Reading List: August 2008

I have been foolish enough to subject myself to a couple of undergraduate fiction workshops in the past. One of the things I learned is the ease with which one can discuss a work with obvious flaws, and the reality that when something is really good there doesn't seem to be all that much to say about it.

This past month I read some very good books, like Joseph O'Neill's Netherland and Lauren Groff's The Monsters of Templeton. Yet, I just don't have it in me this month to write a reaction to everything I've read. I liked most of it, didn't some of it, and hated one particular book. Some of those thoughts are detailed in other posts, but some aren't, and should anyone (of the 3 people that maybe read this) want me to comment on something specific they need only ask.

Last month I finished 28 books and graphic novels. Here is what they were:

• Bill Willingham, et al. Fables: Homelands
• Christopher L. Bennett Greater than the Sum
• Stephen King On Writing
• Bill Willingham, et al. Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days)
• Joan Didion Play It As It Lays
• Bill Willingham, et al. Fables: Wolves
• Steve Gerber, et al. Essential Howard the Duck
• Thomas M. Disch The Man Who Had No Idea
• Lauren Groff The Monsters of Templeton
• Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra Ring of Truth
• Philip Roth Indignation
• Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra Girl on Girl
• Joseph O’Neill Netherland
• Chris Offutt The Good Brother
• Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra Paper Dolls
• Vali Nasr The Shia Revival
• Joe Sacco Notes from a Defeatist
• Tom Vanderbilt Traffic
• Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra Kimono Dragons
• James Wood How Fiction Works
• Heidi Julavits The Effect of Living Backwards
• Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra Motherland
• Geoff Trowbridge The Chimes at Midnight
• Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra Whys and Wherefores
• David Benioff City of Thieves
• Keith R.A. DeCandido A Gutted World
• Charles Palliser The Sensationist
• Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl?

The plan is to post more often this month, but we'll see how that goes.