Bestselling author-illustrator Lucy Knisley’s forte is the comic-book memoir. So it should come as no surprise that the two titles she published this year were inspired by her life: Ride Beside Me, a picture book celebrating the joys of bicycling, and Woe: A Housecat’s Story of Despair, an homage to her late cat, Linney. Knisley, an avid cyclist, and her husband take their 8-year-old on a bike camping trip every summer, from Evanston to Illinois Beach State Park, a 30-plus-mile ride each way. As for Linney, Knisley notes, “she passed the way I would like to: very peacefully, in her favorite place, with people sobbing uncontrollably at her side.”

Family riders

“I try to build exercise into my day. I take my kid to school or camp year-round with my long-tail cargo bike, which has a seat in the back. When I already have the momentum of being out, I’ll often continue on before starting my workday.”

Life with no gallbladder

“I used to be very healthy. I would swim a mile every day. My diet was very good. But I still developed all these health complications from having preeclampsia during my pregnancy, including cholecystitis, which resulted in an emergency surgery. Long story short, I don’t have a gallbladder anymore, so I don’t eat any deep-fried food, and I take it easy on fats and dairy.”

Satisfying the sweet tooth

“Because I don’t eat breakfast, I usually get snacky around 10. I have a terrible sweet tooth, and I try not to eat as much sugar as I’d like, which would be all sugar, all the time. So I make this date chocolate: I put dates and cocoa in a food processor and add nuts and coconut oil. I eat it right off the spoon, or I’ll shape it into balls and roll them in cocoa powder.”