Books!

[grinninfoole]

In 2006, I read some books, many of them at work.  I don't recall them all, but here's a list of the one's that I do:

The Translator by John Crowley. 
The Dark Tower book 7, the Dark Tower by Stephen King.
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Why We Buy by Paco Underhill
Call of the Mall also by Underhill
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Kill the Dead by Tanith Lee (wow, she's good.)
The Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker
A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut (read to me by Millari)
Brian Bendis's run on Daredevil


For 2007, I have so far read:

Eragon by Christopher Paolini (well, I skimmed it really, but that's all the book deserves.  It's not actually bad, but it is juvenile and derivative, and would not have been published by anyone other than his parents.  Let us hope that he continues to grow as an author, and years from now looks back on it with mild embarassment.)

Artesia and Artesia Afield by Mark Smylie (graphic novels).  The first two parts of the Book of Dooms, what promises to be a sprawling fantasy epic.  Avoid it if that phrase gives you hives, but if it doesn't, definitely check it out.  Smylie has a lush illustrative style, a complex and carefully considered imaginary world, and a good visual imagination for depicting magic and gods and spirits spread over a sweeping battlefield.  Artesia is a young mercenary captain and sorcerer who may have outlived her usefulness to her king.  In part two, she leads an army to join in a major war that has begun to the south.  This series is bloody, sexy, erotic, shocking, novel, and really good.  Smylie is, in part, writing military fiction about armies in conflict and units maneuvering.  This could be, and often is, dull and confusing in prose novels, but Smylie is doing a COMIC, so we can see what the hell is going on, and that makes it much clearer and more engaging.

So, that's three down, forty seven to go.

Comments

[sphinxvictorian.livejournal.com]

Good list for 2006!

I agree with you on Artesia, for the most part. The story was excellent, but as I may have said before, I wish that Smylie had differentiated the faces a bit more, since a lot of them wear the same armor and the men and the women have long hair, so sometimes it's even hard to distinguish gender. Except of course, during the erotic bits. Ahem. Anyway, I'll probably give the series another chance sometime, because as I say the story is excellent.

[grinninfoole.livejournal.com]

A couple of folks have expressed envy that I can read at work, so I should clarify: I can take a little time here and there to check out books, give them a skim so I can talk about them knowledgably with customers. I don't bring books to read while I'm working--there's too much to do for just sitting and reading. Heck, most of the comics I read at work, I read after hours. Mostly, when I read on the clock, I read things that I wouldn't read on my own. (Yaoi, for example.)