the 20th of 2008 or the 100 books of 2008

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100) Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, finished November 10

Okay. if you already knows what happens, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. I can see how the book would probably be effective if read from a position of ignorance, but already knowing how it pans out really ruins it. All the mechanics of the text are laid plain and, like seeing behind the curtain, ruins the effect.

Now, I probably knew too much going into it anyway, but Stephen King's introduction gave even MORE away. This is rather ironic since, also in her introduction, he abuses "that awful, dreadful goblin of a reader, he or she WHO TURNS TO THE LAST THREE PAGES TO SEE HOW IT CAME OUT." Then he immediately gives away an important moment from the book's final scene. Nimrod.

I would like to read a Levin book that I know nothing about and see what that experience is like. But I think I've just scratched Stepford Wives off my list.

about four weeks

099) Batman and Son by Grant Morrison et al, finished November 9

I like Mr Morrison's work but I didn't understand this book at all. It made no sense. None. Whatsoever. Everytime it started making sense, it was quick to take eleven steps backward. And the art in the Special Joker Insert was crazy ugly.

Um.

I don't have a lot else to say. I didn't dislike it at first, but this book wasn't happy with that good first impression and just kept spitting at me until I just couldn't like it any more. And that's very sad. Because I am predisposed to like Batman stories.

Gee whiz, Grant Morrison.

One thing I found fascinating though was that prose Joker story? It read like a Neil Gaiman illustrated story. Same sort of tone, same sort of overreliance on pronouns. Exact same sort of prose. Fascinating.



five days

98) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, finished November 7

Always a joy, Mr Wilde. It was nice to share you with students.

four daysish

097) Manhunter Vol. 1: Street Justice by Marc Andreyko et al, finished November 4

After a four year hiatus, I am back to borrowing comic books from Mr Fob. And although I liked this one okay, I realized (rerealized?) what it is I dislike so much about "normal" serialized comics. By being constrained to a very specific length, the storytelling tends to suffer. And then the collection ends at a spot that makes the whole book feel like a prologue. What's up with that?

The thing is, there's nothing I dislike about this book. It's really just elements of its form that get under my skin.

That said, I'll probably borrow further volumes from the Fobster (if he'll let me after this review). I just wish we could leave the Dickens Method behind. You know: for me, personally.

three days

096) Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism by Joel Andreas, finished November 4

So of course you would expect a book like this to be didactic and minimize the other side's arguments. What you might not expect is how ugly it is. All of it! Not just Kissinger and Dubya, but the innocent children and outraged mothers as well! Not good. But I honestly don't believe that Andreas has it in him to draw a pleasant looking human being.

I do kind of like his skeleton's though.

But you really need a visual contrast between the good guys and the bad guys for a comic like this to meet its full potential.



some months, not really sure how many

Previously:

095) Our America: Life And Death On The South Side Of Chicago by by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman with David Isay, finished October 22
094) Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt, finished October 21
093) Carrie by Stephen King, finished October 14
092) Barnaby by Crockett Johnson, finished October 9
091) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, finished October 8
090) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, finished October 6
089) The Colorado Kid by Stephen King, finished October 3
088) Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark, finished October 1
087) Concrete: Fragile Creature by Paul Chadwick, finished September 28
086) Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1: The Assassin's Road by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, finished September 27
085) A Lion and a Lamb by Rand H. Packer, finished September 20
084) What Jesus Meant by Garry Wills, finished September 20
083) The Lost Ones by Steve Niles et al, finished September 18
082) Dorian by Nephi Anderson, finished September 17
081) If You Want to Scare Yourself by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, translated by Rene Vera Cafiero, with illustrations by Helga Spiess; finished September 12
080) Madman Gargantua by Mike Allred with Laura Allred, finished September 9
079) Star Wars by George Lucas, finished September 9
078) Angel Falling Softly by Eugene Woodbury, finished September 1
077) The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin finished August 29
076) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, finished August 25
075) Added Upon by Nephi Anderson, finished August 24
074) The Last Flower by James Thurber, finished August 19
073) Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form by Scott McCloud, finished August 17
072) The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories by Nicholas Gurewitch, finished August 12
071) The Dreamer by Will Eisner, finished August 12
070) The Blot by Tom Neely, finished August 6
069) Strange Stories for Strange Kids edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, finished August 6
068) Survival Rates by Mary Clyde, finished July 30
067) A Week in October by Elizabeth Subercaseaux, translated by Marina Harss, finished July 29
066) Lehi in the Desert & The World of the Jaredites by Hugh Nibley, Ph. D., finished July 29
065) A Son Is Forever by various, finished July 29
064) Good ol' Snoopy by Charles M. Schultz, finished July 13
063) Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi, finished July 13
062) A Doré Treasury edited by James Stevens, finished July 12?
061) Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.; finished July 8
060) The Enoch Letters by Neal A. Maxwell, finished July
059) Sock Monkey: The Inches Incident by Tony Millionaire, finished July 3
058) The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 by Thomas Ott, finished July 2
057) Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi, finished July 1
056) 300 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, finished June 16
055) Fox Bunny Funny by Andy Hartzell, finished June 16
054) Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss by Martha Weinman Lear, finished June 15
053) The Mystery Guest by Grégoire Bouillier, trans. Lorin Stein, finished June 14
052) The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer, finished June 10
051) Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood, finished June 10
050) Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's, Humor Category edited by D. Eggers, K. Shay, L. Epstein, J. Warner and S. Kleid, finished June 9
049) Bikeman by Thomas F. Flynn, finished June 5
048) Fool Moon by Jim Butcher, finished June 5
047) The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, finished June 2
046) Sixty Poems by Charles Simic, finished May 30
045) Replay by Ken Grimwood, finished May 28
044) The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future by Thomas Nevins, finished May 27
043) W;t by Margaret Edson, finished April 19
042) Halo and Sprocket Volume 1: Welcome to Humanity by Kerry Cullen, finished May 17
041) Storm Front by Jim Butcher, finished May 16>
040) 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill, finished May 9
039) I Am the President of Ice Cream by Geoff Sebesta, finished May 4
038) On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, finished May 3
037) The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, finished May Day
036) The Drifting Classroom Vol. 1 by Kazuo Umezu, finished April 30
035) The Complete Peanuts 1965 - 1966 by Charles M. Schulz, finished April 29
034) Nextwave: Agents Of H.A.T.E Volume 1: This Is What They Want by Warren Ellis et Stuart Immonen et al, finished April 29
033) Batman: Hush, Vol. 2 by Jeph Loeb et al, finished April 29
032) Batman: Hush, Vol. 1 by Jeph Loeb et al, finished April 28
031) Chéri by Colette, finished April 17
030) Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, finished April 13
029) Animal Farm by George Orwell, finished April 8
028) Macbeth by William Shakespeare, finished April 7
027) On the Road to Heaven by Coke Newell, finished April 4
026) The Great American Citizenship Quiz: Can You Pass Your Own Country's Citizenship Test? by Solomon M. Skolnick, finished March 23
025) Long After Dark by Todd Robert Petersen, finished March 23
024) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, finished March 21
023) Robot Dreams by Sara Varon, finished March 10
022) The Complete Peanuts 1963-1964 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 9
021) Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, finished March 7
020) Unorthodox Practices by Marissa Piesman, finished March 5
019) Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta, finished March 4
018) A War of Gifts: An Ender Story by Orson Scott Card, finished Leap Day
017) Watership Down by Richard Adams, finished February 26
016) Old Boy Volume One by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 25
015) Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, finished February 18
014) Ultimate Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, finished February 15
013) Trusting Jesus by Jeffrey R. Holland, finished February 11
012) Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham et al., finished February 11
011) Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach, finished February 4
010) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, finished February 3
009) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, finished LDotFMotNY
008) Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio by Andrei Codrescu, finished January 22
007) Marriage Lines: Notes of a Student Husband by Ogden Nash, finished January 22
006) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, finished January 20
005) The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time by Douglas Adams, finished January 14
004) Lord of the Flies by William Golding, finished January 10
003) Rising Sun by Michael Crichton, finished January 7
002) The Marketing of Sister B by Linda Hoffman Kimball, finished January 2
001) Animal Farm by George Orwell, finished January 1



The First Five ( 001 / 005 )
The Second Five ( 005 / 010 )
The Third Five ( 011 / 015 )
The Fourth Five ( 016 / 020 )
The Fifth Five ( 021 / 025 )
The Sixth Five ( 026 / 030 )
The Seventh Five ( 031 / 035 )
The Eighth Five ( 036 / 040 )
The Ninth Five ( 041 / 045 )
The Tenth Five ( 046 / 050)
The Eleventh Five ( 051 / 055)
The Twelfth Five ( 056 / 060)
The Thirteenth Five ( 061 / 065)
The Fourteenth Five ( 066 / 070)
The Fifteenth Five ( 071 / 075)
The Sixteenth Five ( 076 / 080)
The Seventeenth Five ( 081 / 085)
The Eighteenth Five ( 086 / 090)
The Nineteenth Five ( 091 / 095)

Happy Armistice Day!

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Happy Armistice Day, everybody.

But as nice as it is to reflect that today one of the messiest wars in human history came to an end, it's sobering to realize that the soddy way it was resolved resulted in an even deadlier war: WWII.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Further evidence I may be a bad person

.

I am horribly biased. I recognize this in myself and hope to overcome it someday, but in the meantime the best I can do is admit my faults and come clean in this public forum.

Today's sin: Overlooking aspects of Darius Rucker's new country album that, were they part of anyone else's new country album, I would point to as eXACTly what's wrong with stupid country music. I overlook them because I'm a big Darius Rucker fan and, after listening to album preview on Amazon a dozen times, I'm a big fan of this album as well.

But seriously: "Drinkin' and Dialin'"? You may make it cool, Mr Rucker, but that's still eXACTly what's wrong with country music. (And I'll be expecting more next time.)

High-fantasy svithe

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Something peculiar happened during my nap this afternoon: I dreamed in high fantasy. I've never done this before, best I can recall A sorceress, the priestess of a pagan cult, served as the most frightening villain. The heroes had infiltrated a city glowing like embers at midnights to ... who knows what. But it was a risky business they were up to. Once in the city, its glowiness dissipated and it looked quite normal. One of the heroes was peeved because his contractor culture could have easily built this city for them at half the price.

I have no idea what the point of this dream was, or even if it had one while I was dreaming it. Is the average dream only given plot and structure as we remember it? Discuss.

But for all its pointlessness, it had some marvelous images and set pieces. Like a really crappy movie with awesome effects.

But nothing in this dream, best I can recall, was borrowed from real art or real life. It was all new, cut from whole cloth. And I did it without even trying. Which magic all people do all the time.

The creative potential of the Children of God is staggering.

Let's not waste our gifts.

The city is burning, the sorceress is stalking, the time is far spent.

And tomorrow we die.

Carpe diem is a religious principle.

last week's svithe

Just a couple more thoughts:

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Prop 11 passes (yes!)

But why the heck was the vote so close? Why would any sane person not vote for this? Then again, otherwise apparently sane people have been suckered into voting for sucky incumbents for years. Apparently people like being used. I don't get it. But anyway, the most important proposition of this cycle passed. Let us rejoice.

On Obama and Prop 8

On-the-ground evidence compiled by me suggests it's true: The reenfranchisement of minority voters that led to Obama's astonishing win here in California also pushed Prop 8 over the edge and into victory. Where all the conservative efforts would have failed, Democratic success in getting out the vote succeeded and gay marriage ends in California. I wonder how your average white liberal is feeling about this today...? I don't imagine it's an irony they're savoring.

Lady Steed's Peat Coat

The kids love it and the boys ask me where I got it. Then I say it's actually my wife's? Kids are funny. Like a man shouldn't be allowed to wear his own wife's clothing.

Grant Lee Phillips

Mobilize is a great album. (Thank you, Goodwill!)

It's Lincoln Time.

I've talked about what I want from Obama somewhat already, but I really think this hits my points pretty well. Some items (like appointing Colin Powell) John obviously stole from me, but he has some excellent ideas all his own. Good article. Forward it to the president-elect.

Just a couple thoughts:

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On the Obama victory

I'm so happy that this was decisive enough that we won't be seeing any recounts or suits. And now I'm interested in how Obama will fulfill his Team-of-Rivals promise.

On being the Joker

It was a thrill, being the Joker. Stalking around with a purple baseball bat, making teenagers scream and run away from me all over campus.

I don't like dressing for Halloween because wearing costumes is silly and being in character is hard work. But when one is (for instance) the Joker, one is no longer wearing a costume. When one's body language is dangerously unhinged, when one smiles maniacally while disobeying every law of personal space, when one's vocabulary loses any benignity, one is not wearing a costume.

But actually being the Joker is hard. Being the Joker for six hours straight and not actually injuring someone takes great effort. It's hard work and I don't think I ever want to do it again.

On being the Joker, pt ii

In the movies, you never see someone like the Joker fumble for the keys or eat Doritos without getting them all over his face or take a leak --- and for good reason: it's hard to be threatening in those situations. Being threatening at all times is hard work. Being threatening while checking out The Importance of Being Earnest from the textbook room is nigh unto impossible.

Which reminds me . . . extra credit for anyone who spots photos or video of me from Halloween. I know there is footage out there and I'ld like to see it.

On Election '12

Please please please: let's not even think about it, okay?

another late svithe

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(this time because our internet was on the blink)

I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

-----Nephi

last week's svithe