Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Book List 2009

Time once again for the annual “What I Read This Year” list, in the order I read them and broken down by type. The number of books in all categories went up from last year. Nearly two books per month (non-fiction and fiction) and well over one collected edition per week. Some clunkers on every list, but overall, a lot of good stuff packed in this year!

Non-Fiction

  1. Belushi: A Biography - Judith Belushi Pisano and Tanner Colby (Excellent read. Reminded me of Live From New York.)
  2. Marvel Chronicle: A Year by Year History - Tom DeFalco, Peter Sanderson, and Tom Brevoort (Maybe the best Xmas gift I got last year!)
  3. War as They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and America in a Time of Unrest - Michael Rosenberg
  4. God, Country, Notre Dame - Theodore M. Hesburgh with Jerry Reedy (Recommended by our parish priest. Good read.)
  5. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk - Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
  6. The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music - Steve Lopez (A very quick read. Although hard to believe, I think the movie was even more slight.)
  7. I Swear I Was There - David Nolan
  8. Time Bandit: Two Brothers, The Bering Sea, and One of the World’s Deadliest Jobs (audio) - Andy and Johnathan Hilstrand, with Malcolm MacPherson
  9. Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain - Marty Appel
  10. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher
  11. An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood - Jimmy Carter
  12. We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin’ Showbiz Saga - Paul Shaffer with David Ritz (There isn't a hipper mother fucker on the planet!)
  13. Vinnie Here: Fanciful Conversations Between a Pastor and His Dog - Rev. Joseph Kraker & Vinnie
  14. The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio, A Memoir - John Gorman with Tom Feran (Radio Daze “lite”)
  15. My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir (audio) - Carl Reiner
  16. 11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944 (audio) - Stanley Weintraub
  17. How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion (audio) - Daniel H. Wilson
  18. Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 - Simon Reynolds
Fiction
  1. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
  2. The Stranger - Albert Camus, translated by Matthew Ward
  3. I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle (Recommended all over the place as a great book. Completely underwhelmed by this thing. Don’t see it as anywhere near being a “John Hughes ’80s film in book form” as it was touted to me.)
  4. The Witches - Roald Dahl
  5. Boy: Tales of Childhood - Roald Dahl
Trade Paperbacks and Collected Editions
  1. The New Mutants Classic, Volume 1 - Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod
  2. The New Mutants Classic, Volume 2 - Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema
  3. Spider-Man/Red Sonja - Mike Avon Oeming , Mel Rubi
  4. The Astounding Wolf-Man, Volume 1 - Robert Kirkman, Jason Howard
  5. Batman: Haunted Knight - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (Love Loeb and Sale’s Batman work!)
  6. The Transformers: All Hail Megatron - Shane McCarthy, Guido Guidi
  7. Powers: The Definitive Hardcover Collection, Volume 2 - Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Avon Oeming
  8. RASL - Jeff Smith
  9. Air: Letters from Lost Countries - G. Willow Wilson, M.K. Perker
  10. The King - Rich Koslowski
  11. Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: The Best of the Best - Brian Reed
  12. Ms. Marvel, Volume 2: Civil War - Brian Reed
  13. Ms. Marvel, Volume 3: Operation Lightning Storm - Brian Reed
  14. Mini Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors - Chris Giarrusso
  15. Mini Marvels: Secret Invasion - Chris Giarrusso
  16. The Demon Omnibus - Jack Kirby
  17. Maxwell Strangewell - The Fillbach Brothers
  18. The Walking Dead, Book One - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
  19. The Walking Dead, Book Two - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
  20. Y: The Last Man - The Deluxe Edition, Book One - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra
  21. Wanted - Mark Millar, JG Jones, Paul Mounts (Saw the movie first. Entertained by both.)
  22. The New Mutants Classic, Volume 3 - Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz
  23. Fantastic Four - Visionaries: John Byrne, Volume 4 - John Byrne (Possibly the best collection of single issues ever.)
  24. Classic Transformers, Volume 2 - Various
  25. Fantastic Four - Visionaries: John Byrne, Volume 5 - John Byrne
  26. Civil War: Heroes for Hire - Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti
  27. Y: The Last Man - The Deluxe Edition, Book Two - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra
  28. Daredevil Omnibus, Volume 1 - Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev (Giving the FF Visionaries Volume 4 a run for its money in the “best collection of single issues ever” category.)
  29. Ultimate Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection, Volume 1 - Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley
  30. Civil War: X-Men - David Hine, Yanick Paquette
  31. The Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man - Frank Miller
  32. Indiana Jones Omnibus: The Further Adventures, Volume 1 - Various
  33. Young Avengers, Volume 2: Family Matters - Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung, Andrea Divito
  34. Civil War: Punisher War Journal - Matt Fraction, Ariel Olivetti, Mike Deodatto
  35. Civil War: Iron Man - Various
  36. Storm - Eric Jerome Dickey, David Yardin, Lan Medina
  37. Black Panther - Reginald Hudlin, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Dean White
  38. Spider-Woman: Origin - Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Reed, Luna Brothers
  39. MySpace Dark Horse Presents - Various
  40. Super Human Resources - Ken Marcus, Justin Bleep
  41. Wolverine: Logan - Brian K. Vaughan, Eduardo Risso
  42. Daredevil: Battlin’ Jack Murdock - Zeb Wells, Carmine Di Giandomenico
  43. The Nobody - Jeff Lemire (Absolutely lived up to its billing. Fantastic story.)
  44. Civil War: Amazing Spider-Man - J. Michael Straczynski, Ron Garney
  45. House of M: Avengers - Christos Gage, Mike Perkins
  46. Spider-Man vs. the Black Cat - Various
  47. Annihilation Classic - Various
  48. Annihilation: Conquest, Book One - Various
  49. Nova, Volume 1: Annihilation Conquest - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
  50. Nova, Volume 2: Knowhere - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
  51. Annihilation: Conquest, Book Two - Various
  52. Queen & Country: Definitive Collection, Volume 1 - Greg Rucka
  53. The Walking Dead, Book Three - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
  54. Punk Rock and Trailer Parks - Derf (Fantastic story from a local guy.)
  55. Whiteout - Greg Rucka, Steve Lieber (Not nearly as strong as his Queen & Country work, but entertaining.)
  56. Fantastic Four/Spider-Man Classic - Various
  57. Dead @ 17: Ultimate Edition - Josh Howard
  58. Daredevil: Yellow - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (Didn’t really care for this story at all. I have Spider-Man: Blue and Hulk: Gray on my shelf, but don’t really want to read them after this.)
  59. Absolute Dark Knight - Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley (Stunning.)
  60. Captain Britain Omnibus - Various
  61. The Walking Dead, Book Four - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn (This series is amazing. I don't find it as personally depressing as others do; I think it's just appropriately affecting storytelling.)
  62. Chew, Volume 1: Taster’s Choice - John Layman, Rob Guillory
  63. The Mighty Avengers: Assemble - Brian Michael Bendis, Frank Cho, Mark Bagley
  64. Queen & Country: Definitive Collection, Volume 2 - Greg Rucka (Reading Queen & Country makes me want to pull out my MI-5/Spooks DVDs and rewatch that series. Thrilled I got Volumes 3 and 4 for Christmas this year!)
  65. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neill (Enjoyed this so much more than Watchmen! Great story.)
  66. The Complete Essex County Hardcover - Jeff Lemire (I read all 512 pages of this amazing book over the course of 24 hours. More personal than The Nobody, it's haunting and gorgeous.)

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