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.)

Monday, December 28, 2009

Friends Like These...

I alluded to this on Twitter the other day, but it’s always amazing to discover how talented your friends are. Last year I got knocked back by a package from Dave.

(Coloring courtesy of my kiddo.)

This year, it was Alan. I know he’s creative, what with his producing audio theater and the like, but I had no idea he could draw as well!


But this is not to take away from my friends who I am already aware have humbling talent, like Pat...


I’m just a guy who fancies himself a writer and is a comic book fan. These friends of mine are talented artists.