Editor: Charles Kochman
Editorial Assistant: Jessica Gotz
Art Director: Pamela Notarantonio
Design assistance: Theresa Venezia
Managing Editor: Annalea Manalili
Production Manager: Kathleen Gaffney
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019950078
ISBN 978-1-4197-3711-4
eISN 978-1-68335-860-2
Copyright 2020 Grant Snider
Many of the comics in this collection have appeared previously online at incidentalcomics.com.
Portions of this book were first published in the following publications and websites:
Promotional poster for Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff
(Portfolio/Penguin, 2017): Perfect.
El Espectador : A Readers Manifesto.
Evernote: What to Put in Your Notebook.
The Kansas City Star : I Have a Problem (originally titled Confessions of a Book Fiend on my
blog), Stray Books, Literary Devices, Ban This Book, Required Summer Reading, Ad-
vocacy for Animals Ignored by Childrens Books, This Is a Work of Historical Fiction, Story
Structures, Summer Night, Pig Latin, Pig Latin Redux, and We Are the Introverts.
The New York Times Sunday Review : How to Make Write.
The New York Times Book Review : Perfect Reading Spots, Reading Is Dangerous, The Story
Coaster, Behind Every Great Novelist Is... , Reading Goals, Choose Your Own Memoir,
The Writers Block, Please Do Not Leave Children Unattended in the Library, My Holiday Wish
List, The Very Bad Picture Book, Haruki Murakami Bingo, The Three Rays, Dances with
Books, The Book of the Future, The Many Faces of the Novel, Readers Block, The Book
Fair, Poetic Justice, Literary Consolation Prizes, Types of Readers, A Writers Routine,
The Writers Retreat, A Writers Hierarchy of Needs, The Nine Rs, How to Become a Literary
Recluse, and The End.
The New Yorker : Punctuation.
newyorker.com: Other Peoples Bookshelves and Ode to an Unfinished Book.
The Southampton Review : Story Lines, Books Are... , The Cannon of Literature, The
Troubled Typeface, Adventures of the Ampersand, The Ingredients of Shakespeare,
Character Development, Strunk and Whites Writers Style Guide, Types of Narrators,
Pen Names, Writing Exercises, Great Aspirations, and Ode to Lost Pens.
A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader , edited by Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick
(Enchanted Lion Books, 2018): The Library.
Published in 2020 by Abrams ComicArts, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written
permission from the publisher.
Abrams ComicArts is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Abrams ComicArts books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for
premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be
created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.
For more about I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf , The Shape of Ideas , and Grant Snider,
visit incidentalcomics.com.
ABRAMS The Art of Books
195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007
abramsbooks.com
To my parents, for always letting me steal
from their bookshelf.
Thanks to my first reader, Kayla, for everything. Without you I would
waste all my time eating bowls of Lucky Charms while obsessing over
color variations in Photoshop. Thanks to my second reader and second
brain, Gavin. Thanks to Charlie Kochman and Judy Hansen for making
this book a reality. Thanks to Pam Notarantonio and Theresa Venezia
for their design expertise and putting up with my unconventional
formatting. Thanks to Pamela Paul, Nicholas Blechman, Matt Dorfman,
Lauren Christensen, Parul Sehgal, Gal Beckerman, and everyone
else at the New York Times Book Review the back page has been a
wonderful canvas for my ideas. Thanks to Lou Ann Walker and the
rest of the Southampton Review for publishing my comics in the same
pages as Billy Collins. Thanks to everyone at the Kansas City Star
for taking an early chance on my comics and letting me misspell
onomatopoeia in every possible way. Thanks to all my cartooning
heroesif you look closely, you can see their influence in every line.
And thanks to all the librarians at the Wichita Public Library and Derby
Public Library who continue to let me check out ridiculous amounts of
books with very little hassle.