I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf
Published April 14th 2020 by Abrams ComicArts, Hardcover 128 pages
A look at the culture and fanaticism of book lovers, from beloved New York Times illustrator Grant Snider
It’s no secret, but we are judged by our bookshelves. We learn to read at an early age, and as we grow older we shed our beloved books for new ones. But some of us surround ourselves with books. We collect them, decorate with them, are inspired by them, and treat our books as sacred objects. In this lighthearted collection of one- and two-page comics, writer-artist Grant Snider explores bookishness in all its forms, and the love of writing and reading, building on the beloved literary comics featured on his website, Incidental Comics. With a striking package including a die-cut cover, I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf is the perfect gift for bookworms of all ages.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Comics about books. Loving reading. It's okay.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't really care for books that celebrate reading. I prefer actual reading. Reading actual books. Books that have the "plot" of "Yay, reading" bore me. I already know I love reading. I don't need to talk about it non-stop.
I also disagree with the accepted premise that anyone who is an avid reader and loves reading must also write and desire to write a book. It's simply not true.
Rating: really liked it
So funny. So true.
Rating: really liked it
BIRTHDAY GIFT! WELCOME SIXTY-ONE!
My Review: My old friend Stephanie sent me this! W00t!
I loved this. I love the collection!
This resonates....
Too, too right, Grant Snider.
I love his cartoons just as much as I love Tom Gauld's cartoons. I don't want either of them to stop cartooning for a very, very long time.
Thanks, Stephanie! *smooch*
And POWER TO THE PANGOLIN!!
Rating: really liked it
The cool die-cut cover was an interesting start! Inside the book, we have 1-2 page cartoons focusing on readers AND writers. My personal favorites were titled "Choose Your Own Memoir" and "My Holiday Wish List".
I noticed that some pages:
- have such small print that a magnifying glass was needed;
- require the reader to have background knowledge re: the topic (if you don't have this, you're hooped!); and,
- were somewhat funny, but most were quite philosophical.
3 stars = I liked it, but I've read better (i.e. more personal to me.)
Rating: really liked it
I seem to be an outlier. This book of cartoons seemed like it would be funny but ended up disappointing and boring me. The author is an illustrator for the New York Times and, if he's the one responsible for that tempting title, I congratulate him on that. The tempting title was the best part for me. It didn't tempt me after that; this book should take about a half hour to read and it took me six days.
The illustrations are just okay. And most of all, or should I say least of all, the text is nothing book lovers haven't seen or said or heard before, maybe not in those exact words or in diagrams but there's nothing new here other than presentation. And it wasn't long before that orange, because every page is that orange, began to bug, and incredibly it wasn't because orange triggers me now; it's because there was nothing amusing to distract me from it.
I was taken in by that great title and I also goofed because somehow I thought I was getting a book by a New Yorker cartoonist, not an illustrator from the NYT. (You can judge me by that.) I love New Yorker cartoons, even the ones I can't figure out. There isn't a single panel in this short book that wouldn't be a quick reject by the New Yorker.
Rating: really liked it
1.5 StarsI Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf is a standalone Graphic Novel, I read it cause it sounded cool, which I was wrong, cause I didn't like it.
The plot well, I don't really know what the plot was, cause in a way it didn't really have a plot, I'm not sure, cause I didn't really understand, what happened in the book, it was super confusing, and also some of the text bubble things were very tiny so it was kinda hard to read.
The Writing well since it was a Graphic Novel, I don't really know what to say about the writing, but, what I am gonna say is that, there were times when the text was too small for me to read, I said it above, but still.
I would make a heading for
The Characters but, there really weren't any characters except, one guy, which I don't really know how to feel about, he okay, I guess.
Why'd I rate this 2 stars or 1.5 technically?I didn't like it, straight of, I bet other people might like it, but I just wasn't in sync with this, I just didn't get it, this book, just wasn't for me. at all. No click!
Overall, this is probably, one of my least favorite graphic novels, and that's a lot to say, cause I usually really like all graphic novels.
Rating: really liked it
What a great title! I downloaded this from Hoopla and spent a couple mildly pleasurable hours with it. I have the same problem with this book as with other collections of cartoons - overload. There were a couple illustrations that I loved and would have torn out and put on my refrigerator if I had stumbled across them in a newspaper or magazine. But one page after another, the cumulative effect was sameness - and ultimately boredom.
Rating: really liked it
A cure for reading slumps.
How can I not possibly like this collection?!
Let's say things are not new here and that everything in this book has been already illustrated or as is written everywhere, try arguing with me on this: readers have some things in common that even you and I cannot deny and it will never get old. I can relate with many of the things mentioned: the discovery phase, the hoarding phase, the never-satisfied phase, the confusion phase or the many 'problems' that we readers face on a daily basis!
The illustrations are just like comic strips. Absolutely adore them.
I feel there are some areas where things get over exaggerated but that's how crazy people think and hence the overreaction in the description and the illustrations but we all know we love it when our kind speak for all of us. Kudos!
I liked everything about the collection starting from the cover. However, I just wish the illustrations and the presentation were better.
But I still like it and I am going to re-read it whenever I hit a Reading Slump. It helps!
Rating: really liked it
surprisingly pretentious
Rating: really liked it
You really know you are a bona fide reading / writing / language nerd when a delightful book like this elicits rueful laughter at nearly every page.
Rating: really liked it
Grant Snider’s I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf is another collection of newspaper strips with a bookish flavour, in the vein of Debbie Tung’s Book Love and Tom Gauld’s strips - except it’s not as good as either.
Snider’s art style is a blend of Dr Seuss and Quentin Blake so I can see why it gets published in places like The New Yorker and The New York Times Book Review - it’s appealingly mainstream.
The pieces are about books and writing. Snider likes books - and says so multiple times in multiple strips! Snider says literary creation is tough - and says so multiple times in multiple strips!
Some stand out like the splash page visuals of Stages of the Reader and The Writer’s Block (an imaginative representation of a street with literary features). Pig Latin is a clever strip, as is A Writer’s Routine (presented in A-Z form), and Haruki Murakami Bingo is on point, as any Murakami fan will spot.
The strips might work just fine in the corner of an article/page but reading them in sequence in a book gets tiring as you notice that the vast majority are banal, repetitive, unmemorable and dull. Maybe if you enjoyed Tung/Gauld’s cartoons and want more, this might be for you, but I wouldn’t expect much if you’re gonna pick this one up.
Rating: really liked it
I loved this book. It is funny, beautiful, creative, and instructive. For readers wh0 are book addicts, who can't finish one book before starting another, who have more than one bookcase (or 3), for those who like cartoons and good illustrations (or comics). Most of this is 98% humor, but there is a bit more underneath speaking to writers and aspiring writers.
The latter is the only pause I have in my praise. I mean those pages are equally good and creative and funny; however, does every book addict want to be a writer? Well, yeah, I do, but do all readers? Are the two inextricably linked? You can answer that, or just read this book to lighten the load and add some brightness to your day and remind your face what it is to smile and look happy.
Rating: really liked it
I thought Grant Snider's book about creativity, The Shape of Ideas, was pretty good, just okay. I do like his simple, cute art style, that I find inviting and warm. I read this book because it was one of the nominated books for the Goodreads 2020 Graphic Novel/Comics category. Each year a booklover's book or two seem to get nominated, and this (again) sweetly and invitingly illustrated book of cartoons and one or two page comics about books, writing, and reading seems designed to appeal to we sixty million Goodreads readers. And of course, he's right, we do judge each other by our bookshelves! Well, anyway, I think it's just fine, again, okay, and as before I am adding a point for the design, color, simple linework.
Rating: really liked it
Sorry, Not Sorry. I drowned myself in books today to drown out the rowdy "temporarily schooling from home" kids. And this seemed like a perfect title for a book-filled day. So, while my 2 bundles of joy were attacking each other with water balloons in the name of completing a task on their Phys Ed Bingo board, I read this glorious little book full of short comics about the joy of reading and writing.
I've seen (and probably even shared) a few of these comics before. As a book lover I find a lot of truth and humor in these. I recommend this to any book lover looking for a quick light read. And to my local friends... this is currently available on HOOPLA, so check it out!
Rating: really liked it
I am a fan of Grant Snider’s work – I used one of his illustrations (Haruki Murakami Bingo) in my review of
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. He gets it. Humorous little treat, one you can quickly flip through while having a cup of coffee. And really, once in a while, isn’t that all we want anyway? Book lovers and aspiring writers will love Snider’s thoughts on buying too many books, having commitment phobia, aspiring to write something that may dare to become part of the “canon”, and of course, judging others (quite ruthlessly) on their bookshelves – “Is that Lord of the Flies? Really?”
