The Book I Read 2018

***** = Must read. 
****   = Really good. 
***     = Worth reading. 
**       = A waste of time, but one or two good moments. 
*         = Not worth your time. 
 -0       = Less Than Zero. 

And my first finished book for 2018 is . . . 

1. New Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction  by Kingsley Amis **** This was an interesting book, and it (1) got me interested in several of the writers / works it mentioned and (2) made me want to read more Kingsley Amis. Special bonus prize: Amis made a coupe of references to my old friend Philip Wylie . . . in the context of PW as a science fiction writer, which was kind of funny since that genre constituted a minor part of Wylie's output, but what the hey, right? Kurt Vonnegut's first novel also came in for some praise--and it was definitely of the "interesting newcomer" variety.

2.  Batman: Night of the Monster Men by Steve Orlando and many others. * You can get this from Comixology right now for a mere $4.99 . . . for however long that sale lasts, anyway . . . but I paid $0.00 (got it from the library), and I still feel like I got ripped off. As if my disappointment in the third volume of Detective Comics wasn't enough, in my quest to catch up to the new old numbering scheme I got this (which contains issues 941 and 942, which were not collected in with the other issues), and oh, man, is it bad. I think it's Steve Orlando's fault. He scripted all of the issues (as well as co-plotting them), and it is just awful. The characters all talk as if they have no idea who they are or who anyone else is. And the plot . . . well, it's just hideously stupid, isn't it? And to tell the truth . . . the art mostly sucks, too. Bad, bad, bad. Stay away from this one if you value your eyesight. 

3. Tanar of Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs *** I've got to say, these Pellucidar books continue to impress me. Why the hell aren't they as famous as John Carter of Mars . . . or even Tarzan? They are definitely better written, more exciting, and more innovative. The only "failing" I can discern is that the lead character, David Innes (who is barely even present in this novel, btw) is not anywhere close to being as strong a character as Tarzan or John Carter. Still . . . these are really good books, and I'm enjoying reading them immensely. The next in the series is 1929's Tarzan at the Earth's Core, but as that was also Tarzan Novel #13, which Joe and I read sometime in 2014 (that year's reading list has either disappeared or never existed, alas; it was a bad year, so probably the latter), we're going to go straight on to Pellucidar Novel #5, Back to the Stone Age. Which, by the way, wasn't published until 1937, so an 8 year gap there. I am ready to get to it. (I wonder why no one has tried to make a Pellucidar movie . . . other than that incredibly shitty At the Earth's Core from 1976? It could be amazing.)

4. Myth-ion Improbable by Robert Lynn Asprin *** Well, it's been 34 years since I first happened upon the Myth Adventures universe (courtesy of the Phil Foglio WaRP Graphics series), and I've just now finished my first of the novels . . . which was the 11th novel in the series. Go figure. I kind of just picked it up by accident and wasn't feeling much commitment to it at any point, but the reading was fast and pleasant, and when I finished, my first thought was, "Please, sir, I want some more." And as it happens, I have some more, so I believe that I will now commence to reading the first novel in the series, Another Fine Myth. As to Myth-ion Improbable, it was kind of a fun read. Reminded me a little bit of Terry Pratchett, actually . . . and maybe even a bit of Douglas Adams. And, oddly enough--especially as this was the 11th novel in the series and given the fact that he'd written a dozen or so other books by the time he got to this one--there's a certain awkwardness in the writing, an almost amateurish sheen . . . which really appeals to me. Sometimes you just need a good garage band, you know? One of the things I hate about (modern?) movies is that if you see a cat chasing the light from a laser pointer in the first fifteen minutes, you can bet your ass that at the climax of the plot there is going to be a cat-chasing-laser-pointer-beam solution. So hell yeah, I want me some more of this pie.

5. Myth Adventures Collection: Another Fine Myth by Phil Foglio **** , with inks by Tim Sale (!)--so far as I can discern, this was Tim's first professional work. Pretty cool, that. I'm not sure how many of the 8 issues included herein I'd previously read . . . I recognized the covers of the first few issues, but the story itself didn't ring any bells . . . but I have to say that I was pretty impressed with what Phil Foglio had done here. Especially in terms of his artwork, which was quite innovative. I'd imagine that when I read this the first time around--34 years ago--I was put off by the Big Foot style, but I am at least slightly wiser about such things now, so I could really appreciate what was on the page. I definitely want to finish reading the comics adaptations, which means that I'll have to buy four more issues of Myth Adventures and then 8 issues of Myth Conceptions--looks like no one has ever bothered to collect those issues. What a shame, as this stuff is quite good. Even if I were not (becoming) a fan of the book series, I'd enjoy these comics. Might be time for a Kickstarter campaign, don'tchaknow? Speaking of money, I really lucked out on buying this. It cost me $12 + $3.99 for shipping, but the cheapest one on Amazon now is $25 . . . and it originally went for $39.95. More of the wearing out things that nobody wears, I suppose. (But you care, right?) ANYway, I can get all of the other issues from the My Comic Shop website for $1.70 and issue, so I think I'm going to hie me over there right now while the desire is still fresh and piping hot.

6. Cuba: My Revolution by Inverna Lockoez and Dean Haspiel **** The writing was a tad bit awkward at times, and the story lurched a bit, but there were some truly breathtaking moments here, and the ending was quite poignant. Actually got this for Pat, but don't know if she'll be up for it. I'm pretty sure she's never read a comic book before.

7. Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff ***** Surprised myself a bit there when I went to put up the stars. Because on the one hand . . . especially if you've been following the genesis (and exodus) of this book, it's hard not to smell a little National Enquirer stink on it. But au contraire, I found it to be quite a good read. Eye-opening, even . . . but not in a salacious way. It showed how there were three warring factions in the Trump White House--two of which, Bannon and Priebus, are now gone--and how that contributed to the inability of that White House to function. One of my favorite lines was one in which Steve Bannon was talking about the Trump White House reaction to the Russia Investigation, wherein he said, "They're sitting on a beach trying to stop a Category Five." What a perfect encapsulation of the magnitude of the Russia Thing and the absolute fecklessness of the Trump people.

8. Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar by Daniel B. Klein ***** Man, what a great book. Not so much for the philosophy aspect, though that was okay, but for the jokes. Great jokes. I felt compelled to tell most of them to my friends and family immediately. 

9. Hot Spell by Linda Guss *** I am pretty sure that this is my first Romance Novel ever. And you know what? It was a fun read. I will confess that I only picked it up because I went on a date with the woman who wrote it . . . but it's not a local book. In fact, it's very not local . . . and while it's not exactly a well known tome, it was translated into at least two foreign languages, so that's something. I would definitely read another book by This Writer. And, in fact, have already ordered her other book from Amazon. More news as it happens. 

10. Wandering Jew: The Search for Joseph Roth by Dennis Marks **** Picked this up because of the cover copy--specifically MY SOLITUDE is immense UNBEARABLE. I mean, that's just not the kind of thing I can let pass me by. I'd never heard of Joseph Roth before. But I'm also game for a Trying To Track Down A Lost Author / Manuscript / Ark of the Covenant kind of story, so that pushed me over a bit more. And this led to that and I bought it. Read it immediately. And now I want to read me some Joseph Roth books. Bought one for my Kindle (The Hotel Years) for a buck, so that's where I'll go next, I think. Unless something else calls to me, of course of course.

11. Another Fine Myth by Robert Lynn Asprin *** My second MythAdventures book . . . aka Mythed Again. Yep. It was actually a pretty effortless and fun read. Short chapters. Light reading. Occasionally amusing. And sometimes that's what you need, ennit? I barely paused when I finished this one, going straight into Myth Conceptions. Which is, as you can see, the next novel included in the omnibus edition. I love omnibus editions. Mmm-hmmm.

12. Roughneck by Jeff Lemire **** This is the Jeff Lemire I knew and loved when I first read Essex County.  It's good to see him getting back to his stories--as opposed to the half-assed superhero bullshit he was cranking out after he splashed. Roughneck is the story of a former NHL player who has some anger management problems and a sister who's in bad shape and a bad situation. But, like all good stories, it's about a lot more than that, too. I found it very moving, and a very fast read. In fact, I went to bed with it thinking that I'd just look at a few pages and go to sleep, but I ended up reading the whole thing straight through and going to sleep late. Worth it.

13. Alone by Christophe Chaboute ***** I would have gladly  spent $25 for this book and felt good about it, but thanks to the LFPL, I got to read it for free. I think I was the first person to read it, too. It was pristine. And what a book. Lovely black and white art, kind of Tothian in its use of blacks, but a little more detailed in the parts that weren't black. And the story was very moving. Plus it was set in a lighthouse, and I love lighthouses. What? Oh, yeah. Most of the story occurs inside of a lighthouse. Well, you'll just have to read it and see. But it works. This is a story which becomes more than the story it tells. In a way, it's Waiting for Godot in a lighthouse. With a little more action.

14. Hmmm, I seem to have forgotten Strikeforce: Morituri Volume 1 here. That seems to happen pretty regularly when I do a blog post extolling the virtues of a tome. But it wasn't all that long ago. So here it is: This was a truly superb comic book. Peter Gillis's writing was incredible, way above the curve for even excellent comic book writing. His script had surprising twists at every turn, characterizations that were actually interesting and unique, and I loved this first collection. Oh yeah: *****

15. But when I started the second collection, I was surprised to see that a few issues in Peter Gillis disappeared and James Hudnall took over. And Hudnall's first few issues were just wretched. To make matters worse, Brad Anderson also left the art chores to some serious under-honed fellows. So I was thinking that the dream was over. But I'd bought it, so I figured I might as well see if I could break it, and I kept reading. And I started seeing some signs of life. Not so much in the art, which stayed pretty much the same kind of ugly even though different people took over. But Hudnall's story started showing some nice twists. And by the time I was finished with volume 2, I was enjoying the book again, and ready to hurtle straight into volume 3. Which I will now do. After noting that for me, 2 was a ***** by the end. (Though it hit a * in the transitional period, for sure.)

16. Myth Conceptions by Robert Lynn Asprin *** Another pleasant little romp through Myth Land. Since I'd read the Apple Comics adaptation, which was faithful to the text of the novel, there weren't any surprises for me here, but that did not increase my pleasure at reading it. And you know what? I believe that I will have another one. At this rate, I suppose I shall be buying some more Myth books at some point in the near future. But I'm going to wait until I finish off this omnibus before I go looking for the next one in the series. I've been burned by that "gotta catch 'em all" torch before. But I can imagine myself going through all of the Myth books at some point in the not too distant future. They're fun and take almost no effort to read. Worth your time and money. Especially if you can get them on sale. (At this point I haven't paid more than one dollar a head for any of the novels I've purchased.)

17. Back to the Stone Age by Edgar Rice Burroughs ***  (1/16/18 to 4/16/18) Another ERB winner . . . even though David Innes was barely to be seen this time around. Von Horst filled in nicely for him, though, and I'll miss him if he doesn't show up for the next adventure. Speaking of which, that next book--Land of Terror--will be our 43rd ERB. Mmm-hmm. Getting close to the halfway point.

18. A History of Philosophy Volume I: Greece to Rome
19. A History of Philosophy Volume II: Augustine to Scotus
20. A History of Philosophy Volume III: Ocham to Suarez 
 by Fr. Frederick Copleston, S.J. *****

I just finished Book One, which is an omnibus of the first three volumes of this mammoth work. And realized that I should at minimum get credit for reading three books. So I shoe-horned the deal here. And? I really enjoyed reading this book. These books. It's been something I have wanted to do since I was a teenager, and something I tried a couple of times, but was unable to stick to it. Another triumph for old age. And I headed right into Volume IV (in the Book Two omnibus) when I'd finished One. It's all about the keeping up of the steam.

21. A Bell for Adano by John Hersey ***** I read John Hersey's Hiroshima three times back in the junior high school days. Not by choice, just because successive teachers kept assigning it. But I didn't mind, because it was such an enthralling book. Oddly enough, though, I never looked for any of his other works. But I spotted A Bell for Adano on the spinner rack at Half-Price Books, which put that into my mind, and when I was looking for a downloadable audio book from the LFPL to accompany my exercise sessions, I spotted Adano and went for it. I'm glad that I did. It was a great World War II story. And in addition to being poignant (and not gross), it also contained some excellent bits of humor and even a little romance. Something for everyone.

22. Dungeons and Dragons Classics Volume 3 by Dan Mishkin and Jan Duursama **** Long story, which I intend to write about at length at some point, but for now: yep, I did read a Dungeons and Dragons comic book. I even bought it. And it was most excellent. So much so that . . . 

23. Dungeons and Dragons Volume 1: Shadowplague by John Rogers and Andrea DiVito **** I liked the Dan Mishkin episodes more, but this was still pretty fuckin' good.  And Comixology Unlimited has issues 6 to 15, so ahmo read me some more of this. Might even have to buy a few once I run through the free stuff. I guess that Unlimited Schtick works on some dupes, eh?

24. Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D and D
by David Kushner *** Kind of interesting, but not real interesting. Going to read something else on this topic.

25. Myth Directions by Robert Lynn Asprin *** You know, reading these books is kind of fun. And did I mention effortless? I just knock back a few pages a day, and before I know it I'm finished another one. (This was my 4th.) Only one more novel in this compilation, but I have prepared for The End of the Omnibus by purchasing a two volume edition of Myth-ing Persons (1984) and Little Myth Marker (1985), the fifth and sixth books in the series . . . and I already have M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link (1986), the seventh book in the series . . . so I am pretty well set for awhile. But of course if I happen to seen books eight on sale for a dollar or two . . . .  Anyway, this was the first novel in this omnibus that I hadn't read in comic book form first, and it was enjoyable as a first read first read, but it also made me miss Phil Foglio's version of this MA thing. Come back to the five and dime, Jimmy Foglio, Jimmy Foglio. Please?

26. The Children's Illustrated Bible by Selina Hastings and Eric Thomas (2/17/17 to 5/25/18) Jacqueline and I knocked back another Bible. We are now reading two different ones every night. It gets a little heady.












27. Hmmm. I seem to have forgotten to include Black Hammer: Secret Origins by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston **** . . . which I realized because I just finished 28. Black Hammer Volume 2: The Event ***. I did enjoy both of those volumes, but I don't feel any burning need to read any more of the story. If a volume 3 comes to the library (where I got the first two volumes), I would read it. But I wouldn't buy it, not even on a big sale. Everything in this story is just so derivative of comic books past. Which, I suppose, is part of the point, but it goes beyond homage or reinterpretation or satire (?) or whatever the hell and just becomes plagiarism for me. Case in point, the evil character, Anti-God, is just straight up Darkseid. And I'm really tired of people profiting off of Jack Kirby's shit without giving him any credit . . . or giving his descendants any money. So I love Jeff Lemire (most of the time), but this is not the book for me. Bye bye bye.

28. The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth **** I started this book like a house on 🔥, but for some reason not boredom or dislike or even disatisfaction) I ground to a halt about 100 pages (2/3rds of the way) from the end. But then I hit my last renewal, and then there were only three days left before it was due, so I thought I'd see what I could see. And I just finished it this morning. And it was quite a lovely book. Had a lot to do with Hungary and Jews, so right up my alley there. And I really admired Roth's writing. He was an odd little duck, with occasional flights of poetic fancy which were a little startling and always welcome. I am back to wanting to read more of his work.

29. The Unwritten Deluxe Book 1 by Mike Carey and Peter Gross **** Most excellent book. I've read all of these stories at least one time before, but reading this team's The Highest House made me want to revisit it. Now I'm thinking about making a dash through the whole series. We'll see how that goes. BTW, this collection actually contains the first two TPBs, so it really should count as two books, but since I read it as one I'll only count it as one. Just sayin', sir.

30. Hit or Myth by Robert Lynn Asprin *** And bazinga, just like that I've finished the four novel omnibus I bought just a few months ago. Not great literature, but enough fun that I've already started reading the next novel, Myth-ing Persons. Trying not to buy too far ahead since I have been known to poop out on such excursions, but at the moment this is still fun, so we'll see where it goes and what it do-es. 

31. Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye Volume 1: Going Underground by Jon Rivera, Gerard Way, and Michael Avon Oeming **** Much more fun this time around (for issues 1-4; 5 and 6 were new to me). 

32. Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye Volume 2: Every Me, Every You by Jon Rivera, Gerard Way, and Michael Avon Oeming **** Ready for more.

33. The Spaceship Next Door (Sorrow Falls Book 1) by Gene Doucette ** This book started out really good, then slowed down to pretty good and ended up at kind of good. It did get me to go back for another free trial of Scribd, though, so at least there's that. Thus far I have't been tempted to read the second Sorrow Falls book (The Frequency of Aliens), though, even though it's right there on Scribd. Found other stuff that was more my mettle. 

 34. The Unwritten Volume 3: Dead Man's Knock by Mike Carey and Peter Gross **** Possibly even better than the first two volumes (aka Deluxe Edition Book 1). Onward to Volume 4.

35. The Unwritten Volume 4: Leviathan by Mike Carey and Peter Gross **** Yep. It keeps getting better. Oh, look: is that Volume 5 I see? Though I did have to do a side step into Our Mutual Friend just to see what this Lizzie Hexam is all about. And you know how that goes. Once you start reading a Dickens novel, you really don't want to stop anytime soon. So we'll see where that goes.

36. Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder by Edgar Rice Burroughs. ** One of the few ERB books I've read without Joe. Mostly because I didn't think it would be of any interest to him and for some reason I felt a burning desire to stand next to this fire. It wasn't really very good. Most of the stories were either bland or worse . . . but hey, it's ERB, man. So show a little respect. This was also a pretty pricey book as it was a limited print thing from a very small publisher. Looks like it's already selling for 2X or more than I paid for it on eBay, so maybe . . . . Of course I would need to do a full body scan of it before I let it go, though, and I don't really feel like doing that, so we'll see.

37. The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Truth Behind the Mystique by Lawrence Schiffman **** Very interesting book. Did this "on tape," and the reader was pretty good . . . but inexplicably angry sounding most of the time. Which I liked.

38. The Bandit of Hell's Bend by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** This might be my favorite ERB book ever--even though the e-version I read had almost 100 typographical errors. Literally. (LITERALLY literally.) It was funny as hell, for one thing. But it also had an exciting plot, strong characters, a little romance, some good dialect, and some great one-liners. Like "I wisht he had nine lives like a cat, so’s I could kill him a few more times.” And "You ain’t wuth shootin’, with cartridges the price they be.” Man, I need to read another ERB Western right away. BTW, this was my 47th ERB book. Past the halfway point and then some!




39. Minidoka: 937th Earl of One Mile Series M by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Michael Wm. Kaluta (!) But alas, even though the illustrations were pretty fuckin' great, this book was most definitely a * . Which means nothing if you're an ERB completist, as I am, so there you have it. This is purportedly the oldest extant piece of ERB writing . . . composed in 1903, when he was a mere 28 years old, and a full nine years before he wrote A Princess of Mars. But you know . . . it reads more like something he wrote when he was a teenager. No disrespect intended, as you know I truly love ERB, but this was just plain awful. Silly and preposterous and with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It's also a bit of a rip-off, in that there are only 41 pages of text . . . and they aren't exactly packed with peanuts kinds of pages. It was so bad that after I'd read for awhile I felt compelled to count how many pages I'd read, and was dismayed to find that I was only 6 pages in. I continued to read, but was always VERY AWARE of how many pages were left to go. You know, the way when you're in a theater watching a terrible movie and you keep checking the time to see how much longer you have to go? Yeah, like that. I actually had meant to read War Chief next as I was so taken with my first ERB Western, but when I was making a list of the ERB books I'd read and which ones were yet to go I accidentally numbered Minidoka as number one on the READ list, and I just didn't have it in me to go back and renumber everything once I realized it, so I just got down to it. And now it's done with. My 48th ERB book. And now I think that I shall go on to #49. Mmm-hmmm.

40. Land of Terror by Edgar Rice Burroughs (4/19/18 to 6/23/18) **** Another winner from the Pellucidar series. My only regrets with respect to this series are (1) there's only one book left now and (2) I didn't get the editions with the hot Frazetta covers. Word-wise, though, this has been a superb little journey. I hope that Carson of Venus can take us there as well. (ERB sure did a lot of serieses.)

41. The War Chief by Edgar Rice Burroughs ***** An extraordinary book. So far ahead of its time (it was published in 1927) in  its view if Native Americans that it's ahead of our time 91 years later. I'd planned on reading some ERB science fiction next, but I think I'm going to read Apache Devil, which is the sequel to this book. I am deep in the ERB riptide right now! (And this was ERB #50 for me, btw. Oh...maybe just #49. I seem to have miscounted somewhere along the line. Must recalibrate....)








42. The Greatest Adventure by Bill Willingham and Cezar Razek Well. It should have kicked ass. A comic book mini-series which featured all of ERB's major heroes...and quite a few minor ones as well. Written by Bill "Fables" Willingham. But it was Dynamite, so shit art, of course. And it was just a bit too superficial. Maybe if it'd been 12 issues instad of 9...maybe even more than that. But as is, a ** at best. And probably really less, but I'm quite hot for ERB right now, so....

43. Apache Devil by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** Not quite as good as The War Chief, and a bit slow and repetitious  in the middle, but this was still well worth reading, and it did more or less complete the story. Though there could easily have been a third book. Just sayin', sir. This was ERB #50 for reals, and apparently there's only one more  ERB Western. Sad! He really is superb in this genre. So good that I feel that I must read more Westerns to see if I've been missing out on some good  shit.







44. The Soul of America: The Battle For Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham ***** Very powerful book...and one which, by giving our current predicament some historical context...made me feel a little better about all of the TrumpShit. Clearly the USA has been through this before. Clearly we can fight against it. And clearly we will survive it. Thanks, Jon Meacham. I needed that.

45. The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** Another...and, alas, the final...Western from ERB. This one didn't have the sociological bite of the two Apache novels or the laugh-out-loud humor of Hell's Bend, but it was skillfully written, with a nice reveal at the end, and was non-stop entertaining. I want more ERB Westerns, man. And I want them right quick soon, too.  😢.

46. Tarzan Clans of America Handbook by Edgar Rice Burroughs ** Well...it's not really a book...but it was written by ERB, and it was published on its own 2 feet, so even though it weighed in at a mere 32 pages, I'm putting it on the list. It had som
e entertainment value...mostly it was just mind blowing that ERB actually sat down and decided what games the Tarzan Clans should play. It's  available @ http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0032.html...
and that's where you'll have to read it, I think, as the only copies I saw online (from AbeBooks) were going for $224.25, $290, $350, and $1,794.00. Plus shipping. That's a lot of moolah for a 32 page book that you can read for free.



47. The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This isn't my first Rope All of the Calfs You See Rodeo. So I know what happens. You go through a writer's cannon in some semblance of chronological order...which I think is the perfect way to do it...and then you get to the end and there's a bunch of shit that was published posthumously or not published at all and it's not that you don't want to read it, it's just that you don't want to read it last. I don't think that will happen with ERB, since I have been following series publications, thus have already run the gamut from his earliest to his latter days (Tarzan, for instance, goes from his 3rd published book to the penultimate book published in ERB's name)...but just in case, I decided to go back and pick up The Outlaw of Torn, since I've heard some things that indicate that it might not be top notch work. And from there I think I will bounce around a bit, cleaning up the lesser-known works early and late, and hopefully that will leave me holding some really good stuff for my last reads. Saving the center of the donut, you know? But you know what? Well, long version: https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-passion-of-the-outlaw-of-torn-the.html.  Short version: I loved this book. ****

48. The Efficiency Expert by...yep, you guessed it...Edgar Rice Burroughs **** Another relatively obscure ERB...another relatively early (1919) work...and another great read. Funny, fast-paced, some social satire bite...something for everyone. Also my 54th ERB. But my first one on audiobook. From LibriVox...read by one Delmar H. Dolbier, who did a great job. Look for it! Listen to it!

 49. The Lad and the Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** Another Dark Horse winner. Really caught me by surprise, as I thought it would just be watered-down Tarzan, but it was much more than that. This one was a good adventure story, and of course there was a bit of romance, but there was also some socio-political bite...and a witheringly sarcastic tone emerged at times. Excellent book!

50. Myth-ing Persons by Robert Lynn Asprin *** You'd think that I'd be sick of these books by now...seeing as this was my 6th one...but I suppose you'd be wrong, as I shall be starting my 7th next time I head for the bathroom. They're really not very good books...but for some reason I feel drawn to them. Perhsps I'll get over it before I run out if books. Time will tell. 

51. Beyond Thirty by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** Another "minor" ERB work, another excellent read for moi. This beat goes on. 56th ERB, btw.

52. The Man-Eater by Edgar Rice Burroughs -0 Wow. That was, without a doubt / no contest, not only the worst ERB book I've read to date, but one of the worst books I've ever read. Horrid and unrelenting racism, a plot that relied on impossible coincidence upon impossible coincidence, and a love story that made no sense whatsoever. The only good thing about reading this story was that now there's no chance that it will be the last Burroughs story that I read. And I am very grateful for that, believe you me.

53. The Cave Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** Ah, THAT's more like it. Back to that fun, exciting, not-hateful ERB. And a nice twist on this one: the scrawny intellectual turns into a jungle man. Worked for me. I wasn't sure if this counted as a separate book (since there is also The Cave Man, and Wikipedia told me that that was the second part of The Novel), but it was pretty long and I saw quite a few printings of it that separated the two, so I decided to count them as separate novels. Speaking of those quite a few printings, by the way, there were lots of most excellent covers on these books, but this one was my favorite. It is so fucking hokey...so completely NOT what I would think of as an accurate depiction of a Cave Girl and her Cave People (and Cave Dog)...I just loved it. Oh...ERB 58, man.) Prolly should just gonna go ahead and read The Cave Man next, though...don'tchathink?

54. Notre-Dame  de Paris by Victor Hugo began May 18, 2017, finished July 14, 2018. Alas, not my cup of tea, so  **...but not sorry to have read it. And hey, it only took a little over a year to read it...in one page per night, four nights a week increments...which is a LOT faster than Les Miserables. Next up? A Wrinkle in Time.

55. The Cave Man by Edgar Ruce Burroughs *** Not as charming as the first book, but not a bad read, either. ERB 59!

56. Beware! / The Scientist's Revolt by Edgar Rice Burroughs. * Some really substandard fare here, for sure. The first is kinda sorta a noir mystery, but it is as clunky as a pair of tennis shoes in the dryer. It reminded me of those terrible "puzzle" stories that were printed in Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder. The second story is actually just a revamp of Beware!, and so far as I can discern the revamp wasn't even done by Burroughs. It primarily consists of minor changes to make the story science fiction--a gun becomes a needle gun, a car becomes a flying car, that kind of shit. A slightly interesting change was taking the rather silly secret panel shit and making it into a matter transmitter thingie. Still...just not worth the price of admission. And keep in mind that I got it for free. So caveat emptor. ERB 60...and once again, I am grateful that this was not my last taste of Burroughs.

57. The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs *** Reminded me of Jack London. That's about the highest compliment that can part my lips with respect to writing. Makes me wish that Burroughs had gone flat out on writing a boxing novel, though. It woulda bin uh conTENduh.

58. Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey *** Yes, my love for ERB's Westerns did rope me (ba-bump!) into reading another Dirt Opera. And since I knew this title and the name of this writer...and since it was Philip Jose Farmer approved...I went for it. And for the first 7/8ths of the book I was Very Pleased. So pleased that I checked the sequel out from the library. The reSTOREd,  unexpurgated version of the sequel, yet. But then I hit that last 1/8th...and oh,🚹. I will never read that sequel, you can bet on that. And probably won't feel the need to read another Zane Grey book ever. Sigh. It could have been beautiful.




59. The Return of the Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs *** Not as good as the first book in the trilogy, but still pretty okay. Not Jack London-ville, though.

60.  Scales and Scoundrels Volume 1: Into the Dragon's Maw by Sebastian Girner and Galaad *** I was so taken by the look of the art on this book that I almost bought an issue off of the stands, then remembered that I was watching my budget's girlish figure and checked to see if the LFPL had anything for me. They did. And it was okay...even kind of pretty good...but I'm really glad that I didn't buy it, and volume 1 was all of this I needed. It's just the same old shit in brand new drag. Not even brand new drag, actually. So bye bye.

 

61.  The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs * Oh, Jim, how could you treat me this way? Ah hey hey, how'd you treat me this way? This was just bad. Whilst reading it I also delved back into Tarzan Forever (which I'm on a very slow burn read with) and therein read that this sequel sequel was actually rejected by the magazine editor who published the first two "novels" in the trilogy, and that ERB himself thought it was pretty bad. He was right. Again...so glad that this wasn't my last new ERB read. And it was ERB 63, by the way. Only 18 (-ish) to go. [The number wobbles a little. For one thing, I'm reading the final Pellucidar book with Joe, so I've actually got 18 1/2 to go on that count. But also I haven't figured out how to count at least one book: The Moon Maid. Is it a single book? Is it a two-book series? Is it a trilogy? It's been published in all three formats...plus as installments in magazines. So....]

62. The Girl From Farris's by Edgar Rice Burroughs ***, but it started out at ****. Unfortunately, ERB pushed the coincidence angle so hard that the story began to dissolve beneath it. A shame, because it was quite a good read until about the 2/3rds mark. Still had some good stuff, including a few zinger lines, but it could have been so much better with just a little better planning.

63. The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs ** Not abominably bad...but pretty bad with a few moments of good. Made me wonder though...how rough were ERB's first manuscripts before an editor git his mitts on them? Hmmm. Or maybe thus was just an "off day." At any rate...

64. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford **** This was a "been meaning to" book for a long time...since my friend Jim recommended it to me. I finally ended up doing an audiobook version, and it was well worth the journey. The plot was inconsequential, but the attitude and tone were just spot on. Going to have to look for some more of those FmF fellow, I think.

65.  Tarzan / Carson of Venus by Darko Macan and Igor Kordey *** Joe and I are just about a month away from finishing up the Pellucidar series, whereupon we will immediately take up with Carson of Venus, so I was pretty jazzed about reading this comic book. Alas, it wasn't up to my expectations tea-wise. The art was okay...kind of on the ugly side, but occasionally evoking a hint of Corben, which is always a good thing. The story had some good lines here and there, but the plot was just shit. Too contrived, also too inconsequential. Both Tarzan and Carson deserved much better. Might have to read the Len Wein / Michael Wm Kaluta Carson I found online to get the taste of this one out of my mouth. Speaking of which...I just saw a note that some comic book company will be bringing out a collected edition of that Carson, woo hoo. And only a month or so after I Tweeted about just that. Coincidence...or something else?

66. Beyond the Farthest Star by Edgar Rice Burroughs. **** A nice surprise. I wasn't expecting much out of this one...as it was one of the last ERB books published, as only half of it had been published while ERB was alive, and as I had not heard anything about it...but it was quite delightful. There were a few clunky plot moments, but I barely noticed them because this book was just so good. ERB had buildings on elevator shafts...way before Evangelion, of course, though for all I know this was a common science fiction trope in the early days (part one was published in 1941)...and a very Orwellian take on one of the governments represented in the part that was found in a desk drawer and published and part two (not until the 60s, so Orwell didn't peek). It also ended on an open note, so obviously there was more to come had ERB lived to put it down. Oh, this was also my 66th ERB book. And my 66th book this year. Coincidence...or something else?

Oh, I also read this in Real Book format, which was quite nice after spending so much time with ERB ebooks. For one thing, there wasn't a single fuckin' typo. Oh, for the good old days, when proofreaders were human and actually gave a shit and caught typographical errors. I think I'll just go and read another real book before I get back to those e-versions...which are a necessary evil, as money is a consideration here, alas.

 

67. I Am a Barbarian by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** And not only good...and not only my 67th ERB book...but quite topical as well. Details to follow on that, but for now I'll just say that this was a most excellent book, and quite unlike any other ERB book I've read (so far, ha ha). Misleading cover, though. But you can't blame ERB for that...it wasn't published until a decade and a half after his death.






68. The Girl From Hollywood by Edgar Rice Burroughs ** This one had some moments, and it certainly was interesting...and seemed daring...that ERB would be writing about whores and drug addiction...but once again the over-reliance on unbelievable coincidence just crushed this novel. I wouldn't put this one on my Recommended Reading List for anyone but a fellow OCD Burroughs enthusiast, I'm sorry to say. Especially so as ERB seemed to think that this book was going to be his ticket out of the jungle and off of Mars.









69. The Rider by Edgar Rice Burroughs * Wow. Just wow. Again with the fucked up overuse of coincidence, but added to that are stupid characters, stupid plot, and really bad writing. I felt like I was back in high school reading a 9th grader's idea of a short story. An untalented 9th grader's idea of a short story. There were times when the writing was so bad that I had to go back to decipher a sentence...and that was exacerbated by the absolutely deplorable proofreading. I am glad that I didn't succumb to my desire to read ERB in book form and buy this thing...I had it in my cart and was just about ready to click. But I think this is it for me and the cheap omnibus ebooks. It is just too irritating to try to steer a course around the potholes. I'd rather pay a few bucks for a better edition or even put down the dollars for a book book. Except in this case. Hmmm. That would be scanned. This was my 69th ERB book, btw. Al...most...there....

70. Jungle Girl (The Land of the Hidden Men) by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much out of this one, and one of the reasons I read it next was because I am trying to avoid ending my ERB run on a mediocre or even bad note. But this was good stuff. Also pretty long--I would have guessed it to be the longest ERB novel of them all, but according to Tarzan Forever that honor belongs to Marcia of the Doorstep. Anyway...this was a bit of a variation on the old Jungle Man / Girl thing. This time the jungle was in Cambodia, and it was more the story of two ancient societies engaged in internecine war. And this time around ERB did not rely on stupendous coincidences to make the story come out, which was quite refreshing. Good stuff indeed. And my 28th ERB this year, 70th of all time. Woo hoo.

71. Little Myth Marker by Robert Lynn Asprin **, maybe ***  Well...there goes the parallel # of books I've read this year / # of Edgar Rice Burroughs books I've read tracking...but that was bound to go in the near future anyway, right? You know why? Because I only have 13 1/2 ERB books left to read! Big woo hoo. ANYway...this was my 7th Myth book, which is pretty incredible as well. I mean...it's not like I'm really trying here, you know? In fact, I will even confess (whilst blushing) that most of my Myth reading is during Toilet Time. I kind of save them for that. And yet, seven novels later.... I can't really say that they are good. The writing is clunky and even amateurish at times, as I've said before. The characters are not well-developed. So what is it? I think that in part it is the clunkiness of it all which is attractive. I mean, if this motherfucker was able to pump out all of these books, then maybe I should keep on trying, you know? But part of it is something else, obviously, and I think that that may be that Asprin is pretty good at creating plots. Not in terms of subtlety or any of that. I can usually see the surprises coming a few miles off. But just in terms of taking us through a story, not repeating the same old schticks every time. Yeah, I think that might be it. I'll let you know at some point later on if I get more clarity on this. Meanwhile...

Ready for love, oh, baby, I'm ready for love.

72. Carson of Venus by Len Wein and Michael Kaluta ***** Lovely, lovely stuff. Read all about it: https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2018/08/as-for-this-carson-of-venusthis-so.html

73. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ** Interesting and horrifying subject, but I think Jon Krakauer is a bad writer. So full of himself, so anxious to inject his own story into the story of poor Chris McCandless. And, even worse, so anxious to mock his subject. For fuck's sake. One of the many things I found unforgivable was when he talked about how in his original story he had reported that McCandless's inability to know that something he ate was poisonous led to his death, and how other writers then wrote about that, and that he later decided that that wasn't true. So he was berating other writers for accepting his premise...and, of course, let himself off the hook completely. It was those other writers who made the lie true, after all. Fuuuuuck. I will do my best to avoid reading any other books by Jon Krakauer.

Holy shit--I finished reading four different books today. Let it be known: August 11, 2018 is hereby declared a Four Book Day. 





And furthermore...


As I have noted previously, I have not had a good experience with the e-books of Edgar Rice Burroughs books. On the plus side, they were cheap and allowed me to read quite a few books--The Bandit of Hell's Bend, The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County, The Mucker, The Return of the Mucker, The Oakdale Affair, Beyond Thirty, The Man-Eater, Jungle Girl, The Monster Men, The Cave Girl, The Cave Man, The Lad and the Lion, The Girl From Farris's, The Girl From Hollywood, The Outlaw of Torn, The Rider, The Tarzan Twins, Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins With Had-Bal-Ja The Golden Lion, and the short story "The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw" (a total of 18 novels and a short story)--for a total price of $8.91. And some of those books are really hard to find...and even expensive. So there's that, and I'm grateful that I was able to go at it that way. But the texts themselves were so riddled with errors that it was sometimes like a translation job to read them. (Also as previously mentioned, I actually marked over 100 errors in one of those novels.) So as I got towards the end of the ERB oeuvre, I started looking online to see if I could maybe just buy some cheap paperbacks. And I started scouring both Half-Price Books locations to see if I could turn up anything there. But I didn't have much luck, and I was reading those books at a pretty ferocious rate, and all of a sudden I only had a dozen books to go, and I already had most of them in paperback. In fact, the only book I would have to resort to eversion for was The Eternal Lover (aka The Eternal Savage). Which is kindasorta a sequel to The Mad King. But as I started TMK, I hit the wall. I just could not read the sequel ("sequel") on ebook. Enter Better World Books. I ordered The Eternal Savage 
(and, while I was there, M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action--total cost: $8.48). So no more e-Burroughs for me...unless it's for a re-read, and I doubt very much that that will happen.

74. The Outsider by Stephen King **** Not the best King novel I've ever read, but it was very good...and even though it was a pretty big book (560 pages) I packed it away at a pretty ferocious rate. Had to, as it was a 7-Day book, but it was not a strain at all. It also made me interested in the character of Holly Gibney. She seemed very autistic-y. I think I'm going to need to read The Bill Hodges Trilogy to catch up with her. (I watched several episodes of the TB version of Mr. Mercedes--and enjoyed it immensely, but then dropped AT&T and couldn't finish it--but I don't remember seeing her character. Hoping the public library gets it, but it's not there yet. But hey, if they have True Blood, surely they'll spring for Mr. Mercedes, right? 

75. A History of Philosophy Volume IV: Descartes to Leibniz
76. A History of Philosophy Volume V: Hobbes to Hume
77. A History of Philosophy Volume VI:
Wolff to Kant by Frederick Copletson, S.J. *****
Onward to the third omnibus.

78. The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs ** Another of those books where the plot relies on preposterously unbelievable coincidences--lots and lots of them. A shame as the Barney Custer (of Beatrice) character is kind of engaging. But this novel just doesn't work. And it's long. I guess I'll go read the "sequel" now. Sigh. At least there's some Tarzan-y stuff in it...though I'm not clear as to whether or not Tarzan actually shows up. More news as it happens.

79. St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell *** I really really wanted to like this book A LOT. And I did like some things about it. Very inventive story premises. The fact that Karen Russell just dropped you into situations without explaining them. Why is father a minotaur? Because he is. Where did these werewolf girls come from? The forest. That kind of thing. I like that a lot. I have always wondered why comic book shows and movies feel the need to start with origin stories. Just tell the fuckin' story, man. We'll catch up. ANYway. What I didn't like was that the stories just didn't fit together in any way...except that they were all about weird stuff. And that kind of got old. I would rather have had a series of weird novels that a series of weird, disconnected short stories. And a small thing that was a big deal to me: in at least two stories (maybe more--I'm not always the most attentive reader) Karen Russell seemed to go out of her way to make fun of special needs people. That's kind of a deal breaker for me. So...good effort, but not quite my cup of tea. I might could be interested in looking at something else from Ms. Russell, though. At least she's interesting enough to know who St. Lucy is.

80. The Eternal Savage by Edgar Rice Burroughs...also known as The Eternal Lover, btw. Alas, despite the very exciting (and very brief) appearance of Tarzan, this was not a good book. Partially because it was the same old same old, partially because--as is always the case in the worst works of ERB--of the over reliance on coincidence. At any rate...my 72nd ERB book. And now there are only 1/4 of a Pellucidar, 5 Carson of Venuses, 3 Land That Time Forgots, and 3 Moon Maids...so only 11 1/4th to go. Yowza. The end is nigh.

81. The Transfiguration of Miss Philura by Florence Morse Kingsley *** Picked this up from the Rutland Pubic Library for a buck. It was an interesting read about a woman who goes to a lecture which changes her attitude towards God and the nature of reality, which then changes her lived live substantially. Short and sweet...and published in 1901! You can't get that just anywhere.

82.  The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman *** Pretty good...but not the nest Gaiman I've ever read. I did this on audiobook, and it was read by Neil Gaiman...which was cool, but he is such a nice guy, and that comes through in his voice, that it didn't really work when things got grim. It was like Mister Rogers reading Edgar Allan Poe. This was one of #1Son Jimmy's favorites, though, so I faked an orgasm.

83. Tarzan Forever by John Taliaferro *** A pretty interesting biography of ERB, and it gave me the titles of a number of unpublished works, which was one of the things I was looking for...but, like Lupoff in his book, Taliaferro seems determined to insult Burroughs at every possible turn. So fuck him, man. Sooner or later I'm going to find a biography of ERB that pleases me. And I'm not looking for obsequious colloquy, I hasten to add...I'm fine with seeing the warts. I just don't see why it's necessary to be disrespectful and insulting. Just the facts, ma'am.

84. Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter (2/12/17 to ????) (re-started 8/7/17 finished 9/1/18) I don't feel that I deserve credit for reading this, as Joe read most of it out loud to me...and despite my most sincere efforts to attend, I have to confess that I missed at least 80% of it. 

85. The Moon Maid by Edgar Rice Burroughs *** Some interesting things going on in this one. For one, the idea that the hero is reincarnated a number of times. Kind of anticipated Mishima on that one, didn't he? Anyway...looking forward to reading the other two books in this trilogy. Which I shall commence to do right quick.

86. The Moon Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** An interesting sequel, for sure. This was much starker than the first book. Actually reminded me of 1984 quite a bit...though I must note that ERB preceded Orwell on this.

86. Savage Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs (6/24/18 to 9/16/18) **** Sorry to see this series end...even though this last installment was the weakest of them. But even at that, there were touches of humor, some exciting stuff, and a surprise or two. I think (at least for now--maybe some future re-readings will change it?) that this was my favorite ERB series. Too bad that they've never made a movie series. It could be most excellent. Better than that Jurassic Park bullshit, for sure.

87. The Red Hawk by Edgar Rice Burroughs **** The last of The Moon Trilogy, and another good read. I've seen where a reader or two has said that they thought that this was Burroughs's best series, and I'm kind of thinking that that might be right...though I was awfully fond of Pellucidar, too. But this was very good stuff. I'm sorry to say that it looks like this is it for my solo Burroughs readings, though, as the only books left to me are the Carson of Venus Quintet and the Caspak Trilogy, which I told Joe we'd read together. And we've already started on the first Venus book. I might could take a run through the Caspak Trilogy, though. I'd be willing to re-read it. But that just makes the end loom nearer. Sigh. 

88. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser *** I've been meaning to read some Theodore Dreiser for a long time...about 38 years, actually, dating from the time I first read of him in my American Literature class. Sorry to say that it was anti-climatic. There were some good moments, some good lines, but the plot was just so weak that even I had to notice it. It just seemed to roll around like bbs on the floor of a car moving down the highway. Not in a good way. So I think that that's probably all the Dreiser I need. Sorry, Ted.

89. M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link by Robert Lynn Asprin *** My 8th Myth books. As I say every time, these books are just pretty much effortless...but they're not all that good, either. Apparently good enough to keep me opening up the next one, though, as I just pulled Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections off of my bookshelf.  What is it about these books? I don't know. I just don't know.

90. Classic Bible Stories: A Family Treasury by Lise Caldwell ***
Finished 10/1/18. Forgot to record when we started, but it's been a few months, for sure.










91. Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassidy. ***, and even **** at times. I'm not a big Warren Ellis fan. In fact, most of the time I am either unsatisfied by his work or actually dislike it. His propensity to use graphic violence, horrific images, all of that...seems unnecessary to me. So I don't know why I picked up this 800+ pages omnibus when I saw it at the library. And it sat on my shelf for some time before I finally picked it up. But once I started reading it, I did find it interesting. And the art is quite good. So I kept on. Just finished it a minute ago. I'm glad that I didn't pay for it, and I'll never read it again...but there were some good moments in there, for sure. The collection included three crossover issues, and two of them were really stupid and useless. The third, with Batman, was interesting and a little funny, even, but all in all the story would have been better if these issues had just been left out. Just sayin', sir.

92. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engel 7/15/18 to 10/6/18) ** Pretty disappointing book for me, really. I have no desire to read any more of the books in this series, that's for sure. One of the things that really killed it for me was the stupid names thing--Mrs. Whatsit and The It and all of that The Shit. I know it's for children, but jeez, that doesn't mean it has to be childish, does it? None of the best children's stories are childish, that's for sure. I am really baffled as to why people think this is such a classic now that I've read it. Hell, I think the movie might have actually been better than the book...and after having re-watched that recently, I can attest to the fact that that is not saying much.

93. Shipwreck by Warren Ellis and Phil Hester ** Meh. I've been impressed by some of AfterShock Comics books...especially Lost City Explorers...but this one just didn't work for me. Confusing story, ugly art. Glad I didn't pay for it. Thanks again, LFPL.

94. Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections (1987) by Robert Lynn Asprin *** Was it my imagination, or was this one just a smidgeon better than the previous books? I don't know, but even though I was still aware of Mr. Asprin's faults as a writer, I did enjoy this one...and am ready for the next one. Which I have already purchased, come to think of it. Mmm-hmm. This was my 9th Myth book, man. How did that happen?

95. Pirates of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs 9/17/18 to 11/10/18 ***** One of my favorite ERB books so far...and there isn't very far left to go (7 unread books, all of which I plan to read with Joe.) Carson is just a regular guy who is heading for Mars and fucks up and ends up on Venus. No superhero, no powers. I like that. And ERB's writing is more supple here...he's not afraid to lighten the mood with some humor--which, BTW, has become my favorite aspect of his writing. Not something I saw coming at all, but ERB is a funny motherfucker, man! Looking forward to Lost on Venus...which Joe and I will be starting in on tonight. 

And also BTW...this was my 35th Edgar Rice Burroughs book this year. And that doesn't include the biography or the comic book adaptations I read. Woo-hoo.

96. Atlantis Found by Clive Cussler ** My last Clive Cussler book. Here's why: https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2018/11/old-clive.html 

97. Love from the Shadows by Gilbert Hernandez *** Well, it is Gilbert Hernandez...and kinda sorta Palomar(-ish)...but I was pretty disappointed in this book, to tell the truth. It seemed disconnected and unnecessarily disrupted. You know, the way that people do when they want a story to seem more complex than it actually is. Which is not something I'd accuse Gilbert(o) of...because I love him so dearly...but it sure was like something like that. It did make me want to go back and re-read the Palomar stories, though, so at least there was that. I also happened to see that Comixology Unlimited has six volumes of Palomar-is Things (1,400 pages!), so I might could sign up for a month or so of CU. Mmm-hmm. 

98. DK Classics: The Nutcracker by James Mayhew, based on Ernst Hoffman's text (10/7/18 to 11/22/18)

A surprisingly violent and weird "children's story." You know how those German folks are, though. This version had some interesting sidebars...historical stuff, cultural tidbits. Nicely illustrated, too.

99. M.Y.T.H. Inc. in Action by Robert Asprin ** My 10th. 9th in the series, but I didn't start with #1 way back when. Which was, by the way and hard to believe, earlier this year. Anyway, this was an Inc. book, which means it was not narrated by Skeeve. (This was the second book of that ilk.) Which was okay. This time around instead of the rotating narrator approach, Asprin went for Guido...or possibly Nunzio, I can't remember and there doesn't seem to be any difference between them. Which was kind of tiresome, as Asprin thinks that the key to the mob bodyguard bit is to drop malapropisms on a regular basis. Kind of interesting was the fact that Sleeve himself didn't show up until the last few pages, which has never happened before. (He was busy doing the stuff that was set down in the book which came out before this one.) So, you know. Onward to #11 / 10. Oh, yeah...this was also my first Starblaze / Donning Myth book. These editions are nicer than trade paperbacks in a couple of ways: they're bigger and they have illustrations, which I always appreciate. Well, which I usually appreciate. Because the illustrations (by Phil Foglio, who I sometimes love) just weren't so great. And there were at least a half-dozen proofreading errors in the text, which always bugs the shit out of me. (For fuck's sake, care about your work, y'know?) So I won't be seeking out any further Starblaze editions. Not that I really sought this one out--it was just the cheapest version of the book that I could find. So there's that.



100. Elevation by Stephen King. **** This was a really superb story. It's presented as a book, which irked me a bit, but only in a theoretical way, as I obtained it from the Louisville Free Public Library for...well, like the name says. It isn't horror at all. I suppose you could put it into the "fantasy" genre if you had to make a choice, but that would be a bad choice...like putting 100 Years of Solitude into the Fantasy ghetto. It's a pretty quick read. I started last night and finished it up early this morning. The audiobook version has a running time of 3 hours and 46 minutes, which sounds more or less right. Hmm. I usually don't read that much in such a short amount of time, but I did find this book pretty compelling. ANYway, I wouldn't pay $19.95 (list price) or even $12.49 (Amazon price) or even $9.99 (Kindle price) for it, but it was most definitely worth reading. Might even read it again before my 7 Day Loan expires. Mmm-hmm.

101. Moby Dick (Great Illustrated Classics) adapted by Shirley Bogart  from 9/9/18 to 12/6/18) *** 

102. Lord of Snow and Shadows by Sarah Ash **** I found this book by chance. Actually I found Book 2 of the trilogy (The Tears of Artamon) at Half-Price Books. It was sitting on top of the shelf in the science fiction and fantasy section, and the cover art caught my eye, so I picked it up. Read a few pages and thought it was interesting. Saw that it was Book 2, so looked to see if they had Book 1. They didn't. Thought it over, put it back on the shelf. But when I got home I looked it up on the LFPL website, and saw that they did, indeed, have Book 1, noted that it was at the Crescent Hill Branch, so the next day I hied me up to yon branch and picked it up. Stalled after a few days and thought about quitting it, but went back and got caught up in it and finished it pretty quickly after that. Of course the library had the third book of the trilogy but not the second, because that's the way that shit goes. But the Book Gods smiled upon me, and not only did I find a copy of Book 2 at the other Half-Price Books...but I found a hardback...in the bargain section. Long odds on that, but I won't even try to convince you that it's as strange as it seems to be to me. I will probably hop right on to that second book tonight, though, as I have a fever, and the only prescription is more Tears of Artamon.

103. Leo the Magnificat by Ann Matthews Martin and Emily Arnold McCully (12/16/18 to 12/21/18) *** 














104. Sweet Myth-Tery of Life by Robert Asprin *** Y'know. Quick read. Some good moments. No great ones. Finished it more quickly than usual when I realized that this was my 11th of the original 12 book cycle, and that I had time to polish off the 12th one before the end of the year if I got down to it. I know, I know. But what the fuck, it's not like I was going to win the Nobel Prize or anything, right? And it makes me happy, so I just decided to nerd on

105. Something M.Y.T.H.-Inc. by Robert Asprin ** Yeah...not with a bang, but a whimper. As in this was the 12th Myth book, and the end of the first "cycle." And as in it was the weakest of all of the books in my opinion. For one thing, there were several pages of material that was verbatim the same material that appeared in the 10th book...to which it is the immediate sequel / the other side of the story. And if you see the problem there, then yep, that's another one. But as to the verbatim thing.... I actually started thinking something was wrong with my brain when I started reading and KNEW that I had read the material before...but I hadn't. Then it occurred to me to look back to Book 10, and a little bit of paging through showed me that, yes, there were pages of dialogue which were identical in both books. That's just not a good thing, you know? So for a while I was thinking about just carrying on into the second 12 novel cycle--all of which were either co-written by Jody Lynn Nye or, after Robert Asprin died in 2008, written by her alone. But this one left such a bad taste in my mouth...and the fact that the 13th book is not to be found on the cheap...have convinced me that this is a good time to call it quits. So long, Robert Asprin. Thanks for the fish. 

106. When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest and P.J. Lynch ***** A beautiful book with lovely illustrations. 

And then...I finished the third A History of Philosophy Omnibus, so:
107. A History of Philosophy Volume VII: Fichte to Nietzsche
108. Volume VIII: Bentham to Russell
109. Volume IX: Maine de Biran to Sartre
by Fr. Frederick Copleston, S.J. ***** And it was good. Rail good.




110. Christ in Shakespeare: Ten Addresses on Moral and Spiritual Elements in Some of the Greater Plays
by Rev. George Herbert Morrison **** I don't remember where or when I picked up this little beauty from 1928, but I found it to be very insightful--mostly in terms of commentary on some of Shakespeare's plays, as the Christ In portion of the festivities was pretty much a big stretch. It would be more accurate to have called this "Morality in Shakespeare," but of course that doesn't have the same ring, does it? Anyway...I decided on the day before New Year's Eve that I was going to make this book--which I'd just been nibbling on, but it was going well and rapidly, too--my last book of 2018. So I did.















So, among other things, I read...

35 (and 2/3rds) Edgar Rice Burroughs books this year
and 3 books related to ERB

12 MythAdventures books
and 1 related...well, really 2--comic book adaptations, but the second story cycle was never actually collected into book form


and 

9 volumes of A History of Philosophy 

Not too fuckin' shabby.



Now reading:

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward 

Lord of Snow and Shadows by Sarah Ash

Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan Volume I  by Irwin Porges

Don Quixote 

Quicksilver

Forges of Mars Omnibus by Graham McNeill

Neuromancer by William Gibson




The DK Illustrated Family Bible  by Claude-Bernard Costecalde





Lost on Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs (11/11/18 to )

Your Every Day Read and Pray Bible for Kids by Janice Emmerson (can't remember our start day, but Day 30 was on 11/24/18, and we have about 16 reading days per month to 

New Catholic Picture Bible by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik (10/9/17 11/24/18 to )

The other day a friend asked me how many hours a day I spent reading. I wasn't sure, but I guessed that it was probably about an hour. Friend expressed surprise, as he thought that I managed to put away quite a few books. Which got me thinking. So I thought I'd track it for a few days and see what it looked like. So forthwith, here's

A Day Week in My Reading Life


Wednesday, November 28th, 2018

4:54 to 5:30am Lord of Snow and Shadows (36)

7:02 to 7:08 am M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (6)

8:23 to 8:28 am M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (11)

9:15 to 10:33 am How Music Works (audiobook, whilst walking) (78)

12:06 to 12:25 pm A History of Philosophy (19)

1:51 to 2:07 pm Lord of Snow and Shadows (16)    

5:28 to 5:38 pm M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (10)

7:30 to 8:27 pm Lord of Snow and Shadows (57)  

11:27 to 11:34pm and 11:44 to 11:54 Lord of Snow and Shadows (17) 

(Total 250m = 4 hrs 10m)

So...quite a bit more than an hour today, but this was not a typical day for three reasons: (1) I took a long walk and listened to an audiobook for an extended period of time, (2) I was not feeling well after 5 pm and had to lay down, and (3) the kids weren't home. Oh, and (4) I was going to go out, but my group was cancelled at the last minute. Let's see how it goes tomorrow.


Thursday, November 29th, 2018

7:38 to 7:45am M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (7)

9:21 to 9:27am (6), 12:32 to 12:44pm (12), 1:18 to 1:23pm (5), 1:23 to 1:36pm (13) A History of Philosophy (36)

5:51 to 6:01 pm (10) and 8:16 to 8:28pm (12) Lord of Snow and Shadows (22)

8:05 to 8:10pm Bible (to Jacqueline) (5)

9:20 to 9:35pm GIC Moby Dick (Joe to me) and Lost on Venus (me to Joe). (15) 

10:56 to 11:09pm Lord of Snow and Shadows (13)

(98m total = 1 hr 38 m)


Friday, November 30th, 2018

5:18 to 5:55am Lord of Snow and Shadows (37)

8:15 to 8:22am M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (7)

9:20 to 9:23 History of Philosophy (23)

8:05 to 8:10pm Bible (to Jacqueline) (5)    

9:06 to 9:08pm GIC Moby Dick (Joe to me) (2)

9:09 to 9:18 pm Lost on Venus (me to Joe). (9) (83)

10:56 to 11:06pm Lord of Snow and Shadows (10)

(93m total = 1hr 33m)


Saturday, December 1st, 2018

4:55 to 5:38am Lord of Snow and Shadows (43)

12:09 to12:37pm History of Philosophy (28)

1:30 to 1:35pm Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence (5)   (76m)

8:54 to 9:21pm (27) and 9:42 to 9:52pm (10) pm Lord of Snow and Shadows 

(113m total = 1 hr 53m)


Sunday, December 2nd

3:38 to 4:22am Lord of Snow and Shadows (44)

7:10 to 7:19 M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (9)

1:17 to 1:41 A History of Philosophy (24)

3:33 to 3:43 M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (10)

8:23 to 8:32 The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 (9) 8:40 to 8:43 (3)

8:05 to 8:10pm Bibles (to Jacqueline) (5)

9:05 to 9:07pm GIC Moby Dick (Joe to me) and 9:07 to 9:20 Lost on Venus (me to Joe) (15) 

11:07 to 11:33pm Lord of Snow and Shadows (26)

(145m total = 2 hrs 25m)


Monday, December 3rd

2:00 to 2:20am, 4:55 to 5:17am Lord of Snow and Shadows (42)

7:42 to 7:54am and 7:55 to 8:02am M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (19)

8:55 to 8:56 and 9:22 to 10:00am Lord of Snow and Shadows (39)

9:36 to 10:50am M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (14)

2:50 to 3:00pm Get Your War On (10)

7:23 to 7:36, 7:40 to 7:47, 7:53 to 7:59pm A History of Philosophy (26)

8:07 to 8:11pm Bibles (to Jacqueline) (4) 
.

9:07 to 9:09 GIC Moby Dick (Joe to me) and 9:09 to 9:20pm Lost on Venus (me to Joe) (13) 

167m

10:46 to 11:26pm Elevation (40)

(207m total = 3 hrs 27m)


Tuesday, December 4th

5:17 to 6:20am Elevation (63m)

6:34 to 6:40am Sweet Myth-Tery of Life (6)

7:41 to 7:55am (14) and 8:53 to 9:07 (14) and 9:32 to 9:38am (6) Elevation (= 34)

9:50 to 10:28am How Music Works (38)

12:21 to 12:39pm A History of Philosophy (18)

12:46 to 1:53pm Sweet Myth-Tery of Life (7)

2:44 to 2:54pm How Music Works (10)

(176m  total = 2 hrs 56m)

And it's a wrap. Because it was kind of fun in an anal retentive, OCD way, but it also go a bit old, for sure. And our survey says...

1,082 reading minutes in that week, which = 18 hours and 2 minutes, which = an average of 154 1/2 minutes (or 2hrs 34+ minutes) reading per day. Which is kind of a lot. On the other hand, some of my reading is done via audio-book while I am doing something else. And some of my reading is done when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep right away. Aw, fuck it, I read about 2 1/2 hours a day, and that's fine with me. Except that I'd like to read a bit more.

Here's a list of the stuff I was reading on that week:


1. Lord of Snow and Shadows 
2. M.Y.T.H.-Inc. in Action (finished)
3. How Music Works (audio-book)
4. A History of Philosophy
5. Every Day Bible (to Jacqueline)
6. Catholic Bible (to Jacqueline)
7. GIC Moby Dick (Joe to me)
8. Lost in Venus (to Joe)
9. Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence
10. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
11. Get Your War On (comic strips)
12. Elevation (finished)
13. Sweet Myth-Tery of Life