Favorite books read in 2023

 My stats in 2023 were pretty great.  I set a new Goodreads record (which is probably also an all-time record, but I don't have stats prior to Goodreads) for number of books read, with 144 (breaking last year's of 138, which itself broke 2015's of 134), and number of pages read, with 36,513 (which again breaks last year's record of 34,809).  The only stat that continues to elude me is books read in a single month, which remains 21 in August 2013, although I tied last year's runner up from December with June's 19.  I rated a bunch of books the full five stars, but let's narrow it once again to a top ten:

1. Paradise Lost by John Milton, the biggest welcome surprise of the suite of classics I read during the year, a grand sweeping epic poem that doesn't just spotlight Lucifer's arc, as a college class once tried convincing me.
2. The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill, the first book in his history of WWII, explaining the many inexplicable ways WWII was allowed to happen in the first place and the even more ridiculous ways it was allowed to develop once begun.
3. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith, the latest J.K. Rowling mystery, seventh in the series.
4. Cosmic Detective by Matt Kindt, Jeff Lemire & David Rubin, the best new graphic novel material I read this year, easily, worth anticipating the release date for much of the year.
5. Ravage & Son by Jerome Charyn, the closest he's come to uniting his literary and crime fictions.
6. Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway, an obscure but undeservedly so piece of his catalog, a literary version of a real safari he took, akin to Melville in achievement.
7. Cari Mora by Thomas Harris, proving he can achieve greatness without Hannibal Lecter.
8. All Systems Red by Martha Wells, which I finally read after hearing such good things about the Murderbot series, which at least with this first entry was absolutely accurate.
9. Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino, the closest the printed word has yet gotten to his famous encyclopedic knowledge of film, covering his formative experiences watching the medium.
10. Berta Isla by Javier Marias, a kind of follow-up to his brilliant Your Face Tomorrow trilogy.

Lots of other interesting things read as well...!

Favorite books read in 2022

 Last year I finally beat several Goodreads records from 2015, although an earlier one from 2013 eluded me.  I read 138 (versus 134) books, with a total pagecount of 34,176 (versus 33,492).  I just missed, in December (I made a push in the final two weeks over the course of two long weekends), my August 2013 total of 21 books with 19.  I was knowingly chasing the first two (although I guess I was probably safer with the second one than I'd thought), and would've definitely pushed a little further had I known how close I was with the third!

Such are the achievements of a book nerd...

1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which I passed up reading for years, figuring a popular book club bestseller couldn't really interest me, but I finally reconsidered on the basis of the film adaptation once again placing it on bookshelves.  I actually love the film better, but the book is basically the American version of the Millennium Trilogy's full arc for Lisbeth Salander, and that comes with considerable praise for me.  I figure it's as close to a true classic as has been published in the last decade.
2. The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith, the latest Strike/Ellacott mystery tackles social media poison from the same mind that has been cracking the modern psyche so brilliantly since it was done with wizards.  No further legitimate intellectual defense necessary.
3. The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, the latest (slim) volume from the writer who has very quickly become one of my favorites.  I read her collection Some Trick twice this year, as well as Lightning Rods for the first time, and of course this.  Her Last Samurai is another modern classic.
4. Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris, which is the last and probably clearest spotlight for the famous cannibal, which in later film appearances perhaps got lost in the infamy but I also explored this year in Hannibal, the sequel that cemented his later reputation, both in book and film.  
5. Metamorphica by Zachary Mason, a spiritual successor to his Lost Books of the Odyssey, both being miracles of modern interpretations for Greek myths.
6. The Complete Short Stories by Ernest Hemingway, which is fairly self-explanatory.  I didn't start reading Hemingway until Woody Allen's brilliant Midnight in Paris, which led me to A Moveable Feast, which led to everything else I've read to date, which covers what I believe to be all of the major works at this point.
7. Cowboy Graves: Three Novellas by Robert Bolano, the latest posthumous collection from my favorite writer, well worth the wait and yet another easy suggestion for anyone who still has yet to experience him and wants something simple before tackling his masterpieces (2666, The Savage Detectives).
8. Big Red by Jerome Charyn, the latest from another favorite writer, this time honing in on yet another creative dynamo, Orson Welles, and Rita Hayworth.
9. Sugergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King & Bilquis Evely, my favorite of the many graphic novels I read in 2022, and my favorite of the several Tom King masterpieces among them (including Rorschach and Strange Adventures).  This one's one of his shortest works, but most inventive, harking back to his best work, Omega Men.
10. Gump & Co. by Winstom Groom, the best of the considerable backlog of books on my shelves, a sequel to the first book and not the movie adapted from it, although cleverly written with an eye to it, a true piece of classic Americana that's been all but lost in an era that has little use for such things as it cherry picks for whatever is most useful for current needs. 

Favorite books read in 2021

1. XX by Rian Hughes was without a doubt my favorite read of the year.  Just such a phenomenally creative work of fiction, drawing on his design background but also featuring stellar storytelling.  
2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino, based on his own movie, not an adaptation but a novel in its own right, sort of like reading the Princess Bride versus watching it.
3. The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling, whom it is quite fashionable to despise these days, but me I still cherish her, especially as she continues to write excellent material.
4. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, which is not The Corrections, the book for which he is known (although I snatched up a copy of that to read later, naturally) but a vivid exploration of the consequences of the circumstances in which we grow up.
5. Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, a graphic novel I should have read a long time ago, and the pandemic finally helped make it happen.  
6. The Hemingway Stories by Ernest Hemingway, a collection put together for a TV documentary, which helpfully let me continue my far-too-late discovery of his genius.
7. Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin, which was my far-too-late introduction to a more recent literary genius.
8. Tuki: Fight for Fire by Jeff Smith, his third major comics work finally in print.
9. Who Asked You? by Terry McMillan, in which I finally read her brilliance, too.
10. Hawkman, Volumes 1-4 by Robert Venditti and various, in which I finally read the complete modern seminal classic.

It was a very good reading year.

Favorite books read in 2020

2020 was a less than stellar experience in a lot of ways but in terms of reading, for me it was a very good one. Here’s my ten favorite reads of the past year:

1. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu - I thought his How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe was a work of genius. Well his second book is at least as brilliant.
2. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith - Arguably the best of the Cormoran Strike books to date.
3. V. by Thomas Pynchon - I read a number of Pynchon books, this was the earliest, the best, and most influential.
4. Green Lantern: Earth One, Vol. 2 by Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko - The best new comic book material I read this year, as much a revelation as its preceding volume.
5. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - Her long-awaited next book is certainly shorter than Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell but equally imaginative.
6. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - The author of The Time Traveler’s Wife produces a miracle of a book nearly its equal as her follow up. 
7. Cesare by Jerome Charyn - I have read and admired many books by Charyn, but this incredible true story of wartime Germany is perhaps the book he was born to write.
8. The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen Carter - What in later years seems unthinkable to most Americans was certainly probable in Lincoln’s own lifetime. This is the story of an alternate history where he survived the assassination, didn’t become overnight a beloved national hero, and instead faced the response to his controversial wartime policies.
9. Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Matthias Énard - A brilliant short historic novel focusing on a little-remembered anecdote from the career of Michelangelo.
10. The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling - Obviously I listed both of her books published last fall despite the massive backlash she faced online, all of which was informed by a total misunderstanding and inability to remember what it is she actually writes, much less what she actually wrote. Well.

The incredible wealth of talent behind Band of Brothers

Back in 2001, HBO screened Band of Brothers for the first time.  Recently it was picked as HBO's best original programming ever.  Created as a sort of expanded version of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's seminal Saving Private Ryan and based on the Stephen Ambrose book, Band of Brothers was created in part by Erik Jendresen (most famous in recent years for nearly creating new Star Trek movies before JJ Abrams got to them) and Graham Yost (most famous recently for the TV series Justified, but immortal as far as I'm concerned for Boomtown, a brilliant mosaic of crime). 

Here's a listing of the powerhouse acting talent to be found in Band of Brothers:

• Damian Lewis - Later starred in Homeland.
• Ron Livingston - Previously starred in cult classic Office Space, later featured in short-lived TV show Defying Gravity.
• Scott Grimes - Currently featured in The Orville, previously a cast member of ER.
• Donnie Wahlberg - Featured in Yost's Boomtown, plus a longstanding cast member of Blue Bloods.
• Kirk Acevedo - Later featured in Fringe.
• Michael Cudlitz - Later featured in The Walking Dead.
• Neal McDonough - Later featured in Yost's Boomtown.
• Colin Hanks - Later featured in the sitcom Life in Pieces.
• David Schwimmer - Previously featured in Friends.
• Jamie Bamber - Later featured in Battlestar Galactica.
• Dominic Cooper - Later appeared in the MCU and starred in Preacher.
• Jimmy Fallon - Previously featured in Saturday Night Live, later host of The Tonight Show.
• Michael Fassbender - Later featured in Inglourious Basterds and starred as Magneto in the X-Men movies.
• Tom Hardy - Later had his big break in Star Trek Nemesis and breakthrough role in Inception.
• James McAvoy - Later featured as Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies.
• Jason O'Mara - Later starred in the American version of Life on Mars.
• Simon Pegg - Later featured in Shaun of the Dead and the Star Trek movies.

Favorite books read in 2019

Here's my list of favorite books I read in 2019.  As I don't read a lot of new releases, most of these will be older, in some cases quite a bit older, than what you typically find in these lists...

1. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt, something I tracked down expressly because of one of those wildly premature "best of the century so far" lists that began appearing within the last year or so.  And I was pleasantly surprised to really love it!  
2. Distant Star by Roberto Bolano, part of my push last year to collect and read all the remaining books from the late author I hadn't yet gotten around to.  This one focused on the little-explored legacy of Nazis who fled to South America following WWII, not merely from the spectacular reclamations for later trials, but the effects they had on the native populations, part of the youth that greatly affected Bolano's life.
3. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, which presents the imaginative response from another native perspective, this time as part of the Iraq War, a book I found at an airport.  (I recently bought a few more from another trip, and hope the results are even half as good.)
4. Don Quixote by Cervantes, a first-time read of a classic, and hugely illuminating.
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway, another first-time read of a classic, and by far the best book I've read in my recent push to finally read Papa.
6. The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, the first time I've read it since high school, and I'm pretty sure I got more out of it this time, and a greater appreciation.
7. Heroes in Crisis by Tom King, a controversial graphic novel for some, but the next great piece of writing from my current favorite in the medium.
8. Quichotte by Salman Rushdie, coincidentally released the same year I read the book on which it's mostly based.
9. The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King by Jerome Charyn, a book based on Teddy Roosevelt by one of my favorite authors.
10. Lessons from Lucy by Dave Barry, the latest from one of my favorite writers, slowly working his way past strict humor.

I spend all year writing extensive reviews over at Goodreads, and then I write the bare minimum here...At least I know about as many people are likely to care one way or the other!

Alfred Hitchcock's The Best of Mystery: What Happened to Each Writer?

I just finished The Best of Mystery, culled from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 1980, the year Hitchcock died.  I thought it'd be interesting to excavate the careers of the writers included in the collection.  There are some names even someone like me who doesn't read a lot of mysteries will know, and then some that require a little more digging.  So let's begin!

Edward D. Hoch ("Winter Run," "Warrior's Farewell," "A Melee of Diamonds") Ended up best known for his short stories.

Henry Slesar ("You Can't Blame Her," "Happiness Before Death," "Case of the Kind Waitress") Wrote teleplays for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, among other projects.

Pauline C. Smith ("A Flower in Her Hair," "Linda Is Gone") Limited to Hitchcock publishing ventures.

Avram Davidson ("The Cost of Kent Castwell") Celebrated by hobbyists but never really broke out.

Lawrence Block ("Pseudo Identity," "With a Smile for the Ending") Wrote extensively, dozens of novels under a variety of names.  Easy to find.

Jack Richie ("That Russian!," "The Third Call," "#8") Later refined his name as Jack Ritchie; worked for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, had a short story adapted into a movie starring Walter Matthau.

Hillary Waugh ("Galton and the Yelling Boys," "Nothing But Human Nature") Dozens of novels, easy to find.

Charles Boeckman ("Blind Date") Known primarily for his earlier jazz career.

Roderick Wilkinson ("Pressure") Fairly obscure.

Bill Pronzini ("The Running Man," "Here Lies Another Blackmailer," "I Don't Understand It") Wrote extensively, best known for the Nameless Detective.

F. J. Kelly ("The Vietnam Circle") This particular name did not leave a legacy.  May have been modified later.

Ed McBain ("Sadie When She Died") Extensive work, easy to find, was once adapted by Akira Kurosawa.

Gilbert Ralston ("A Very Cautious Boy") Wrote extensively in Hollywood, including co-creating The Wild Wild West.

Borden Deal ("A Try for the Big Prize") His stories inspired work in both Broadway and Hollywood.

Robert Colby ("Voice in the Night") Never really broke out.

Ron Goulart ("Undertaker, Please Drive Slow," "News from Nowhere") Ghost writer of William Shatner's TekWar books.

Donald E. Westlake/Richard Stark ("Never Shake a Family Tree," "Just a Little Impractical Joke," "Come Back, Come Back...," "The Best-Friend Murder") The second most accomplished of the writers in the collection, with an extensive list of Hollywood adaptions to his credit, including recent examples Payback (1999), What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001), and Parker (2013).  Probably better known recently as Richard Stark, creator of Parker, a character who has appeared in many films, often renamed, until the most recent one.

Lawrence Treat ("Dead Duck") Known primarily for his short stories.

John Lutz ("Games for Adults") Wrote the book that later became the film Single White Female.

James Michael Ullman ("Night of the Twisters") Best known for How to Hold a Garage Sale.

Patricia Highsmith ("Variations on a Game") The writer of The Talented Mr. Ripley, plus Strangers on a Train (later adapted as a Hitchcock movie) and what came to be known as Carol (also made into a movie).  Easily the most accomplished of the lot.

William Link & Richard Levinson ("Child's Play") Frequent collaborators worked extensively in television.

Jean Potts ("Murderer #2") Best known for her short stories.

Rufus King ("Damon and Pythias and Delilah Brown") Wrote a number of books.

Richard M. Ellis (Glory Hunter") Apparently best known for Hitchcock publications.

C. B. Gilford ("Frightened Lady," "Murder, 1990") Best known for his Hitchcock work.

James Holding ("Once Upon a Bank Floor," "The Montevideo Squeeze") Remains fairly obscure.

Wenzell Brown ("Death by Misadventure") Born in Portland, ME (of interest mostly to me), had some work adapted by Hollywood.

Charlotte Edwards ("Television Country") Wrote for television.

Dan J. Marlowe ("Art for Money's Sake") Wrote a number of books.

Paul W. Fairman ("Panther, Panther in the Night") Works adapted by Hollywood.

E. X. Ferrars ("Perfectly Timed Plot") Wrote dozens of books.

Bryce Walton (All the Needless Killing," "Doctor Apollo") Wrote a few episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Mary Barrett ("One for the Crow") Daughter of Irving Berlin.

Kate Wilhelm ("A Case of Desperation") Well respected for her science fiction work.

Paul Tabori ("An Interlude for Murder") Better known for other pursuits.

Eleanor Daly Boylan ("Death Overdue") Best known for her Hitchcock work.

Helen Nielsen ("Pattern of Guilt") Wrote for Perry Mason and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Donald Honig ("A Real, Live Murderer") Best known for writing about baseball.

Holly Roth ("The Pursuer") Remains fairly obscure.

Lawrence Page ("Final Arrangements") Significantly obscure.

David Ely ("Countdown") Best known for Seconds.

Nedra Tyre ("Murder Between Friends") Somewhat obscure.

Carroll Mayers ("Ghost of a Chance") Best known for Hitchcock work.

Margaret Chenoweth ("The White Moth") Best known for Hitchcock work.