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I've long kept a reading journal, and most years have read well over 50. However, as I've just started up a new business, 2008 was rather slim. I'm a bit behind for 2009, but we'll see how it goes.

I've just noticed that a lot of folk are including graphic novels, with that addition I'll catch up in no time.

Baltimore, or the steadfast tin soldier and the vampire by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, w/illustrations by Mignola.

Mignola and Golden pay homage to Arthur Machen, and are better able to imitate that style than most I've read. Baltimore consists of several "weird tales" nested within a devastatingly horrific wrap-around tale. The central conceit is that the Influenza epidemic of 1919 is actually caused by a vampire plague. (this falls in line with the Balkan conception of the vampire myth) A soldier of the Great War, accidentally starts the vampire plague, loses everything he loves, and becomes a vampire hunter every bit as terrible as the creatures he hunts.

highly recommended.

#2 American Splendor: Another Day, Another Dollar by Harvey Pekar w/ various artists


A graphic novel indie comic icon Pekar. The book consists entirely of short 1 or 2 page vignettes of Pekar's daily life. His ability to inject importance into even the most mundane events is a marvel to behold.

#3 Just After Sunset By Stephen King

The weakest of all King's short story collections. King notes that he's had a lot of trouble in recent years writing short stories and this is the first foray back into the short form after this trouble. It shows. The only story I found to be of merit was "N", but I'm a sucker for even a mediocre homage to Lovecraft.

#4 Showcase Presents Enemy Ace vol. 1 various writers and artists.

A huge reprinting of dozens of Enemy Ace comics from the 60's and 70's.

The stories are incredibly formulaic, but the knowledge of WWI fighter planes shown throughout is impressive, and the art is often amazing.

Hard to believe that a comic book series about a WWI German ace managed to be so successful for so long.

#5 Ultimate Spider-Man: War of the Symbiotes By Brian Bendis

A charming diversion.

#6 The Umbrella Academy vol. 1

A graphic novel by the lead sing of My Chemical Romance. Largely crap, it tries waaaaay to hard at surrealism without really understanding its influences.

#7 DMZ: Blood in the Game written by Brian Wood.

The latest collection of the DMZ comic. The story follows the story of a war correspondant in the DMZ of Manhatten during all too plausible near future 2nd US Civil war

#8 Patriot Acts by Greg Rucka

Rucka's strengths lie in his knowledge of contemporary international politics, military logistics, and intelligence procedures. Sadly none of that is particularly evident here, in his final(?) Atticus Kodiac novel.

#9 The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

The latest in Chabon's series of genre experiments. Here he takes on the iconic figure of Sherlock Holmes. Enjoyable, if a bit on the slight side.

#10 Sock by Penn Jillette

A murder mystery with a clever conceit (no spoilers from me). Unfortunately, the whole endeavor becomes just another one of Jillette's pro-atheist screeds.

#11 Exterminators: Bug Brothers
#12 Exterminators: The Insurgents
#13 Exterminators: Sins of Our Fathers

A clever series of graphic novels dead set on proving that exterminators are all that stands between civilization and the apocalypse. fun. disgusting.

#14 Faker by Brian Wood

A graphic novel thriller focusing on the idea that many people use college as an opportunity to reinvent themselves.

muddled. mildly diverting.

#15 Terminal by Andrew Vacchs

Typical Vacchs. It's formulaic, but at least the formula is his own. The prose style is a wonder to read, so tight . . . so hardboiled . . . so sharp it cuts like a razor. You have no idea the words have had any effect on you until a few moments later when your brain begins to bleed a bit.

#16 Fear of Dreaming: the selected poems by Jim Carroll

grotty, junk sick musings on early 70's New York. Ugly and beautiful at the same time.

#17 Live Nude Girl by Kathleen Rooney

A memoir of Ms Rooney's experiences as an artist's model. light, breezy, conversational, with some interesting insights.

#18 The Time Traveler's Wife by Niffenegger

I thoroughly enjoyed this. The character of Clare is a little thin, and the supporting cast could have been better rounded, but the core of love triumphing over time made the read worthwhile.

#19 Incognegro

A graphic novel depicting the story of a mixed race reporter passing for white in the 1930's south in order to document lynchings.

a harrowing read.

#20 Paradoxia by Lydia Lunch

Lydia's such a nice girl.

The darling of the No Wave scene is on a heavy De Sade trip, and like the good Marquis the result is a catalog of kink with novel perversions aplenty. Also like the Marquis, there is an interesting study of power dynamics in our society if one is willing to wade through the exceptionally fecund filth. Don't get me wrong, filth can be fun, but such a nonstop wallow becomes tedious.

Ultimately the book fails because of the lack of coherent and engaging narrative, but it succeeds precisely where it set out to . . . as a tonic for the endless victim narratives that make up such a large part of our literature of the last 20 yrs or so. Lydia has provided us with a portrait of the artist as unrepentant predator.

#21 My Inner Bimbo by Sam Keith

Mr Keith is awesome as always. This book made me feel like Carl Jung had just kicked me in the nuts.

#22 The People Look Like Flowers at Last by Charles Bukowski

Theoretically the last of Bukowski's posthumous collections of poetry, this one shows a slightly different more empathic side to the man.

# 23 Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen

A reworking of Matthissen's Watson trilogy, this is arguably three novels.

No character in all of literature has been as poked, prodded and thoroughly examined by his author as Edgar Watson has by Matthiessen. The novel begins with Watson's violent death at the hands of an angry mob and then proceeds to investigate what sort of man he was to have come to such an end. The first third of the book tells Watson's tale from the point of view of his community, providing a half dozen or so different perspectives on his story. The next third focuses on Watson's son and his investigation into what happened, and the last third is from Watson's own point of view. This movement from the public sphere, to family, to the individual is very effective.

genius

#24 Up in Honey's Room by Elmore Leonard

Quick, zippy crime thriller.

At the end of WWII, a much honored US Marshal is tracking down two German soldiers who've escaped from a POW camp in Oklahoma. What's surprising about the novel, is that the escapees are very sympathetic, the trouble comes from the nazi sympathizers that are hiding them for their own purposes.

#25 The Terror by Dan Simmons

Brutal. Possibly brilliant.

#26 The Big Hunger by John Fante

I've long been a fan of Fante, and as his novels often feel very episodic to me I felt his short stories ought to be just about perfect. Ironically, I found many of them to feel like orphaned excerpts from a larger work. Worth reading, but not as spiffo as i expected.

#27 Candy edited by Dale Winslow

There are two pieces of mine in this anthology. That alone should attest to its merit, but there's a whole smorgasboard of other fine folk as well. [close:]