Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride

“There’s a difference,” Knisley’s bespectacled self says at the start of this breezy yet substantial graphic memoir, “between being a nerd, a fan, an enthusiast... and being an expert.” By the end of her chirpy story about crafting the perfect ceremony for marrying her fiancé, John, Knisley has gone through all of those stages. She, and in some sense the reader, comes out the other end a near expert in the kind of artisanal, ultra-personalized, not-too-pricey wedding that crafty, non-trust-fund millennials could drown their social media accounts in documenting. Like the almost overwhelmingly twee wedding (a barn raising, handmade wood boxes for the guests, midnight poutine) that she plans, Knisley (Displacement, Relish: My Life in the Kitchen) has a knack for presenting a highly precise type of whimsy that stops just shy of precious overkill. The relentlessly bright tone and artwork power the narrative through its less riveting segments. Agent: Holly Bemiss, Susan Rabiner Literary Agency (May)