Or a poster from my shop.

Here’s me, in my brief modeling career of literary apparel:

One reader even made actual Haruki Murakami bingo pieces to go with his poster. Clever, right?

Writing and drawing for the Book Review allowed me to dive deep into literary culture, but also to revisit concepts from high school English.

For instance, the word “denouement,” which I learned from my beloved teacher Mrs. Carson.

I spent many hours of childhood riding roller coasters, playing roller coaster computer games, and dreaming of designing roller coasters.

In this drawing I finally created a thrill ride of my own.

If you get on the Story Coaster, beware: it often breaks down in the tunnel of badly-written love.

Dozens of my comics for the Book Review were collected in I WILL JUDGE YOU BY YOUR BOOKSHELF, a 2020 Goodreads Choice Award finalist.

It came out during the pandemic, when staying at home reading was one of the least dangerous things you could do. Judging people’s bookshelves on Zoom became nearly popular as birdwatching.

I am a compulsive overreader.

This may have started in sixth grade, when I was crowned the Accelerated Reader champion. That year I attempted to read every Newbery medal book published, earning the AR most points in the entire school.

What prize did I get for my efforts?

Not just one, but a dozen fun-size bags of Doritos 3D’s. I ate them all.

It was months before I could look at a bag of chips again. The phrase “Nacho Cheesier!” still makes me cringe.

That was just the first of a long line of prizes in my literary career.

That magic glowing garden gnome might come in handy as I revise my middle grade novel this month. And I think all writers deserve a trophy for playing in the competitive field of literature.

But this story, like all books, must come to an end.

It’s bittersweet to say farewell to the Times back page. Still, I’m proud of what I’ve created: a lot of jokes, a few obscure literary references, and hopefully a bit of wonder.

Thanks, longtime New York Times Book Review readers. It’s been a thrill to appear in your Sunday pages.

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If you’re looking for another addition to your bookshelf, you can purchase my new book THINKING ABOUT THINKING at your favorite local bookstore or wherever books are sold.

Posters of all my bookish comics are available at my shop—if you see one you want that’s not there, just let me know. They make the perfect decoration for your classroom, library, or reading nook.