Jonny Sun's Favorite Books
By Jonny Sun
By Jonny Sun
Jonny Sun is a Canadian writer, illustrator, and PhD candidate in urban studies at MIT. He is the illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Gmorning, Gnight! and the author of everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too and the forthcoming Goodbye, Again. He was a writer for the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman.
Bookshop asked Jonny for a list of his favorite books, and this is what he said:
The Book of Delights: Essays
Ross Gay
$24.95 $23.20I have been really enjoying the form of the short essay, and this collection by Ross Gay has a wonderful eye for small, delightful things. He writes about the goal of documenting small delights throughout the year (August 1, 2016 to August 1, 2017—a very tumultuous and terrible year), in a way that is poignant, thoughtful, heartwarming and heartbreaking.
100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater
Sarah Ruhl
$17.00 $15.81This is perhaps my favorite book on theater. It’s a lovely book of short essays and thoughts about theater and art and people and love and time and fate and all sorts of things from the brilliant playwright Sarah Ruhl.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
Samin Nosrat and Wendy Macnaughton
$37.50 $34.88An essential food and cooking book!
Electric Arches
Eve L. Ewing
$16.00 $14.88A perfect, beautiful, imaginative masterwork by the genius Eve Ewing.
Space Struck
Paige Lewis
$16.95 $15.76This book of Paige Lewis’ poems plumbs emotions out of me that I did not know I could feel.
Counting Descent
Clint Smith
$17.00Beautiful and thoughtful and powerful by the genius Clint Smith!
No Matter the Wreckage
Sarah Kay and Sophia Janowitz
$18.00Beautiful and delightful and funny and sad and lovely.
Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings by Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
$24.99 $23.24She perfected the short form work long before Twitter was invented.
Deepest Thoughts: So Deep They Squeak
Jack Handey
$11.99 $11.15He also perfected the short form work long before Twitter was invented.
Bluets
Maggie Nelson
$16.00 $14.88A modern classic. Wise and heartbreaking and honest and haunting.
Poorlier Drawn Lines
Reza Farazmand
$15.00 $13.95Reza’s dry humor and (perfectly) poorly drawn lines delight me.
Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue
Robb Jenny and Bill Watterson
$19.99 $18.59This is Bill Watterson’s writing and reflection on Calvin & Hobbes and is absolutely essential for any Calvin & Hobbes fan, comic fan, and fan of art and humor and the creative process.
You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack
Tom Gauld
$19.95 $18.55Tom’s work is so funny and dry and will make you feel smart of reading it too! It’s so hard to make someone laugh AND feel like a genius at the same time, and Tom Gauld is wonderful at it.
Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration
Meera Lee Patel
$16.00 $14.88Meera’s work is brilliant and full of joy and tenderness, and if you are into journals, this will be perfect for you.
Coyote Doggirl
Lisa Hanawalt
$22.95 $21.34Lisa Hanawalt is the genius behind Tuca & Bertie and the art genius behind BoJack Horseman and Coyote Doggirl is brilliant and fun and sad and magical in all the ways that those show are. It feels like an emotional distillation of Lisa’s work.