"Kitchens of the Great Midwest," by J. Ryan Stradal

Illustration for a review of J. Ryan Stradal's novel "Kitchens of the Great Midwest" for the New York Times Book Review. You can read it here.

Thanks AD Shannon Robertson for the assignment!

"The Animals," by Christian Kiefer

Illustration for "The Animals," by Christian Kiefer. Do you get the classic rock reference?

It's based on the Styx album cover "The Grand Illusion"!

"The Beautiful Unseen," by Kyle Boelte

Illustration for a book review of "The Beautiful Unseen," by Kyle Boelte, a memoir juxtaposing his brother's suicide with reflections on weather patterns and the history San Francisco fog.

"We Are Pirates" by Daniel Handler

Quick little illustration for the Chronicle's book review of "We Are Pirates," by Daniel Handler

"Savage Park," by Amy Fusselman

Illustration for Amy Fusselman's "Savage Park: A Meditation on Play, Space, and Risk for Americans Who Are Nervous, Distracted, and Afraid to Die."

In it she describes Hanegi Playpark (aka "Savage Park") in Japan, where kids are allowed to play with all kinds of dangerous things, including hammers, nails, saws, fire, etc. She uses this as a foil to American's over-protective nature and overall fear to die. From the review by Gayle Brandeis: "She asks us to remember we are going to die; she reminds us to live while we are still alive."

Writers' favorite books

I hope to get a chance this holiday season to enjoy some good books! Here's our Book Review cover for writers' favorite books of 2014. Find out what they are here!

"California," by Edan Lepucki

Illustration for our review, by Sarah Stone, of California by Edan Lepucki. Look, I drew people!

"Your Fathers, Where Are They...," by Dave Eggers

Illustration for our review of Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?, the latest from Dave Eggers, reviewed by Zoe Ferraris. You can read the review here. It's about a man who, in the midst of an existential crisis, kidnaps friends, family, and strangers to question them about why his life has amounted to not very much.

"The Rise & Fall of Great Powers," by Tom Rachman

New one for the Book Review, for our review of "The Rise & Fall of Great Powers," by Tom Rachman, reviewed by Michael David Lukas. Read the review here.

"China Dolls," by Lisa See

Here's a photo illustration I did for our review of China Dolls by Lisa See, reviewed by Carolina de Robertis. The woman in this photo was an actual performed at the Forbidden City nightclub in San Francisco. You can read the review here.

"Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt," by Michael Lewis

Cover illustration for Susan Antilla's review of "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt," by Michael Lewis, a book about high frequency trading, the algorithms behind it, and the people who scramble for faster connections to the stock exchange.You can read the review here.

"Astonish Me," by Maggie Shipstead

 

Illustration for  Rachel Howard's review of Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead.

"Frog Music," by Emma Donoghue

Illustrated map to accompany the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review of Emma Donoghue's "Frog Music," reviewed by Caroline Leavitt. Read it here and view the interactive version here.

"Water 4.0," by David Seldak

 

Illustration for Kelly Galbraith's review of Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World's Most Vital Resource, by David Sedlak, a book examining the complexities of city water systems ("a marvel of engineering," I agree!).

"The Sixth Extinction," by Elizabeth Kolbert

Cover illustration for our review of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert, reviewed by Mary Ellen Hannibal. (Was there some kind of subconscious connection to Silence of the Lambs in this illustration, as my art director pointed out?) Read it here. 

"The Days of Anna Madrigal," by Armistead Maupin

Like all good things, Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series, which originally ran serialized in the Chronicle, must come to an end. Here's my illustration for "The Days of Anna Madrigal," Maupin's last chapter for the residents of Barbary Lane, reviewed by Kevin Smokler. You can read the review here.

Justin Gabbard + "Why I Read," by Wendy Lesser

Justin Gabbard for the SF Chronicle Book Review of "Why I Read," by Wendy Lesser and reviewed by Joan Frank. Read the review here. 

"Uncharted," by Erez Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel

Illustration for Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture, by Erez Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel and reviewed by John Wilwol. The book uses Google's Ngram Viewer (which scours Google Books for a given search term and creates a graph of the frequency of its use over a period of time) to make conclusions and measure human culture. Pretty interesting stuff. Read the review here.

(P.S. Do not confuse this book for the video game of the same name.)

(P.P.S. It's the last book review of the year! Do I get a cookie?)

The Best Books of 2013

As 2013 is drawing to an end, we here at the Books section of the San Francisco Chronicle start to get a little misty-eyed and nostalgic. To comfort ourselves, we've rounded up the best books of the year for your reading pleasure. Read the Top 10 here, and our 100 recommendations here. (Bonus game: this cover illustration was created using letters from top 10 books; can you identify which ones?)

Josh Cochran + Writers' favorite books of 2013

Josh Cochran illustrated the cover of the Book Review for us this week: writers select their favorite books of 2013, including T.C. Boyle, Sandra Cisneros, Mary Roach, Maggie Shipstead, Antoine Wilson, to name a few. Thanks, Josh! Read it here.