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Revenge of the Librarians
Confront the spectre of failure, the wraith of social media, and other supernatural enemies of the author
Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist’s signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones .
Some particularly favoured targets include the pretentious procrastinating novelist, the commercial mercenary of the dispassionate editor, the willful obscurantism of the vainglorious poet. Quake in the presence of the stack of bedside books as it grows taller! Gnash your teeth at the ever-moving deadline that the writer never meets! Quail before the critic’s incisive dissection of the manuscript! And most importantly, seethe with envy at the paragon of creative productivity!
Revenge of the Librarians contains even more murders, drubbings, and castigations than The Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, Baking For Kafka, or any other collections of mordant scribblings by the inimitably excellent Gauld.
Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist’s signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones .
Some particularly favoured targets include the pretentious procrastinating novelist, the commercial mercenary of the dispassionate editor, the willful obscurantism of the vainglorious poet. Quake in the presence of the stack of bedside books as it grows taller! Gnash your teeth at the ever-moving deadline that the writer never meets! Quail before the critic’s incisive dissection of the manuscript! And most importantly, seethe with envy at the paragon of creative productivity!
Revenge of the Librarians contains even more murders, drubbings, and castigations than The Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, Baking For Kafka, or any other collections of mordant scribblings by the inimitably excellent Gauld.
180 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2022
104 people are currently reading
3,017 people want to read
About the author
Tom Gauld
29Ìýbooks701ÌýfollowersTom Gauld is a cartoonist and illustrator. He draws weekly cartoons for the Guardian newspaper and New Scientist magazine. He has created eight covers for the New Yorker and a number of comic books. He lives and works in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 912 reviews
September 10, 2022
Tom Gauld’s latest comic strip collection, Revenge of the Librarians, is a bookish-themed one and, perhaps being a bookish chap (as you are too, probably, being on this supposedly-book site - oh, you’re here to natter about the She-Hulk TV show and post Office reaction gifs? Well I suppose it’s also a social media site�), I really enjoyed this one.
There are a lot of wry observations on writers, editors, readers, and the book business in general, most of which get repetitive after a spell, and of course the inevitable COVID strips (“The Bookshop Cat and the Pandemic�, “Waiting for Godot to Join the Zoom Meeting�, “Options for Buying Books During Lockdown�, and “Reading Suggestions for Summer 2020: On the Sofa by Kerouac, Around the House in 80 Days by Verne�, to name a few) which aren’t bad.
The book is full of strips showcasing Gauld at his inventive best. Like clever new German words for readers (“buchverlusterliechgterung� = relief upon finding that you have lost your copy of a book that you weren’t really enjoying), Further Instalments of the Famous Six Word Short Story “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn�, useful abbreviations like tl;dr - “rb/gb = Read a Bit, Got Bored�, and Summer Reading for Conspiracy Theorists: Slaughterhouse 5G, The Old Man and the CIA.
Gauld comes up with some ingenious bits like generators for eccentric families for novelists to write about and thriller concepts that work really well. The “choose your own adventure�-style strips are fun, as is the Great Book Festival Race board game and the maze puzzle for helping a new book find its place in the market. The infographics (My Reading Year) are brilliant and amusing - some of these non-traditional strips were among the best in the book.
I could go on and on about the stuff I enjoyed - Hunting for Easter Eggs with Werner Herzog, the Samuel Beckett Advent Calendar (Darkness. Nothing. A rock. Nothing again.), Seductive Criticism, Discomfort Reading, First Draft Fiction, the Marioland literary festival - but I’ll settle for mentioning the strips that made me genuinely laugh. Plots of Forthcoming Jack Reacher Books Revealed, the horror passage that’s really an editor’s note on a writer’s work, and Advice on Caring for Your Books That Also Works for Parenting are all hilarious.
Not all of the strips are winners but the good thing about strips is that they’ve over quickly and you’re onto the next one in no time, and overall the good definitely outweighed the bad. Also, if you get the hardcover, you get a cute library checkout card on the interior pocket - a nice touch. Librarians feature occasionally but this one’s mostly about books as a whole.
Tom Gauld fans will pick this one up regardless but it’s also worth a look if you’re the bookish type and looking for a funny, breezy and entertaining collection of cartoon strips about reading, writing and all the hell/joy they entail. Revenge of the Librarians is Gauld’s best collection in years!
There are a lot of wry observations on writers, editors, readers, and the book business in general, most of which get repetitive after a spell, and of course the inevitable COVID strips (“The Bookshop Cat and the Pandemic�, “Waiting for Godot to Join the Zoom Meeting�, “Options for Buying Books During Lockdown�, and “Reading Suggestions for Summer 2020: On the Sofa by Kerouac, Around the House in 80 Days by Verne�, to name a few) which aren’t bad.
The book is full of strips showcasing Gauld at his inventive best. Like clever new German words for readers (“buchverlusterliechgterung� = relief upon finding that you have lost your copy of a book that you weren’t really enjoying), Further Instalments of the Famous Six Word Short Story “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn�, useful abbreviations like tl;dr - “rb/gb = Read a Bit, Got Bored�, and Summer Reading for Conspiracy Theorists: Slaughterhouse 5G, The Old Man and the CIA.
Gauld comes up with some ingenious bits like generators for eccentric families for novelists to write about and thriller concepts that work really well. The “choose your own adventure�-style strips are fun, as is the Great Book Festival Race board game and the maze puzzle for helping a new book find its place in the market. The infographics (My Reading Year) are brilliant and amusing - some of these non-traditional strips were among the best in the book.
I could go on and on about the stuff I enjoyed - Hunting for Easter Eggs with Werner Herzog, the Samuel Beckett Advent Calendar (Darkness. Nothing. A rock. Nothing again.), Seductive Criticism, Discomfort Reading, First Draft Fiction, the Marioland literary festival - but I’ll settle for mentioning the strips that made me genuinely laugh. Plots of Forthcoming Jack Reacher Books Revealed, the horror passage that’s really an editor’s note on a writer’s work, and Advice on Caring for Your Books That Also Works for Parenting are all hilarious.
Not all of the strips are winners but the good thing about strips is that they’ve over quickly and you’re onto the next one in no time, and overall the good definitely outweighed the bad. Also, if you get the hardcover, you get a cute library checkout card on the interior pocket - a nice touch. Librarians feature occasionally but this one’s mostly about books as a whole.
Tom Gauld fans will pick this one up regardless but it’s also worth a look if you’re the bookish type and looking for a funny, breezy and entertaining collection of cartoon strips about reading, writing and all the hell/joy they entail. Revenge of the Librarians is Gauld’s best collection in years!
December 17, 2022
I am a big fan of Tom Gauld's precise and colorful artwork. I have not always loved the content of his cartoons/strips in these collections, but they are always at the very least good, and this is one of the best, for sure, a gift to authors and readers. Some of it is pandemic-oriented, too. But it's all books all the time.
Some faves:
* "Waiting for Godot to Join the Zoom Meeting"
* New Year's Resolution scratch-off exercise moving from high-minded commitments to Great Literature to This Year I Will Read For Fun
* JK Rowling Presents The Pottermore Business Collection--Fantastic Beasts and How to Monetize Them
* Classics Reissued with Lower Standards--Reasonable Expectation (by Dickens); The OK Gatsby
* Fan Petitions: Less Whale focus in Moby Dick!
* Woman reading: "This is either a quiet masterpiece, subtly and meticulously detailing the gentle rhythms of daily life, or just really boring."
Here's some of it:
Some faves:
* "Waiting for Godot to Join the Zoom Meeting"
* New Year's Resolution scratch-off exercise moving from high-minded commitments to Great Literature to This Year I Will Read For Fun
* JK Rowling Presents The Pottermore Business Collection--Fantastic Beasts and How to Monetize Them
* Classics Reissued with Lower Standards--Reasonable Expectation (by Dickens); The OK Gatsby
* Fan Petitions: Less Whale focus in Moby Dick!
* Woman reading: "This is either a quiet masterpiece, subtly and meticulously detailing the gentle rhythms of daily life, or just really boring."
Here's some of it:
January 26, 2023
I haven’t been reading but this book has a long queue at the library and it’s due soon so I decided to try it. It was an easy read. I’m glad that I read it even though it still doesn’t feel as though I’m back to reading “real books� yet.
Many of the cartoons are geared to writers and many are geared to readers. I appreciated both.
I loved quite a few of the cartoons. Some had me chuckling out loud. There are many 5 stars worthy cartoons in here.
There are also some cartoons that were just good or just okay and some that didn’t do it at all for me. There is a lot of repetition of themes. These are probably best read one (or a few) daily rather than reading so many in an entire book in less than 24 hours. Uneven for me but taken as a whole I really enjoyed these.
I appreciated how this book is topical. The covid pandemic is even featured in some of the cartoons.
A couple of my favorite cartoons featured cats and dogs and not only books. My favorite one says more about cats than about books.
Many of the cartoons are geared to writers and many are geared to readers. I appreciated both.
I loved quite a few of the cartoons. Some had me chuckling out loud. There are many 5 stars worthy cartoons in here.
There are also some cartoons that were just good or just okay and some that didn’t do it at all for me. There is a lot of repetition of themes. These are probably best read one (or a few) daily rather than reading so many in an entire book in less than 24 hours. Uneven for me but taken as a whole I really enjoyed these.
I appreciated how this book is topical. The covid pandemic is even featured in some of the cartoons.
A couple of my favorite cartoons featured cats and dogs and not only books. My favorite one says more about cats than about books.
April 28, 2023
Bwahahahahahaha!
A truly hilarious collection of comics, all centered around librarians, libraries, books and readers. I love how Tom Gauld is not just funny but also very witty. Sharply so. Perfect for bibliophiles.
A truly hilarious collection of comics, all centered around librarians, libraries, books and readers. I love how Tom Gauld is not just funny but also very witty. Sharply so. Perfect for bibliophiles.
March 14, 2023
As the saying goes, "many a true word is spoken in jest" and Tom Gauld provides us the truth of how truly difficult it is to write a novel, while tickling our funny bones. Each page will either made me think or guffaw, or sometimes both!
October 15, 2022
un livre de table à café c’est-à -dire imbuvable en grande quantité (aka ne pas lire d’un coup) mais délicieux à petites gorgées (ce sont des strips sans rapports)
dessins mignons mais certains concepts répétitifs, je suis certaine qu’il va faire sourire vos invités milléniaux
dessins mignons mais certains concepts répétitifs, je suis certaine qu’il va faire sourire vos invités milléniaux
February 25, 2023
Another fantastic volume of Tom Gauld’s comic strips.
This one has all of his Covid related strips� which gets old pretty quick but he keeps it fresh enough. There’s some jokes here about Covid I really haven’t seen before, which is impressive!
I have the honour of owning an original drawing of one of the strips featured here, the one about a writer having a great idea� for lunch. It was cool to see it in full-colour here for the first time, I’ve been looking at it for at-least a couple years now. I keep it above my desk because in the mornings having a great idea for lunch is really the only great ideas I can conjure up.
If you’ve read any other Gauld comic strips, you know a bit of what to expect. Short witty strips usually about literature (being a professional writer, struggling through the classics, enjoying a book on the beach, fun strips to help you develop plots for your next novel).
Great stuff. He’s one of the best practitioners of the daily comic strip working today.
Unlike many modern comic strips, Gauld works in full colour and has beautiful line-work. His art is fairly minimalist but can be highly rendered with lots of textures.
This one has all of his Covid related strips� which gets old pretty quick but he keeps it fresh enough. There’s some jokes here about Covid I really haven’t seen before, which is impressive!
I have the honour of owning an original drawing of one of the strips featured here, the one about a writer having a great idea� for lunch. It was cool to see it in full-colour here for the first time, I’ve been looking at it for at-least a couple years now. I keep it above my desk because in the mornings having a great idea for lunch is really the only great ideas I can conjure up.
If you’ve read any other Gauld comic strips, you know a bit of what to expect. Short witty strips usually about literature (being a professional writer, struggling through the classics, enjoying a book on the beach, fun strips to help you develop plots for your next novel).
Great stuff. He’s one of the best practitioners of the daily comic strip working today.
Unlike many modern comic strips, Gauld works in full colour and has beautiful line-work. His art is fairly minimalist but can be highly rendered with lots of textures.
October 17, 2022
Reader, Writer, Editor, Librarian cartoons
Review of the Drawn and Quarterly hardcover (October 18, 2022) of the original Canongate Books UK hardcover (September 1, 2022)
Tom Gauld's latest collection is a delight for book obsessives with plenty of observations and often sharp commentary on the wide world of books. There are perhaps not enough panels on the actual title theme of libraries and librarians, but book lovers won't be disappointed.
Library card and book plate inserts for the publisher's edition. Image sourced from the publisher .
Sample panel from "Revenge of the Librarians". Image sourced from .
Review of the Drawn and Quarterly hardcover (October 18, 2022) of the original Canongate Books UK hardcover (September 1, 2022)
Tom Gauld's latest collection is a delight for book obsessives with plenty of observations and often sharp commentary on the wide world of books. There are perhaps not enough panels on the actual title theme of libraries and librarians, but book lovers won't be disappointed.
Library card and book plate inserts for the publisher's edition. Image sourced from the publisher .
Sample panel from "Revenge of the Librarians". Image sourced from .
February 5, 2023
A fine, humorous follow-up to that didn't have me laughing out loud but brought on many mental chuckles. The single-page cartoons are all about books, literature, bookworms, and authors, so they get a little repetitive, but that won't turn off most book lovers like me.
A heads up for those who prefer to not think about pandemics when seeking laughs, many gags do revolve around COVID-19.
A heads up for those who prefer to not think about pandemics when seeking laughs, many gags do revolve around COVID-19.
December 15, 2022
Have an interest in books, authors, librarians? You’ll love this funny compilation of cartoons by Tom Gauld. There were a few that made me laugh out loud. 😜
February 20, 2023
Some of these are really, really funny and on point, others, probably more so, feel reiterative when you read them back-to-back, so as to become completely forgettable. It’s worth a look; some, as I say, are really stand-out, but there’s a lot of classic book titles reimagined, or classic plots slightly tweaked, type stuff. Went from “heh�, to “I get it, buddy.�
March 18, 2024
Cute little one-page comics here that is perfect for anyone that is a reader or a writer. You could do one page a day, similar to one of those calendars that have a nice quote for each day.
November 29, 2023
(Oh, no - I'm "Rambling Personal Essay" Guy!!)
Delightful collection of cartoons aimed straight at the heart of book readers, writers and reviewers - i.e., Goodreaders - everywhere. Not all are winners, but the hits far outweigh the misses, (although like the above, many of the hits strike a little too close to home!).
I don't know any of Gauld's other work, but this one is a real gem. Just a sampling, (in case it's not available from your library):
April 23, 2024
terve raamatutäis raamatuteemalisi koomikseid, miks need meeldima ei peaks, ikka meeldivad! raamatukoguhoidjatest on siin küll kõvasti vähem juttu kui kirjanikest ja toimetajatest, aga ei saa eitada, et pealkiri on hea.
vb õige veidi liiga palju oli minu jaoks covidi- ja lockdowni-spetsiiflisi nalju, aga suur osa neist olid päris head, nii et saavad andeks. natuke sama lugu "saamatu kirjanik ja karm toimetaja" troobiga, mis sai ka päris palju kasutust, aga iga kord ikka natuke uue nõksuga.
mu lemmikud siiski olid kõikvõimalikud klassikaliste teoste pealkirjade ümbertöötlused ja muu pigem tekstipõhine huumor - kuigi mulle Gauldi minimalistlik joonistusstiil ise ka päris meeldib.
vb õige veidi liiga palju oli minu jaoks covidi- ja lockdowni-spetsiiflisi nalju, aga suur osa neist olid päris head, nii et saavad andeks. natuke sama lugu "saamatu kirjanik ja karm toimetaja" troobiga, mis sai ka päris palju kasutust, aga iga kord ikka natuke uue nõksuga.
mu lemmikud siiski olid kõikvõimalikud klassikaliste teoste pealkirjade ümbertöötlused ja muu pigem tekstipõhine huumor - kuigi mulle Gauldi minimalistlik joonistusstiil ise ka päris meeldib.
February 2, 2023
I'm a huge fan of Gauld's witty and fun 'cartoons' - especially as when here and in , his previous volume, they center on literary topics. This has the added advantage that several of them are pandemic related also - giving this a hint more piquancy.
July 26, 2023
Overall, I remain an avid Tom Gauld fan, especially for Mooncop, Baking With Kafka, and my favorite: You're All Just Jealous of my Jetpack. This iteration is a bit too "one note" with many panels acting as only slight variations on each other. The Samuel Beckett Advent Calendar was my favorite of the cartoons, but the rest were overshadowed by repetition of theme.
June 8, 2022
This rating/review is based on a review copy from Netgalley and Drawn & Quarterly.
Holy cow, am I ever in the pocket for Tom Gauld. This book is an outstanding addition to his already wonderful oeuvre of witty, bookish comics. There are so many great jokes, and it's maybe the first book I've read where the COVID stuff hasn't made me cringe. Really funny and highly recommended!
Holy cow, am I ever in the pocket for Tom Gauld. This book is an outstanding addition to his already wonderful oeuvre of witty, bookish comics. There are so many great jokes, and it's maybe the first book I've read where the COVID stuff hasn't made me cringe. Really funny and highly recommended!
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October 7, 2022so many editors joke
who at dq is hurting you Tom Gauld??
who at dq is hurting you Tom Gauld??
January 31, 2023
j’ai bien aimé mais j’ai lu trop rapidement les strips. mon (tout petit) problème car je crois que j’aurais apprécié plus en laissant respirer l’œuvre. je conseille 💛
September 16, 2023
Bastante soso, mejor verlos de uno en uno y de uvas a peras por internet que en formato libro. Ha envejecido fatal porque tiene demasiado contenido sobre la pandemia que ahora ya no viene a cuento, pero es de la biblioteca asà que no protesto.
September 16, 2022
Oh wat zijn deze stripjes enorm grappig en leuk 🤩
September 14, 2023
I have to say that I flicked through this book at the book shop and I was instantly hooked - there are some very funny and very profound 1 page cartoons here. Yes it is dated (not badly - as we all remember Covid) as some of the cartoons not only mention dates but quite clearly relate to situations of that time.
However I do not see that as a bad thing - if anything I find it hopeful in that someone found things to be positive about sure a dire time - so in general it is a very funny and I think uplifting book. True the humour focuses on books and all things related to them primarily and hey who can argue with that.
So yes this is a book with some very funny and very profound things to say and I for one will be referring back to it many more times to come.
However I do not see that as a bad thing - if anything I find it hopeful in that someone found things to be positive about sure a dire time - so in general it is a very funny and I think uplifting book. True the humour focuses on books and all things related to them primarily and hey who can argue with that.
So yes this is a book with some very funny and very profound things to say and I for one will be referring back to it many more times to come.
November 11, 2022
En estas tiras queda claro que Gauld tiene calados, más que a los bibliotecarios, a los bibliófilos. Aunque más bien es un batiburrillo en el que lo mismo se rÃe de los escritores, que de los bibliómanos y lectores empedernidos o de los bibliotecarios que dan tÃtulo al cómic. Hay conocimiento de causa, se nota que él mismo ha vivido muchas de las situaciones o chistes que cuenta, y conoce bien cómo funciona cada colectivo. Al ser monotemático, se puede hacer un pelÃn cansino a ratos, pero se pasa un rato divertido con su lectura.
December 26, 2022
This book of comic strips are mainly about writing and editing, not so much about libraries. Book buying (how many, how often, keep or give away, etc) also plays a part.
I'm not sure about the 'revenge' part, but this is a delightful collection of bookish and writerly comics that had me laughing out loud a few times, and snorting a bunch.
Love books? Check out Tom Gauld's nerdy take on reading, writing and dealing with the issue that you will never have enough space for all your books.
I'm not sure about the 'revenge' part, but this is a delightful collection of bookish and writerly comics that had me laughing out loud a few times, and snorting a bunch.
Love books? Check out Tom Gauld's nerdy take on reading, writing and dealing with the issue that you will never have enough space for all your books.
May 1, 2023
Un livre rempli de petit strips plus ou moins rigolos pour rats de bibliothèque en tout genre.
Quelqu'un a dit ici en critique que c'était un livre qui s'apprécie par à -coups plutôt que tout d'un coup, et je pense que je suis assez d'accord : j'ai tout lu d'un coup et ça m'a donc paru un poil répétitif à force. A laisser traîner dans un coin, pour en lire un peu de temps en temps alors !
Quelqu'un a dit ici en critique que c'était un livre qui s'apprécie par à -coups plutôt que tout d'un coup, et je pense que je suis assez d'accord : j'ai tout lu d'un coup et ça m'a donc paru un poil répétitif à force. A laisser traîner dans un coin, pour en lire un peu de temps en temps alors !
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December 20, 2022Je suis fan de Tom Gauld, mais étonnamment ce n’est pas mon album préféré de lui. (Étonnamment dans le sens où le sujet aurait dû me plaire davantage...) Je préfère le suivre religieusement sur Instagram car recevoir une planche de temps en temps demeure, pour moi, la meilleure façon de savourer son art.
August 30, 2023
Somewhere between 3 and 4. I think I only laughed audibly once, at least so that my husband noticed. To me, it seemed more like a book for writers struggling to get their books published than cartoons about libraries and librarians, so in that sense I was a little disappointed. However, having a friend who is a writer, I suspect this book may be write, ooops I mean right up her alley.
It was clever, although there were some which I flat out did not get. I appreciated when he took a group of books and changed their titles in a particular direction, such as, classic novels with added positivity: Merriment on the Orient Express; Life in Venice; Twelve Agreeable Men; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spa; Portnoy's Compliment and Finnegan's Birthday Party. And there was classics reissued with lower standards: The Adequate Mr. Ripley; George's Passable Medicine; Reasonable Expectations; The Mediocre Wizard of Oz and The OK Gatsby. Those were fun.
It was a nice break from heavy reading. Thanks Judy, I got the idea from your review!
It was clever, although there were some which I flat out did not get. I appreciated when he took a group of books and changed their titles in a particular direction, such as, classic novels with added positivity: Merriment on the Orient Express; Life in Venice; Twelve Agreeable Men; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spa; Portnoy's Compliment and Finnegan's Birthday Party. And there was classics reissued with lower standards: The Adequate Mr. Ripley; George's Passable Medicine; Reasonable Expectations; The Mediocre Wizard of Oz and The OK Gatsby. Those were fun.
It was a nice break from heavy reading. Thanks Judy, I got the idea from your review!
January 19, 2023
This current librarian and former bookseller felt like author/illustrator Tom Gauld was speaking right to me. His humor displays an in-depth understanding of these workplaces and communities. I love the way he satirizes the publishing industry, genre fiction, and literary history, among other things.
My favorite strip: an author with a cup of tea is seated at an office desk, surrounded by bookshelves, facing the editor/publisher, who says: "Our legal department looked over your memoir and said we need to remove the inaccuracies, exaggerations and slander. Though I feel it may be simpler to add some wizards and dragons and publish it under our fantasy imprint."
I had quite a few laugh-out-loud moments. Witty, charming, and lots of fun.
My favorite strip: an author with a cup of tea is seated at an office desk, surrounded by bookshelves, facing the editor/publisher, who says: "Our legal department looked over your memoir and said we need to remove the inaccuracies, exaggerations and slander. Though I feel it may be simpler to add some wizards and dragons and publish it under our fantasy imprint."
I had quite a few laugh-out-loud moments. Witty, charming, and lots of fun.
October 28, 2022
Bd amusante et intelligente pour les passionnés de lecture, les écrivains, les éditeurs et, comme le titre l’annonce, les bibliothécaires avec qui «Ìýon n’aurait jamais dû déconnerÌý»! Humour fin et subtile qui fera sourire tous les lecteurs. A mettre d’urgence sur sa table de chevet!
November 16, 2022
I want to preface this review by saying this book is gorgeous! It's an odd shape, but the hardbound edition has a heavy high-quality cover and a lovely cover illustration (with gilt!). Its pages are glossy and the colors are richly rendered. And it even comes with an old-fashioned checkout slip in the inside cover, just as library books used to before checkouts were done primarily on computer. The publishers went out of their way to make sure this little volume appealed to book lovers.
As for the comics... they're cute, and the illustrations are reminiscent of a colorful, less crudely done version of "xkcd." Many of them have jokes that book aficionados will love, and anyone who's ever struggled with trying to write a book will identify with. It knows its audience and caters heavily to it, which is in no way a bad thing.
My issue is that after a bit, some of the jokes get rather repetitive. I can only take so many jokes that take the same five book titles and do unimaginative wordplay with them twice before I start rolling my eyes. And all the pandemic-related jokes, while they may have been timely when the comics circulated on social media, feel like basically every quarantine meme you've seen on Facebook.
Despite this gripe, this book did have a lot of fun jokes in it, and will appeal to readers without being inaccessible to people who haven't read all the classics. Book lovers, writers, and librarians alike will enjoy this, especially as a gift.
As for the comics... they're cute, and the illustrations are reminiscent of a colorful, less crudely done version of "xkcd." Many of them have jokes that book aficionados will love, and anyone who's ever struggled with trying to write a book will identify with. It knows its audience and caters heavily to it, which is in no way a bad thing.
My issue is that after a bit, some of the jokes get rather repetitive. I can only take so many jokes that take the same five book titles and do unimaginative wordplay with them twice before I start rolling my eyes. And all the pandemic-related jokes, while they may have been timely when the comics circulated on social media, feel like basically every quarantine meme you've seen on Facebook.
Despite this gripe, this book did have a lot of fun jokes in it, and will appeal to readers without being inaccessible to people who haven't read all the classics. Book lovers, writers, and librarians alike will enjoy this, especially as a gift.
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