I got back from vacation two weeks ago and realized I needed another vacation. We booked a night at The Ludlow Hotel and this is a good reminder that a brief staycation can be just as resetting as a full vacation.

Tereza Bettinardi

Earlier this week Creative Boom released their Top 20 graphic designers of 2026, as voted for by creatives. A list like this always feels more meaningful to me than judged competitions. Respect from your peers (and from younger designers coming up behind you) just hits differently. The list is filled with heavy hitters like Paula Scher at #1, Rodrigo Corral at #15 (featured in Issue II), and many more.

Sitting at #17, and the designer I’ll be featuring today, is Tereza Bettinardi. Bettinardi is a São Paulo–based designer, editor, and educator whose practice sits at the intersection of editorial design, visual identity, and publishing culture. After nearly a decade working with major Latin American publishers like Companhia das Letras and HarperCollins, she founded her own studio in 2014, expanding into branding, packaging, and environmental design.

Alongside her client work, she’s deeply invested in design writing and education, co-editing books, teaching across Brazil, and launching Clube do Livro do Design, a platform dedicated to expanding access to design literature in Portuguese. Her work has been widely recognized by organizations like AIGA and the Type Directors Club, reflecting a practice that blends sharp editorial thinking with a broader cultural lens on design.

What I love most about her work is how grounded it feels in publishing as a living thing, not just books as objects, but books as culture, access, language, and community. It’s design that understands where it lives, and who it’s for, which feels increasingly rare and very necessary right now.

Word bookstore

When I say I stumbled upon this gem, I literally stumbled. I was waiting for a pizza from Paulie Gee’s after visiting Yoseka Stationery (more on them soon) before axe throwing at Bury the Hatchet. Could that sentence be any more Brooklyn?

Back to the focus. WORD Bookstore is a gem of a store on Franklin Street, right in the middle of the action in Greenpoint. When I went in, she was packed. I had a little bit of a hard time getting around the main area, but I would never complain, we love to see an independent bookstore this busy.

It’s one of those places that feels exactly like what you want a neighborhood bookstore to be. Tucked into Greenpoint since 2007, it’s small but incredibly well curated, the kind of shop where you go in for one thing and leave with three you didn’t know you needed. The mix leans literary with a strong showing of fiction, nonfiction, and cookbooks, plus a dangerously good selection of cards and stationery. They’ll also track down just about anything if it’s not on the shelf, which feels increasingly rare.

More than that though, it’s a true community spot, hosting events, supporting local voices, and quietly holding its own as a cornerstone of Brooklyn’s indie book scene.

Finding Waldo

I feel like I start every kids book throwback with omg this book made my life and blah blah blah. To the point where I’m sure some of you are starting to not believe me, and honestly, fair.

HOWEVER. When I say that Where’s Waldo books literally had that effect on me, I mean it. These were the books I would spend hours with. Sure, I’d find Waldo, but what I was really there for was making up stories about alllll the other characters in the scenes.

And that’s kind of the genius of it. Created by British illustrator Martin Handford in the late 1980s, the Where’s Waldo series (originally Where’s Wally in the UK, which honestly still feels more correct?) isn’t just about finding one guy in a striped shirt. It’s about the chaos.

Handford trained in illustration and originally worked drawing large-scale crowd scenes for advertising, which is exactly where that dense, anything-can-happen energy comes from. He has spoken about being inspired by everything from beach crowds to historical epics, and you can feel that in the way each spread pulls from different places, time periods, and absurd little storylines. Every page takes months to complete, with hundreds of tiny characters and micro-moments layered in intentionally. Waldo almost feels like an excuse, a red herring even, to get you to sit inside these worlds and really look.

What I didn’t realize as a kid, but absolutely appreciate now, is how much restraint goes into something that looks this busy. Each scene is meticulously planned and balanced so your eye can wander without completely losing the thread. It’s overstimulation in the best way.

And maybe that’s why they stick. You don’t just “finish” a Where’s Waldo book. You return to it. You find something new every time. And if you’re me, you’re still not entirely convinced Waldo was ever the main character.

Bookshop.org

Okay so I was very excited to find out about this and then briefly devastated when I thought it was only a UK thing. It’s not. We actually have access to it here too, which makes this even better.

Bookshop.org is an online bookstore with a very specific mission: to financially support independent bookstores. Instead of buying from the usual big players, you can purchase books through Bookshop and either choose a specific local bookstore to support or contribute to a general earnings pool that gets distributed across indie shops.

A percentage of every sale goes directly to independent bookstores, which means you’re still getting the convenience of online ordering but without completely cutting out the local shops we all say we want to protect. Since launching in 2020, they’ve generated millions for indie bookstores, which is kind of wild when you think about how small that shift is on an individual level.

It’s one of those rare cases where the better option is also the easier one. Same book, same price, just doing a little more good.

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

Supercommunicators
Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg is all about what actually makes conversations work, and more importantly, why so many of them don’t. The book explores why some conversations click and others don’t, and what it actually takes to make someone feel heard. It pulls from neuroscience, psychology, and real-world examples, but never feels overly academic.

This book has been on my TBR list for a while and I’m happy to report that not only did I love it but I think I will listen to it again soon. Ironically I’m saying this about a book on communication and listening but as we know living in NYC you get distracted when walking around with a book in your ear and for some reason unlike my cozy mysteries, non-fiction books can be harder because I need to actively be paying attention to them at all time. 4.5⭐

Cover Design: The designer on this one isn’t widely credited, which feels a bit ironic given how strong the concept is.

The Only One Left
The Only One Left by Riley Sager is a suspense thriller set in a decaying cliffside mansion, centered around a woman accused of murdering her family decades earlier, who now communicates only by typing. When a caregiver arrives to assist her, the story slowly unravels through those typed confessions, layering past and present in a way that keeps shifting what you think is true.

What? Not a cozy murder set in Ireland or Scottland? More like a creepy suspenseful thriller set in Maine. This one had me at its originality. I admit I thought I saw what was coming on this one but I had no idea which means its a big recommendation for me. 5⭐

Cover Design: The cover was designed by Christopher Lin, and it leans fully into that gothic, slightly off-kilter tone. Dark, moody, a little unsettling, it signals exactly what kind of story you’re walking into without giving anything away. Which, for a book built on twists, is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Byeeeeee

This Issue’s meme is brought to you by the spring cleaning I’ve been doing that visually looks like this.

We rested. We recharged. We relaxed. We. Are. So. Back.

Thanks everyone for your patience while I was on a very needed vacation last week. Miami weather did exactly what it needed to do, and I was equally as happy to come back to a fully charged NYC spring. I think we’ve arrived, everybody. Let the good times commence!

Penguins Can Fly

Noted, I’m sure, by most of you on the design end over the last few weeks, but very much worth calling out, Penguin Random House UK’s new refresh has officially landed.

And unlike so many rebrands lately that smooth everything out until it barely has a pulse, this one actually feels alive. The new “Playful Penguins” take the brand’s most iconic asset and let it move a little. There’s personality, humor, warmth, and just enough mischief to make it feel true to Penguin’s legacy without getting stuck in it.

What I love most is that they did not throw away the time trusted brand. The core logo remains, but the system stretches it in a way that feels fresh and useful for how brands actually have to show up now. Campaigns, social, seasonal moments, all of it. It is expressive without losing recognition, which is a very hard balance to hit.

The illustrations were brought to life by Matt Blease, and they really do land in that sweet spot between smart and charming. It feels like a publishing brand that remembers books are meant to be loved, not just neatly categorized. Also, as someone whose favorite animal is already a penguin, I was perhaps always going to be an easy audience for this one.

Some Drama is Okay

Only in New York City would you find an entire bookstore dedicated to Broadway and theater, shelves stacked in a way that feels like it could ignite something in you the second you walk in.

I came across The Drama Book Shop by chance while researching neighborhoods, and the name alone was enough to pull me in. Obviously, I love a little drama. But then I saw photos of the book tornado installation and that sealed it. Immediate add to the list.

Founded in 1917, the shop has a deep history within the theater community, with everyone from students to Tony winners passing through its doors. It offers everything you’d expect, scripts, acting books, writing resources, but also full TV and film scripts, which felt like such a treat to flip through.

What really got me though was the back section. Rows and rows of plays that just keep going. If they don’t have every play ever written, I’d be shocked. It feels endless in the best way.

I would recommend this for anyone who loves storytelling in its rawest form, dialogue, structure, performance. Or honestly, anyone who just wants to feel a little creatively recharged by proximity.

The Magic School Bus

Most people remember The Magic School Bus as a staple of after-school TV, but it actually began as a book series nearly a decade earlier, and the origin story is just as thoughtful as the stories themselves.

The Magic School Bus was created by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, a duo who weren’t just making children’s books, they were quietly redefining how kids engage with science.

Cole had a background in education and a knack for making complex topics feel conversational without dumbing them down. Before the series, she had already written dozens of nonfiction books for children, many focused on science and nature. Her approach was simple but radical for the time, treat kids like they’re capable of understanding more than we think.

Degen came from a more playful, slightly irreverent place. His illustrations are packed with tiny visual jokes, side characters doing their own thing, and layered details that reward you for looking closer. If you go back to the original books, you’ll notice half the story is happening in the margins. Sticky notes, speech bubbles, labeled diagrams, all woven into the chaos.

A few things most people don’t realize:

• Ms. Frizzle was loosely inspired by the kind of teacher Cole believed every kid deserved, curious, unconventional, and willing to break the rules if it meant making learning stick

• The books were heavily fact-checked, sometimes to a frustrating degree. Cole worked with science consultants to make sure the wildest scenarios still had real educational grounding

• Degen often inserted himself into the illustrations. He appears as a small character in several books, usually tucked into the background

• The iconic bus wasn’t fully defined at first. Its shapeshifting personality evolved over time as the creators leaned further into the “anything can happen” concept

• The original books are denser than you remember. They mix narrative with nonfiction, diagrams, and callouts, which is part of why they hold up so well as adults

When the series was adapted into television, it didn’t need a major reinvention because the foundation was already so strong. The tone, the curiosity, even the slightly chaotic energy, it was all there from the beginning.

In a way, the show didn’t create the magic. It just animated something that was already working perfectly on the page.

Penguins Can Sue

In other Penguin related news, The Guardian shared this week that the publisher is planning to sue ChatGPT for violating the copy write of one of it's German children’s book illustrations.

Coconut the Little Dragon (Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss) is one of the most popular German books for children with over 30 volumes, a TV show, and two movies.

You can read more about this in The Guardian article below but its safe to say a lot of publishers and illustrators will be watching this one carefully.

Guardian Article

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

The Daily Artist’s Way
This builds on The Artist’s Way, but instead of a structured program, it’s a daily companion. Each entry gives you a prompt that pushes you to reflect on your creative life, not just what you’re making, but how you’re thinking, what you’re avoiding, what you’re craving more of. It’s less about output and more about awareness.

I’ve been doing it every morning since January 1st, folding it into my routine alongside reading, and it’s been surprisingly grounding. Some days it’s quick, other days it opens a full spiral of ideas. Either way, it keeps creativity active instead of something you only visit when you “have time.” 4.75⭐

Cover Design: Steven Seighman

Murder in an Irish Village Series
Full disclosure, I’ve been flying through these on audio, basically one a day while I paint and work. After finishing The Marlow Murder Club, I wasn’t sure I’d find something that hit the same tone, but this series absolutely delivers.

It follows Siobhán O’Sullivan, who returns to her small Irish village after her parents’ sudden death to care for her five younger siblings and run the family bistro. Then a murder pulls her into solving crimes she definitely did not sign up for. It’s cozy but not flat, layered with family dynamics, small-town tension, and just enough emotional weight to keep it grounded. Each book is a quick, satisfying puzzle, but the real hook is watching her figure out how to hold everything together while building a life she didn’t plan for. 5 ⭐

Cover Design: Credit not listed

Ta Ta

I said I was going to slow read War and Peace this year but I don’t think I even understood how slow I would read it. Oh well, progress is progress.

Hi everyone, I’m on vacation this week, so BTC is taking a planned pause.

Back next week at your regularly scheduled programming.

A small reminder while we’re here, take the vacation days. The year is somehow already a quarter of the way through (how), and they’re not going to use themselves.

In the meantime, a small mini segment I’ve been trying to fit into one of the past couple of issues. This seemed like a great fit

Musings: A Novel Idea

I was in a bookstore this past week and noticed something I think we’ve all seen, but maybe haven’t fully clocked. The phrase “A Novel.” More specifically, how often it’s written in a handwritten or script style, even when the rest of the cover is tightly designed, minimal, or completely typographic. It feels slightly off, and very intentional.

Part of it is functional. “A Novel” helps position the book immediately, especially when the title could read like anything else, a phrase, a concept, even nonfiction. It’s a quick anchor. But the styling is where it gets interesting. Handwritten type softens things. It adds a human touch, a sense of intimacy. Even on a cover that feels structured or restrained, that one element can shift the tone entirely. It also creates contrast. Against sharp type, rigid grids, or very controlled layouts, script feels loose. A little unexpected. Just enough to pull you in.

And sometimes, it does feel like a last-minute addition, a small layer of personality dropped onto an otherwise finished design. When it works, it feels deliberate. When it doesn’t, it feels like an afterthought. Which is kind of the whole point.

The apartment windows have been opened. I’ve had lunch outside at a restaurant. I even went for a bike ride in Central Park. Spring is here and I am absolutely living for it.

When A Book Designer Writes A Book.

I have a riddle for you. If you are a book cover designer and you write your own book, do you design your own cover?

I’ll wait.

The answer, which may surprise some of you, is no. You don’t. But you can get your friend who is also a book designer to do it for you.

This is exactly what happened with Oliver Munday, whose work you might recognize from designing the Apple Books Classic Covers. (If you’re not familiar with that series, they are free audiobooks of classic novels read by famous actors. 10/10 recommend listening to Kate Beckinsale read Pride and Prejudice.)

After being told by his editor that he would not be designing the cover for his own book, much to his relief, Oliver asked his friend Chris Brand to take it on.

Chris is a designer who cut his teeth at the studio of Rodrigo Corral, a designer I featured back in Issue II.

Below is a Lit Hub interview where Oliver and Chris talk through the process. As someone who works in design, I found every bit of it incredibly relatable and highly recommend giving it a read:

Lit Hub Article

Sweet Pickle Books

I gave a bit of a hint in the last issue about a sweet bookstore I visited and that was Sweet Pickle Books.

SPB is a used bookstore with a twist. If you bring in used books, instead of store credit you can get… a jar of pickles.

Yes. Actual pickles.

The store is filled with pickle-themed tchotchkes and has a wonderfully chaotic selection of used books. Alongside the books you’ll also find old magazines, comics, DVDs, and all sorts of odd little things. It’s the kind of place where wandering around is half the fun.

And because it’s a used bookstore, the mix of titles is completely random. Sure, you might find a copy of the newest New York Times bestseller… or you might stumble upon Seinfood, a cookbook made entirely from foods featured in the TV show Seinfeld.

Every month they post on Instagram what books they are accepting and what they are not taking for the month, so check that list before heading over with your donations.

Also make sure to browse the “Ten Books for Ten Bucks” rack while you’re there. You truly never know what you’ll find.

The Mitten

Just when I think I know which children’s book I’m going to feature in an upcoming issue, something crosses my path and completely changes my mind. That’s exactly what happened when I spotted The Mitten by Jan Brett hanging out in my local Barnes & Noble this weekend.

Instant nostalgia.

If you grew up anywhere that had winter, chances are you’ve encountered this book at some point. The story is a Ukrainian folk tale about a boy named Nicki who loses his white mitten in the snow. One by one, animals discover it and squeeze inside to stay warm. A mole, a rabbit, a hedgehog, an owl, a badger, a fox, a bear… until the mitten is stretched to its absolute limit.

But what really makes this book special is Jan Brett’s illustration style.

Brett is known for the incredibly detailed borders that run alongside the main story panels. These borders act almost like a visual preview of what’s about to happen next in the story. As you read, you can see the next animal approaching the mitten before the characters inside realize what’s coming. It’s a clever storytelling device that rewards kids who pay attention to the details.

Her work is also heavily inspired by Eastern European folk art and textile patterns, which is why the pages feel so rich and decorative. You’ll notice intricate embroidery patterns, winter textures, and traditional motifs throughout the book.

From a design standpoint, it’s a perfect example of how illustration, layout, and narrative can all work together. It’s not just a children’s book. It’s a masterclass in visual storytelling.

Pancakes and Booze Art Show

Last-minute notice if you’re reading this the day the issue comes out, but I decided to participate in the Pancakes & Booze Art Show on Thursday, March 12 at the Brooklyn Monarch.

I’ll be showing some of my lineation work, so if you want to see those pieces in person this is your chance.

To see more of my work, check out my website here, and if you want tickets for the show you can grab them here.

Hope to see some of you there. It should be a fun night!

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

Haunted Medina County
When I was visiting home in January, I stopped into a new bookstore in my hometown of Medina, Ohio called Black Cat Books & Oddities. While browsing I picked up Haunted Medina County, a collection of local ghost stories and strange happenings tied to the area. As someone who grew up nearby, it was equal parts entertaining and slightly unsettling to read about places I actually recognize.

The book is part of the Haunted America series, which covers towns and regions all over the country. If they’ve written one for Medina, Ohio, chances are they’ve covered somewhere close to where you live too. One thing to know going in is that the books can be a little hit-or-miss since each is written by a different local author. Some lean more into historical research while others focus more on the ghost lore itself, so it’s worth checking the author if you have a preference. 4 ⭐

Cover Design: From what I can find online it seems to be Anna Burrous as she is listed as the cover designer for The History Press.

Murder on the Marlow Belle
During one of the recent NYC snowstorms I ended up tearing through several books in The Marlow Murder Club series on audiobook, and Murder on the Marlow Belle ended up being my favorite of the bunch. The series follows Judith Potts, a crossword puzzle author in her late seventies who accidentally becomes an amateur detective after witnessing what she believes is a murder along the Thames. She teams up with two equally unlikely sleuths from town, Suzie, a dog walker with chaotic energy, and Becks, the vicar’s wife who slowly realizes she has a talent for investigative work.

In this installment the trio attend a dinner cruise aboard the Marlow Belle when one of the guests is murdered mid-voyage, turning the boat into a floating locked-room mystery. Everyone onboard becomes a suspect and the three women once again take it upon themselves to figure out what actually happened. The books lean fully into classic British cozy mystery territory, very Agatha Christie energy but with a bit more humor and a trio of detectives who are genuinely fun to spend time with. Also, in researching this I discovered the series has been adapted into a PBS show, so I’ll be busy for the next couple of evenings. 4.5 ⭐

Cover Design: Sarah Brody

100 Day Project Update

As promised last issue, here’s a quick update on the 100 Day Project.

I decided to create one bookmark every day and I’ve been loving the process so far. Because I didn’t lock myself into a single style, I’ve been able to experiment with different mediums and visual approaches.

Some are typographic. Some are illustrated. Some are more pattern-driven.

Inspiration has been coming from everywhere and it’s been a really fun creative exercise. I’m excited to see what the full collection looks like once the project wraps up.

Adios

I think the meme I leave you with this issue is self explanatory…

OH. MY. GOD. THIS. WINTER.

I know these Issues are slowly turning into seasonal weather reports but I genuinely cannot take it anymore. The moment I wrote to you last time about being excited to see actual sidewalk again, we were gifted another 19 inches. Was she beautiful while falling? Absolutely. Cinematic. Romantic. Main character energy.

But will she turn into disgusting piles on the side of sidewalks covered in dog pee, trash, and other mysterious substances in two to three days? Also yes.

Despite this frozen tundra situation, I’ve been making a point to get out of the apartment. The New York City Ballet. Open mic nights. Wandering into bookstores “accidentally.” This city refuses to hibernate even when we try to. In this issue you’ll read about one of my new favorite spots, and in a couple weeks I have a sweet little LES bookstore coming your way.

Winter may be relentless. But so are we.

Vi-An Nguyen’s Cover Art Process

Today’s feature isn’t a written essay but a video I cannot stop watching.

Penguin Random House Careers shared a behind-the-scenes look at Vi-An Nguyen’s design process for the cover of The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr., and I’ve watched it at least seven times. There is something incredibly grounding about seeing a cover move from sketch to concept to final execution. It reminds you that great covers are not accidents. They are layered decisions.

Penguin Random House Careers (US)

📚 Director of Art & Design Vi-An Nguyen's Cover Art Process

Have you ever wondered how cover art is conceptualized? Watch as Vi-An Nguyen’s design for THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr. transforms throughout multiple stages of the process…

Listen now

5 months ago · 18 likes · 2 comments · PRH Careers US

Nguyen’s work often blends softness with symbolism, balancing painterly intimacy with structural restraint. Watching them talk through composition, color, and meaning feels like being let in on a secret.

If anyone at PRH Careers is reading this, please post more of these. We will watch them.

Book Club Bar

I’m happy to report that I finally got to one of my most anticipated bookstore visits and you best be ready for it. Book Club Bar in the East Village is, yep, you guessed it, a bar in a bookstore. You can literally buy a book and then sit at the bar and drink a martini, or two, while you read it. Civic innovation.

I clocked this place a while ago and have been eager to go. With the city slowly pretending it might turn to spring last week, we made a day of it. A little local shopping, a little wandering, and then we ended at Book Club Bar like the responsible adults we are.

The bookstore itself is extremely cozy. Dark shelves, warm lighting, and an actually thoughtful curation. It doesn’t feel chaotic or overly trendy. It feels intentional. For warmer days there’s even a patio out back, and yes, we saw a brave soul sitting out there in 42 degrees. I don’t understand it. But I respect it.

Also, I cannot stress enough how much I’m loving an admin day with a friend or partner. Pick a fun atmosphere, bring your notebook, order something strong, and suddenly answering emails feels effortless. We spent hours reading, journaling, and reorganizing our lives. Highly recommend.

Hot tip: head to dinner at Virginia’s across the street and get the burger. Top three I’ve had in the city. Hands down.

Cross-Section Books of Stephen Biesty

There is nothing I would spend more hours on as a child than staring at every single inch of Stephen Biesty’s cross-section books. To know them is to love them. And honestly, they hold up.

Stephen Biesty was a British illustrator best known for his incredibly detailed cross-section illustrations, most famously in Incredible Cross-Sections. His books peel back ships, castles, submarines, airplanes, entire worlds, revealing every beam, pipe, staircase, and hidden room in obsessive, mesmerizing detail.

In February 2024, Biesty passed away. In a beautiful Substack tribute titled Vale Stephen Biesty: Cross-Section King, author David Cole reflects on both the quiet nature of the man and the expansiveness of his imagination. Biesty himself was reportedly reserved and private, which feels almost poetic considering how much he revealed through his work:

Dead Horses

Vale Stephen Biesty: Cross-Section King

A few months ago I had the fleeting thought to write a post about Stephen Biesty, the DK books cross-section legend. After learning he’d passed only just last year, I was disheartened to discover his personal website and galleries had gone offline, and there were no significant retrospectives of his career…

Read more

a year ago · 73 likes · 6 comments · David Cole

His breakout books became cultural touchstones for so many of us. They weren’t just illustrations, they were invitations to linger. You couldn’t glance at a Biesty page. You had to study it. It trained patience. It trained curiosity.

One thing I’ll add: if you remember books like Biesty’s, don’t forget your local library. I checked out three of his last week and flipping through them again felt like coming home. The joy is still there. The detail is still insane. And it’s a reminder that some art really does age well.

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

The Alice Crimins Case
Part of the 50 States of Crime series, The Alice Crimmins Case revisits one of the most sensational trials of the 1960s, centered on a young mother in Queens accused of murdering her two children. The case became less about clear evidence and more about public perception, sexuality, and the way the media constructed Alice as either grieving mother or cold villain. It’s less a tidy whodunit and more a study in bias, spectacle, and the cultural anxieties of the era. Reading it now feels unsettling in a different way, not just because of the crime itself, but because of how easily a narrative can be shaped by who society decides a woman is allowed to be.

I wrote about The Cleveland John Doe Case back in Issue III and when I popped into the Mysterious Book Shop again a couple of weeks ago I wanted to make sure I picked up another as I was hooked. I will be collecting all of them by the way, they’ve got me. 4.5 ⭐

Cover Design: The design credits go to Charles Perry, a publisher at Penzler, with additional credit to Nicolas Caminade, who designed the original versions for French publisher 10/18 and the magazine Society.

The Readers Room
A small, elite writing workshop inside a publishing house, everyone chosen for being “exceptional,” which means the egos are immediate. What starts as a career boost turns quietly uncomfortable as critique becomes personal and mentorship edges into manipulation. It’s tense in a literary way, more side-eye than jump scare, and especially satisfying if you think about books not just as stories but as carefully constructed objects.

I got this one randomly when I walked into Rizzoli a couple weeks ago and was delighted with it. A quick but entertaining read that was unexpected but delightful. This one had me hooked from the first few pages and the short read made it an easy like for me 4.75 ⭐

Cover Design: Dan Mogford

100 Days Project: 2026

I decided to join in on the 100 Day Project this year, which just began February 22nd.

The original “100 Day Project” started as a creative challenge encouraging artists to commit to a daily practice for 100 consecutive days. The structure is simple: choose a project, show up every day, document it.

I’m not following official prompts, or posting every day due to my lack of social media accounts but I am participating. I will be creating one bookmark per day using different mediums and techniques. It feels aligned with this newsletter. Small, tactile, book-adjacent objects. Ever since sharing my bookmark template back in Issue V, I’ve loved making them. This just formalizes the obsession.

If you want to follow along with the official project, you can find it below. I’ll be sharing my personal progress in a couple weeks!

#The100DayProject Newsletter

Welcome to the daily creative prompts 💌

Hello, friends…

Read more

a year ago · 168 likes · 28 comments · Lindsay Jean Thomson

Bye for Now!

This chapter of life has involved more reaching out than I’m naturally wired for, but it’s also reminded me how many smart, kind people are in my orbit. Anyway, if you’d like to network, I’ll be in a tiny boat emotionally casting a very polite net.

I’m not going to sugar coat it, the first half of February has been rough. That snow I was so excited about last issue has turned into gross ice piles around the city that will not go away, as this week is the first week it’s consistently been over 30°F since late January. I’m all for hibernation but for a few days, not two weeks. That said, I did get some serious reading done :D

Now that the weather is slowly but surely starting to get warmer, I’m enjoying walks again to get my hazelnut coffee in the morning without the fear that my nose is going to freeze off. That, combined with the Winter Olympics and filling my cup by seeing friends and old co-workers for drinks, we are so back.

Let’s get into it.

The Complicated Simplicity of Na Kim

Na Kim is one of those designers whose work you start to recognize before you even realize you are doing it.

A lot of that comes from her time shaping the list at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where she helped define what serious, contemporary literary fiction looks like on a shelf. Her covers are concept driven, typographically sharp, and never louder than they need to be. Instead of decorating a book, she interprets it. There is always a point of view.

Outside of design, Kim is a painter and debuted her portraiture work in 2023. When speaking to Coveteur, she said, “One really interesting thing about portraiture is the subtlest shift in expression or size of an eye, even just a single stroke can change how a face looks. What was interesting about people thinking the paintings were self-portraits was if you really look at me and this woman side by side, does it look like me? What makes it me or another person? What separates us? What makes us all individuals? I pay attention more to what makes a person a person.”

I personally love a designer who also has an interest and drive to create art. It may be my bias, but I think it makes a designer better at driving home the story of what they are creating. What I love most is the discipline. The confidence to hold back. The understanding that a cover can be intelligent and still be deeply felt.

Kim’s work is a reminder that good design does not need to shout to stay with you.

Rizzoli

Just north of Madison Square Park, Rizzoli Bookstore sits on a pedestrian-only stretch of Broadway between West 25th and 26th Streets. It did not always live here, though. Until 2015, Rizzoli occupied a townhouse at 31 West 57th Street and was a beloved destination for more than fifty years, a place people returned to again and again for its creaky floors, towering shelves, and unmistakable old-world romance.

Although I never saw the former home in person, the move downtown still captures what I imagine people loved about it. The soaring ceilings, chocolate-colored bookcases, and ornate details feel unmistakably New York. The store manages to be open and airy while still intimate, unfolding room by room. You enter through the stationery section, which, frankly, has me emotionally committed before I even make it to the first table of books.

Rizzoli is known for its tightly curated selection of illustrated books spanning architecture, interior design, fashion, photography, cookery, and the fine and decorative arts, alongside literature and foreign language titles. In other words, it is a place where visual people can get happily lost. Every table feels considered, never overwhelming, and you can sense the editorial hand guiding you toward something beautiful, smart, or both.

What I love most is the sense of intention. The displays are thoughtful, the subjects are deep, and the pace of the place invites you to slow down. It is the kind of bookstore where you come in for one title and leave having discovered three more you did not know you needed. For someone who spends so much time thinking about covers, typography, and the physical experience of reading, it feels less like shopping and more like being exactly where I am supposed to be.

The Memories of Corduroy

I know I say a lot on here that certain books defined my childhood, and that’s true. Corduroy, though, is different. Corduroy is the one book I can remember the first time my mom read it to me. The first core memory not only of the story itself, but of the art around it. I would have dreams about the illustrations, thinking that my stuffed animals would come to life like Corduroy and that I had to make sure nothing happened to them.

Corduroy begins with a small bear on a department store shelf, waiting to be chosen. What follows is a tender, observant story about hope, belonging, and the quiet bravery of wanting to be loved. Generations of readers have grown up with Corduroy’s nighttime adventure through the store and that unforgettable search for his missing button, and the comfort of finally finding a home.

The person behind that bear was Don Freeman, an illustrator and writer whose path to children’s books included work as a commercial artist, reporter, and political cartoonist. His background in drawing real life, from city streets to the circus, gave his pictures warmth and credibility without tipping into sentimentality. The result is storytelling that feels simple but never small, honest, humane, and timeless.

In January 2019, I was horrified to realize this was over seven years ago, I caught the exhibit of A City for Corduroy at the Museum of the City of New York. Although the exhibition is long past, I did some digging and found a video (above) that lives on the Museum’s site featuring Roy Freeman, the son of Don, talking about his father’s legacy and how it lives in his own family.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary, Corduroy returned in Corduroy Takes a Bow, written by Viola Davis and illustrated by Jody Wheeler. The story brings him out of the department store and onto a new stage, while keeping the same emotional tenderness that made the original endure. It is a love letter to growing up with a character and then getting to meet him again.

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

The Imortal Live of Henrietta Lacks
I came into The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for the science element, but I had no idea what I was in for. If you don’t know the story, Henrietta was a Black woman whose cancer cells were taken in 1951, without her knowledge or consent, while she was being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She died that same year, but her cells, later named HeLa, became one of the most important tools in modern medicine.

What people tend to recognize is the legacy, the breakthroughs, the vaccines, the research. What the book does so beautifully, and heartbreakingly, is put the family back into the center of it. It asks who benefits from science, who gets left out of the conversation, and what recognition really looks like. I was fully unprepared for how emotional this would be. 5 ⭐

Cover Design: John Gall

The God of the Woods
Okay okay okay sooooo yes, I am not afraid to admit that I picked this up because approximately the entire internet did, specifically after I saw in Taylor Swift: The End of an Era that Taylor Swift was listening to the audiobook. BUT. It had been on my TBR for a VERY long time, so I don’t need commentary about bandwagons. Shhhhhhhhh.

Set at a summer camp in the Adirondacks, the novel opens with a teenage girl vanishing, which of course rips open the history of the powerful family that owns the camp and the land around it. We move between timelines, class dynamics, old grief, new secrets, and the kind of slow, creeping dread that makes you say “okay just one more chapter” until it is suddenly very late. Moody, sharp, and completely absorbing. 4.5 ⭐

Cover Design: Grace Han

Last Minute Valentine’s Day Gift for a Book Lover

Guys guys guys guys guys guys guyyyyysssss GUYS. I have two words for you. Book. Bouquet. DID WE KNOW ABOUT THIS?

I’m shook. I was researching some last minute V-day gifts for book lovers and I stumbled across this on my feed and I am obsessed. If you’re already getting your book loving partner flowers, throw some books in there for an extra oomph. I think what I love about this is that it’s not just Valentine’s adjacent, you could really do this for any type of occasion. Birthdays, congratulations, omg you could curate the selection for the moment.

Okay I’m deceased I can’t go on any more. You’re welcome.

Love You and Leave You

As always, ending on a meme. This one, when I say I publish BTC bimonthly then just tell people every two weeks because how the hell have we not figured this out by now!? See you in two weeks ;)

I hope everyone has been staying warm out there. This cold has been the coldest of colds, and I say that as someone who spent the beginning of this weather cycle in Cleveland, where it dipped down to seven degrees. After a few good days of family time, I was back home in the city just in time for a perfectly acceptable excuse to stay inside and read while the snowstorm barreled on outside.

Along with my winter nesting habit of reading, I have also rediscovered my love of solitaire, which I believe officially puts me at peak grandma mode. No shame though. Simple things feel right lately.

Let’s get into it.

Nick Misani

I have been a fan of Nick Misani’s work for a long time. If I had to put a date on it, I would say at least as far back as 2013 or 2014, when he was sharing his Fauxsaics on Instagram. I was immediately drawn to the level of detail in his work, paired with his impeccable typographic sensibility.

Misani is a multidisciplinary designer and letterer born in Milan into a family of jewelry designers, where early exposure to craft helped shape his visual instincts. He studied architecture and industrial design in Italy, spent time living in Japan, and later moved to New York City to earn an MFA in Communications Design from Pratt Institute. His work blends bespoke typography, pattern, and historical reference with a contemporary point of view that never feels forced.

Throughout his career, Misani has worked at Mucca Design, Penguin Random House, and Louise Fili Ltd., where he served as a senior designer. He has led creative teams in Europe, taught workshops, lectured internationally, and worked with clients including Apple, Target, Airbnb, The New York Times, and Penguin Random House.

What I love most about Misani’s book covers is their restraint. They are confident without being loud, rooted in typographic history without slipping into nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. His lettering does not decorate a cover so much as structure it. Every curve, weight, and spacing choice feels intentional, in service of tone and readability rather than trend. In a sea of covers trying to explain themselves instantly, Misani’s work invites you to slow down, trust the craft, and let typography do the heavy lifting.

192 Books in Chelsea

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in Chelsea, my girlfriend walked me into a bookstore she had scoped out near our brunch reservation. First of all, 192 Books definitely has more than 192 books. Second, the selection is immaculate. A thoughtful mix of popular fiction, curated picks, children’s books, and art and gallery titles, it is nearly impossible to walk out empty-handed.

The store is on the smaller side, but the open front windows flood the space with natural light. Even on the rainy day we visited, the atmosphere was one I would have had a hard time leaving if brunch had not been waiting.

Founded in 2003, 192 Books takes its name from its original address at 192 10th Avenue. It was created by gallerist Paula Cooper and editor Jack Macrae as a neighborhood bookstore with a clear point of view. From the beginning, the focus was never on volume but on longevity. Books chosen to live with rather than cycle through trends. Literary fiction, translated works, art and photography, poetry, music, and children’s books sit side by side, reflecting Chelsea’s gallery-heavy context without feeling precious.

Over the years, 192 Books has become a quiet fixture of the neighborhood, known as much for its community programming as for its shelves. Author readings, signings, and conversations regularly draw locals and visitors alike. It is the kind of bookstore that rewards return visits, where taste is consistent, curiosity is encouraged, and browsing still feels like the point.

Richard Scarry’s Not So Scary World

Richard Scarry is one of those illustrators you recognize instantly, even if you never knew his name. Born in 1919, he built a career out of turning the everyday into something busy, readable, and quietly funny. Cars, kitchens, farms, post offices. All rendered with clarity and care.

He began in the 1940s illustrating textbooks and early readers, which explains the instructional calm of his work. His breakthrough came with Best Word Book Ever in 1963, a visual encyclopedia that transformed vocabulary into a world you could wander through for hours. Scarry was less interested in fantasy than in systems. How a city works. Who does what.

His pages are dense but never chaotic. Soft colors, steady compositions, humor tucked into the margins. A cat driving a pickle car if you are paying attention. He later moved to Switzerland and continued working at an astonishing pace, ultimately illustrating more than 300 books before his death in 1994. His legacy is not nostalgia but trust. His work taught kids how the world fits together and made it feel friendly and understandable.

If you are a big fan, I highly recommend checking out the Richard Scarry collection at Out of Print. There are some real gems, and I now very much need the Busytown 500 green tee if anyone is looking to get me a gift anytime soon. ;)

Bookplates Deep Dive

In the New Year’s edition, you may remember I shared a link about getting a custom book stamp made. While researching that further, I discovered its quieter sibling, the bookplate.

Bookplates began as simple declarations of ownership in 15th-century Europe, shortly after the printing press made books more widely available. Typically pasted inside the front cover, they were marked with Ex Libris, Latin for “from the books of,” followed by the owner’s name. What started as a functional solution quickly became expressive. Heraldry, coats of arms, allegorical figures, and symbols of learning turned ownership into identity.

By the 18th and 19th centuries, bookplates evolved from status symbols into personal signatures. “From the Library of” became a more approachable counterpart to Ex Libris, particularly in the U.S. Artists and engravers treated the format like a miniature poster, experimenting with typography and illustration at an intimate scale. What makes bookplates endure is their restraint. They sit quietly at the front of a book, marking presence without interruption.

A quick credit where it is due. While researching bookplates, I came across a great primer from Fleur & Fable that pulled together several smart resources, and I wanted to share them here as well.

If you are looking for inspiration, Pinterest and Flickr are easy places to start and still surprisingly useful once you move past the obvious. The Pratt Institute Libraries Ex Libris collection is especially worth bookmarking. With over a thousand bookplates, it treats the format as a serious design object rather than a novelty. For a more European perspective, the Digital Ex Libris Museum leans ornamental and historically rich, and the New Australian Bookplate Society’s Instagram account is a great way to see contemporary bookplates in circulation today.

I created a few of my own recently as part of an effort to spend more time on creative projects in 2026. Below is a collage of them. My only rule was that I could not spend more than seven minutes on each one.

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

Four Thousand Weeks Time Management for Mortals
This is not a productivity book in the usual sense. Burkeman offers a calm, bracing reminder that time is finite and that pretending otherwise is the real problem. He cuts through hustle culture with clarity and humility, reframing ambition, attention, and rest in a way that feels grounding rather than prescriptive. A book that makes you want to do less, better, and with intention.

I found Burkeman’s POV fascinating and have listened to this twice. Each time I took different ideas from it. I think I will probably be buying a hard copy for myself as well. 5 ⭐

Cover Design: Cover design credits not available in online search.

The Killer Question
A mystery told the way real life unfolds, through emails, transcripts, documents, and the gaps between them. The story is less about solving a crime and more about watching people reveal themselves in real time. It rewards slow reading and close attention, where tone and omission matter as much as plot.

I have been working my way through all of Janice Hallett’s books since the beginning of December. Her format scratches an itch for me, stories told through texts, conversations, and found materials that ask the reader to piece things together along the way. The Killer Question is my favorite so far, and the best place to start before diving into the rest. 5 ⭐

Cover Design: All of Hallett’s books are designed by Steve Panton. I love the mix of hand lettering and graphic illustration across the series. No two letterforms are quite the same, which gives the covers an authenticity that feels intentional rather than messy.

Miscellaneous Corner: Creative Review’s Best Book Covers in 2025

Shout out to María over at Staring at the Ceiling for sharing Best book covers in 2025 via Creative Review. If you find yourself loving the design side of this substack make sure you follow along to Staring at the Ceiling for fun graphic design bits every month. Link to sign up below:

Staring at the Ceiling

Graphic design, visual delights, and the things worth noticing, delivered twice a month.

By María Vargas Aguilar

Also fun fact María was the one that inspired me to do a substack, I’ve been following and loving SATC since day one :).

Bye for Now

Speaking of a different SATC, I will leave you with a visual representation of me. This is how I feel all week leading up to a Thursday morning BTC release:

A Little Rambling on Type Trends

Before you start reading this section, take a second to really look at the covers in the image above.

What do you notice first?
Where do your eyes go?
What feels strangely consistent, even though these are all different books?

Did you catch that almost all of them place the title at the very top and the author at the very bottom?

Once you see it, it is hard to unsee. A whole wave of contemporary literary covers is quietly using the same visual hierarchy. The type gets pushed to the edges so the image can live in the middle, like a film still or a framed piece of art.

I can’t stop seeing it in bookstores and online and now that I’ve pointed it out to you I don’t think you’ll stop seeing it either. It’s an old publishing trick that somehow feels fresh again. Your eye drops in through the title, drifts through the mood of the image, and lands on the author like a signature. The book comes first. The name comes last.

That little bit of restraint is what makes these covers feel confident instead of commercial. They are not shouting for attention. They are inviting you to linger. I love the space that they allow for the image, as if its a piece of art on its own. You could take out all of the type an the image left is a masterpiece.

Now look at the second image above.

What shifts?

Here the type refuses to behave. It climbs. It stacks. It runs up and down the cover. In books like Palaver, Hunchback, The Ten Year Affair, and Goddess Complex, the letters are not just identifying the book. They are part of the picture, they frame the content while still letting the image shine.

This is a smaller but growing trend, especially in contemporary fiction that wants to feel bold, international, or slightly off-kilter. The typography does not politely sit out of the way. It moves. It interrupts. It creates rhythm.

Where the first group feels calm and composed, these feel graphic and alive. There is still imagery, but the type refuses to stay quiet.

Seen together, these two trends are really telling the same story in different tones. One uses space, with the title at the top and the author at the bottom, to create mood and a sense of literary weight. The other uses stacked, vertical type to create energy and modernity. Both are trying to do the same thing at heart. They want you to pause, look twice, and feel that this book was designed with care before you ever crack it open.

Let me know if you can’t stop seeing this now. You’re welcome.

Little City Books in Hoboken

I spent the first week of the New Year dog-sitting in Hoboken, which meant plenty of time at one of my favorite shops, Little City Books. I have been going there for years, and I am not afraid to say it is one of my favorite bookstores “in the city”, which absolutely includes the PATH ride over from NYC.

The space is cozy, and the big front windows that wrap around the corner flood everything with light, bouncing off shelves full of books I immediately want to buy. The front table always feels especially good, a mix of popular titles and new discoveries. It is not uncommon for me to walk out with additions to my TBR that I had never even heard of before stepping inside.

Little City Books opened in May 2015, when Hoboken locals Donna Garban and Kate Jacobs turned a shared idea into a real bookstore on Bloomfield Street. They wanted a place for readers to gather, and the neighborhood showed up.

From the beginning, the focus was simple: great books and community. They built a strong general-interest selection and later added a Children’s Annex so families could make it part of their routine. Over the years the store has become a true gathering place, with story times, book clubs, author readings, and live music, basically a living room for Hoboken.

Get over there and check them out!

Little Golden Books

Last month, before Christmas, I had brunch with friends and one of them brought gifts for everyone. Mixed bag of fun things, but each of us got a Little Golden Book based on something we love or someone we admire. It sent me straight into a nostalgia spiral, remembering the Little Golden Books I grew up with and realizing how they have quietly kept up with the times.

Little Golden Books launched in 1942 through a partnership between Western Publishing and Simon & Schuster, using mass-market printing to make full-color hardcover children’s books affordable at 25 cents. At a time when books were still precious objects, this was radical.

They were sold not just in bookstores but in drugstores, department stores, and five-and-dimes, which put books directly into everyday life. The first twelve titles sold more than 1.5 million copies in just a few months.

Their square format and gold foil spine became instantly recognizable, while artists like Mary Blair and Garth Williams brought modern illustration into millions of homes. It was smart production, bold design, and democratic access all at once.

That spirit has carried forward. The line has never been afraid to update itself. From Chappell Roan to Gilmore Girls to The Avengers, Little Golden Books has kept pace with culture while keeping the same mission. At $5.99, they are still affordable and still designed to get books into as many hands as possible.

If you are curious, take a look on the Penguin Random House site and see if one of your favorite things has been turned into a Little Golden Book. They also make excellent gifts ;)

Bookmark Template

A few of you told me how much you loved Issue IV’s planner and tracker, so I decided to start sprinkling in more freebies. This time, I made a bookmark template so you can create your own for the year. I also included a branded BTC one if you just want something ready to go.

There are a few shapes in there, but honestly I hope it nudges you to make your own even without the template. The wavy one is my favorite. If you want them to last, laminating sheets from Staples or Amazon work great. Download below!

Btc Bookmarktemplate

10.2MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

New York’s Secret Subway
A fascinating dive into the forgotten tunnels, abandoned stations, and hidden infrastructure beneath New York City. Part history, part urban archaeology, it reveals the city as a layered, living archive below our feet. Perfect for anyone who loves New York, maps, or the poetry of things built and left behind.

As a New Yorker I’m fascinated by the history of this city and how it got to be what it is today. This book was definitely a nerdy deep dive into how the mass subway system was first developed and the people behind it and I loved every bit of it. 4 ⭐

Cover Design: Cover designer not publicly credited.

A Wild and Heavenly Place
Set in early-20th-century Seattle, this is a richly atmospheric novel about a married woman and a timber worker whose lives intertwine through love, loss, and survival. Oliveira writes with patience and emotional restraint, letting the landscape and quiet moments do much of the work. A thoughtful, slow-burn story that stays with you well after the final page.

Not something I would usually pick up but my gf Ali recommended it to me and I have to say I fully enjoyed it. The Pacific Northwest setting when Seattle is just being developed led to a fascinating background for this very interesting love story that isn’t your typical romantic plot. 4.5 ⭐

Cover Design: Ashley Tucker at Penguin Random House. I really love the small line illustrations on top of the old style painting background. The font and type setting is also perfection to me!

Catch You Next Time

That is it for now. See you in a couple of weeks. As always, a visual sign-off. This one is a metaphors for the stack of library books next to my bed right now that I need to get through. Get lost Marie.

I wanted to do something a little special for this week since it is also the New Year’s edition of By The Cover. We’re leaning more into the reading side today, looking back at what I read in 2025 and what I’m excited to pick up in 2026. I also made a 2026 Reading Planner & Tracker, which I hope inspires you to set intentions, not pressure, for your reading year ahead.

Thank you for following along with this little experiment that is BTC. I’m proud of what it’s becoming and excited to keep it going, growing, and evolving in 2026. Here’s to a year full of books you love.

The Final Count

Like an election tally, I waited until the last possible minute to lock this number in. I passed my goal of 100 books by a long shot this year with 162 books. Almost 100 more books than last year’s final count of 65 books. A win on paper, yes, but it came with learnings.

I noticed I sometimes read for the “win”, the finish, the log, the checkmark. Short books are sneaky like that. They make you feel accomplished. But the books that stayed with me weren’t the quick hits. They were the ones that took their time with me and forced me to take mine. The ones I underlined. Carried from room to room. The ones that lived in the back of my throat for days.

In 2026 I want more of that. Less tallying, more absorbing.

I want to make space for longer, denser books that require patience and a second cup of coffee. Research-driven nonfiction about typography, book history, design, publishing. Books that send me down rabbit holes. And I want to leave more room for writing, not just reading: notes in margins, reflections, maybe longer essays born from what moves me.

Slow reading. Deep thinking. More underlines. More time for writing. Less rush.

BTC 2026 Reading Planner & Tracker

I made a two-page 2026 Reading Plan & Tracker for us, mostly because I love the idea of starting the year with a little reading intention-setting moment. Page one is your map for the year: five must-reads you’re committing to, three authors you want to finally try, two rereads, one wildcard pick just because, plus what you want more of in your reading life.

Page two is a reading tracker you can fill in as you finish books. Write the titles in, color them, doodle, whatever feels fun. You can print it out and tape it near your bookshelf or keep it tucked in a journal, or import it digitally and use on your tablet. The whole thing is meant to be low-pressure, playful, something to look back at when you’re trying to decide what to read next.

If you fill it out, please send me a picture. I love seeing how people set up their reading year!

Btc2026readingplantracker

2.85MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Favorites of 2025

In no particular order and not necessarily having been released in 2025 these are my top reads for this year.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot: 5⭐
A gripping blend of science, ethics, and humanity that reads like narrative journalism but hits like memoir. Rebecca Skloot spent a decade researching this story so it lands with depth and care.

The Third Gilmore Girl, Kelly Bishop: 5⭐
Emily Gilmore herself telling stories with wit, grit, and martini-level honesty. Kelly Bishop is Broadway-bred and delivers behind-the-scenes charm like you are in her living room.

Stolen Focus, Johann Hari: 4.5⭐
A needed slap to my screen time that made me rethink how attention actually works. Johann Hari researches like he has something to prove and honestly he does.

Harlem Rhapsody, Victoria Christopher Murray: 4⭐
Lush, rich, glamorous historical fiction that feels like stepping into a jazz-soaked photograph. Victoria Christopher Murray writes women with heart, complexity, and fire.

Atmosphere: A Love Story, Taylor Jenkins Reid: 5⭐
A soaring, space-era romance about ambition, identity, and a love story that quietly wrecked me. Atmosphere is set during NASA shuttle training and delivers Reid’s signature emotional punch. Taylor Jenkins Reid is known for character-driven hits like Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and she brings the same cinematic ache here.

Verity, Colleen Hoover: 4.5⭐
Unhinged, addictive, and a book you finish at 2 a.m. even when you swore one more chapter. Colleen Hoover writes thrillers disguised as romance and people devour them for a reason.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen: 5⭐
Still undefeated. The banter, the tension, the Mr. Darcy of it all. Jane Austen basically invented romantic comedy before Hollywood existed.

All the Women in My Brain, Betty Gilpin: 5⭐
Messy in the best way, funny, sharp, and honest like debriefing with a brilliant friend. I read this book twice this year. Betty Gilpin is an actor with a philosopher brain and comedian timing.

We Solve Murders, Richard Osman: 4.5⭐
Charming, clever, cozy crime that made me want a mystery club with retirees. Richard Osman is the king of warm-witty whodunits that feel like tea and chaos.

The Compound, Aisling Rawle: 4.5⭐
Dark, compulsive, twisty, and completely fresh thinking. I inhaled it. Aisling Rawle writes thrillers that sneak up quietly then sprint.

The Last Devil to Die, Richard Osman: 5⭐
More heartfelt than expected, still funny, layered with clues I absolutely missed. Osman again proving a series can stay smart and full of heart.

All the Cool Girls Get Fired, Laura Brown & Christina O’Neill: 5⭐
Cathartic, clever, and perfect for anyone reinventing after chaos. These authors write workplace culture like they have been in the room, because they have.

Looking Forward in 2026

In 2026 there are a lot of good reads that are coming out but a lot on my TBR list that I really want to cross off. Hopefully next year you’ll see some of these on my favorites of 2026 list!

Anatomy of an Alibi, Ashley Elston
Her other book First Lie Wins was amazing, and I am excited to see where this one lands. I want clever mystery energy.

The Calamitous Club, Kathryn Stockett
From the writer of The Help. Curious to see her take on voice and character again.

Gods of New York, Jonathan Mahler
Gritty 1980s New York with newsroom energy and city politics. I want something immersive and full of texture.

The Long Game, Elizabeth McCracken
I want to be a better writer, and her voice feels like the kind of author you learn from just by reading closely.

A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
Ready to be emotionally wrecked in the best possible way. A book you commit to rather than breeze through.

These Truths, Jill Lepore
Feels necessary. A history book that explains how we got here and maybe where we go next.

The Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon
As mentioned in Issue I. It has been on my shelf for ages and it is finally time for met to take on this giant.

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Required reading for the moment we are living in. I read it as a kid and it feels like time to revisit it with an adult brain.

The Future Saints, Ashley Winstead
On my list since July. I want whatever reckoning and intensity this story promises.

Caps Lock, Ruben Pater
I read The Politics of Design years ago. A former coworker recommended this (Hai Lindsay!), so it feels like perfect timing.

The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus
Referenced in Issue I. Required reading energy. Time to finally meet the existentialists properly.

The Bookshop, Evan Friss
Bought this in spring and it has been waiting for me. A quiet, slow read to settle into.

Gift Idea for Book Lovers

If you need a future birthday or holiday idea for the bookish people in your life, consider a custom personal library stamp. I designed two for my book club with my best friends and had them made at Casey’s Rubber Stamps on East 11th Street. They can design from templates too if design and illustration isn’t your thing.

They turned out so beautifully, only 1.5 x 1.5 inches, and the detail held up better than I expected. A fun, nerdy, perfect addition for anyone who lends books like prized possessions.

Signing off with a visual of me this past week between Christmas and New Years. Not sure where I am, whats going on, or what day it is:

This week, because the comms team asked me to (me, I’m the comms team for my own newsletter), please share this with anyone you think might love it. And if you haven’t already, please subscribe. I’m starting paid subscriptions to By The Cover for those of you who might enjoy something extra beyond the two newsletters a month.

On with the show:

When Covers Get Redesigns

I was in the bookstore earlier this week and noticed that Kiley Reid’s Come and Get It has been redesigned for the paperback edition. The book was also a New York Times bestseller, but this caught my attention because it’s less than a year old. That sent me down a rabbit hole of book cover redesigns.

So where do we start a deep dive like this? You got it, Google. The AI Overview feature actually offered a pretty solid jumping-off point, and I thought the reasoning was relevant enough to share. This is my version of that answer, of course. :)

The paperback cover for Come and Get It was changed for fairly standard publishing reasons. It’s common for books to receive new covers between hardcover and paperback as a way to refresh the title, align with current design trends, and reach readers who may not have connected with the original.

Typical reasons for a change like this include:

• Targeting different audiences: Paperbacks often aim to appeal to a broader or slightly different reader.

• Keeping up with trends: Cover aesthetics shift over time, and redesigns help a book feel current.

• Different formats: Covers are often adjusted to work better across paperback, hardcover, and digital platforms.

• Merchandising and promotions: A new cover can help a book stand out again, especially around promotions or book club moments.

These decisions are largely driven by publishers and their marketing teams, not the author. In cases like this, a redesign has nothing to do with the reception of the book itself.

For some titles, redesigns can also be a way to sell more books to collectors. Popular series like Harry Potter or A Court of Thorns and Roses have devoted fan bases who love the stories so much they’ll happily collect multiple editions.

Lastly, geography plays a role too. Designers and publishers pay close attention to regional design preferences and cultural shifts, knowing that what resonates visually in one country may not land the same way in another. A cover isn’t just about the book. It’s about where, how, and to whom it’s being sold.

At the end of the day, a cover redesign isn’t about erasing what came before. It’s about giving a book another moment in the spotlight, a chance to meet a new reader, or the same reader, at a different point in time.

Christmas at the New York Public Library

I met a friend for coffee one morning last week in Midtown and decided to pop into the main NYPL branch in Bryant Park. It was a cold day, but the fact that the holidays are in full swing made it worth it.

Outside, the two lions, Patience and Fortitude, were wearing festive wreaths, and in the entryway a massive Christmas tree sat as the centerpiece of the room. New York during the holidays, especially inside an older building like the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, feels extra special. The architecture alone is stunning, and the decorations add such a lovely touch.

One of my favorite parts of the building is the Rose Main Reading Room. It’s a huge, beautiful space filled with arched windows where people can work and read. It’s also one of the few places in the city where tourists are only allowed during a limited window from 10 AM to 11 AM. Outside of that, it’s reserved for quiet reading and research only, which honestly restores my faith in humanity.

My second favorite thing about the library is that it houses the original Winnie-the-Pooh and friends from Harrods, circa 1921.

Brought to the United States in 1947, the toys remained with Milne’s American publisher, E.P. Dutton, until 1987, when they were donated to the Library. Today they stand as a beloved centerpiece of the Library’s renowned children’s literature collection, delighting both the young and the young at heart.

What I was there for, though, was A Century of The New Yorker exhibit, which runs through February 2026. The exhibition features original sketches, covers, and other archival materials spanning the magazine’s 100-year history. If you’re able to go in person, I highly recommend it. If not, NYPL has an incredibly detailed page dedicated to the exhibition, complete with articles, videos, and audio interviews for anyone who wants to dig in here.

Below are some of the gems that I loved from the in-person exhibit. I’m a sucker for old sketches and looking at the different covers throughout the years.

Which feels like a perfect segue from print history on the walls to moving images on screen…

Coming Next Week to Paid Subscribers

A review of The New Yorker at 100, a new documentary on Netflix celebrating the magazine’s 100-year history, plus all the good links and archival finds that come with it.

Winnie the Pooh: From Pen and Ink to Red Shirt

Inspired by my trip to the NYPL and seeing one of my favorite bears (didn’t forget about you Paddington!), I was inspired to do a deep dive on Winnie the Pooh. The bear you know and love today began as stories written by A. A. Milne for his son, Christopher Robin Milne. Illustrated by E. H. Shepard, whose pen-and-ink drawings defined Pooh’s original look, the first Winnie-the-Pooh book was published in 1926.

While often remembered as simple children’s stories, the books carry a deeper emotional weight. Beneath the gentle tone are moments that are witty, philosophical, and quietly melancholic, touching on friendship, time passing, simplicity, and growing up. That layered quality is a big reason Pooh continues to resonate with adult readers.

Decades later, Pooh’s world expanded beyond the page. In 1961, Disney licensed the rights, and the first animated feature, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, was released in 1966. Disney softened the tone and brightened the visuals, creating the honey-loving, red-shirted Pooh most people recognize today. This version quickly became a massive global brand. While characters like Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and Tigger all appeared in Milne’s original books, Disney’s adaptations amplified Tigger’s personality and physical comedy, turning him into one of the franchise’s most recognizable characters.

That visual shift is especially apparent in one small but defining detail. Pooh’s iconic red shirt doesn’t appear in Shepard’s illustrations at all. It was introduced by Disney as a practical design decision, giving Pooh a consistent costume that would read clearly in animation and merchandising. Over time, that choice became inseparable from the character, making Pooh instantly recognizable by silhouette and color alone.

Now, Pooh is entering another phase. The earliest Winnie-the-Pooh stories and Shepard’s original illustrations have entered the public domain in the United States, opening the door to new editions and reinterpretations that lean back into the quieter, more literary version of the bear. It’s a rare moment where a character so closely tied to a global brand is also being rediscovered through its original text and artwork.

When Book Covers Started to Matter

Since starting By The Cover, I’ve stumbled across some real gems online that I’m excited to share in future issues. For now, I want to spotlight The Public Domain Review’s collection of book covers from 1820 to 1914.

As books became mass-produced in the nineteenth century, the cover started to matter in a new way. What had once been simple, functional leather bindings evolved into something more intentional, a visual signal meant to attract, communicate, and sell.

The rise of mechanical binding in the 1820s introduced printable cloth covers, giving designers and illustrators real creative freedom. Embossing, gilt, and early color printing turned book covers into an experimental space long before dust jackets took over in the twentieth century. This was the moment when book cover design, as we understand it today, truly began.

The selection focuses on publisher’s bindings from this early period, with a few bespoke outliers that were too good to leave out.

Above are some of my absolute favorites from the collection, and I’d be remiss not to include an honorable mention. We can’t ignore the potato in the room... Mr. Sweet Potato that is:

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

Christmas with the Queen
Historical fiction set around Queen Elizabeth’s first Christmas radio address in 1942. Two fictional characters move in and out of the Queen’s orbit, and while she appears throughout, the story focuses on their intertwined histories, reunion, and the emotional ripple effects that follow.

This was the perfect Christmas-time read. I flew through it, mostly while sitting next to my own Christmas tree in the mornings.

Cover Design: A very on-brand oversight on my part. I borrowed this from the library and returned it before thinking to check the cover designer. What always gets me, though, is how easy it is to find these credits inside the book itself, usually right there in the front pages, and how oddly hard it is to surface that same information with a quick Google search. The designer is literally credited, but somehow still invisible online.

The Cleveland John Doe Case
If you remember Issue I, this is the book I picked up at The Mysterious Bookshop about a month ago.

I flew through this one. It’s non-fiction, written in a reporting style, but it does an excellent job of fleshing out the people involved beyond the case itself, especially the detectives who investigated it.

Cover Design: The design credits go to Charles Perry, a publisher at Penzler, with additional credit to Nicolas Caminade, who designed the original versions for French publisher 10/18 and the magazine Society.

It’s Almost that Time…

I’ll leave you with a personally relatable meme and a warning. Get ready for my 2025 Goodreads wrap-up in the new year. Heheheheh. Happy Holidays everyone!

Your Local Library This is always my go-to. I donate monthly to the NYPL, but any local branch can use some support whether that comes from money, volunteering, or donating materials. Check out your library’s website to see how you can get involved.

Donate Used Books If giving financially is not realistic right now, donating books you already have is a lovely way to give back. Libraries, schools, hospitals, community centers, and Little Free Libraries are always looking for titles in good condition.

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) A major U.S. nonprofit focused on getting books into the hands of children who need them most.

Room to Read An international organization building literacy skills and helping children in low-income communities foster a love of reading.

Rodrigo Corral Design Studio

So I’m not going to lie I had a completely different idea of what I wanted to focus on this week (won’t spoil the surprise, you’ll see soon!). Then I fell into a Rodrigo Corral wormhole and everything changed.

If you do not know Rodrigo Corral by name, you still know his work. He has designed some of the most recognizable book covers in publishing. Case in point, this guy:

He is one of those designers who makes you stop and go, “Wait, he did that cover too?” His work is smart, punchy, and consistently unexpected. His covers feel totally different from one another but still carry the same creative confidence. He has created visuals for James Patterson, Junot Díaz, Chuck Palahniuk, John Green, Jay-Z, and many more. Between running his own studio and his years at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, he has helped shape the modern publishing landscape in a way that looks effortless but comes from a very sharp creative mind.

What I loved while browsing his site is how much range he has. Many book designers understandably feature mostly their covers, but Rodrigo’s portfolio includes branding, editorial, illustration, and graphite drawings. His branding for the Woodstock Way hotel is stunning, and his artwork confirms he is not only a designer but a full-on artist. I am officially on the lookout for everything he creates next.

Cozy Night at the Greenlight Bookstore

Right before Thanksgiving, I had dinner with a friend at Olea, my favorite restaurant in Fort Greene. Since I had not been in years, I made sure to pop into Greenlight Bookstore beforehand.

I used to stop by occasionally when I lived in Brooklyn, but I did not fully appreciate it then the way I do now. Walking in on a cold, early-dark November night reminded me why independent bookstores are unmatched. It felt warm and cozy inside and the tables were overflowing with good picks.

While browsing, I overheard a customer asking for recommendations. I did not catch whether they were choosing for someone who was sixteen or sixty, but what I did hear was the bookseller taking their job very seriously in the best way. They were ready to recommend three books from each table which meant this customer was about to walk out with at least twenty suggestions.

They were so passionate. I heard things like “Great but might rock a ___ year old”, “This one is not moving, skip it”, and my favorite, “This is a sleeper. I am reading it right now and it is fun.” That last one was Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles, so naturally I grabbed it.

I also picked up a book on pubs and a children’s book called Go the F*** to Sleep for my best friends who have a toddler and another baby on the way. Felt appropriate.

Greenlight also has eight book clubs. The adult groups meet in bars and breweries and the youth clubs meet in the store. It is a great lineup for every type of reader. I might join one myself.

The Many Faces of a Very Polite Bear

Something I love in design and illustration is how a single vintage character can evolve dramatically over time. Paddington Bear has been around for more than 65 years which means he has lived many artistic lives. His coat, his hat, and his marmalade sandwich stay the same, but his personality shifts depending on the hand drawing him.

Peggy Fortnum started it all in 1958 with her loose, scratchy pen and ink. Her Paddington feels like a real little bear caught mid-shuffle, full of hesitations and broken lines that make him feel observed rather than posed. Then came Fred Banbery in the seventies who softened Paddington with watercolor. His version is rounder, warmer, and feels like a book you would read on a rainy afternoon.

Ivor Wood changed everything by taking Paddington into stop motion. His puppet has real felt and fur and a coat that buttons like a child’s jacket. He looks handmade in the best way, like someone who stepped right off a craft table. In the eighties, David McKee pushed the character in a more graphic direction with bold black outlines, flat colors, and proportions that feel very of that era.

Barry Macey, who handled much of the merchandising art, made Paddington the recognizable commercial icon he became. Clean, consistent, and perfect for packaging. Then there is R. W. Alley who has been drawing Paddington since the late nineties. His work blends lively ink with soft watercolor and lands in that sweet spot between classic children’s illustration and modern energy. He is probably closest to the Paddington most readers picture today.

The most recent shift is Becky Cameron’s version for the M and S Christmas picture book tie in. Her Paddington is cozy and glowing with soft digital texture that makes each page feel lit from within.

Seeing these interpretations together made me appreciate how adaptable Paddington is. Some illustrators lean into his clumsy charm, others his dignity, others his pure cuteness. The core elements stay the same but the feeling shifts each time. That is the magic of a character who has lived across generations and carries every version of himself along the way.

New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2025

The standout fiction and non-fiction books of the year from the New York Times is here. Some form of this list has existed since the inception of the paper however this format has been going strong since 2004.

Overall I think the NYT provides one of the more diverse yearly roundup lists and its one of my favorites. In case you’ve missed it in the past I’ve done the service of linking you the last 5 years as well for easy access (you’re welcome).

2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020

While you’re browsing be sure to note the editorial illustrations for each year. I always love what the NYT Design team comes up with.

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
Ikigai is a guide to finding the thing you care about so much it pulls you out of bed in the morning, even on the messy days. It treats passion not as a grand gesture but as a steady, joyful thread, something you nurture through curiosity, community, and the small routines that make a long life feel meaningful.

I loved reading this. It felt like a friendly hug, a reminder of purpose as well as happiness and how you can have more of it in your life

Cover Design: I gave this book to someone to read so didn’t have it on hand to use my old check the inside cover designer trick and research came up short.

The Doorman
This book is a sharp little nudge that passion can blur lines faster than we realize, especially when curiosity turns into fixation. It’s a slick, fast-moving story where the thing that sparks your interest also threatens to unravel your whole sense of who you are, and you can’t help but keep turning pages to see just how far it goes.

I couldn’t put this one down. Also, I’m always a lover of a book where I couldn’t see the end coming and this definitely had me.

Cover Design: Gretchen Achilles. Love this one, bold yet simple. Strikes the perfect balance for me.

See Ya Soon

As always, I leave you with a relatable visual. This one visualizes how I feel like my Notes app for my BTC future issues looks:

Lets get into it. I’m a sucker for a dad joke:

Kicking Off with Illustrator Ivan Belikov

Back when I was on social media, I followed the insanely talented Ivan Belikov, whose knack for illustrating animals, birds, and fantasy creatures is unmatched. His detail work is next-level, and his use of color is wild in the best way.

In addition to Samantha Shannon’s Priory of the Orange Tree series featured above, Belikov also illustrated Shannon Chakraborty’s The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. Russian-born and now based in the UK, he’s worked beyond books for brands like Apple, Nike, Procreate, and AB InBev. See below for a peek at his process.

Rainy Day at the Mysterious Bookshop

I was off work last week, and one of the best things about living in New York is that even when you’re not going anywhere, there’s always something new to do. High on my list was visiting The Mysterious Bookshop down in Tribeca. Opened in 1979 by Otto Penzler, it’s the oldest mystery-specialty bookstore in the country.

I first became aware of this store last year when I picked up Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop (with lovely cover art by Molly Von Borstel). The stories in that collection were commissioned by the shop itself, each written exclusively for its customers. The only rules for the authors were that every story must:

1. Be set at Christmastime.

2. Involve a crime or a suspicion of one.

3. Have part of it take place at the bookstore itself.

I loved it and promised myself I’d visit. Naturally, it took me almost a year to actually go (classic New Yorker move).

When you walk in, the place feels instantly cozy. It’s one large room lined with wooden floor-to-ceiling shelves. The fall weather had just started to turn, and the air outside was crisp and windy, so stepping inside felt like a relief.

There are little alcoves built into the shelves with staff doors marked off by crime scene tape and signs that read, “Nobody shoplifts from a store that knows 3,214 ways to murder someone.” Which is fair.

The selection is huge. A signed copy of Richard Osman’s The Impossible Fortune (which I reviewed in my launch issue here) caught my eye, but I already own it. Instead, I picked up The Cleveland John Doe Case, part of the Crime Ink series from Penzler Publishers, run by the store’s owner himself.

Being from Ohio, I was drawn to the title even though I didn’t know the case. The design credits go to Charles Perry a publisher at Penzler, with additional credit to Nicolas Caminade, who designed the original versions for French publisher 10/18 and the magazine Society. I’ll share more once I finish reading, but the cover design alone sent me down a fascinating rabbit hole.

At checkout, I signed up for the newsletter and got a new bookmark for my collection. Just as I was paying, the skies opened up into a full downpour. Without umbrellas, we were stuck until the kind man behind the counter offered us a pair from the stand by the door, insisting their owners weren’t coming back for them. We thanked him, ran into the storm, and made our way to martinis at the Hotel Chelsea Lobby Bar. A perfect ending.

Spot-light on Spot

I’ve started keeping a running note of future By The Cover ideas, and one theme that keeps popping up is the children’s books I loved growing up.
Books were my favorite thing as a kid, mostly because I could stare at the illustrations for hours and then try to copy them (often with my mom’s help). The first series I ever fell in love with was Spot by Eric Hill.

The Spot books were interactive, with flaps you could lift on each page. As a kid, that felt like magic. When my nephew was born, his parents asked everyone to gift their favorite childhood book, and of course, I chose Spot. Here’s a wonderful 2007 interview with Eric Hill that’s worth a watch.

Geometric Book Covers by Helen Yentus

I’ve always loved the geometric Albert Camus covers designed by Helen Yentus. Myth of Sisyphus has been sitting on my shelf for ages, and every time I see it, I admire the design.

Rather than rehash what’s already been said, I’ll point you to an excellent write up here by Joe Foley on Creative Bloq, which perfectly captures Helen’s approach.

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover.

The Courage to be Disliked
Built around Adlerian psychology, this book argues that happiness comes from choice and responsibility, not control or approval. It’s a reminder that freedom starts when you stop chasing validation and focus instead on creating meaning through your own decisions.

I don’t agree with every point, but the premise is fascinating.

Cover Design: James Iacobelli. This is the second edition, designed to align with its sequel The Courage to Be Happy, and together they form a single, continuous image.

The Listeners
A book by Maggie Stiefvater is set in 1942 at a luxury West Virginia hotel turned internment site for Axis diplomats. Through June Porter Hudson’s eyes, it explores power, privilege, and morality during war time with supernatural undertones that question who’s really listening when history shifts.

The pacing is slower than I usually like, but the watery, otherworldly tension made it a surprisingly comforting read.

Cover Design: Nerylsa Dijol is credited with this one. I couldn’t find any website for them unfortunately which was also just as sad as not being able to find the exact font used on this cover. I found some dupes but nothing exact so if you know it please reach out to me!

That’s It for Now

I’ll leave you with a timely visual: me recovering from a back spasm last week. Thankfully short-lived, but never fun.

The Beginning of This Little Experiment

In early 2024, I told myself I’d read one book a month. Then I accidentally read twelve in what felt like five minutes and remembered, oh right, I actually love reading. Since then, it’s been nonstop.

Somewhere along the way, the design side of my brain joined the party. I kept noticing which covers pulled me in and which books I actually loved reading, and I found those two things were not always related.

I also started looking up the designers behind the covers, saving their work, getting curious, and falling into the kind of rabbit holes I enjoy. I wanted a place to keep all of that and share it with anyone else who thinks about this stuff. So that’s what this space is. I’m excited to see where it goes.

My Why

I quit social media in early 2025. I don’t miss it, but I do miss sharing the things that light me up. After reading (and obsessing over) way too many Substacks, this felt like the right place to dip my toes back in, without going full Instagram return tour.

What’s In Store

Book covers. Printing processes. What I’m reading. Designers doing cool things in publishing. Anything interesting at the intersection of books and design. I’ll be sending these out twice a month so they land at a pace that feels enjoyable, not overwhelming.

What You Won’t Find Here

Just to set the mood early, this isn’t going to be a place where I tear apart bad covers or drag designers. There’s already enough of that energy online, and it’s not my lane. I’m much more interested in sharing the work I love, the designers I admire, and the little discoveries that make me excited about books and print.

There will be opinions, obviously, but they’ll come from a place of curiosity and appreciation instead of critique-for-the-sake-of-it. Think of this as a highlight reel, not a teardown.

What I’m Reading and Loving (Cover Aside)

One fiction and one non-fiction recommendation I have for content purposes, not for the cover (though obviously I will give you the details of the covers).

Cher: The Memoir Part One
What. A. Queen. Four hundred thirty-four pages, and it is only part one. Somehow I didn’t realize how little I actually knew about Cher’s life considering her impact on, well, everything. This first book takes you through her world up until the early 80s and it is absolutely fascinating.

Cover Design: Unfortunately couldn’t find the designer of this but the publisher is Dey Street Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins

The Impossible Fortune: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery
The Thursday Murder Club series (if you’ve somehow missed it) follows a group of sharp, hilarious retirees who spend their days solving cold cases and constantly stumbling into very real crimes. It’s clever, warm, and just the right mix of humor and mystery, the kind of thing I end up devouring in one sitting.

Cover Design: Typeography done by Joe Holland with Art Direction by Richard Bravery

See You Soon!

That’s it for now. And, because I always love a good visual, the painting below is Jove decadent by Ramon Casas or me after finishing this first post. It lives at the Museum of Montserrat in Barcelona. You can find more of his work here.