The 2010 Reading List Wrap-Up

I enjoyed listing and reviewing the books I read this year. I don't intend to keep it up comprehensively in 2011, but don't be surprised to see occasional plugs for things that I particularly enjoyed reading in the future. I'm not really sure what, if anything, I learned from the exercise. After all, I could've told you all beforehand that I tend to read tons of older mysteries, sci-fi and fantasy from past and present, graphic novels, and the occasional bit of history, biography, or non-fiction.

It feels to me when I look at the list of books in full that it's skimpy in terms of non-fiction and heavy in terms of "fun" reading, so it is worth mentioning that my I still read considerably more in terms of sheer words from newspapers, sports web sites, work e-mails, indexing projects, magazines, village information packets, and other sources than I do from books. And I tend to do my book reading late at night before I go to sleep. So, it's no wonder my "book" reading skews towards less dry material.

All work and no play makes John a dull boy, indeed. Fortunately, there's lots o'fun still in my reading habits.

And with that, I present the Final Review Ragout (of 2010, anyway)

Where There's a Will (1940) and Not Quite Dead Enough (1944) -- Yeah, more Nero Wolfe re-reading. Where There's a Will was one of Rex Stout's last pre-World-War-II mysteries in which three overachieving sisters hire Wolfe to sort out their brother's murder and the puzzling bequests in his will. It isn't the best of the corpus, but it's a fun enough read.

Not Quite Dead Enough collects two Nero Wolfe novellas -- "Not Quite Dead Enough" (1942) and "Booby Trap" (1944) -- set during World War II. During the war Archie served Uncle Sam as a Captain in Army Intelligence assigned to assist Wolfe as he unraveled security problems on the home front. This assignment wasn't Wolfe's first choice. He initially tries to get in good enough shape to join the infantry, claiming, "I am going to kill some Germans. I didn't kill enough during 1918."

Much of the first novella involves Archie's attempts to persuade him to accede to the Army's request that he joins their intelligence efforts instead of volunteering for the infantry. The second novella has Wolfe and Archie hip-deep in a series of murders spawned by an industrial intelligence plot.

Both books were packed with good stuff. It's also worth noting that I've been reading them on the lovely new Kindle that Monique bought me for my birthday several weeks ago. I've been trying to go back through and re-read the Wolfe books in more-or-less chronologic order, and the Kindle made it a snap to pick up these two that I couldn't find among my collection.

Sweet Tooth in Captivity (2010) by Jeff Lemire -- The continuing post-Apocalyptic story of a young boy with antlers who was one of the first born after a strange plague of some kind led to the end of human births and to the beginning of an era in which all babies are animal/human hybrids of some sort. Several people whose opinion I respect really love this comic, but for some reason it's come up just a bit short for me. I might pick up the next volume, though.

Witchblade, Vol. 1: Witch Hunt by Ron Marz and Mike Choi -- I'd never picked up a Witchblade comic before, and I discovered that it was much better than I expected. The basic premise is that NYPD detective Sara Pezzini has been blessed or perhaps cursed with a mystic blade and armor that she uses to defend our world against otherworldly threats. This volume collects up issues #80-85 of the comic, which is where Ron Marz came onboard as writer. I picked it up because I'd heard a couple of good reviews of the comic, and this was a special $4.99 re-issue designed to lure new readers, so I reckoned it was worth the gamble. (Alas, the binding of this issue fell apart as I read it ... perhaps a $5.09 price point would've supported a bit more glue.) The art is lovely, the writing is sharp, and I'll undoubtedly be back for more.

Spider-Man and Human Torch (2009) by Dan Slott and Ty Templeton -- Collects up a fun five-issue mini-series that reviews the relationship between Spider-Man and the Human Torch over the years. One of the best features of this was that each issue reflects the comic style of the decade during which it was set. The late 1970s-ish issue that revives the ill-conceived Spider-Mobile and in which Spidey saves the day with Hostess Fruit Pies is truly tremendous. It's a good read for any Spidey fan.

Conan the Barbarian, Issue #100 (1979) by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, and Ernie Chan -- Okay, it's not quite big enough to be called a graphic novel and qualify for a review-ragout review, but I wanted to review it, anyway. And since this is my blog, I can do whatever the heck I want.

I picked up this original double-length comic in a sports-card-and-used-comic-books store in Glens Falls. Having re-read much of the original Marvel Conan the Barbarian saga recently, I think this was probably its creative peak. Roy Thomas, John Buscema, and Ernie Chan had all been on the book for years at this point, and this comic really benefited during its first ten years from Roy Thomas's writing and direction as he moved Conan forward through his career. Just 17 issues later Thomas would be off the book; Conan would become an itinerant, directionless do-gooder; and the comic would lose its truly epic sweep. In issue #100 Conan's long run as a pirate and companion of Belit, the Queen of the Black Coast, came to an end. Really and truly this is one of my all-time favorite comic books, so I'm genuinely pleased to have an actual copy.

Comic Series

I thought it also worth mentioning in this wrap-up a few of the ongoing comic-book series that I read consistently this year, and will continue to read in 2011:

The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel) -- This book was really erratic during the "Brand New Day" era of the last couple of years as a rotating cast of writers and artists worked on it. I'm pretty optimistic, however, about its direction in 2011 now that Dan Slott has taken over as the full-time writer. I really enjoyed his run on She Hulk a few years ago, enjoyed the Spider-Man/Human Torch miniseries he wrote a couple of years ago, and have enjoyed the first few issues of his run. I'm more optimistic about this title than I've been in quite a while.

Fantastic Four (Marvel) -- Jonathan Hickman's been taking this venerable super-team on a wild ride for the last year or two. This has been one of the best comics on the market lately, and I truly look forward to seeing where it goes.

Knights of the Dinner Table (Kenzer) -- The ongoing "adventures" of a group of friends sitting around the table playing Dungeons & Dragons in Muncie, Indiana -- a cast that has has grown from the original five to include dozens of quirky and unforgettable characters. I've reviewed this series elsewhere in this blog before, so let me just say that KODT is simply the funniest comic on the market today. If you aren't reading it, you should be.

Usagi Yojimbo (Dark Horse) -- Stan Sakai's samurai rabbit series has really grown on me since I first picked up a collection a couple of years ago. Each new issue goes to the top of my pile.

Conan (various incarnations) (Dark Horse) -- Dark Horse wrapped up their Conan: The Cimmerian series by Tim Truman and Tomas Giorello with issue #25, the conclusion of a great adaptation of "Iron Shadows in the Moon" and will publish two ongoing Conan series in 2011. Truman and Giorello will start a new King Conan book with Conan's adventures after he seizes the thrown of Aquilonia. Meanwhile, Roy Thomas -- my all-time favorite Conan comic writer and the man who first brought Conan to comics -- will pick up Conan's earlier adventures as the writer for the new Conan: The Road of Kings with art by Mike Hawthorne. I believe a good year portends for Hyborian Age.

Red Sonja/Queen Sonja (Dynamite) -- I've enjoyed the various Red Sonja titles from Dynamite over the past few years, though it all seemed to have gotten a bit muddled last year. Still, I look forward to seeing if they can sort it all out in 2011. Dynamite's been an interesting company in terms of having a really good business plan. In addition to signing some books by big-name comic creators, they've brought quite a few classic characters (Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, Sherlock Holmes, Zorro, The Phantom) back to comic-book life with solid creative teams, great covers, and persistence. Somebody at that company has a plan, and it's been fun to watch it play out.


The Unfinished List

These are books that I began reading at some point this year, but haven't yet finished for one reason or another.

High Seas Cthulu (2009), ed. by William Jones -- A collection of Lovecraftian short stories set on the high seas. I enjoyed the couple of stories that I read, but somehow it got set to the side. I'll try to pick it back up again this year.

The Children of Hurin (2009) by J.R.R. Tolkien -- Frankly, it kept putting me to sleep. In defense of Tolkien I was using it as late-, late-night reading, and there's something about the cadence of this "Elder Tales" tome that just lulls me into the arms of Morpheus. Given my occasional problems with insomnia, this may be a good thing. I'm sure I'll finish it off eventually, but I suspect it'll be two pages and a night's sleep at a time.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, et Simone Beck -- I've been taking my time and cooking through this a chapter or so at a time. I've spent quite a bit of time with the butter sauces (mmmmmn ... butter) so it may be time to move along to other taste treats. I liked this one so much that I asked Santa Claus for Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 2 (1983) so as to continue down this delicious path.

This Time Is Different (2010) by Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff (2010) -- This study of economic crises over the last 800 years has been really interesting, and I've already learned a ton about where our 2008-09 disaster fits in historic context. I set it to the side during the election when I was about halfway through, but look forward to picking it back up later this week.

On Deck

Eric (1990) and I Shall Wear Midnight (2010) by Terry Pratchett -- I Shall Wear Midnight finally arrived from the Science Fiction Book Club last month. But I've been loath to start it because I resent the fact that I don't know how many more of these Terry Pratchett will be able to write due to his struggle with early onset Alzheimer's.

My favorite writers should not age, get sick, and die. They should just go on and on, writing books for my enjoyment. In an admission that reality does not always accord with that decree, I bought Eric for the Kindle, so that I now have two as-yet unread Discworld novels in my greedy little hands. Sure, there are still more than a dozen more that I haven't read, but I hate the fact that at some point soon the count of Terry Pratchett novels will hit its final number.

Still, if Pratchett's mortality saddens me, one of the true joys of reading is knowing that there are books by a favorite author that I haven't yet read. I've been savoring that feeling by carrying my unread copy of I Shall Wear Midnight around the house, and after I finish it off, I'll take great joy in knowing that the final tale isn't yet told.

And indeed, there are plenty of great books that await me in 2011. So that's it for the reviewing, and now ... back to the reading.