Reading List: April 2009

I will be done with graduate school classes in twelve days, allowing me to use the summer to work on my thesis and complete it at the start of the fall. Words cannot describe what a joy this will be, though I suppose I should keep in mind the two seminar papers I must write between now and the 12th. Anyway, this will hopefully free my schedule enough that I can focus on some short pieces for this space, perhaps even some multipart posts concerning specific issues.

This month was a bit of a mixed bag so far as posting goes. I did increase content over March, but it was sporadic and I let more than a few ideas die a quick and unceremonious death. I also am realizing that while I am completing a lot of books, the majority are graphic novels, usually quick reads, and thus my numbers are a bit inflated. I'm hoping to get back to reading more long fiction this summer.

In the month of April I read 19 books and graphic novels, and this is what they were:

• Breakdowns by Art Spiegelman
• Sin City: A Dame to Kill For & The Big Fat Kill by Frank Miller
• Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser
• DMZ: The Hidden War & Blood in the Game by Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchielli
• Preacher: Alamo by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
• Fables: War and Pieces by Bill Willingham, et al.
• Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
• Planetary: Leaving the 20th Century by Warren Ellis & John Cassasday
• Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Volume I & Volume II by Geoff Johns, et al.
• The Boat by Nam Le
• Ex Machina: Ex Cathedra by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris
• Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins
• The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham
  
• Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore & Brian Bolland
• JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
• Joker by Brian Azzarello & Lee Bermejo

This month is going to start a new tradition where I make a pick of the month and encourage everyone to read it. Ideally, this will be a book I have already reviewed so one can further investigate my opinions and decide if they want to give the book a shot, yet I make no promises. This month, however, I did indeed write a review of Joan Wickersham's The Suicide Index, in which the author attempts to put into order the details surrounding her father's suicide sixteen years ago. An excellent rumination not only on suicide, but also on the nature of turning life into stories.

As always, I welcome questions or comments about the books listed or about anything under the sun.