**** = Really good.
*** = Worth reading.
** = A waste of time, but one or two good moments.
* = Not worth your time.
-0 = Less Than Zero
What will be my first book of 2020? Very exciting! For me, of course, I doubt that anybody else gives a fuck. But right now I am reading...
1. Fernand Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century Volume I: The Structures of Everyday Life...only 40 pages to go on that one.
2. Earthworms Through the Ages: The Wisdom of Alexander Bottsby William Hazlett Upson. Only about halfway through this one, but it is such a fast read that I could finish it up pretty much anytime.
3. Foundation's Triumph by David Brin. Got a long way to go on it, and it's not that great, so it definitely will not be my first book of 2020.
4. The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart. Very interesting stuff, but I kind of stalled out after forty pages, so even though I intend to get back to it, there's no way this will be the first of 2020 either.
5. Your Every Day Read and Pray Bible for Kids by Janice Emmerson which I've been reading with Jacqueline. Same for
6. The DK Illustrated Family Bible by Claude-Bernard Costecalde and
7. Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl by Daniel Pinkwater. And then with Joe I'm reading
8. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Great Illustrated Classics) by Jules Verne, adapted by Howard J. Schwach...well, actually he's reading that one to me. And I'm reading
9. The Moon Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs to him. Oh, I am also reading
10. The Story of My Tits by Jennifer Hayden, which is a superb graphic novel.
I've also got a finger into a few other book pies, but nothing very serious. Though of course that's always subject to change. So I'm sure it that my first book of 2020 will be one of these ten. And probably either #1, #2, or #10. Place your bets!
1. And the winner is...The Story of My Tits by Jennifer Hayden. And it was a definite *****. In fact, I'm thinking that I'd like to buy copies of this book for both of my sisters, my friendgirl, both of my ex-wives (even the one who hates my guts), two or three former girlfriends, my daughter, and maybe a couple of others as well. Lest you get the wromg idea from allathat, I hasten to add that guys should read it, too, but I only have one guy friend I see on a regular basis, and I'm sure he wouldn't read a "comic book." Maybe my sons would. This thing has it all, though. It is funny at times, wise at other times, and sad when necessary. It made me laugh and it made me cry. It made me think and it made me remember and it made me long for love. I want to read more of Jennifer Hayden's stuff, for sure. Details as they happen.
2. That was then (1/4/2020) and this is now (1/5/2020): My second book of 2020 was Fernand Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century: Volume 1: The Structures of Everyday Life. 623 pages of whoopass history which I highly recommend. In fact, tomorrow I'll be starting Volume 2: The Wheels of Commerce. Which definitely won't be my third book of the year. But as for this Volume 1...I checked this out because of Neal Stephenson's glowing comments about it, and because I happened upon copies of the first two volumes at Goodwill for a buck apiece, and I have been rewarded lavishly for my perseverance in reading it. History is not my favorite topic (ironic in that I have now read thousands of pages of history in my Daily Devotional Reading program). Braudel takes it down to the micro level regularly, and learning how important bread was in the 15th century...and how fuckin' expensive it was!...was actually fascinating to me. Learning that Shake-speare never used a fork, ate chocolate, drank tea, or wore underwear was like watching a fireworks display. I really can't say enough about this book...though I did take a stab at it HERE if you want some more details. Try it, you'll like it. You probably won't find Volume 1 for a buck...that was just an act of God...but Amazon has a copy in good condition for $5.35 + $3.99 shipping, which ain't bad. It's guaranteed to give you a good month's worth of thought-provoking reading. That's more bang for your buck than you'll get from Clive Cussler.
3. And bada bing, bada bay, it's still 1/5/2020, and I've finished my third book of the year, Earthworms Through the Ages: The Wisdom of Alexander Botts by William Hazlett Upson...which was most definitely a **** book. So much so that I would like to read more in this series...but that's not likely, as they are not readily available and when available are more costly than I care to deal with right now. I happened upon this book by accident--spotted the title in the clearance section and thought, "I'd like to know more about earthworms"--mostly because I started to read a book Darwin had written on the topic but pooped out before I got very far into it. And when I saw that it was actually about a salesman for the Earthworm Tractor Company, it was too late, because I'd already been taken in by Upson's wit. This was such an amusing book. Not laugh out loud, but maybe even better, in that the amusement never really stopped from one page to another. No mean feat, I'd say.
4. The Moon Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs (11/25/19 to 1/17/20) This is the 51st ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe.
5. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters by Mike Grell *** Well, I waited 33 years to finish reading this series...and it totally wasn't worth it. I love Mike Grell, but this is just not very good work. The art often suffers from Grell's worst fault: he often draws body parts out of proportion. He is especially prone to giving characters very large heads. And the writing.... It's just painful at times. Cliche and trite, typical comic book stuff. And how dare he sexualize the abuse of women? (He goes way out of his way to make sure that the tied up and beaten Black Canary is sexy...nipple peaks, butt cheeks, allathat.) I'm sorry to have read this, actually. It's going to take me awhile to get my love for Mike Grell back.
6. Mike Grell: Life Is Drawing Without an Eraser by Dewey Cassell and Jeff Messer *** I'd been looking forward to reading this since I read about it in Previews, but I didn't buy it until I had an Amazon Gift Certificate in hand. And? It was interesting, and there was some nice Grell artwork, for sure. But It was really just a series of short interviews, and that felt a little disjointed and superficial. So...not sorry I read it, not sorry I bought it, but glad that I didn't pay for it. (Anybody want to buy a gently used copy?)
7. Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl *** by Daniel Pinkwater (10/20/19 to 2/3/20) Amusing, but not as amusing as the book before it, which was not as amusing as the first book. That said, we're now going to read the fourth book, Bushman Lives! Here's hoping.
8. Mars: Stories by Asja Bakić **** One of the most interesting books I've read in a very long time. I wish that Asja Bakić had written more stuff, because I would really like to dive into her, but so far as I know she only has one other book...a collection of poems...and it doesn't seem to exist in the English language universe (she's Bosnian). But I will be keeping my eye out for her, for sure.
9. Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century: Volume 2: The Wheels of Commerce by Fernand Braudel ***** Great stuff. I'm heading straight into Volume 3. BTW, Books 7 - 9 here were all finished on the same day: February 3, 2020. Woot!
10. Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger ***** It's funny. But not ha ha funny. I read all four of Salinger's books repeatedly when I was young, and I've continued to love him ever since...and hunted down his 22 uncollected stories (I have xeroxes of most of them, although I have to admit that I haven't seen those copies in some time) and waited with great anticipation for the publication of the "new" stuff...but I haven't actually read any of his works in a long time. But I had this cool early edition of Nine Stories sitting on my self
and it started calling to me, so I decided to use it as my Going To Sleep and Waking Up In The Middle of the Night book. But I have other books that call to me during those times, too, so progress was herky jerky. You know what, though? Even though it's been several decades since I read them, they all seemed pretty familiar to me, at least in terms of the broad strokes. I have to admit that they weren't as good as I'd remembered them being...in fact, they were a little clunky, really...but that didn't stop me from enjoying them immensely. One thing hit me about 7/9ths of the way through, though: most of these stories are really just conversations with a little bit of description here and there. I mean, seriously. Here, let's take a look:
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish": Muriel talks to her mom on the phone, then Seymour talks to Sybil on the beach.
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut": Mary Jane talks to Eloise
"Just Before the War With the Eskimos": girl talks to her friend, then to her friend's brother
"The Laughing Man": pretty much the exception here, though The Chief talking to the kids is the main part of the story. Still, not a dialogue, for sure.
"Down at the Dinghy": The maids talk to each other, then Boo Boo talks to her son.
"For Esme - With Love and Squalor": Esme talks to the soldier, then the two soldiers talk to each other.
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes": Guy talks to "his friend" on the phone.
"De-Daumier Smith's Blue Period": Another exception, as this is mostly monologue.
"Teddy": Reporter talks to Teddy.
Not that that is a bad thing. In fact, I find that when I write, that's where most of my attention goes as well, so I'm definitely not throwing stones. But it makes me think about authorial intentions. Doesn't reliance on dialogue essentially say that character is what you care about, not plot? Not setting? (Maybe) not theme or symbol or any fancy schmancy stuff? Revelation of character. And revelation of character is catalyzed by dialogue in a way that monologue cannot achieve...because no matter how self-aware a character is, no one can be as self-aware or as fully self-aware solo as s/he can be whilst interacting with another person. Or volleyball, at least.
And THAT makes me think about the theater. Isn't the theater the perfect place to open up to and focus on dialogue? And yet I have no great love for the theater.
Hmmpf. Think I'm going to read some more Salinger.
Meanwhile...
10. Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger ***** It's funny. But not ha ha funny. I read all four of Salinger's books repeatedly when I was young, and I've continued to love him ever since...and hunted down his 22 uncollected stories (I have xeroxes of most of them, although I have to admit that I haven't seen those copies in some time) and waited with great anticipation for the publication of the "new" stuff...but I haven't actually read any of his works in a long time. But I had this cool early edition of Nine Stories sitting on my self
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish": Muriel talks to her mom on the phone, then Seymour talks to Sybil on the beach.
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut": Mary Jane talks to Eloise
"Just Before the War With the Eskimos": girl talks to her friend, then to her friend's brother
"The Laughing Man": pretty much the exception here, though The Chief talking to the kids is the main part of the story. Still, not a dialogue, for sure.
"Down at the Dinghy": The maids talk to each other, then Boo Boo talks to her son.
"For Esme - With Love and Squalor": Esme talks to the soldier, then the two soldiers talk to each other.
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes": Guy talks to "his friend" on the phone.
"De-Daumier Smith's Blue Period": Another exception, as this is mostly monologue.
"Teddy": Reporter talks to Teddy.
Not that that is a bad thing. In fact, I find that when I write, that's where most of my attention goes as well, so I'm definitely not throwing stones. But it makes me think about authorial intentions. Doesn't reliance on dialogue essentially say that character is what you care about, not plot? Not setting? (Maybe) not theme or symbol or any fancy schmancy stuff? Revelation of character. And revelation of character is catalyzed by dialogue in a way that monologue cannot achieve...because no matter how self-aware a character is, no one can be as self-aware or as fully self-aware solo as s/he can be whilst interacting with another person. Or volleyball, at least.
And THAT makes me think about the theater. Isn't the theater the perfect place to open up to and focus on dialogue? And yet I have no great love for the theater.
Hmmpf. Think I'm going to read some more Salinger.
Meanwhile...
Sorry.
11. Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp by Józef Czapski ***** This book was so beautiful that I called my friend Craig and asked him to give me back my copy of Swann's Way (which I had lent him about a year ago, and which I am absolutely sure he had never started and would never read) so that I could have another run at Remembrance of Things Past. I thought about just buying another copy, but my second ex-wife and I read that book together, marked things that we liked, allathat, and I really wanted that to be part of my experience when I reread it. I miss those moments with her. (I do not miss her anymore, though. So none of that.) Lost Time is such a work of hope and affirmation. I mean...these guys are WWII prisoners in a Soviet camp where they're treated like shit, and they get together to talk about Proust? That really is what it is all about, for sure. In this world, we either establish our own beachhead and hold our ground until the bombs (inevitably) fall or we're just fucking ground to pieces. Even if you have no interest in reading Proust, this book is mos def for you. And it's short, too. Like maybe 60 pages or something like that. And they're small pages, too. So you should really give it a try.
12. Pablo (Art Masters Series) by Clément Oubrerie and Julie Birmant **** I wanted to read this the first time I saw it on the shelf at Half-Price Books, but it was too expensive and unavailable at the library, so I had to let it ride. And then one day it ended up in the budget pile for a few bucks...either two or three. So of course I got it. Took a while to read...for one thing, because it's 337 story pages long...but it was well worth it. In fact, I felt myself possessed of a fierce desire to see some Picasso work (only managed to find two sketches at The Speed Museum, but did a lot of online gandering) and to know more about him (had reserved season two of Genius at the LFPL, but had a falling out with them from which I might not be able to recover, so I cancelled all of my holds). ANYway...this book did a great job of telling Picasso's story from his early days up until the time when he was just on the cusp of fame. It also did a good job of showing how important Fernande Olivier was to him and his art. In fact, I think anyone reading this would have to conclude that without her, he wouldn't have become "Picasso."
13. The Red Hawk by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1/19/20 to 2/24/20) This was the 52nd ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. It's also the last book of The Moon Trilogy...which was quite an interesting thing, really. For one thing, the span of it: 400 years. For another, the idea of reincarnation is kind of cool. I actually wish there were a few more Moon books. And there might be at least one--pretty sure I saw a Moon book in The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs series, which I am actually kind of sort of interested in...if I can find them for less than the list price of $20 a pop.
P.S. Good news and better news. Swords Against the Moon Men is indeed the 6th in The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs series...and though it lists at $35 in hardback and $20 in paperback, it's only $6 on Kindle. And Even Better News: if you join Kindle Unlimited, you can read this--and at least most, if not all, of the other WAoERB novels for free...and Kindle Unlimited membership only costs $10 a month. And last but not least, Even Better Better News: they give you a 30 day free trial to start you off...and if I time it right, I could probably knock back the entire WAoERB books in a month. I mean, there are only 9 of them, after all. And I'm not a slow reader. We'll see how it goes. Details as they happen, sports fans.
14. Gears of War Omnibus Volume 1 by by Joshua Ortega, Simon Bisley, and Liam Sharp *** and sometimes ****. Yep, surprised the hell out of me, too. I'm not sure why I checked out this weighty tome (318 pages)...maybe it was a little Warhammer 40,000 flashback thing going on...but it was quite good. The delineation of characters, the moments in between fighting giant ugly monsters, the sometimes astonishing art by Simon Bisley and Liam Sharp (I have long been a fan of Mr. Sharp's work)...yep. I actually want to read more of this. Who'd have thunk it? And one of the issues here --Gears of War #7 - The Quickening released by DC Comics on June 1, 2009 -- was SO good that I'm going to see if I can find a print copy of it to send to my oldest son...who rarely reads comic books, but would be much more likely to read a print version than an e-version. News as it happens. Meanwhile, I'm going to be needing to read some of this series myself, so I'll see if I can do some of that.
15. Since the Alice in Bibleland books by Alice Joyce Davidson are so short, I am going to count all 28 of them as one book. So...
The Story of Creation 1/13/20
The Story of Noah 1/16/20
The Story of the Tower of Babel 1/17/20
The Story of Isaac and Rebeckah 1/19/20
The Story of Joseph and His Rainbow Coat 1/20/20
The Story of Baby Moses 1/23/20
The Story of Exodus 1/25/20
The Story of Joshua 1/26/20
The Story of Ruth and Naomi 1/27/20
The Story of Samson 1/30/20
The Twenty-Third Psalm 1/31/20
The Story of David and Goliath 2/2/20
The Story of Daniel and the Lions 2/3/20
The Story of Esther 2/6/20
The Story of Jonah 2/8/20
Psalms and Proverbs 2/9/20
Prayers and Graces 2/10/20
The Story of Baby Jesus 2/13/20
The Story of Jesus and His Disciples 2/14/20
The Lord's Prayer 2/16/20
The Story of Jesus and the Blind Man 2/17/20
The Story of the Loaves and Fishes 2/20/20
The Story of the Lost Sheep 2/22/20
The Story of the Prodigal Son 2/23/20
The Story of the Good Samaritan 2/24/20
The Story of Zacchaeus 2/27/20
The Story of Easter 2/28/20
The Story of Paul 3/1/20
16. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles ***** I really loved this book. Towles is such a witty writer, for one thing. For another, the story of Count Rostov's confinement to his small room in the Metropol hotel touched on many of the things that preoccupy me: the significance of the material, the insignificance of the world, etc. Funny, I was asking two friends if they had heard of this book, and both of them said that they had started but not finished it. One of them expressed serious dislike for it. I am often baffled at how things which seem so wonderful to me are regarded as worthless--even as wastes of time--to people who are near and dear to me. I wonder why that is. I guess beauty isn't truth after all. Or maybe it's truth that isn't beauty. Or maybe I just have a bee in my hand.
17. Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century: Volume 3: The Perspective of the World by Fernand Braudel **** Pretty great stuff. So great that I decided to continue on with more Fernand Braudel...The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II Volume I.
18. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Great Illustrated Classics) by Jules Verne, adapted by Howard J. Schwach. (December 8, 2019 to March 15, 2020.) This is the 18th book Joe read to me.
19. Foundation's Triumph by David Brin * Seriously, don't bother. https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/03/foundations-harumph.html
20. The Expanse: Origins by Hallie Lambert, Georgia Lee, and Huang Danlan *** Not the best comic book ever, but it had some moments...especially if you're a big fan of The Expanse. This book consists of a series of vignettes about the main characters before they ended up on the ice-hauler. The art was a bit barren, but certainly functional...and the characters actually looked like the characters, which is no mean feat. Yeah. I liked it.
21. The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (2/27/20 to 4/6/20) This was the 53rd ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe.
22. William Gibson's Archangel by (big surprise) William Gibson...with Butch Guice and Tom Palmer. *** This was actually pretty good, but for some reason it took me a few months to get through it. Butch Guice has been popping up a bit for me lately, and I've been impressed with his work every time I bump into it. Funny--I still think of him as a "New Guy"--probably because I was with him from the start of his career (those Micronauts days, man....)
23. Berezina Vol. 1: The Fire
and
24. Berezina Vol. 2: The Ashes by Frédéric Richaud and Ivan Gil **** Both of which were available for free via ComiXology. I thought this was a truly superb bit of work...excellent artwork, intriguing story based on Napoleon's invasion of Russia. I also found out that this series was based on a trilogy written by Patrick Rambaud which I'd like to have a look at. The only bad news: the final volume in the comic book series isn't available for free. So is it worth $5.99 to me? I'm pretty sure that it is...but of course I have to think about that for a little while. Sheesh.
25. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (Audiobook) *** This book had some moments, but if it'd been my first Amor Towles book, I doubt that I would have looked for a second one. Which would have been a shame, since I really loved A Gentleman in Moscow. This just never caught my interest, though.
26. Which reminds me, I seem to have forgotten to include Blood Brothers, which I finished some time ago. It was good. Oh--Audiobook: Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X by Johnny Smith and Randy Roberts. Which was probably a ***, although it kind of annoyed me as well. It made me like Muhammed Ali less than I did before. It seemed pretty obvious that he left Malcolm X out to dry...which pretty much directly led to Malcolm's death. Of course he was pretty young at the time and has since expressed his regret for how he acted, but still....
27. Apeirogon: a Novel by Colum McCann ** I'm sorry to say. Because I love Colum McCann. But this novel was so fractious. So fractured. And I just have to ask...what business does an Irish writer have writing from an Israeli / Palestinian point of view? That seems a bit presumptuous to me. I'm also sorry to say that it's been a few years since I enjoyed a Colum McCann book, actually, and maybe it's time for me to move on. I don't like the feeling of frustration that reading the past three of his books has brought me.
28. The Floating Opera by John Barth *** Barth's first book. Now I'm hankering to read his second.
29. Foundation by Isaac Asimov **** Still works for me. https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-book-i-read-isaac-asimovs-foundation.html
30. Bushman Lives! by Daniel Pinkwater (2/3/20 to 5/12/20) **** Excellent book! Best of the series--so far. I just found out that another book, Adventures of a Dwergish Girl--which seems to be a retitling of the previously announced Escape to Dwerg Mountain, which was supposed to come out after The Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl, but Something Happened--is coming out in September, so here's to that.
31. The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (4/9/20 to 5/12/20) *** This was the 54th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. This is probably ERB's weakest series...but it still has its moments.
32. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork ***** My #1Son recommended this to me, so yesterday I started reading the Amazon preview, then found it online and just finished reading it a few minutes ago. It was superb. Francisco X. Stork clearly knows and understands autistic people...which is not a feeling I have ever had before whilst reading a novel or story featuring an autistic person. I really truly did not want this book to end...and I would most certainly like to have a sequel.
33. Bitter Dumplings by Jeanne M. Lee ***** (5/14/20 to 5/17/20) Not the first time I've read this to Jacqueline, but you know, it still gets me. Powerful story.
34. The End of the Road by John Barth * And you know...this might be the end of John Barth for me. This book seemed okay for the first half or so...maybe even the first three-quarters...but then the serious woman hate began. Character punches his wife in the jaw. Twice. Lead character punches a woman he's picked up in the jaw. Then they have sex. Woman dies from a botched abortion. And the events of the book...especially from that 1/2-3/4ths point--were so unlikely. If this was supposed to be a parody or satire, then it failed. It's just a poorly-written, mean-spirited novel. Going to have to think hard about whether I want to spend any more time with this motherfucker.
35. When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest (5/18/20 to 5/23/20) ***** Powerful little book...and superb art by P. J. Lynch. This is one of Jacqueline's favorites--so much so that "Jessie" has travelled with us to New York City on more than one occasion.
36. The Legend of the Easter Egg by Lori Walburg (5/24/20 to 5/25/20) *** Sweet story.
37. The Song of Mu Lan by Jeanne M. Lee (5/28/20 to 5/29/2020) *** I liked Bitter Dumplings so much that I went looking for another book by her...and found this one. And since Jacqueline and I really like Mu Lan...at least the Disney version...I thought it would be a perfect read. And? It wasn't as good as Bitter Dumplings, but it was worth doing.
38. Better than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie Trapped Like a Rat in Mr. Bill's Neighborhood by Hunter S. Thompson, read by Scott Sowers **** It's been awhile since I "read" (audiobook) Hunter S. Thompson. Now I think I might read some more. He's too much sometimes, but man, this book made me laugh out loud at least a half-dozen times. He brings the goods.
39. 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, so...yep. That. Finished on 5/30/2020.)
40. Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen and Robyn Officer. Began 5/29/2020, finished 5/31/20. Weird story about a bug, a mole, and a fairy king who want to marry a tiny little girl. Was all of this stuff in the original version? Seems kind of perverse to me.
41. 42. Finished The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II Volume II...and which point I realized that I'd never written down that I'd finished The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II Volume I. (41) So now it's mentioned.
43. The Devils of Cardona by Matthew Carr **** Superb novel centered around the plight of the Moriscos in 16th century Spain...and a nice complement to The Mediterranean etc. I think I'll look for some more of Mr. Carr's stuff...though it looks like he primarily focuses on non-fiction.
44. Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs *** (5/14/20 to 6/12/2020) This was the 55th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. It was okay...but the Caspak series is definitely not up there with the major series. The big concept is just too fucking goofy, for one thing. And the propensity for marrying cave girls is just a little disturbing.
45. The Bridge: How the Roeblings Connected Brooklyn to New York by Peter Tomasi and Sara DuVall **** This was a really interesting history of the Brooklyn Bridge, full of vivid moments of pain, suffering, romance, and triumph. It made me so interested in the BB that I watched the Ken Burns documentary, and am now thinking about reading David McCullough's book about it. The art was a little too simplistic to be my cup of tea, but it was okay.
46. The Call of the Wild (Great Illustrated Classics)
by Jack London, adapted by Mitsu Yamamoto (March 16, 2020 to 6/16, 2020.) This is the 19th book Joe read to me. It was okay. Not as good as the real thing, of course...and the drawings, from the Pablo Marcos studio, were quite bad. The dogs all looked like they had human faces. Not in a good way.
47. The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones. I'm wavering between * and **, to be honest. Some of this was so awful that it made me never want to read Thom Jones again. But the last story brought a little something different to the table. (Same table, though.) I had planned on running the Thom Jones oeuvre, but having finished the first of his four books, I'm no longer sure that that is something I want to do--which probably says it all, doesn't it? Details as they happen.
48. The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Nancy Willard, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. *** (6/30 to 7/1/2020) An interesting variation on the old tale, but I bought this (for Jacqueline) because the artwork is by Leo and Diane Dillon, who are AWEsome.
49. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World of Philip II Volume III by Fernand Braudel. *** or https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-mediterranean-and-mediterranean.html
50. Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips, Volume 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly **** These are the earliest strips, so Walt Kelly was still figuring things out, but most of it was quite good. In fact, even the strips from the earlier The New York Star strips were good...and seemed pretty solid in terms of the cosmology. I enjoyed them and the dailies immensely. Unfortunately, the Sunday strips were not so good. They had a totally different feel...leaning more to immature humor. I wonder if that is what the Dell Comic Book Pogo stuff was like? I would guess so...and now I'm glad that I didn't succumb to my infatuation with this book and buy the first volume of the collected comic book. I'm still anxious to read volume 2...which I have, lucky me...and I'm hoping that the Sunday strips will have improved by then. After that, I know I can get volumes 3 and 4 from the library if I'm still in the mood, but after that, I don't think the other 8 volumes are available anywhere without paying a pretty hefty price for them. Well...maybe I'll have moved on to something else by then, right?
51. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes ***** Been quite awhile since I read this one...but it really holds up. A most excellent story.
52. Convergence (2015) by Jeff King and Carlo Pagulayan. ** Well...this was a long slog for me. Sloppy writing, same old story you've seen so many times before. I'm not sure why I even stuck with it over 260+ pages. But at least it was a "free" read (on ComiXology). And there were a few glimpses of my boy Kamandi. (Literally glimpses...a couple of panels and one alternate cover. He was not part of the story in any way.) Funny that this was my 52nd book of the year, though, ennit?
53. Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov **** Funny, because I don't really remember remember this book (it's been about 45 years since I first read it), but I occasionally think, "Oh, he ____," and it turns out to be so. Memory is a funny thing. I really enjoyed this novel. Starting on Second Foundation tomorrow.
54. Now that you mention it, I haven't read that many comic book collections this year. But I just finished Atomic Robo and The Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne: Volume 1 (Written by Brian Clevinger, Art by Scott Wegener, Colored by Ronda Pattison, and
Lettered by Jeff Powell), which is the first collection of that series (and available for free reading if you have signed up for ComiXology Unlimited, which I heartily encourage you to do--it's a great deal), and I thought it was quite *** and maybe even ****. For one thing, I like the look of this book. Which is why I listed all of the artists. The pencils and inks by Scott Wegener are pretty simple, but in a way that is very clear and pleasing to the eye. It also leaves plenty of space for the lovely coloring by Ronda Pattison, and man, does that stuff look good on my Kindle Fire. There's one panel where the good guy fires a gun at a bad guy, and the flame is just lovely looking. Ahem. Even the lettering is eye-catching...especially on the cover what with the logo and stuff. So all in all not only a good read, but one that makes me want more. And fortunately there's a whole lot more...and it looks like somewhere between most to all of it is going to be free via CU. Thank you, CU! I'll be back.
55. This Happened In My Presence: Moriscos, Old Christians, and the Spanish Inquisition in the Town of Deza, 1569-1611, edited by Patrick J. O'Banion ***** And yes, today (July 17, 2020) I did finish another of my Daily Devotional Reading books...and about a week before I was "scheduled" to do so. I couldn't help it, though. I found this book way too fascinating to confine myself to ten pages per day. More about that HERE.
56. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (From 6/1/2020 to 7/17/2020) ***** Oh, man, this book was so great! I think I'm going to have to go back and read my annotated edition of this in the near future, just to make sure I get every drop of milk out of this cow. And tomorrow we start The Willows in Winter. Not by Kenneth Grahame, unfortunately, but my hopes are high anyway.
57. The Beginner's Bible For Toddlers by Carolyn Nabors Baker and Cindy Helms, illustrated by Danny Brooks Dalby (6/8/2020 to 7/20/20) I don't really need to add another Bible to my daily reading program, since I already read from two different ones for Jacqueline, but I started thinking that Joe should be on the program as well, so I asked Jacqueline if I could borrow one of hers and this is the one she was willing to part with. Obviously it's too simple for Joe, but you know, that's kind of okay. It means that he gets all of it, understands the story, and that it reads quickly. And when we finish this one, maybe we'll move up to another level. P.S. And now that we've finished...onward to the real thing!
58. The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs (6/13/20 to 7/21/2020) This was the 56th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. Also the first book we've read together on Kindle, since it's one of the few ERB books that I don't have in print. Funny...this is definitely not first rate Burroughs...probably not even second rate...possibly not third rate. But it was still a good read, and I find myself looking forward to the second book in the series: The Return of the Mucker. Which just so happens to be the book I start reading to Joe tomorrow.
59. The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates by Des Ekin ** This was my 25th Daily Devotional Reading Book. It was a fast read (7 days), and on a topic that interested me reference one of my favorite places on Earth--Baltimore, Ireland. But the writer was not good. He spent way too much time in supposition, his style was way too florid at times, and he seemed to have absolutely no respect for the suffering of people, making repeated references to how the slavery inflicted on the captured Baltimoreans was "not that bad." He also showed a lot of contempt for women. So I'm glad to be finished with this book, would not recommend it, and will make sure that I never read another book by this motherfucker. If you want more details, here's my reading journal for the book: https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-stolen-village-baltimore-and.html .
60. Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War (Atomic Robo Volume 2) by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener. ** Definitely not as good as volume 1, but still some competent work with occasional brilliant moments. I think the World War II setting worked against the feel of the series...made it into more of a regular series thing. There's a certain innocence to this character and his world which the war setting undercut, I think. It also made me think of Hellboy several times. Not that there's anything wrong with that per se, and Hellboy certainly is an excellent comic book...but there are miles of sleeplessness between the two characters.
61. Peat and Peat Cutting by Ian D. Rotherham *** Bought it in Belfast ten years ago, finally got 'round to reading it. It was a nice little canter.
62. Kindred adaptation by John Jennings and Damian Duffy *** This story is pretty interesting...with some problems...but the adaptation was just not very good. The art is stilted and rough, the coloring uninteresting (lots of sepia), and I often felt that there were missing panels...as if the story had buffered and restarted a few seconds further on. I was reading this in tandem to listening to the actual novel, though, so it still served the useful function of solidifying the story in my mind. Speaking of which...
63. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler *** I feel that I should be giving this book a higher rating. It's an important book on several counts: it might be the first science fiction novel by a black woman (a blurb I read claimed this, but I have my doubts)...and it's a very vivid story about American slavery. Unfortunately, there are some serious story flaws in the novel. I don't want to count the ways, but one of the big ones was that there doesn't seem to be any logic behind Dana's trips to the past. Even a nod at an explanation would have strengthened the story immensely. I also found myself not believing the words and / or actions of characters on a regular basis--the good old "people just don't act that way" objection which is so often raised in my mind when I read or view stories. So...I would say yes, read it...there are some moments which make it worth your time...but don't expect too much from the novel.
64. Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully *** Sweet little story about a little girl (Mirette) who meets Bellini, a famous tightrope walker who has lost his nerve...until he met Mirette, of course.
65. Antkind by Charlie Kaufman **** 700 pages plus, but this was quick work for me. Partially by necessity, as I got a Kindle version of it from the library, and only had two weeks before it was passed on to the next guy (girl, thon)...but mostly because it was such a good read. I want to see many more Charlie Kaufman movies, but I hope that he also has the time to do more novels.
66. Johnny Hazard The Newspaper Dailies 1944-1946 Vol. 1 by Frank Robbins **** Went through the 242 pages of this one pretty quickly...for one thing, because there were only two daily strips per day, admittedly, but for another thing because it was very compelling stuff. I had some reservations about the story at times--racist depiction of Japanese and Chinese people, a bit of misogyny (though less than you'd think, and some of the opposite as well). But the art was pretty much non-stop excellent. Read this for free with my ComiXology Unlimited subscription, and am glad to see that I can continue on through Volume 2...but that's all there is, alas, unless I go to Amazon and put down some hard coin--like $50 a shot. Don't see that happening, alas....
67. Tramp Volume 1: The Trap by Jean-Charles Kraehn and Patrick Jusseaume *** I borrowed this book (via ComiXology Unlimited--highly recommended, btw) because the cover art and the preview pages looked so good. I don't quite know what it is about European artists...the detail...the light touch with colors...the perspectives...all of that and more...but there is something about their work that always catches my eye. Well, that's hyperbole, but quite often for sure. And once I started in on reading this, my delight with the art only grew. I definitely want to see more work by Monsieur Patrick Jusseaume. The story was somewhere between pretty good and okay...which is good enough for me...and I'll probably go on to read Volume 2, which is also available via ComiXology Unlimited. If you're sensing a reservation vis-a-vis the story, then you know me. There's a rape and murder scene here which I definitely could have done without. I have the feeling that it was only there so that we could get a glimpse of bare breasts. What makes it even worse is that earlier on the same female character has a sex scene with someone she cares about...and it is completely skipped over--not even a hint of nudity. So it's okay to show a woman being raped, but not to show her having consensual sex? That bothers me more than a little bit. Looks like there are eleven volumes of this book to date...and that it is still ongoing. But ComiXology Unlimited stops with #2, and then you have to put money down, so it's very unlikely that I'll read beyond that. Which makes me wonder if it's even worth reading that second volume. We'll see how that turns out.
68. Cold Snap by Thom Jones *** This was a better collection than The Pugilist at Rest, for sure, with some really good stories...but, alas, there were still quite a few that I thought were so bad that they shouldn't have been published. I don't understand how this happened.
69. Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine by Thom Jones *** Pretty much the same feelings as for Cold Snap...though I think that Cold Snap had more stories that I liked. This was the last collection published during Thom Jones' life, but the posthumous Night Train, which includes most of his previously uncollected stories, is next. The bad news is that since I'm determined to read from cover to cover, it means I'll be re-reading a half-dozen stories that I didn't think were worthy of being published. Here's hoping that I discover something I didn't see the first time around.
70. The Return of the Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs ** (7/22/20 to 8/29/20) This was the 57th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. (And our 2nd Kindle book.) It wasn't great...but it did keep you turning the pages, at least. The worst aspect of the book was the constant quoting of bad poetry. I can't imagine why ERB thought that that was a good idea.
71. The Willows in Winter by William Horwood (From 7/17/2020 to 9/1/2020) *** Well...it was no The Wind in the Willows, for sure...but it had some fine moments, and I am not at all reluctant to read Horwood's next Willows book--Toad Triumphant...which we shall start reading tomorrow. Oh, and the illustrations by Patrick Benson were very nice indeed. Looking forward to seeing his work again in TT.
72. Savage Highway, Volume 1 by Mathieu Masmondet and Zhang Xiaoyu *** I only picked this up because (1) I thought the cover art looked cool, (2) it was free with my ComiXology Unlimited subscription, (3) I haven't read many comic books lately, and (4) Humanoids stuff is usually at least pretty good, and sometimes better. This was just kind of meh, though. Two people on a highway in an apocalyptic world. There were absolutely no surprises here. ComiXology has two more volumes I can read for free, but I don't know if I'm going to bother. The fact that it is a Complete In Three Volumes thing makes it a bit more tempting, though. Usually these things run on for a dozen or more issues.
Psalms and Proverbs 2/9/20
Prayers and Graces 2/10/20
The Story of Baby Jesus 2/13/20
The Story of Jesus and His Disciples 2/14/20
The Lord's Prayer 2/16/20
The Story of Jesus and the Blind Man 2/17/20
The Story of the Loaves and Fishes 2/20/20
The Story of the Lost Sheep 2/22/20
The Story of the Prodigal Son 2/23/20
The Story of the Good Samaritan 2/24/20
The Story of Zacchaeus 2/27/20
The Story of Easter 2/28/20
The Story of Paul 3/1/20
16. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles ***** I really loved this book. Towles is such a witty writer, for one thing. For another, the story of Count Rostov's confinement to his small room in the Metropol hotel touched on many of the things that preoccupy me: the significance of the material, the insignificance of the world, etc. Funny, I was asking two friends if they had heard of this book, and both of them said that they had started but not finished it. One of them expressed serious dislike for it. I am often baffled at how things which seem so wonderful to me are regarded as worthless--even as wastes of time--to people who are near and dear to me. I wonder why that is. I guess beauty isn't truth after all. Or maybe it's truth that isn't beauty. Or maybe I just have a bee in my hand.
17. Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century: Volume 3: The Perspective of the World by Fernand Braudel **** Pretty great stuff. So great that I decided to continue on with more Fernand Braudel...The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II Volume I.
18. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Great Illustrated Classics) by Jules Verne, adapted by Howard J. Schwach. (December 8, 2019 to March 15, 2020.) This is the 18th book Joe read to me.
19. Foundation's Triumph by David Brin * Seriously, don't bother. https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/03/foundations-harumph.html
20. The Expanse: Origins by Hallie Lambert, Georgia Lee, and Huang Danlan *** Not the best comic book ever, but it had some moments...especially if you're a big fan of The Expanse. This book consists of a series of vignettes about the main characters before they ended up on the ice-hauler. The art was a bit barren, but certainly functional...and the characters actually looked like the characters, which is no mean feat. Yeah. I liked it.
21. The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (2/27/20 to 4/6/20) This was the 53rd ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe.
22. William Gibson's Archangel by (big surprise) William Gibson...with Butch Guice and Tom Palmer. *** This was actually pretty good, but for some reason it took me a few months to get through it. Butch Guice has been popping up a bit for me lately, and I've been impressed with his work every time I bump into it. Funny--I still think of him as a "New Guy"--probably because I was with him from the start of his career (those Micronauts days, man....)
23. Berezina Vol. 1: The Fire
and
24. Berezina Vol. 2: The Ashes by Frédéric Richaud and Ivan Gil **** Both of which were available for free via ComiXology. I thought this was a truly superb bit of work...excellent artwork, intriguing story based on Napoleon's invasion of Russia. I also found out that this series was based on a trilogy written by Patrick Rambaud which I'd like to have a look at. The only bad news: the final volume in the comic book series isn't available for free. So is it worth $5.99 to me? I'm pretty sure that it is...but of course I have to think about that for a little while. Sheesh.
25. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (Audiobook) *** This book had some moments, but if it'd been my first Amor Towles book, I doubt that I would have looked for a second one. Which would have been a shame, since I really loved A Gentleman in Moscow. This just never caught my interest, though.
26. Which reminds me, I seem to have forgotten to include Blood Brothers, which I finished some time ago. It was good. Oh--Audiobook: Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X by Johnny Smith and Randy Roberts. Which was probably a ***, although it kind of annoyed me as well. It made me like Muhammed Ali less than I did before. It seemed pretty obvious that he left Malcolm X out to dry...which pretty much directly led to Malcolm's death. Of course he was pretty young at the time and has since expressed his regret for how he acted, but still....
27. Apeirogon: a Novel by Colum McCann ** I'm sorry to say. Because I love Colum McCann. But this novel was so fractious. So fractured. And I just have to ask...what business does an Irish writer have writing from an Israeli / Palestinian point of view? That seems a bit presumptuous to me. I'm also sorry to say that it's been a few years since I enjoyed a Colum McCann book, actually, and maybe it's time for me to move on. I don't like the feeling of frustration that reading the past three of his books has brought me.
28. The Floating Opera by John Barth *** Barth's first book. Now I'm hankering to read his second.
29. Foundation by Isaac Asimov **** Still works for me. https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-book-i-read-isaac-asimovs-foundation.html
30. Bushman Lives! by Daniel Pinkwater (2/3/20 to 5/12/20) **** Excellent book! Best of the series--so far. I just found out that another book, Adventures of a Dwergish Girl--which seems to be a retitling of the previously announced Escape to Dwerg Mountain, which was supposed to come out after The Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl, but Something Happened--is coming out in September, so here's to that.
31. The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (4/9/20 to 5/12/20) *** This was the 54th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. This is probably ERB's weakest series...but it still has its moments.
32. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork ***** My #1Son recommended this to me, so yesterday I started reading the Amazon preview, then found it online and just finished reading it a few minutes ago. It was superb. Francisco X. Stork clearly knows and understands autistic people...which is not a feeling I have ever had before whilst reading a novel or story featuring an autistic person. I really truly did not want this book to end...and I would most certainly like to have a sequel.
33. Bitter Dumplings by Jeanne M. Lee ***** (5/14/20 to 5/17/20) Not the first time I've read this to Jacqueline, but you know, it still gets me. Powerful story.
34. The End of the Road by John Barth * And you know...this might be the end of John Barth for me. This book seemed okay for the first half or so...maybe even the first three-quarters...but then the serious woman hate began. Character punches his wife in the jaw. Twice. Lead character punches a woman he's picked up in the jaw. Then they have sex. Woman dies from a botched abortion. And the events of the book...especially from that 1/2-3/4ths point--were so unlikely. If this was supposed to be a parody or satire, then it failed. It's just a poorly-written, mean-spirited novel. Going to have to think hard about whether I want to spend any more time with this motherfucker.
35. When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest (5/18/20 to 5/23/20) ***** Powerful little book...and superb art by P. J. Lynch. This is one of Jacqueline's favorites--so much so that "Jessie" has travelled with us to New York City on more than one occasion.
36. The Legend of the Easter Egg by Lori Walburg (5/24/20 to 5/25/20) *** Sweet story.
37. The Song of Mu Lan by Jeanne M. Lee (5/28/20 to 5/29/2020) *** I liked Bitter Dumplings so much that I went looking for another book by her...and found this one. And since Jacqueline and I really like Mu Lan...at least the Disney version...I thought it would be a perfect read. And? It wasn't as good as Bitter Dumplings, but it was worth doing.
38. Better than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie Trapped Like a Rat in Mr. Bill's Neighborhood by Hunter S. Thompson, read by Scott Sowers **** It's been awhile since I "read" (audiobook) Hunter S. Thompson. Now I think I might read some more. He's too much sometimes, but man, this book made me laugh out loud at least a half-dozen times. He brings the goods.
39. 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, so...yep. That. Finished on 5/30/2020.)
40. Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen and Robyn Officer. Began 5/29/2020, finished 5/31/20. Weird story about a bug, a mole, and a fairy king who want to marry a tiny little girl. Was all of this stuff in the original version? Seems kind of perverse to me.
43. The Devils of Cardona by Matthew Carr **** Superb novel centered around the plight of the Moriscos in 16th century Spain...and a nice complement to The Mediterranean etc. I think I'll look for some more of Mr. Carr's stuff...though it looks like he primarily focuses on non-fiction.
44. Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs *** (5/14/20 to 6/12/2020) This was the 55th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. It was okay...but the Caspak series is definitely not up there with the major series. The big concept is just too fucking goofy, for one thing. And the propensity for marrying cave girls is just a little disturbing.
45. The Bridge: How the Roeblings Connected Brooklyn to New York by Peter Tomasi and Sara DuVall **** This was a really interesting history of the Brooklyn Bridge, full of vivid moments of pain, suffering, romance, and triumph. It made me so interested in the BB that I watched the Ken Burns documentary, and am now thinking about reading David McCullough's book about it. The art was a little too simplistic to be my cup of tea, but it was okay.
46. The Call of the Wild (Great Illustrated Classics)
by Jack London, adapted by Mitsu Yamamoto (March 16, 2020 to 6/16, 2020.) This is the 19th book Joe read to me. It was okay. Not as good as the real thing, of course...and the drawings, from the Pablo Marcos studio, were quite bad. The dogs all looked like they had human faces. Not in a good way.
47. The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones. I'm wavering between * and **, to be honest. Some of this was so awful that it made me never want to read Thom Jones again. But the last story brought a little something different to the table. (Same table, though.) I had planned on running the Thom Jones oeuvre, but having finished the first of his four books, I'm no longer sure that that is something I want to do--which probably says it all, doesn't it? Details as they happen.
48. The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Nancy Willard, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. *** (6/30 to 7/1/2020) An interesting variation on the old tale, but I bought this (for Jacqueline) because the artwork is by Leo and Diane Dillon, who are AWEsome.
49. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World of Philip II Volume III by Fernand Braudel. *** or https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-mediterranean-and-mediterranean.html
50. Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips, Volume 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly **** These are the earliest strips, so Walt Kelly was still figuring things out, but most of it was quite good. In fact, even the strips from the earlier The New York Star strips were good...and seemed pretty solid in terms of the cosmology. I enjoyed them and the dailies immensely. Unfortunately, the Sunday strips were not so good. They had a totally different feel...leaning more to immature humor. I wonder if that is what the Dell Comic Book Pogo stuff was like? I would guess so...and now I'm glad that I didn't succumb to my infatuation with this book and buy the first volume of the collected comic book. I'm still anxious to read volume 2...which I have, lucky me...and I'm hoping that the Sunday strips will have improved by then. After that, I know I can get volumes 3 and 4 from the library if I'm still in the mood, but after that, I don't think the other 8 volumes are available anywhere without paying a pretty hefty price for them. Well...maybe I'll have moved on to something else by then, right?
51. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes ***** Been quite awhile since I read this one...but it really holds up. A most excellent story.
52. Convergence (2015) by Jeff King and Carlo Pagulayan. ** Well...this was a long slog for me. Sloppy writing, same old story you've seen so many times before. I'm not sure why I even stuck with it over 260+ pages. But at least it was a "free" read (on ComiXology). And there were a few glimpses of my boy Kamandi. (Literally glimpses...a couple of panels and one alternate cover. He was not part of the story in any way.) Funny that this was my 52nd book of the year, though, ennit?
53. Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov **** Funny, because I don't really remember remember this book (it's been about 45 years since I first read it), but I occasionally think, "Oh, he ____," and it turns out to be so. Memory is a funny thing. I really enjoyed this novel. Starting on Second Foundation tomorrow.
54. Now that you mention it, I haven't read that many comic book collections this year. But I just finished Atomic Robo and The Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne: Volume 1 (Written by Brian Clevinger, Art by Scott Wegener, Colored by Ronda Pattison, and
Lettered by Jeff Powell), which is the first collection of that series (and available for free reading if you have signed up for ComiXology Unlimited, which I heartily encourage you to do--it's a great deal), and I thought it was quite *** and maybe even ****. For one thing, I like the look of this book. Which is why I listed all of the artists. The pencils and inks by Scott Wegener are pretty simple, but in a way that is very clear and pleasing to the eye. It also leaves plenty of space for the lovely coloring by Ronda Pattison, and man, does that stuff look good on my Kindle Fire. There's one panel where the good guy fires a gun at a bad guy, and the flame is just lovely looking. Ahem. Even the lettering is eye-catching...especially on the cover what with the logo and stuff. So all in all not only a good read, but one that makes me want more. And fortunately there's a whole lot more...and it looks like somewhere between most to all of it is going to be free via CU. Thank you, CU! I'll be back.
55. This Happened In My Presence: Moriscos, Old Christians, and the Spanish Inquisition in the Town of Deza, 1569-1611, edited by Patrick J. O'Banion ***** And yes, today (July 17, 2020) I did finish another of my Daily Devotional Reading books...and about a week before I was "scheduled" to do so. I couldn't help it, though. I found this book way too fascinating to confine myself to ten pages per day. More about that HERE.
56. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (From 6/1/2020 to 7/17/2020) ***** Oh, man, this book was so great! I think I'm going to have to go back and read my annotated edition of this in the near future, just to make sure I get every drop of milk out of this cow. And tomorrow we start The Willows in Winter. Not by Kenneth Grahame, unfortunately, but my hopes are high anyway.
57. The Beginner's Bible For Toddlers by Carolyn Nabors Baker and Cindy Helms, illustrated by Danny Brooks Dalby (6/8/2020 to 7/20/20) I don't really need to add another Bible to my daily reading program, since I already read from two different ones for Jacqueline, but I started thinking that Joe should be on the program as well, so I asked Jacqueline if I could borrow one of hers and this is the one she was willing to part with. Obviously it's too simple for Joe, but you know, that's kind of okay. It means that he gets all of it, understands the story, and that it reads quickly. And when we finish this one, maybe we'll move up to another level. P.S. And now that we've finished...onward to the real thing!
58. The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs (6/13/20 to 7/21/2020) This was the 56th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. Also the first book we've read together on Kindle, since it's one of the few ERB books that I don't have in print. Funny...this is definitely not first rate Burroughs...probably not even second rate...possibly not third rate. But it was still a good read, and I find myself looking forward to the second book in the series: The Return of the Mucker. Which just so happens to be the book I start reading to Joe tomorrow.
59. The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates by Des Ekin ** This was my 25th Daily Devotional Reading Book. It was a fast read (7 days), and on a topic that interested me reference one of my favorite places on Earth--Baltimore, Ireland. But the writer was not good. He spent way too much time in supposition, his style was way too florid at times, and he seemed to have absolutely no respect for the suffering of people, making repeated references to how the slavery inflicted on the captured Baltimoreans was "not that bad." He also showed a lot of contempt for women. So I'm glad to be finished with this book, would not recommend it, and will make sure that I never read another book by this motherfucker. If you want more details, here's my reading journal for the book: https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-stolen-village-baltimore-and.html .
60. Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War (Atomic Robo Volume 2) by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener. ** Definitely not as good as volume 1, but still some competent work with occasional brilliant moments. I think the World War II setting worked against the feel of the series...made it into more of a regular series thing. There's a certain innocence to this character and his world which the war setting undercut, I think. It also made me think of Hellboy several times. Not that there's anything wrong with that per se, and Hellboy certainly is an excellent comic book...but there are miles of sleeplessness between the two characters.
61. Peat and Peat Cutting by Ian D. Rotherham *** Bought it in Belfast ten years ago, finally got 'round to reading it. It was a nice little canter.
62. Kindred adaptation by John Jennings and Damian Duffy *** This story is pretty interesting...with some problems...but the adaptation was just not very good. The art is stilted and rough, the coloring uninteresting (lots of sepia), and I often felt that there were missing panels...as if the story had buffered and restarted a few seconds further on. I was reading this in tandem to listening to the actual novel, though, so it still served the useful function of solidifying the story in my mind. Speaking of which...
63. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler *** I feel that I should be giving this book a higher rating. It's an important book on several counts: it might be the first science fiction novel by a black woman (a blurb I read claimed this, but I have my doubts)...and it's a very vivid story about American slavery. Unfortunately, there are some serious story flaws in the novel. I don't want to count the ways, but one of the big ones was that there doesn't seem to be any logic behind Dana's trips to the past. Even a nod at an explanation would have strengthened the story immensely. I also found myself not believing the words and / or actions of characters on a regular basis--the good old "people just don't act that way" objection which is so often raised in my mind when I read or view stories. So...I would say yes, read it...there are some moments which make it worth your time...but don't expect too much from the novel.
64. Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully *** Sweet little story about a little girl (Mirette) who meets Bellini, a famous tightrope walker who has lost his nerve...until he met Mirette, of course.
65. Antkind by Charlie Kaufman **** 700 pages plus, but this was quick work for me. Partially by necessity, as I got a Kindle version of it from the library, and only had two weeks before it was passed on to the next guy (girl, thon)...but mostly because it was such a good read. I want to see many more Charlie Kaufman movies, but I hope that he also has the time to do more novels.
66. Johnny Hazard The Newspaper Dailies 1944-1946 Vol. 1 by Frank Robbins **** Went through the 242 pages of this one pretty quickly...for one thing, because there were only two daily strips per day, admittedly, but for another thing because it was very compelling stuff. I had some reservations about the story at times--racist depiction of Japanese and Chinese people, a bit of misogyny (though less than you'd think, and some of the opposite as well). But the art was pretty much non-stop excellent. Read this for free with my ComiXology Unlimited subscription, and am glad to see that I can continue on through Volume 2...but that's all there is, alas, unless I go to Amazon and put down some hard coin--like $50 a shot. Don't see that happening, alas....
67. Tramp Volume 1: The Trap by Jean-Charles Kraehn and Patrick Jusseaume *** I borrowed this book (via ComiXology Unlimited--highly recommended, btw) because the cover art and the preview pages looked so good. I don't quite know what it is about European artists...the detail...the light touch with colors...the perspectives...all of that and more...but there is something about their work that always catches my eye. Well, that's hyperbole, but quite often for sure. And once I started in on reading this, my delight with the art only grew. I definitely want to see more work by Monsieur Patrick Jusseaume. The story was somewhere between pretty good and okay...which is good enough for me...and I'll probably go on to read Volume 2, which is also available via ComiXology Unlimited. If you're sensing a reservation vis-a-vis the story, then you know me. There's a rape and murder scene here which I definitely could have done without. I have the feeling that it was only there so that we could get a glimpse of bare breasts. What makes it even worse is that earlier on the same female character has a sex scene with someone she cares about...and it is completely skipped over--not even a hint of nudity. So it's okay to show a woman being raped, but not to show her having consensual sex? That bothers me more than a little bit. Looks like there are eleven volumes of this book to date...and that it is still ongoing. But ComiXology Unlimited stops with #2, and then you have to put money down, so it's very unlikely that I'll read beyond that. Which makes me wonder if it's even worth reading that second volume. We'll see how that turns out.
68. Cold Snap by Thom Jones *** This was a better collection than The Pugilist at Rest, for sure, with some really good stories...but, alas, there were still quite a few that I thought were so bad that they shouldn't have been published. I don't understand how this happened.
69. Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine by Thom Jones *** Pretty much the same feelings as for Cold Snap...though I think that Cold Snap had more stories that I liked. This was the last collection published during Thom Jones' life, but the posthumous Night Train, which includes most of his previously uncollected stories, is next. The bad news is that since I'm determined to read from cover to cover, it means I'll be re-reading a half-dozen stories that I didn't think were worthy of being published. Here's hoping that I discover something I didn't see the first time around.
70. The Return of the Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs ** (7/22/20 to 8/29/20) This was the 57th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. (And our 2nd Kindle book.) It wasn't great...but it did keep you turning the pages, at least. The worst aspect of the book was the constant quoting of bad poetry. I can't imagine why ERB thought that that was a good idea.
71. The Willows in Winter by William Horwood (From 7/17/2020 to 9/1/2020) *** Well...it was no The Wind in the Willows, for sure...but it had some fine moments, and I am not at all reluctant to read Horwood's next Willows book--Toad Triumphant...which we shall start reading tomorrow. Oh, and the illustrations by Patrick Benson were very nice indeed. Looking forward to seeing his work again in TT.
72. Savage Highway, Volume 1 by Mathieu Masmondet and Zhang Xiaoyu *** I only picked this up because (1) I thought the cover art looked cool, (2) it was free with my ComiXology Unlimited subscription, (3) I haven't read many comic books lately, and (4) Humanoids stuff is usually at least pretty good, and sometimes better. This was just kind of meh, though. Two people on a highway in an apocalyptic world. There were absolutely no surprises here. ComiXology has two more volumes I can read for free, but I don't know if I'm going to bother. The fact that it is a Complete In Three Volumes thing makes it a bit more tempting, though. Usually these things run on for a dozen or more issues.
73. House of Evidence by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson **** I really enjoyed this book and want to comment on it a bit, so I'm going to do a separate post for that. Short version: worth reading, for sure. I think that Jo Nesbo fans would be especially thrilled at this one. kindleunlimited
74. Carson of Venus: The Edge of All Worlds by Matt Betts **** This book was a lot of fun...and quite the page turner. I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series. kindleunlimited
75. Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov **** Well. I read an interview with or an essay by Asimov somewhere wherein he said that when he looked back at The Foundation Trilogy he saw that it was really just a series of conversations with very little action. And I suppose that is to some extent true. Even the Space Battle stuff is basically just people talking about a Space Battle. But I sure did enjoy this book. And the series. Well, so far. There are still two more novels and a book of homage-y stories to go before I'm going to feel finished. But I definitely recommend giving all of the Asimov books a go--which means two prequels, the trilogy, and two sequels. I can assure you that you don't need to read the second trilogy by Benford, Bear, and Brin. Okay. On to Foundation’s Edge! (Which I've never read before.)
76. Big Black: Stand at Attica by Frank "Big Black" Smith and Jared Reinmuth ***** Yep. More HERE.
77. Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf ***** HERE
78. Tarzan on the Precipice by Michael A. Sanford ** I had been looking forward to reading the books in The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs for some time. And when I signed up for a free trial of Kindle Unlimited, I was excited that 7 of the 9 books in that series were available. The first wasn't, so I started with this, the second one. And? Well, let's just say that my enthusiasm for continuing the journey has been seriously compromised. I don't even know why this book exists. There's really no discernible difference between this novel and several of the bad Tarzan sequels that ERB wrote...and I don't mean that in any kind of good way. I mean it in as "I've already read this story several times" way. I can't imagine why a modern author wouldn't try to bring something new to the Tarzan world. So. The next two books in TWAoWRB series are #3 Tarzan Trilogy and #4 Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy Under Siege. At the moment, I have zero interest in reading either of those books. I am still interested in the next three books, though: #5 A Soldier of Poloda [Further Adventures Beyond the Farthest Star], #6 Swords Against the Moon Men, and #7 Untamed Pellucidar. So maybe I should just jump the line and see what's going on there? We'll see. But I think I'm going to check out some Icelandic Crime Fiction first, thank you. kindleunlimited
77. Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf ***** HERE
78. Tarzan on the Precipice by Michael A. Sanford ** I had been looking forward to reading the books in The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs for some time. And when I signed up for a free trial of Kindle Unlimited, I was excited that 7 of the 9 books in that series were available. The first wasn't, so I started with this, the second one. And? Well, let's just say that my enthusiasm for continuing the journey has been seriously compromised. I don't even know why this book exists. There's really no discernible difference between this novel and several of the bad Tarzan sequels that ERB wrote...and I don't mean that in any kind of good way. I mean it in as "I've already read this story several times" way. I can't imagine why a modern author wouldn't try to bring something new to the Tarzan world. So. The next two books in TWAoWRB series are #3 Tarzan Trilogy and #4 Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy Under Siege. At the moment, I have zero interest in reading either of those books. I am still interested in the next three books, though: #5 A Soldier of Poloda [Further Adventures Beyond the Farthest Star], #6 Swords Against the Moon Men, and #7 Untamed Pellucidar. So maybe I should just jump the line and see what's going on there? We'll see. But I think I'm going to check out some Icelandic Crime Fiction first, thank you. kindleunlimited
79. The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs *** (8/30/20 to 9/24/20) This was the 58th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe (and our 3rd Kindle book). Funny, because when I read this by myself awhile back, I thought it was pretty bad, but this time around I actually thought that it was pretty clever. ERB really strings you along as to what is happening for the first half of the book--which is what makes several of the cover art choices seriously inappropriate. And the audacity of having the majority of a book centered around the main characters holed up in a room is actually pretty cool. Of course it has some overly sentimental bits...especially at the end...but all in all, I enjoyed it.
80. Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil by Thomas Hobbes ** Yep, that's right. Price check on two lousy grapes. This has been on my must read list for a very long time, and now that I've read it, all I can say is...don't waste your time. It's mostly a religious screed justifying totalitarianism...with virulent anti-Catholicism shit thrown in for good measure. And on top of that, it's not even logically consistent. There are some good quotes, but seriously...this book is not worth your time.
81. Muse Vol. 1: Celia by Denis-Pierre Filippi and Terry Dodson *** You know, I've never really appreciated Terry Dodson's artwork before, but the man sure does know how to drawn beautiful women. The story here is just so so, but the cheesecake is pretty wonderful. So much so that I just went right on into...
82. Muse Vol. 2: Coraline by the same team. And it was *** just more of the same thing. I wouldn't have minded paying for this, but it was on ComiXology Unlimited, so I didn't even have to do that.
84. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (6/16/2020 to 10/9/2020) This is the 20th book Joe read to me. Also the first non-Classics Illustrated we've read for a very long time. And the first non-print book Joe's ever read. Since the library isn't open and I'm still feeling a bit sketchy with respect to going into a bookstore, I got this one on my Kindle. I have to admit that I got very little from "reading" this book...and retained even less. But I struggled to listen carefully to Joe as he read two pages a night for 3.75 months, so I sure as shit am going to get credit for it on my books for 2020.
85. The Cave Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs (9/25/20 to 10/12.2020) This was the 59th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. (4th Kindle book.) I'd read it before and remembered it fondly, and this second reading did nothing to damage that fondness. It's a nice twist on a familiar ERB theme.
86. Justice League of America: When Worlds Collide by Dwayne McDuffie and a bunch of artists...which is part of the problem. But bad as the art was...and it ran the short gamut from mediocre to downright amateurish...it wasn't the biggest problem. That was the story. I am astonished that Dwayne McDuffie...who was one of the founders and main writers of Milestone Comics...wrote this shit. This was the Big Move to bring Milestone back from oblivion...after the characters had disappeared for a decade or so...and it did not do them any justice whatsoever. No pun intended. Hardware and Icon are almost completely unrecognizable, and almost completely devoid of character. In fact, you could have put pretty much anybody into their roles in this story arc: Booster Gold...Warren G. Harding...Bugs Bunny...it wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever. I'd suggest not spending your money on this shit.
87. Icon: A Hero's Journey by Dwayne McDuffie and M.D. Bright **** This collects issues 1 through 8. And it gets the series off to a great start, for sure. The good news: a second volume was just released on ComiXology. The bad news: it collects issues 13, 19-22, 24-26 and 30. What the hell sense does that make? Dunno.
88. Toad Triumphant by William Horwood *** (From 9/2/2020 to 10/17/20) Not as good as Kenneth Grahame, of course, but a lot better than Mr. Horwood's first "sequel," and with some actual heartfelt moments. Next up The Willows and Beyond, and here's hoping that the upward trend continues.
89. The Boys Omnibus, Volume 1 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson *** A pretty fast and for the most part entertaining read...but I have to say that it wasn't as good as the Amazon tv series. Also wasn't as gross, which was a plus for me...but I guess the characters just didn't feel "right" to me after seeing the excellent actors portray them in the show. kindleunlimited
90. Pandora's Eyes by Vincenzo Cerami and Milo Manara **** No offense, but the story was just kind of meh...like a **...but the art was amazing. Nobody draws sexy like Milo Manara...and this one is pretty PG-13, yet still manages to crank up some heat. But more than that, too...everything Manara draws looks amazing. Buildings. Motorcylces. Vans. Yep. Reading this made me want to read a lot more of his work, but it's not to be had for free, alas, and I only have a little bit of it in my own collection. Might have to rectify that. kindleunlimited
91. Hardware: The Man in the Machine by Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan **** ©️2010...so I guess it took me ten years to get around to reading this. It sold for $19.99 then, and you can still get a new copy on Amazon for $20, or a Kindle / ComiXology version for a mere $9.99. That's probably the way to go. Assuming that the "new" copies are from the same print run (as seems to be the case), the type font is a little blurry. I don't know if that's because of deterioration over time or because of 2010 technology or some other factor, but it made it extremely difficult to impossible for me to read this book in bed at night...I needed much stronger light. Also, the art is on the dark side, so the backlighting of an e-version would really enhance the work. And it's worth enhancing. Denys Cowan does some really powerful stuff here...as does J. J. Birch, who takes on the art chores for issue #8. The writing is very strong. This is quite a different hero arc, for sure. In the first few issues, I was really wondering, "Is this guy really supposed to be a hero?" His mission was Just vengeance, for certain, but he seemed to have no concern at all over collateral damage. And then...surprise, surprise, surprise...he began to change. Minimally at first. But then with issue #8...a very surreal break in the action...all of the questions I had been asking came roaring into the forefront. I wish that I had the next story arc in hand, for sure, as I'd like to see where this goes from here. Alas, the only other floppies I have in hand at the moment are 10 - 11, 28, and 36, but I shall be digging those out later today to at least get a glimpse of where this goes. As for the balance of the 50 issues of this title that Milestone produced...well, I guess I'll just have to see about that, won't I? My hope is that they will begin to make their appearance on ComiXology in the near future. If not...well, since I can't get to Half-Price Books right now to thumb through their back issues, I guess I could always go online. But that would be a costly venture, I'd think. Anyway...I want more. Soon.
92. Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman ***** It's superb. For details, go HERE.
93. The DK Illustrated Family Bible by Claude-Bernard Costecalde ***** Pretty sure we started this before, but Jacqueline made me start over from the beginning on 6/9/19. Finished 11/3/20. This was actually a pretty impressive Bible, what with all of the sidenotes and illustrations. Highly recommended!
94. Seven Graves, One Winter by Christoffer Petersen **** I didn't really mean to read this book. I liked the cover, which got me to look at the title. I thought it was an interesting title, which got me to read to Amazon sample pages. I liked them, and the book was only 99¢, and I had a $1 off digital reward, so I "bought" the book. And then I just pounded it down. Effortlessly. (Bought it on Friday at 10:41 PM, just finished reading it Tuesday at 10:42 PM. And keep in mind that I'm reading eight other books right now.) It was by no means a perfect book. But it was a very compelling read which accomplished one thing which I would have thought was impossible: it made me want to visit Greenland. (It is Greenland Noir, by the way, which is pretty hilarious in and of itself, I think.) It reminded me a lot of Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole books...the early and middle ones, when they were really good, not the stinky ones that have come in the past few years. And, in fact, the primary protagonist in this novel, David Maratse, reminds me quite a bit of Harry...but without the alcoholism, which is a big plus for me. Anyway, here's the highest compliment I can give a writer: I'm going to go buy the second book in the series, Blood Floe: Conspiracy, Intrigue, and Multiple Homicide in the Arctic. Which, by the way, has a very nice cover.
95. The Cave Man by Edgar Rice Burroughs (10/13/20 to 11/6/20) *** This was the 60th ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. (5th Kindle book.) My second time around for this one, and still enjoyable...though this e-version was so rife with typographical errors that it was not even possible for me to send corrections--it would have taken hours to do that, and I don't work for free these days.
96. Blood Floe: Conspiracy, Intrigue, and Multiple Homicide in the Arctic (Greenland Crime Book 2) by Christoffer Petersen *** This one wasn't quite as good as the first one...for several reasons. For one thing, although I don't know if it's actually true or not (since I didn't start the clock for Riding Time), it seemed like David Maratse wasn't as present in this novel as he was in Seven Graves...and he is definitely the big pull for me. For two thing, there was a bit of international intrigue built into this story...and it just didn't seem real to me. It felt more like something written based on espionage movies rather than actual knowledge. For a three thing, there were a couple of spots wherein the action moved too quickly...as in it felt like it was perfunctory. Someone walks into a building, is knocked out and wakes up tied to a chair. Wham Bam Thank You, Man. And for a three and a half thing, I have to confess that once the characters hit Germany, I got lost. I really don't know what happened or why it happened that way. For four thing, I lost track of which character was which...and realized that I didn't have any solid image of any of the characters. In fact, when I read a description of Petra Jensen and realized that she was of Inuit descent, it kind of startled me, as I was picturing her as a White Girl. Which is not to say that I was displeased...au contraire. Just that even though I knew she was Greenlandic, I had no image of her as being Inuit. (Well, she does speak Danish instead of Greenlandic, and Danes are the whitest people in the world, so you can see where I was mislead.) This also made me realize that I don't have much of an idea of what any of the characters look like. For five thing, I didn't like the sudden reversal with cliffhanger at the end. I was pretty sure I was going to read novel number 3 anyway, so I didn't need this kind of bait...and I think it would have made a more effective beginning for the third novel. Which I think I shall now begin to read, by the way, lest you get the wrong impression from all of this.
97. We Shall Be Monsters: The Hunt for a Sadistic Killer in the Arctic (Greenland Crime Book 3) by Christoffer Petersen *** Yep, I'm still finding it impossible to resist following this series...although the number of typographical errors this time around did damage my calm a bit. (I reported them all via the very handy drop-down menu that Kindle now supplies. I really think that they should offer me some free book compensation at this point, though. I mean...I AM doing somebody's job for free here, after all.) As soon as I finished I downloaded the free preview for Book 4...Inside the Bear's Cage: Crime and Punishment in the Arctic...and it looks like the story is taking a huge twist that I didn't see coming...wouldn't even have considered possible...so I will probably be putting my money down before much longer.
98. Inside the Bear’s Cage: Crime and Punishment in the Arctic (Greenland Crime Book 4) by Christoffer Petersen *** Interesting twist what with The Hero ending up in jail for manslaughter...but I got a bit lost at the end, have no idea how he got out of jail nor how he got back to Greenland (a journey of some 2,000 miles) lickety-split. And the ending was a bit too shoot-em-up...and left many questions unanswered. This is the first book in the series which I finished and didn't immediately feel the need to begin the next one, so we'll see how that goes.
99. Batman Beyond Vol. 1: Escaping the Grave by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang *** It's been awhile since I've read any Batman Beyond, but since I am currently doing a kindleunlimited subscription (to see if it can stand in for comiXology Unlimited--the jury is still out), and this was on The List, I thought I'd give it a shot. And I enjoyed it quite a bit, actually. I was hoping that I could go on to Volume 2, but, alas, you've got to pay for that one. I also checked, and comiXology only offers the first issue of this 6 issue collection...and no other Batman Beyond. So the first score goes to
kindleunlimited there, doesn't it?
100. Batman Beyond Vol. 2: Rise of the Demon by Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang *** Well, this is weird. Allofasudden Batman Beyond Volume 2 appeared with a kindleunlimited sticker on it. To quote the great philosopher Kennedy "Rockwell" Gordy, "I get the feeling somebody's watching me." But what do I care when it gets me another free volume of Batman Beyond? This wasn't quite as good as the first volume...mostly due to comic book excess stuff, like an ancient and just out of a coma Bruce Wayne climbing a mountain and then throwing down with a young muscleman...and then the ballistic missiles...yeah. But there was enough good stuff to make it worth my while, and I would certainly read more if it "happened" to become available on KU.
101. Beautiful Bible Stories by Patricia Summerlin Martin (from 5/31/20 to 11/18/20)
102. Bratsk Station and Other New Poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko *** There were some excellent moments and some memorable lines, but Yevtushenko is such a clunky poet...I wonder if he's just the victim of a bad translator here? Glad to have finally gotten around to reading this, though, as I've had it for years, and might be interested in reading some more by YY someday.
103. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman ***** All the dirty little details available HERE.
104. Excalibur by Tini Howard Vol. 1 by Tini Howard and Marcus To ** Felt like I walked into the wrong party and everybody was speaking Pig Latin. Couldn't follow all of it, didn't really care, don't want to read anymore.
105. Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes Volume 1 by Chris Roberson and Jeffrey Moy ** Well...I won't cry if there isn't a Volume 2. The story was so-so, and the art was pretty bad. A shame, because the cover gallery--including alternative covers--had some really nice stuff. But none of that was by Jeffrey Moy, who just isn't even close to my cup of tea. He's more like a cup of snail soup for me...something I don't want to be in the same room with, much less imbibe. I read this via the courtesy of kindleunlimited, though, so at least I didn't have to pay for this thing. Speaking of which...I was wondering whether or not I should let my kindleunlimited membership lapse--it's coming up for renewal in a few days--and maybe this is my answer. It would have cost me $10.99 to get this from ComiXology, and that's just about a month's worth of kindleunlimited. So I might go for another month and see where that takes me. For one thing, I still want to read some more Christoffersen Petersen books, and there's quite a few of them.
106. The Willows and Beyond by William Horwood (From 10/18/2020 to 12/1/2020) *** This was a little bit better than Horwood's other Willows books...though it had more than its fair share of sadness. It also felt very much like An Ending, so I'm kind of surprised that there's another book to come: The Willows at Christmas. I'm guessing that even though Christmas is the last book published in the series (1999) that it is chronologically before Beyond, but I'll find out soon...since I'll be starting Christmas tomorrow.
107. The Wind in the Willows (Great Illustrated Classics) adapted by Malvina G. Vogel & Lorna Tomei (10/10/2020 to 12/5/2020) This is the 21st book Joe read to me. Unfortunately, Jacqueline and I just finished reading the real version a little while ago, so I am keenly aware of how paltry this adaptation is. Joe seems to be enjoying it, though, so at least there's that.
108. Teenagers from the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes edited by Timothy Callahan **** Happened upon this whilst looking to see what comic books were available via kindleunlimited Turned out to be a pretty excellent book of essays about the Legion, with only a couple of not so good ones in the mix. One of the essays, which focused on Keith Giffens "5 Years Later" series, made me want to read said series so much that I bought the first issue on ComiXology (admittedly it was a steal at 99¢), and I'm still seriously considering putting down $125 for the recently released omnibus (over 1,400 pages) collecting those stories. Trying. To. Resist. This book also introduced me to the publisher Sequart, which has other books of like ilk. It's like having The Comics Journal without the shitty attitude. If I stay with kindleunlimited I'll read at least a couple of other titles from Sequart.
109. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and Danica Novgorodoff *** Well, Danica is one of my former students, and I've followed her ever since her first graphic novel, so I am a bit prejudiced. So I thought the art in this book was just brilliant. She makes really effective use of watercolors, and her figure work is just superb. Unfortunately I didn't think the story was very good. It's one of those things which is hard to criticize, because the subject matter (black on black violence) is so important and because clearly the writer's heart is in the right place...but to be honest, the concept of a kid being visited by ghosts as he rides an elevator down to ground level was just too strained. I wonder if it would go better if I read the actual novel. Looks like LFPL doesn't have the book, but it does have the audio version, so I might could give that a try.
110. The Weirdest Sci-Fi Comic Ever Made: Understanding Jack Kirby’s 2001: A Space Odyssey Julian Darius **** Another Sequart book...and by my favorite writer from the Teenagers From the Future book, Dr. & Sequart Founder Julian Darius. This is a bit shorter than I'd have liked, but that's only because I liked it so much. Definitely going to have a look at some more of these comics analysis / commentary things. kindleunlimited
111. The Beginner's Bible for Toddlers by Carolyn Nabors Baker and Cindy Helms (from 11/4/20 to 12/12/2020 ) I wasn't going to count this as a book book, but (1) it will take more than one sitting to read, which is one of my qualifications and (2) I figure that it balances out, since I only get credit for one book when it's something that takes me years to read or which is really long...like that almost 1,000 page novel I just finished.
112. A Libertarian Walks into a Bear : The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling **** Happened upon this and the title caught my attention long enough for me to start reading, and from there it was all in. Pretty fascinating story about how a group of Libertarians basically destroyed a small town in New Hampshire. Also noteworthy is that this book had a 23 page bibliography. Hmpf. Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling has nice touches of humor throughout...though I could have done without a couple of jokes made referring to a person whose last name was Butt...probably because I am not in middle school.
113. The Greatest Adventure by Bill Willingham and Cezar Razek *** My second time through this one. Joe and I are currently reading The Mad King, and it made me remember that Barney Custer was a part of that story, so I went looking for it, started reading, and then just kept on rolling. It's an interesting idea, really--kind of a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (and Women) using only Edgar Rice Burroughs characters. A Justice League of Burroughs. A Legion of Super-Burroughs Heroes. Bill Willingham is a good writer, and I've enjoyed much of his work on Fables and Justice Machine. And he has some nice little touches in this story. For instance, when a Martian character arrives on Earth via an aircraft and steps out, falling twenty or thirty feet, because he expected the low gravity of Mars to be in effect. And the interactions between La and Jane (re: love for Tarzan) are pretty amusing. And the overall plot is pretty okay...though it seems that gathering all of these characters together wasn't really necessary, as most of them (including Barney Custer) are seriously underutilized. There are even times in the story when Willingham just has to shove characters off screen because he literally has nothing for them to do. But the art...well, it's a Dynamite production, and it lives down to what I've found to be the usual Dynamite standards when it comes to art. Still worth a look if you're a Burroughs fan, but don't expect too much, y'know?
114. Mary and the Little Shepherds of Fatima by Marlyn Monge and Jamie Stuart Wolfe. Jacqueline's Fatima focus continues. (12/13/20 to 12/18/20) This was a good little book, with very interesting illustrations. ****
115. Berlin by Jason Lutes ***** Well, now I have another book to consider when someone asks me what's my favorite comic book ever. (Other contenders: From Hell, Essex County, Providence, Watchmen, and The Other Obvious One(s) That I Can't Think Of Right Now. Berlin is superb. It's so many things...a historical record of the early days of the Nazi Party...an insightful look into male / female roles...an examination of idealism vs. pragmatism...child abuse...Jewish identity...so many other things. I really can't recommend this enough, so perhaps I'll just say that (1) I am going to write more about this elsewhere and (2) I will probably buy this next time I have $35 to spare. Got it from the library to read this time...but I would definitely have been happy if I'd paid for it...which is not always the case, is it? Oh, and (3) I want to read more of Jason Lutes' work as soon as possible.
116-ish. "The Boy with the Narwhal Tooth" (Greenland Missing Persons #1 featuring Constable Petra “Piitalaat” Jensen) by Christoffer Petersen *** Now there's a mouthful of title, eh? This was actually a novella, hence the -ish, and it might be fairer ("fairer"? To whom?) to count the entire Greenland Missing Persons series as a book...but it IS published as a stand-alone volume, so.... Well, something to ponder. As for the book ("book") itself...I didn't find it as captivating as the David Maratse novels (no " " )...but I did find it interesting, for sure, and I like the character of Petra. This story was on a much smaller scale than the DM books that I've read, which was not a bad thing. And there were several characters...can't remember their names, but the little girl and the shaman (perhaps "shaman)... who were very clearly drawn and quite endearing. So when I finished the last page of this one I started right in on the second one. The entire series, by the way, comes free courtesy of kindleunlimited if you swing from that tree.
Addendum: the shaman was named Tuukula and the little girl was named Luui. I just thought you should know.
117. Horizon Volume 1 by Brandon Thomas, Juan Gedeon, and Frank Martin * I read a Superman story by Brandon Thomas and thought he was a really good writer, so I bought issue #1 of Excellence and read it and thought it was pretty good, so I bought Horizon Volume 1....and I really struggled to read it. It was just so...so...bad. It was one of those stories where you feel that the author is just leaving stuff out to make it seem like the story is more complex than it actually is. And the art...it was so ugly. Reading this was a waste of time, and it pretty much killed my interest in Brandon Thomas. I might try him again at some point way down the road...but it won't be for more Horizon, for sure.
118. Legion Lost by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Oliver Coipel *** I had high expectations of this book because it was lauded in one of the essays in Teenagers from the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes (which I lauded)...but the first half of this book (about six issues' worth) was pretty banal, and even though it picked up after that, it was still much more of a pretty okay than a Great Story. One big drawback was the art, which was just really ugly. I don't think Oliver Coipel was the problem, though...I think it was Andy Lanning's inks. They were just so...so...well, here, have a look for yourself:
I mean...SERIOUSly, are they trying to make this look as awful as possible? If so, mission accomplished. Oh, well. At least I got it from the library for free. Another $46 saved, right?
119-ish. "The Girl with the Raven Tongue: A Constable Petra Jensen Novella"(aka Greenland Missing Persons #2) by Christoffer Petersen **** The first book in this series was okay➝good, but this second outing was Most Excellent. Tuukula and Luui were back, and both were used to good effect here. And the titular character was most interesting as well...one of the most interesting young characters I've encountered, actually. The only negative here was that it ended sooner than I wanted it to, but hey, there's always Greenland Missing Persons #3, right? kindleunlimited
ADDENDUM: I decided that I needed to share my love for Christoffer Petersen with another audience, so I wrote this review for Amazon:
My first Christoffer Petersen book was SEVEN GRAVES, ONE WINTER, which I just stumbled upon, was enticed to try because of the great cover, and was immediately drawn into. So much so that I ran through all five books in the series in about two weeks, and (1) I'm not a very fast reader and (2) I was reading nine other books concurrently. So yes, that (Greenland Crime) was a superb series, and I can't recommend it enough. The lead character, David Maratse, is one of my favorite police characters EVer...and that includes Harry Hole, whom I have loved for years.
After I'd finished the final entry in the Greenland Crime series, however, I was hesitant to start another Petersen book, because I really wanted more David Maratse, and I didn't see any more books featuring him. (I've since learned better, but that is now, this was then.) But as the Nordic Withdrawal began to kick in, I decided to have a look at Petersen's Greenland Missing Persons series, which featured Petra “Piitalaat” Jensen (who was also featured in Greenland Crime, btw).
The first book in this series was okay ➝ good...and good enough to get me to start THE GIRL WITH THE RAVEN TONGUE minutes after I'd finished THE BOY...and I am glad that I did, because this second Petra outing was Most Excellent, one of the best books I've read this year. Even better than the Greenland Crime books! Two characters introduced in the first story--Tuukula and Luui--were back, and both were used to good effect here. And the titular character was most interesting as well...one of the most interesting young characters I've encountered, actually. The only negative here was that it ended sooner than I wanted it to, but hey, there's always Greenland Missing Persons #3, right? This story was crime / mystery centered, but its strength was the wonderful character development. I can't imagine anyone reading THE GIRL WITH THE RAVEN TONGUE and not falling in love with Petra, Tuukula and Luui.
On to THE SHIVER IN THE ARCTIC!
As I wrote that, I happened to notice that Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for Christoffer Petersen. Hmmm....
120. The Shiver in the Arctic Greenland (Missing Persons #3) by Christoffer Petersen *** Almost went to a ** on this one, as the phoniness of the set-up was hard to get past, but I got over it around the 3/4ths mark of the book, and thought it ended on a strong note. This was definitely my least favorite of the Missing Persons books, though, and I'm anxious to get on to #4 to take it back up a couple of notches. Tuukula and Luui are going to be back, right? Man, those are great characters.
121. The Fever in the Water: A Constable Petra Jensen Novella (Greenland Missing Persons Book 4) by Christoffer Petersen *** Well, Tuukula and Luui were back...but unfortunately this story just wasn't all that great. Don't know if I'll come back if there's a 5th one, as it seems apparent that it's been a steady downhill slide since the 2nd.
122. The Second World War Volume I: The Gathering Storm by Winston S. Churchill ***** What a superb book. Details available HERE.
123. The Ice Star: Book 1 in the Adrenaline-Fueled Greenland Trilogy (Konstabel Fenna Brongaard) by Christoffer Petersen ** My fondness for Christoffer Petersen and his characters pushed me to start reading this one despite the clunky sub-title. And it moved along well, and even gave us a peek into some characters we'd seen in previous stories...but I almost gave it up about 2/3rds of the way through as improbable plot events started to pile up. I finally decided to go back just to see, and the improbabilities got even worse. So having made it to the end, I'm not at all inclined to read the second book in THE ADRENALINE-FULED GREENLAND TRILOGY!!!
I think it's time for a change of pace.
124. Greenland Noir: The Ultimate Cold Cases in Verse as told by Christoffer Petersen * I'll say for Christoffer Petersen...he is up for a go at a new way to tell a story. Unfortunately, he is not what I'd call a good poet. In fact, having taught 8th through 12th grade for 24 years, I have to say that the "poetry" in this volume reminded me of some of my former students' attempts to write poetry: the awkward rhymes, the misplaced rhythms, all of that. So yes, give this one a skip, even if you dearly love Christoffer Petersen and his characters.
125. Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov *** Still lumbering along on my read of the "complete" Foundation series. I read most of this one in two to four page clumps, but it worked out okay. (When I got to within 40 pages of the end and the end of the year I decided to lay into it, thus allowing me to include it on books read in 2020.) And it was good, typical Asimov. It was the first book in which Asimov moved to unite his Foundation Universe with his Robot Universe, so noteworthy for that. I don't think it is quite up to the level of the Foundation Trilogy books, but it was certainly worth reading, I don't want my time back or anything. And I am going to go right on to Foundation and Earth. Later today, in fact. Asimov's female characters continues to be an annoyance. For one thing, there are very few of them. For another thing, they are usually portrayed in ways that emphasize their sexuality unnecessarily. The first time we meet Bliss, for example, she is derided for her appearance and described as "bottom heavy." Turns out there is some irony to that comment later on, but (1) I don't know if that was intentional and (2) it's irrelevant. Why is the first description of one of the few female characters focused on a perceived (and a very subjective perception at that) physical shortcoming? Well, I fear that the answer is because The Good Doctor was an inveterate misogynist. Still a good storyteller, for sure, but you have to kind of brace yourself to his shortcomings if you're going to enjoy his strengths, I think. Hence this note. If there's anybody Out There.
126. The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs (11/7/20 to 12/20/20) This was the 61st ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe. It is actually a pretty good read...a bit longer than most Burroughs novels, and resting upon an absolutely ridiculous premise: that an American visiting his mother's homeland is mistaken for the king--because the two men look exACTly alike! Right. But if you can swallow that elephant, the rest of the story is pretty exciting. There is a Kinda Sorta Sequel...The Eternal Savage (also printed as The Eternal Lover) which Joe and I are heading for next. And after that, there is only one more Edgar Rice Burroughs series left to us: The Apache Devil Duology. This was the second time I've read this book, btw, and even with that afore to mentioned ridiculous premise, I still found it pretty enjoyable reading.
Now reading:
The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (12/19/20 to ___ ) This is actually an omnibus which contains Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, and Pippi in the South Seas. 296 pages of Pippi action. So I'm guessing we'll be working on this one for awhile.
Orthodox Study Bible--published by Thomas Nelson, New King James Version (Not sure when we started this--maybe in 2015--but we resumed reading 11/19/20)
The Willows at Christmas by William Horwood (From 12/2/2020 to ____)
The Wizard of Oz (Great Illustrated Classics) adapted by Deidre S. Laiken (12/6/2020 to _ ) This is the 22nd book Joe read to me.
The Eternal Savage by Edgar Rice Burroughs (12/31/20 to _____) This will be the 62nd ERB book that I have read out loud to Joe.
NIrV Children's Bible, The Beginner's Bible Ed. (1998, Zondervan)
Started 7/22/2020, stopped 11/27/2020--after we read page 120--and switched over to Beautiful Bible Stories by Patricia Summerlin Martin. The NIrV was a bit too hard...and not really all that interesting. Here's hoping that BBS is more to Joe's liking.
Beautiful Bible Stories by Patricia Summerlin Martin (11/28/2020 to __ )
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