One Week in January: New Paintings for an Old Diary

In this enchanting debut memoir, Caldecott-winning illustrator and children’s author Ellis (In the Half Room) documents her experiences sharing a Southeast Portland, Ore., warehouse with other up-and-coming artists in 2001. After rediscovering an eight-page “droning catalog of my life at twenty-five, broke and unemployed, on the cusp of the digital age,” Ellis decided to publish it, unedited, with new illustrations. Though the journal highlights some mundane activities, including Ellis’s copious pizza consumption and numbing email maintenance, it also endearingly renders her cohort’s messy interpersonal entanglements, including her romantic longing for her now-husband, Decemberists front man Colin Meloy, who “appear[ed] to be in love with everyone but her.” Ellis’s distinctive, colorful artwork fortifies the meticulous eye for detail also evident in her prose, with striking images of Meloy tuning his guitar and the bar next door to their rented warehouse elevating the material. This snapshot of a struggling artist will captivate restless creatives of all stripes. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.)