Each month we ask our staff to share their latest reading recommendations and give us a peek into their reading habits by answering your favorite bookish questions. In April, we hear from Andrew Wang, Junior Designer, Workman Children. Read ahead for Andrew's trusted reading recommendations, his favorite part of the book jacket design process, and more.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
I had a several-year streak of not really reading in college, but one day I came upon glowing reviews of this book online, bought the hardcover because I thought it was prettier, and immediately just kind of got lost in it. It's a historical epic with a tender eye. Gently poetic but also so vast in its ambitions. I was like oh, this is the kind of book I want to read now.
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur
So striking its maybe hard to pin down. Bora Chung's stories are pointedly, observantly specific-about the experiences of a young woman in Korea, daughters, motherhood, our bodies, disabilities, facing change. But they also have the shape of older, deeper folk and fairy tales. It radiates this wondrous, twitchy, furtive energy, just like the titular rabbit on the front cover.
Circe by Madeline Miller
This book is huge, its thousands of years, no "jump cuts." You are a passenger on the river Madeline Miller writes, you are bound to its flow. And yet, my experience of reading this while on vacation with my family, coming back to the hotel room all tired out and picking up the book to continue, I never once felt lost nor bored. She understands the clever toggling from being a witness to a story to feeling like a subject. You're listening in with the Greeks and their gods, standing with Circe on her shore. You're invited to grow with her, not just float by.
What is the weirdest thing you have used as a bookmark?
Once I think I misplaced my bookmark on the subway, so I just walked around carrying the book with my finger jammed in between the pages.
What is your go-to comfort read?
To be honest right now I don't really have one because I'm trying to force myself to read just more books, that are new to me. So I finish a book, it's sitting on my mind, and then I just reach for the next one. So maybe the comforting feeling is knowing you always have another one to go to next?
If you owned a bookstore, what would you call it?
"Tchotchkes" because books are also just fun to collect.
What is the most recent cover you have worked on?
I'm currently working on the cover for a new picture for Algonquin Young Readers called Soy Sauce. It's my first full picture book design project and the authors debut with us! So I'm totally cool, not sweating, no pressure.
What is your favorite part of the cover design process?
With design, illustration and art in general, I love that "Oh-s***!" CLICK moment when you are finally thrilled with how the color, the type, the proportions, the lines are all singing together. Emphasis is on you here. There are so many people who are going to give important feedback and notes to you after anyways. Don't forget, you are out to try and please yourself as well.