Picture of author.

Lucy Knisley

Author of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen

30+ Works 4,484 Members 382 Reviews 5 Favorited

About the Author

Includes the names: Knisley Lucy, Luch Knisley

Series

Works by Lucy Knisley

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen (2013) — Author; Illustrator — 1,054 copies, 95 reviews
French Milk (2007) 709 copies, 72 reviews
Stepping Stones (2020) 493 copies, 23 reviews
Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride (2016) 358 copies, 37 reviews
Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos (2019) 347 copies, 34 reviews
Displacement (2015) 328 copies, 26 reviews
An Age of License (2014) 326 copies, 25 reviews
Apple Crush (2022) 176 copies, 13 reviews
Woe: A Housecat's Story of Despair (2024) 121 copies, 14 reviews
Radiator Days (2008) 79 copies, 5 reviews
Adventure Time: Sugary Shorts Vol. 1 (1) (2013) — Contributor — 66 copies, 1 review
Sugar Shack (2025) — Author — 55 copies, 10 reviews
Ride Beside Me (2024) 28 copies, 2 reviews
Make Yourself Happy (2010) 23 copies
Adventure Time #2 (2012) — Contributor — 18 copies
Here at Hogwarts 14 copies, 1 review
Adventure Time #5 (2012) — Contributor — 13 copies
Heart: Seed Snow Circuit (2006) — Author — 12 copies, 2 reviews
Drawn to You (2009) 10 copies
Salvaged Parts 9 copies
My Addiction 1 copy
Pretty/Nerdy 1 copy
Linney 1 copy

Associated Works

Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure (2016) — Illustrator — 764 copies, 22 reviews
The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to their Younger Selves (2012) — Contributor — 296 copies, 5 reviews
Margaret and the Moon (2017) — Illustrator — 230 copies, 27 reviews
Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists (2011) — Illustrator — 227 copies, 27 reviews
I Saw You...: Comics Inspired by Real-Life Missed Connections (2009) — Contributor — 156 copies, 9 reviews
Oh Joy Sex Toy, Volume 1 (2016) — Contributor — 133 copies, 4 reviews
Girl Comics (2010) — Writer, artist, & letterer — 70 copies, 3 reviews
Femme Magnifique: 50 Magnificent Women who Changed the World (2018) — Contributor — 60 copies, 2 reviews
Love, Penelope (2018) — Illustrator — 34 copies, 4 reviews
Adventure Time with Fionna & Cake Mathematical Edition (2013) — Contributor — 27 copies
Adventure Time with Fionna & Cake #2 (2013) — Illustrator — 5 copies

Tagged

2016 (36) adult (56) autobiography (43) biography (55) biography-memoir (30) Chicago (30) comic (49) comics (222) coming of age (46) cooking (64) divorce (31) family (93) fiction (60) food (165) France (73) graphic (48) graphic memoir (82) graphic novel (649) graphic novels (203) humor (44) library (32) memoir (394) middle grade (29) non-fiction (347) Paris (64) read (86) recipes (38) signed (31) to-read (423) travel (137)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Knisley, Lucy Louise
Birthdate
1985-01-11
Gender
female
Education
Art Institute of Chicago
Center for Cartoon Studies
Short biography
Beginning with an love for Archie comics and Calvin and Hobbes, Lucy Knisley (pronounced "nigh-zlee") has always thought of cartooning as the only profession she is suited for. A New York City kid raised by a family of foodies, Lucy is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago currently pursuing an MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies While completing her BFA at the School of the Art Institute, she was comics editor for the award-winning student publication F News Magazine.

Lucy currently resides in Vermont where she's working on comics among the pines. She likes books, sewing, bicycles, food you can eat with a spoon, manatees, nice pens, costumes, baking and Oscar Wilde. She occasionally has been known to wear amazing hats.

Nationality
USA
Birthplace
New York, New York, USA
Places of residence
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Rhinebeck, New York, USA
Associated Place (for map)
New York, USA

Members

Discussions

Relish: My Life In The Kitchenby LucyKnisley in What Are You Reading Now? (May 2023)

Reviews

416 reviews
Knisley recounts her adventures in birth control, conception, miscarriage, pregnancy, delivery, birth, and the early days of parenting. Her particular experiences are frighteningly common, but largely undiscussed except among closest friends and family. She discovers, like many other adults, how much we don't know about trying to become pregnant and how very much failure is built in, and how very badly the US is doing on almost all fronts (our maternal death rate has been increasing since show more 2000). It's a book both marvelously specific and broadly of interest, where her experiences are exemplars or points of entry into the data, where the pain of loss is contrasted with the joy of anticipation, and none of it looks like the movies.

Highly recommended, because Knisley's books are always entertaining and informative, but also in this case I think forewarned is a good idea. There's a lot of superstition in the practice of medicine, a tremendous amount of "helpful advice" from strangers that isn't helpful and is strange, and so many gaps in the basic science still (how many fertilized embryos fail to implant? the range of estimates is vast, but "whoa, that's a lot!" is probable).

Anyway, I'll be around if anyone wants to swap glad tidings or horror stories in comments.

Library copy
show less
The author of this palatable graphic memoir begins by telling us: "The book you’re reading contains a collection of my favorite stories, crammed with the taste-memories that draw them up through my mind from years ago.”

She writes, “I hope that you find your own appetite piqued….”

Well she couldn’t have been more correct about that!

Knisley was raised by food-oriented parents, who had food-oriented jobs and food-oriented friends, and we get to know about many of them in this show more not-necessarily-in-chronological-order salmagundi of food stories and suggestions.

Knisley clearly loves food, and peppers her account with recipes, colorful pictures of baking, cooking, and eating, and anecdotes about food-related experiences. My favorite chapter has to do with trying to recreate a particularly wonderful croissant she found in a small bakery in Venice:

"The layers were flaky and buttery, concealing the fresh jam in the depths of the thickest part of the crescent, where the pastry was so soft that it nearly disintegrated in my mouth. Unspeakably good.”

After innumerable unsuccessful attempts, she gave up, concluding:

"I suspect that the ingredient I lacked in Chicago was the anticipation and delight of waking on a morning of possibilities, far from home and school, in an ancient, watery city.”

I could so relate to this. I have had so many similar failures of replication, only to conclude that atmosphere and mood play huge roles in taste!

Evaluation: This little volume may never replace Marcel Proust in English departments for a paean to the evocative power of food, but for my money, it’s way more enjoyable. The art work is bright and colorful, and the text even includes restaurant recommendations. Food lovers will savor this mouth-watering tribute to food.
show less
½
Knisley humorously addresses all the Wedding-Industrial Complex challenges my friends have discussed as they plan their weddings: the assumption that you'll diet; pressures from families, wedding planners, and others to care about things you don't care about; societal expectations about what being married means, including what marrying a man means for a bisexual woman... She does a good job, I think, of acknowledging her privileges -- she uses the word "lucky" on almost every other page -- show more while also acknowledging that planning a wedding is damn hard amid the unrealistic expectations our society sets for women. Every friend who got married in the last decade or so may be getting this for the next gift holiday. show less
As someone without kids and generally irritated about the whole hubbub about them, I found this book way more interesting than I thought I would. I always enjoy Lucy Knisley's graphic novels and her clever illustrations always connect with me. I especially enjoyed the historic bits, too, and that made me think of the whole process of reproduction as a different kind of feminine power - like the 1970s hippie lady calling the women goddesses. I'm coming around to the idea and I think this book show more should be required reading for all women. show less

Lists

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Chris Houghton Cover artist, Contributor
Zac Gorman Contributor
Chris Roberson Contributor
Georgia Roberson Contributor
Frank Gibson Cover artist, Contributor
Becky Dreistadt Cover artist, Contributor
Anthony Clark Contributor
Shannon Wheeler Contributor
Aaron Renier Contributor
Jim Rugg Contributor
Shane Houghton Contributor
Michael DeForge Contributor
Zack Giallongo Contributor
Andrew Arnold Contributor
Chris Schweizer Contributor
Jon M. Gibson Contributor
Josh Lesnick Contributor
Braden Lamb Illustrator
Shelli Paroline Illustrator
Mike Holmes Illustrator
Paul Pope Contributor
Colleen AF Venable Cover designer, Designer
John Horstman Afterword
Chris Eliopoulos Contributor
Whitney Cogar Colorist
JAB Cover artist
Emily Carroll Cover artist
James Kochalka Cover artist
Eleanor Davis Cover artist
Dave Cooper Cover artist
Mike Krahulik Cover artist

Statistics

Works
30
Also by
15
Members
4,484
Popularity
#5,588
Rating
3.9
Reviews
382
ISBNs
80
Languages
6
Favorited
5

Charts & Graphs