See what I've read this year, what I thought about it, and what I have queued up for the rest of the year.
| Super Hero Happy Hour |
| author: Dan Taylor |  | artist: Chris Fason | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 88 | | finished: Jan '04 |
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| While for the most part there is no plot - characters sit around the bar swapping villains like trading cards, complaining about their action figures, or figuring out new super hero names - the dialogue is clever and very funny, . . . read more |
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| Cold Mountain |
| author: Charles Frazier | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 449 | | finished: Jan '04 |
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| Cold Mountain is the novel by Charles Frazier which tells the story of a confederate solider, Inman, who is seriously wounded in the Civil War, but instead of healing and heading back to the front line, decides to desert and head back to North Carolina and his beloved, . . . read more |
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| Fortune and Glory |
| author: Brian Bendis | | artist: Brian Bendis | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 150 | | finished: Jan '04 |
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| Back in 1998, comic book creator Brian Michael Bendis optioned one of his comic books, Goldfish, to be made into a movie. His experiences working his script through the Hollywood entertainment machine grabbed him as so strange that he decided to document the whole sordid affair . . . read more |
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| Keeper |
| author: Greg Rucka | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 368 | | finished: Feb '04 |
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| I am a huge fan of Rucka's writing. Keeper is the fifth Rucka novel I've read - the fourth Atticus Kodiak novel. The Kodiak novels are basically thriller genre books, but Rucka elevates himself above a cliched genre writer in how he handles his characters . . . read more |
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| Y: The Last Man - Unmanned |
| author: Brian K Vaughan | | artist: Pia Guerra | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 127 | | finished: Feb '04 |
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| Yorick Brown is the last man on Earth and who Y: The Last Man is about. This first book is all setup essentially. The book begins recounting the moments before the mysterious plague hits and then goes about establishing our main characters and . . . read more |
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| Lies & The Lying Liars Who Tell Them |
| author: Al Franken | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 377 | | finished: Mar '04 |
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| The book, according to his foreword, was written "in the spirit of dispassionate inquiry." Whether he was kidding about this or not is hard to tell, because over the course of the next 350-odd pages he manages to rise to a level of "dispassionate inquiry" when he reviewing claims and comments made by members of the right-wing media - but he invariably descends into name calling and partisan attacks. He may not be lying, but he is attacking those on the right as viciously as the right attacks the left. . . . . read more |
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| Fables: Animal Farm |
| author: Bill Willingham | | art: Mark Buckingham | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 112 | | finished: Mar '04 |
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| Animal Farm deals with the non-human fables who have been living on a hidden farm in upstate New York. Lead by the Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks, the animals plan to stage a revolt against the human fables and then move on to take back the Homelands. . . . . read more |
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| Good Omens |
| author: Neil Gaiman | | & Terry Pratchett | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 367 | | finished: Apr '04 |
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| Good Omens deals with the Apocalypse, though in a very strange and wacky way. As the book cover quote from Clive Baker says, "The Apocalypse has never been funnier." The book begins with the birth of the Anti-Christ in England. There is a mix-up though, and the baby goes home with the wrong family. . . . . read more |
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| Top 10: Book One |
| author: Alan Moore | | art: Gene Ha | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 144 | | finished: Apr '04 |
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| I remember picking up the first issue of this series when it debuted back in 1999 from America's Best Comics (and imprint DC Comics) and being mildly interested in it. Because of budget constraints, I didn't continue with the series, opting instead to read Moore's Tom Strong series, also an ABC offering. Out of the blue, my Mom gave me the Top 10 trade paperback collecting the first 7 issues of the series for my birthday last November. It has proven to be a very nice surprise.. . . read more |
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| The Devil in the White City |
| author: Eric Larson | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 493 | | finished: May '04 |
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| My interest in reading The Devil in the White City sprang from the fact that the book deals with a number of things that I find fascinating: American History, Chicago, and mass murderers. An eclectic mix, I know. . . read more |
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| Sleeper: Out in the Cold |
| author: Ed Brubaker | | art: Sean Phillips | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 132 | | finished: May '04 |
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| What happens when you're a deeper cover agent firmly established within one of the world's largest and most notorious crime/terror organizations and the only man who knows you work for the good guys falls into an irreversible coma? You get the outstanding comic series Sleeper from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. . . read more |
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| The Killer Angels |
| author: Michael Shaara | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 374 | | finished: June '04 |
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| The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara was a book that I've been pushing around for years. My dad gave it to me for Christmas seven or eight years ago, but up to this point I had never read it. Even though I've always found the American Civil War (and early American history in general) fascinating and this book is suppose to be exceptional, I just never broke the spine on this one. . . read more |
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| Whiteout: Melt |
| author: Greg Rucka | | art: Steve Lieber | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 104 | | finished: June '04 |
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| Whiteout: Melt is the follow up to Greg Rucka's and Steve Lieber's original Whiteout series. Both books are action/thrillers starring Carrie Stetko, a U.S. Marshal stationed in Antarctica. Both books are also great reads. . . read more |
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| Last of the Independents |
| author: Matt Fraction | | art: Kieron Dwyer | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 104 | | finished: July '04 |
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| No alien invaders. No superheroes in spandex. Just a guy named Cole, his girl Justine, their friend Billy, and a plan to rob a little money and get set up happily-ever-after. Unfortunately things don't go nearly as planned. . . read more |
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| Fables: Storybook Love |
| author: Bill Willingham | | art: various | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 104 | | finished: August '04 |
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| i>Fables: Storybook Love is the third trade paperback volume released collecting issues of DC Comics Fables comic book series. I've already read volume one, Legends in Exile, and volume two, Animal Farm and enjoyed them immensely. So I went into Storybook Love with high hopes. . . read more |
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| Fortress of Solitude |
| author: Jonathan Lethem | | | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 104 | | finished: August '04 |
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| Before putting The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem on my Amazon.com Wish List last year, I knew very little about the book or the author. I had scanned through a review of the novel in Newsweek and saw that Amazon had listed it as one of its Editor Choices for 2003. Despite this ignorance of the author or the subject of the book, somewhere a positive buzz had been created in me surrounding the work so I added to my list. . . read more |
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| 300 |
| author: Frank Miller | | art: Frank Miller | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 104 | | finished: August '04 |
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| 300 tells the true story of the battle of Thermopylae when King Xerxes of Prussia began his invasion of Greece. It was in the tight mountain pass of Thermopylae that King Leonidas and 300 Spartan warriors were able to hold off the vastly larger forces of the Prussia army long enough for the Greek forces to organize. . . read more |
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| Smoker |
| author: Greg Rucka | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 402 | | finished: August '04 |
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| As I've mentioned in past reviews of Rucka's Atticus Kodiak novels, I don't think I can really review them objectively. I love Rucka's writing and I love the character of Atticus. . . read more |
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| Hellboy: Wake the Devil |
| author: Mike Mignola | | art: Mike Mignola | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 104 | | finished: August '04 |
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| Got to read through all of Hellboy: Wake the Devil because I was home sick. The book was really good. Enjoyed it a lot. . . read more |
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| Human Target: Strike Zones |
| author: Peter Milligan | | art: Javier Pulido | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 128 | | finished: September '04 |
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| I really enjoyed the first two Human Target books that writer Peter Milligan had penned. So much so that I even gave one of them as a gift to my father last Christmas. . . read more |
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| Hysteria |
| author: Mike Hawthorne | | art: Mike Hawthorne | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 95 | | finished: September '04 |
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| Mike Hawthorne's Hysteria is a short digest-sized trade paperback collection of Mike's comics that he self-published back in the late 90's. . . read more |
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| Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man |
| author: James Joyce | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 253 | | finished: October '04 |
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| While I can appreciate the literary signigicance of this novel, it was the hardest 250 page book I've ever read. Recommended if you have time to read it multiple times or have someone who can help you decode all the imagery Joyce ueses. |
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| The Goon: Nuthin' But Misery |
| author: Eric Powell | | artist: eric Powell | | book type: comic | | | | pages: | | finished: October '04 |
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| Queen & Country: Operation Dandelion |
| author: Geg Rucka | | artist: Mike Hawthorne | | book type: comic | | | | pages: | | finished: October '04 |
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| Blankets |
| author: Craig Thompson | | artist: Craig Thompson | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 253 | | finished: October '04 |
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| Legends |
| author: John Ostrander/Len Wein | | artist: John Bryne | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 145 | | finished: November '04 |
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| Tommysaurus Rex |
| author: Doug TenNapel | | artist: Doug TenNapel | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 111 | | finished: November '04 |
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| Snow Falling on Cedars |
| author: David Guterson | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 460 | | finished: November '04 |
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| Sleeper: All False Moves |
| author: Ed Brubaker | | artist: Sean Phillips | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 144 | | finished: December '04 |
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| Tishonmingo Blues |
| author: Elmore Leonard | | | | book type: novel | | | | pages: 308 | | finished: December '04 |
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| John Law Detective: Dead Man Walking |
| author: Gary Chaloner/Will Eisner | | artist: Gary Chaloner/Will Eisner | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 79 | | finished: December '04 |
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| Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers |
| author: Bill Willingham | | artist: Mark Buckingham | | book type: comic | | | | pages: 231 | | finished: December '04 |
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