This year I didn’t read as many books as in previous years, but several that I did were longer novels that took longer to get through. No matter how old I get or how many books I read, I’ll admit that I sometimes feel a bit of trepidation when I start reading a long book in earnest: will I have the time to dedicate to it, or will I get lost in it, becoming confused and leaving it unfinished? Will it be worth the time it takes to read? What if it just stinks? Oddly, the book that took me the longest to finish this year wasn’t even that long: I don’t usually read more than one book at a time, but this summer I started reading Jane Austen’s Emma at home while also carrying around a beat-up copy of F. Paul Wilson’s horror novel The Keep to read at the pool. As you can see from the log below, I limped along for months with Emma before I finished it; I’m not sure if that’s due to the book itself–I breezed through two Austen novels last year–or the circumstances under which I read it. As usual, I’m not counting single issues of comic books, magazine articles, tweets, etc. If it’s not between two covers, it’s not here.
January
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Scared Even Me, ed. Alfred Hitchcock (probably in actuality Robert Arthur; includes the novel Out of the Deeps by John Wyndham)
The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies Volume 1: 1954-1982 (Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition), John LeMay
February
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (This was my mother’s copy, which I borrowed)
World’s Funnest, Evan Dorkin et al
Two Women in the Klondike (abridged), Mary E. Hitchcock
March
Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism, Cathy Gere
Saturn’s Children, Charles Stross
April
America vs. The Justice Society, Roy Thomas et al
Wonderful World, Javier Calvo (trans. by Mara Faye Lethem)
Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination, Edogawa Rampo (trans. by James B. Harris)
Talking ‘Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, Elijah Wald
May
The Terror, Dan Simmons
I haven’t watched AMC’s television adaptation, but the chatter around it reminded me that I’d had this book on my shelves for some time–enough years that it still had a Borders price sticker on it–and hadn’t read it. Its length and historical detail reminded me of something I heard about the best-sellers of yesteryear being packed with information–about the history of a place, or the details of running a particular business, like the novels of James Michener and Arthur Hailey–so that readers could feel that they were learning something, and thus putting the time spent reading to good use instead of being “merely” entertained.
Mandrake the Magician Dailies Volume 1: The Cobra, Lee Falk and Phil Davis
June
Heartburst, Rick Veitch
The Keep, F. Paul Wilson
July
Red Barry, “Undercover Man” Volume 1, Will Gould (Still waiting for Volume 2)
August
Emma, Jane Austen
Made to Kill, Adam Christopher
September
Paperbacks From Hell, Grady Hendrix
Gremlins, “A Novel by George Gipe Based on a Screenplay Written by Chris Columbus”
Dick Tracy, “A Novel by Max Allan Collins Based on the screenplay by Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr., and Bo Goldman & Warren Beatty”
1941: The Illustrated Story, “By Stephen Bissette and Rick Veitch, Adapted by Allan Asherman, Introduction by Stephen Spielberg”
Yes, I spent much of this month reading movie adaptations; I’ve read a few over the years, although they’ve never been a huge part of my reading, even when they were more popular and I was in the target age for movie tie-ins. I had wanted to read Gremlins for a while, having heard that the novelization had added background information and history about the mogwai; there wasn’t quite as much as I had hoped, although part of the story is told from Gizmo’s point of view, which is interesting. The novelization of Warren Beatty’s 1990 Dick Tracy adaptation also fortuitously came my way; written by longtime crime novelist and Dick Tracy writer Max Allan Collins, the book feels more like a “real” novel than you might expect.
As for the graphic novel adaptation of Stephen Spielberg’s 1941, I had noticed that original copies could still be had for just a few dollars through Heavy Metal‘s online store, so how could I resist picking one up? The graphic novel matches the movie’s irreverent (and sometimes offensive) sense of humor with a free-wheeling collage approach that pairs cut-up posters and ads from the 1940s with riotous, Mad- and National Lampoon-inspired asides and sight gags. It feels like a product of a different time, and the fact that new copies are still available makes me wonder just how big the print run must have been back in 1980.
October
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny (reread)
True Indie: Life and Death in Film Making, Don Coscarelli
Kraken, China Miéville
November
The Great White Space, Basil Copper
The House of Cthulhu: Tales of the Primal Land, Volume I, Brian Lumley
Secrets of the Ninja, Ashida Kim
The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art, Stephen K. Hayes
The last two titles listed (as well as a longer book I’ve been reading most of this month) are preparation for an upcoming theme event in January–or should I say, Ninjanuary? Stay tuned!
Medleyana 