Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Reading Challenge: First Half Report


BTW, today through Sunday you can get the second Scarlet Knight "collection" The Wrath of Isis for only 99 cents!  That's 5 huge books for less than a buck.  (Seriously they're all over 100,000 words, especially the last one.)  The first collection is only $2.99 in case you haven't bought it yet.  



In 2013 I read about 250 books.  This year I only set my Goodreads reading challenge to only 200 books, which includes graphic novels (or trade paperback volumes of comics), short stories, etc--whatever is listed on Goodreads or that I add to it.  I've reached the halfway point so here's what I've read so far:

Title Author My Rating Date Read
Age of Ultron Brian Michael Bendis 4 1/1/2014
League of Evil (Girl Power #3) P.T. Dilloway 5 1/2/2014
Cinderella Sims Lawrence Block 4 1/10/2014
Superman: Earth One J. Michael Straczynski 5 1/12/2014
X-Men: Age of X Mike Carey 4 1/15/2014
Player Piano Kurt Vonnegut 4 1/15/2014
Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk Damon Lindelof 4 1/16/2014
Siege Brian Michael Bendis 4 1/17/2014
Fear Itself Matt Fraction 4 1/17/2014
Stardust Neil Gaiman 4 1/17/2014
Silverlock John Myers Myers 4 1/28/2014
Girl Power Stories Volume 1 P.T. Dilloway 5 1/29/2014
Secret Invasion Brian Michael Bendis 3 1/31/2014
The Ultimates, Vol. 1: Super-Human Mark Millar 3 2/1/2014
Girl Power P.T. Dilloway 5 2/1/2014
Secret War Brian Michael Bendis 4 2/1/2014
Marvel Universe: The End Jim Starlin 4 2/2/2014
The Triumph of Evil Lawrence Block 2 2/7/2014
Tales from the Cobra Wars: A G.I. Joe Anthology Max Brooks 3 2/7/2014
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America, Vol. 1 Joe Simon 5 2/9/2014
How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage Sterling Archer 4 2/10/2014
Such Men Are Dangerous Lawrence Block 4 2/11/2014
69 things I do with my Wang: Test to see how dirty your mind is A. Paz 5 2/12/2014
X-Men: Season One (Marvel Season One) Dennis Hopeless 4 2/12/2014
Cassafire Alex J. Cavanaugh 3 2/13/2014
Call Center of Doom (Comedy Sci-fi Short Story) Nigel G. Mitchell 5 2/14/2014
Punisher: Enter the War Zone Greg Rucka 4 2/16/2014
Hollywood Charles Bukowski 4 2/17/2014
The Topless Tulip Caper Lawrence Block 5 2/19/2014
Chip Harrison Scores Again (The Chip Harrison Mysteries) Lawrence Block 4 2/21/2014
X-Men: Curse of the Mutants Victor Gischler 3 2/23/2014
The Lay of the Land: Bascombe Trilogy (3) Richard Ford 4 2/23/2014
Make Out with Murder Lawrence Block 5 2/24/2014
No Score Lawrence Block 5 2/26/2014
Pale Moonlight Tony Laplume 5 2/27/2014
Sucker's Portfolio Kurt Vonnegut 4 2/28/2014
Still with Me Thierry Cohen 2 3/1/2014
JLA, Vol. 3: Rock of Ages Grant Morrison 4 3/1/2014
Enough of Sorrow Lawrence Block 4 3/3/2014
The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 4 3/5/2014
Raising Steam Terry Pratchett 4 3/7/2014
A Hero's Journey (Tales of the Scarlet Knight, #1) P.T. Dilloway 5 3/7/2014
Black Widow: The Name of the Rose Marjorie M. Liu 4 3/8/2014
JLA, Vol. 6: World War III Grant Morrison 5 3/8/2014
Operation: Masquerade Nigel G. Mitchell 5 3/9/2014
Justice League Dark, Vol. 1: In the Dark Peter Milligan 3 3/13/2014
The Natural Bernard Malamud 4 3/13/2014
Shazam!, Vol. 1 Geoff Johns 4 3/16/2014
Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland Tomie dePaola 5 3/17/2014
The Burglar on the Prowl Lawrence Block 4 3/18/2014
Burglars Can't Be Choosers (Rhodenbarr, #1) Lawrence Block 4 3/20/2014
Green Arrow, Vol. 1: The Midas Touch Dan Jurgens 4 3/29/2014
The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward Francis Manapul 3 3/29/2014
Sydney's Spaceship Jo Banks 5 3/29/2014
Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas John Scalzi 4 4/3/2014
Dragonfly Warrior Jay Noel 5 4/10/2014
Man Overboard And Other Short Stories Nigel G. Mitchell 5 4/14/2014
Photobomb and Other Stories Tiny Johnson 5 4/16/2014
The Burglar in the Closet (Rhodenbarr, #2) Lawrence Block 4 4/16/2014
Race Against Time Tiny Johnson 5 4/18/2014
Carnage Zeb Wells 4 4/19/2014
Carnage, U.S.A. Zeb Wells 4 4/19/2014
Captain America: Reborn Ed Brubaker 4 4/19/2014
The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling (Rhodenbarr, #3) Lawrence Block 4 4/19/2014
The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza (Rhodenbarr, #4) Lawrence Block 4 4/21/2014
Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1 Stan Lee 4 4/22/2014
House of M: Spider-Man Mark Waid 4 4/23/2014
Green Arrow: Year One Andy Diggle 5 4/25/2014
The Accounting William Lashner 4 4/26/2014
Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 1: Power and Responsibility Brian Michael Bendis 4 4/29/2014
Spider-Man: Big Time Dan Slott 5 4/29/2014
Spider-Man: Dying Wish Dan Slott 5 4/30/2014
Buddy Holly Is Alive & Well.. Bradley Denton 4 4/30/2014
Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth Dan Slott 5 5/2/2014
The Universe Versus Alex Woods Gavin Extence 2 5/3/2014
The Wowzer Frank Wheeler Jr. 5 5/8/2014
Deadly Honeymoon Lawrence Block 3 5/9/2014
Spider-Man: Spider-Island Dan Slott 5 5/9/2014
Green Lantern, Vol. 1: Sinestro Geoff Johns 4 5/10/2014
Aquaman, Vol. 1: The Trench Geoff Johns 5 5/10/2014
The Time Machine H.G. Wells 4 5/10/2014
Dark Origins (Tales of the Scarlet Knight #0) P.T. Dilloway 5 5/10/2014
The Superior Spider-Man, Vol. 2: A Troubled Mind Dan Slott 5 5/11/2014
The Superior Spider-Man, Vol. 3: No Escape Dan Slott 4 5/11/2014
Ultimate Galactus, Vol. 3: Extinction Warren Ellis 3 5/12/2014
The Superior Spider-Man, Vol. 4: Necessary Evil Dan Slott 3 5/12/2014
Moving Day: A Thriller Jonathan Stone 3 5/14/2014
Changed into a Little Girl Mindi Flyth 3 5/15/2014
Thunderstruck & Other Stories Elizabeth McCracken 4 5/17/2014
Green Arrow, Vol. 4: The Kill Machine Jeff Lemire 3 5/18/2014
The Crack in Space Philip K. Dick 3 5/19/2014
Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1) Jim Butcher 5 5/22/2014
A Strange Kind of Love Lawrence Block 4 5/23/2014
Marvel 1602 Neil Gaiman 4 5/25/2014
Fray: Future Slayer Joss Whedon 4 5/25/2014
Spider-Man: Reign Kaare Andrews 3 5/26/2014
2010: Odyssey Two (Space Odyssey, #2) Arthur C. Clarke 3 5/28/2014

2061: Odyssey Three (Space Odyssey, #3) Arthur C. Clarke 2 5/29/2014
3001: Final Odyssey (Space Odyssey, #4) Arthur C. Clarke 3 5/31/2014
Breaking News Nigel G. Mitchell 5 5/30/2014

A lot of comics, Lawrence Block books, and my own books in there.  Well I read most of Vonnegut's and Ian Fleming's books last year so I guess someone else had to take over.

Most Unexpectedly Good Book (by someone I don't know):
The Wowzer by  Frank Wheeler

I'd be lying if I said I didn't buy this because the title made me think of Inspector Gadget cartoons.  Of course it has nothing to do with that.  It's actually about a corrupt deputy sheriff in a little Arkansas town.  If you like shows like Justified, True Detective, Dexter, The Shield, or Breaking Bad then you'd probably like that book because it's in that same anti-hero vein.

Most Unexpectedly Bad Book (by someone I don't know):
Still With Me by Thierry Cohen
This is one of those where I don't know when I bought it or why.  I just saw it in the To Read folder on my Kindle and since it was fairly short I put it on while on a trip up north.  It's something about a guy tries to commit suicide and then he keeps waking up years into the future to find out he's been living all that time and fucking up his life...and I don't know what the hell was going on.  The moral is don't try to commit suicide--unless you're sure you're going to be successful.  Because otherwise you might still live but a demon will take over your life--or something like that.  Probably didn't help this was written by a French person; as if I don't have enough reasons to hate them already!

5 comments:

David P. King said...

Woof! That's incredible. At least I've read a couple of titles on that list. :)

Briane said...

Wow.

I was trying to think how many books I've read/listened to this year. Not nearly as many as you.

Those Burglar books leaped out at me from the list; I may check them out. I wishlisted that Scalzi book after either you or Andrew mentioned something about it? I think?

Right now I'm reading Nigel's "Operation:Masquerade." He's good. I've got your Scarlet Knight books in the queue, too, but I jump around a lot. I get more audiobooks in nowadays, driving to and from places and taking Mr F for rides.

I don't know how you fit it all in.

Briane said...

Oh, also I'll 'fess up: I totally went and checked out the "69 things I do with my wang." That book ought to be up for title of the year.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

You are my inspiration. My own endeavors, like reading "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" by Thomas Piketty, pale in importance to the educational value of the X-Men.

klahanie said...

Dude, I'm going with the flow and I'm also going to give your own books a 5 out of 5. Hell, make that 6 out of 5. Fuck, you read a lot of books.

Gary

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