Reading list 2007

I believe that if an idea is a good one, it's worth stealing. That being the case, I totally 'borrowed' Dinah's idea of keeping note of the books I've read throughout the year, and am listing them here for your pleasure and delight. Unlike Dinah, I did not manage to read 50 books this year; more troubling than that, though, is the fact that the vast majority of books I did read were graphic novels, which begs the question how could I have not read 50 books, because graphic novels are mainly pictures and pictures are easier to read than words because you just need to stare at them. I'm going to make a more concerted effort to alternate between graphic novels and prose next year, because even I'm a bit troubled by how unbalanced this list is. 

I'll be grading each book like a jaded English lit teacher as I go (with A+ being the highest grade, and F- being the lowest) and writing a very brief note on my thoughts about said books; where possible (which should be just about everything unless I get bored), I shall also provide links to Amazon.co.uk. Enough procrastinating - enjoy!

01. Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol. 2 - Quality superhero shenanigans: A
02. Strangers in Paradise Vol. 1 - Decent collection of long-running indie comic: B
03. Jimmy Corrigan - Beautifully illustrated, but I found it a bit emotionally detached: B
04. An Anthology of Graphic Fiction - Does exactly what it says on the tin: B
05. Dark Horse Book of Monsters - Diverting: B
06. Sidescrollers - Distinctive artwork and good fun in the Mallrats vein: A-
07. Absolute Dark Knight - For Dark Knight Returns: A+; for Dark Knight Strikes Back: D-
08. The Dog of the South - Starts brilliantly, drags a bit toward the end: B-
09. Luba: Three Daughters - A Gilbert Hernandez book, need I say more? A

10. World War Z - Awesome: A+
11. My Dead Girlfriend - A great little book by the guy who illustrated Seth's artwork on The OC: A 
12. Absolute DC: The New Frontier - The most beautifully drawn and written superhero story in decades: A+
13. The Superman Handbook - How to improve your life by following Superman's example: B
14. Tales from the Clerks - Kevin Smith's Clerks comics collected into one volume: B+
15. The Average American Male - The funniest book I've ever read: A+
16. Batman Black and White Vol. 3 - Great collection of short, black 'n white Batman stories: B
17. Star Trek: Mirror Universe - Glass Empires - Three stories, ENT, TOS, and TNG. The TOS one is brilliant, the others so-so: B-
18. Absolute Batman: The Long Halloween - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are geniuses: A+
19. You Don't Love Me Yet - A quirky love story: B
20. Rant - Chuck Palaniuk continues his slide into mediocrity: D-
21. Zodiac - Scared the tits off me: B-
22. Batman: Ego and Other Tails - Darwyn Cooke's early Batman work collected: B
23. The Complete Peanuts: 1961-1962 - Genius: A+
24. The Complete Peanuts: 1963-1964 - As above, and did I mention these are beautifully packaged books? A+
25. Girl Crazy - A quirky miniseries by Gilbert Hernandez: A-
26. Love and Rockets: Maggie the Mechanic - The earliest Locas stories: A+
27. Love and Rockets: Girl from Hoppers - Continuing the above: A+
28. Chance in Hell - A cracking original graphic novel by Gilbert Hernandez telling the story of a film that one of his post-Palomar characters stars in: A
29. Love and Rockets: Heartbreak Soup - The first collection of Palomar stories: A+
30. Love and Rockets: Human Diastrophism - Contains the stunning graphic novel from which the collection takes its title: A+
31. Shortcomings - An intriguing look at a guy with relationship issues: B+
32. Star Trek: Academy - Collision Course - The mighty Shatner's latest offering. Enjoyably far-fetched: B
33. Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil - An enjoyable and beautifully-illustrated Captain Marvel story by the creator of Bone: A

34. Invincible Ultimate Collection Vol. 3 - Still reading it, but based on the previous two volumes let's give it an: A

I do like the way that I'm ending the year by reading volume 3 of Invincible, when I began it with volume 2; there's something nicely cyclical about it.

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Right, that's me done - I'm taking the rest of the year off. Have a happy, healthy, and wonderful 2008 - I wish you all what you would wish for yourself!