2009 books read
It's astonishing to me that today is New Year's Eve Day; this holiday has gone by far to quickly. If they show the fireworks on TV tonight, we'll probably watch that, but otherwise Janet and I (and Anya) have no plans.
I've seen some folks doing Year-in-Review posts, but I don't really have the time or energy to do one myself. The biggest thing that happened this year was Anya's arrival into the world, and anything else that might have happened personally pales in importance.
However, I have made a tradition of posting the books I've read each year, and will do so here. The list is provided sans commentary, although I will say that books I've bothered both to pick up and to finish are ones that I consider worth reading. And I would ask that if mention of the books below strikes your fancy, please consider picking them up through IndieBound and supporting your local independent bookstores.
2009 Books Read:
01. *The Ghost in Love* by Jonathan Carroll
02. *Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft* by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
03. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 4: Safeword* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
04. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 5: Ring of Truth* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
05. *Order 66* by Karen Traviss
06. *Abe Sapien, Vol. 1: The Drowning* by Mike Mignola & Jason Shawn Alexander
07. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 6: Girl on Girl* by Brian K. Vaughan, Goran Sudzuka & Pia Guerra
08. *Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore* by Catherine Lim
09. *The Boat* by Nam Le
10. *Being Written* by William Conescu
11. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 7: Paper Dolls* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
12. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 8: Kimono Dragons* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
13. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 9: Motherland* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
14. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
15. *Nothing But the Truth* by Avi
16. *The Arrival* by Shaun Tan
17. *The Dog of the Marriage* by Amy Hempel
18. *Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8), Vol. 3: Wolves at the Gate* by Joss Whedon et al.
19. *To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee
20. *Tales From Outer Suburbia* by Shaun Tan
21. *Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years* by Bruce Sterling
22. *When You Are Engulfed in Flames* by David Sedaris
23. *Secret Son* by Laila Lalami
24. *X-Men: Fairy Tales* by C. B. Cebulski, Sana Takeda, et al.
25. *Superman for All Seasons* by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
26. *The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and other stories* by Vandana Singh
27. *The Bloke's Guide To Pregnancy* by Jon Smith
28. *Lord of the Flies* by William Golding
29. *Welcome to Hoxford* by Ben Templesmith
30. *Merv Pumpkinhead: Agent of D.R.E.A.M.* by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham et al.
31. *The Maxx* by Sam Keith
32. *AIR, Vol. 1: Letters from Lost Countries* by G. Willow Wilson & M.K. Perker
33. *A Public Space* no. 7 (journal)
34. *Always* by Nicola Griffith
35. *The Motorcycle Diaries* by Ernesto "Che" Guevara
36. *Spook Country* by William Gibson
37. *Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment* by Deepak Chopra
38. *Ten Short Stories* by Roald Dahl
39. *Lions in Winter* by Wena Poon
40. *Unaccustomed Earth* by Jhumpa Lahiri
41. *Hellboy II: The Art of the Movie* by Guillermo del Toro, Mike Mignola, et al.
42. *Last Evenings on Earth* by Roberto Bolaño
43. *Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8), Vol. 4: Time of Your Life* by Joss Whedon et al.
44. *Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories* ed. by Jerome Stern
45. *I Hate Other People's Kids* by Adrianne Frost
46. *Exploring the Matrix* ed. by Karen Haber
47. *Below: Absence* by Cyril Wong
48. *Unmarked Treasure* by Cyril Wong
49. *Like A Seed with its Singular Purpose* by Cyril Wong
50. *Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light* by Cyril Wong
51. *Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories* ed. by James Thomas, Denise Thomas & Tom Hazuka
52. *Spell Games* by T.A. Pratt
53. *After Dark* by Haruki Murakami
54. *Norse Code* by Greg van Eekhout
55. *Of Love and Other Monsters* by Vandana Singh
56. *Younguncle Comes to Town* by Vandana Singh
57. *Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville* by Jeff Smith
58. *House of M* by Brian Michael Bendis, Olivier Coipel et al.
59. *Be My Baby: On the Road to Fatherhood* by Neil Humphreys
60. *Bone, Vol. 2: The Great Cow Race* by Jeff Smith
61. *Younguncle in the Himalayas* by Vandana Singh
62. *The Filth* by Grant Morrison et al.
63. *Emily of Emerald Hill* by Stella Kon
64. *Distances* by Vandana Singh
65. *Bone, Vol. 3: Eyes of the Storm* by Jeff Smith
66. *Bone: Stupid Stupid Rat-Tails (The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero)* by Jeff Smith, Tom Sniegoski et al.
67. *Bone, Vol. 4: The Dragonslayer* by Jeff Smith
68. *Bone, Vol. 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border* by Jeff Smith
69. *Bone, Vol. 6: Old Man's Cave* by Jeff Smith
70. *Bone, Vol. 7: Ghost Circles* by Jeff Smith
71. *O Singapore! Stories in Celebration* by Catherine Lim
72. *The Sandman Presents: Love Street* by Peter Hogan, Michael Zulli et al.
73. *Blueberry Girl* by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
74. *The Dangeous Alphabet* by Neil Gaiman and Gris Grimly
75. *Futurama: The Time Bender Trilogy* by Ian Boothby, James Lloyd, & John Delaney
76. *Rose* by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess
77. *Cyberabad Days* by Ian McDonald
78. *Eternals* by Neil Gaiman and John Romita, Jr.
79. *Brasyl* by Ian McDonald
80. *Memories of My Melancholy Whores* by Gabriel García Márquez
81. *Netherland* by Joseph O'Neill
82. *Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare and Co.* by Jeremy Mercer
83. *The Sacred Book of the Werewolf* by Victor Pelevin
84. *Let Me Tell You Something About That Night* by Cyril Wong
85. *What I Talk About When I Talk About Running* by Haruki Murakami
86. *Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman* by Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden, and Stephen R. Bissette
87. *Ubik: The Screenplay* by Philip K. Dick
88. *Oracle Night* by Paul Auster
89. *The City & the City* by China Miéville
90. *The Blue Lantern* by Victor Pelevin
91. *Watchmen: The Film Companion* by Peter Aperlo
92. *Where's My Cow?* by Terry Pratchett & Melvyn Grant
93. *The Book Thief* by Markus Zusak
94. *DadLabs Guide to Fatherhood: Pregnancy and Year One* by Clay Nichols et al.
95. *Desolation Jones* by Warren Ellis and J.H. Williams III
96. *Omon Ra* by Victor Pelevin
97. *Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8), Vol. 5: Predators and Prey* by Joss Whedon et al.
98. *Babylon* by Victor Pelevin
99. *The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms* by N.K. Jemisin
100. *The Proper Care of Foxes* by Wena Poon
101. *The Last Lecture* by Randy Pausch & Jeffrey Zaslow
102. *Liar* by Justine Larbalestier
103. *The Life of Insects* by Victor Pelevin
104. *Shades of Grey* by Lewis Shiner (chapbook)
105. *Collected Stories* by Lewis Shiner
Previously: 2008 Books Read, 2007 Books Read, 2006 Books Read
I've seen some folks doing Year-in-Review posts, but I don't really have the time or energy to do one myself. The biggest thing that happened this year was Anya's arrival into the world, and anything else that might have happened personally pales in importance.
However, I have made a tradition of posting the books I've read each year, and will do so here. The list is provided sans commentary, although I will say that books I've bothered both to pick up and to finish are ones that I consider worth reading. And I would ask that if mention of the books below strikes your fancy, please consider picking them up through IndieBound and supporting your local independent bookstores.
2009 Books Read:
01. *The Ghost in Love* by Jonathan Carroll
02. *Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft* by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
03. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 4: Safeword* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
04. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 5: Ring of Truth* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
05. *Order 66* by Karen Traviss
06. *Abe Sapien, Vol. 1: The Drowning* by Mike Mignola & Jason Shawn Alexander
07. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 6: Girl on Girl* by Brian K. Vaughan, Goran Sudzuka & Pia Guerra
08. *Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore* by Catherine Lim
09. *The Boat* by Nam Le
10. *Being Written* by William Conescu
11. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 7: Paper Dolls* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
12. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 8: Kimono Dragons* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
13. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 9: Motherland* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
14. *Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores* by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
15. *Nothing But the Truth* by Avi
16. *The Arrival* by Shaun Tan
17. *The Dog of the Marriage* by Amy Hempel
18. *Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8), Vol. 3: Wolves at the Gate* by Joss Whedon et al.
19. *To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee
20. *Tales From Outer Suburbia* by Shaun Tan
21. *Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years* by Bruce Sterling
22. *When You Are Engulfed in Flames* by David Sedaris
23. *Secret Son* by Laila Lalami
24. *X-Men: Fairy Tales* by C. B. Cebulski, Sana Takeda, et al.
25. *Superman for All Seasons* by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
26. *The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and other stories* by Vandana Singh
27. *The Bloke's Guide To Pregnancy* by Jon Smith
28. *Lord of the Flies* by William Golding
29. *Welcome to Hoxford* by Ben Templesmith
30. *Merv Pumpkinhead: Agent of D.R.E.A.M.* by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham et al.
31. *The Maxx* by Sam Keith
32. *AIR, Vol. 1: Letters from Lost Countries* by G. Willow Wilson & M.K. Perker
33. *A Public Space* no. 7 (journal)
34. *Always* by Nicola Griffith
35. *The Motorcycle Diaries* by Ernesto "Che" Guevara
36. *Spook Country* by William Gibson
37. *Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment* by Deepak Chopra
38. *Ten Short Stories* by Roald Dahl
39. *Lions in Winter* by Wena Poon
40. *Unaccustomed Earth* by Jhumpa Lahiri
41. *Hellboy II: The Art of the Movie* by Guillermo del Toro, Mike Mignola, et al.
42. *Last Evenings on Earth* by Roberto Bolaño
43. *Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8), Vol. 4: Time of Your Life* by Joss Whedon et al.
44. *Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories* ed. by Jerome Stern
45. *I Hate Other People's Kids* by Adrianne Frost
46. *Exploring the Matrix* ed. by Karen Haber
47. *Below: Absence* by Cyril Wong
48. *Unmarked Treasure* by Cyril Wong
49. *Like A Seed with its Singular Purpose* by Cyril Wong
50. *Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light* by Cyril Wong
51. *Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories* ed. by James Thomas, Denise Thomas & Tom Hazuka
52. *Spell Games* by T.A. Pratt
53. *After Dark* by Haruki Murakami
54. *Norse Code* by Greg van Eekhout
55. *Of Love and Other Monsters* by Vandana Singh
56. *Younguncle Comes to Town* by Vandana Singh
57. *Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville* by Jeff Smith
58. *House of M* by Brian Michael Bendis, Olivier Coipel et al.
59. *Be My Baby: On the Road to Fatherhood* by Neil Humphreys
60. *Bone, Vol. 2: The Great Cow Race* by Jeff Smith
61. *Younguncle in the Himalayas* by Vandana Singh
62. *The Filth* by Grant Morrison et al.
63. *Emily of Emerald Hill* by Stella Kon
64. *Distances* by Vandana Singh
65. *Bone, Vol. 3: Eyes of the Storm* by Jeff Smith
66. *Bone: Stupid Stupid Rat-Tails (The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero)* by Jeff Smith, Tom Sniegoski et al.
67. *Bone, Vol. 4: The Dragonslayer* by Jeff Smith
68. *Bone, Vol. 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border* by Jeff Smith
69. *Bone, Vol. 6: Old Man's Cave* by Jeff Smith
70. *Bone, Vol. 7: Ghost Circles* by Jeff Smith
71. *O Singapore! Stories in Celebration* by Catherine Lim
72. *The Sandman Presents: Love Street* by Peter Hogan, Michael Zulli et al.
73. *Blueberry Girl* by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
74. *The Dangeous Alphabet* by Neil Gaiman and Gris Grimly
75. *Futurama: The Time Bender Trilogy* by Ian Boothby, James Lloyd, & John Delaney
76. *Rose* by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess
77. *Cyberabad Days* by Ian McDonald
78. *Eternals* by Neil Gaiman and John Romita, Jr.
79. *Brasyl* by Ian McDonald
80. *Memories of My Melancholy Whores* by Gabriel García Márquez
81. *Netherland* by Joseph O'Neill
82. *Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare and Co.* by Jeremy Mercer
83. *The Sacred Book of the Werewolf* by Victor Pelevin
84. *Let Me Tell You Something About That Night* by Cyril Wong
85. *What I Talk About When I Talk About Running* by Haruki Murakami
86. *Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman* by Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden, and Stephen R. Bissette
87. *Ubik: The Screenplay* by Philip K. Dick
88. *Oracle Night* by Paul Auster
89. *The City & the City* by China Miéville
90. *The Blue Lantern* by Victor Pelevin
91. *Watchmen: The Film Companion* by Peter Aperlo
92. *Where's My Cow?* by Terry Pratchett & Melvyn Grant
93. *The Book Thief* by Markus Zusak
94. *DadLabs Guide to Fatherhood: Pregnancy and Year One* by Clay Nichols et al.
95. *Desolation Jones* by Warren Ellis and J.H. Williams III
96. *Omon Ra* by Victor Pelevin
97. *Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8), Vol. 5: Predators and Prey* by Joss Whedon et al.
98. *Babylon* by Victor Pelevin
99. *The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms* by N.K. Jemisin
100. *The Proper Care of Foxes* by Wena Poon
101. *The Last Lecture* by Randy Pausch & Jeffrey Zaslow
102. *Liar* by Justine Larbalestier
103. *The Life of Insects* by Victor Pelevin
104. *Shades of Grey* by Lewis Shiner (chapbook)
105. *Collected Stories* by Lewis Shiner
Previously: 2008 Books Read, 2007 Books Read, 2006 Books Read