Books Read 2023

Graphic Novels

A lot of rereads because I picked up print copies…

• Superman: A Celebration of 75 Years

  Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years

• Wonder Woman: A Celebration of 75 Years

• The Love and Rockets Companion: 30 Years

• Alias Omnibus by Brian Michael Bendis

• Batman Adventures: Mad Love Deluxe Edition by Paul Dini

• Transformers : Evolutions - Hearts of Steel by Chuck Dixon

• Batman: The Brave & the Bold: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 by Bob Haney

• Love and Rockets: The Covers by Gilbert Hernández

• Penny Century by Jaime Hernández

• Maggie the Mechanic by Jaime Hernández

• Esperanza: A Love and Rockets Book by Jaime Hernández

• Tonta by Jaime Hernández

• Angels And Magpies by Jaime Hernández

• Perla la Loca by Jaime Hernández

• The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S. by Jaime Hernández

• Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? The Deluxe Edition by Alan Moore

• Transformers: Lost Light, Vol. 1 by James Roberts,

• Marvel Masterworks: the X-men 3 by Roy Thomas

• Marvel Masterworks: the X-men 4 by Roy Thomas

Gaming

• Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games by Matt Barton

• Boss Fight Books #28 Final Fantasy VI by Sebastian Deken

• Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: Castlevania by Kurt Kalata

• The Secret History of Mac Gaming by Richard Moss

• The Apple II Age: How the Computer Became Personal by Laine Nooney

• Super Nes Works Volume I: 1991 by Jeremy Parish

• NES Works Volume III: 1987 by Jeremy Parish

• 50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon by Aaron A. Reed

Fiction

Again, some rereads because I picked up print copies…

• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

• Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

• Sweeney Astray by Seamus Heaney

• The Midnight Verdict: Translations from the Irish of Brian Merriman and from the Metamorphoses of Ovid by Seamus Heaney

• The Testament of Cresseid & Seven Fables Robert Henryson, Seamus Heaney (Translator)

• The Translations of Seamus Heaney

• The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

• The Call of Cthulhu and Other Dark Tales by H.P. Lovecraft

• A Doll's House and Other Plays (Penguin) by Henrik Ibsen

• Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

• The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson

Non-Fiction

• The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek

• Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire (edited by Jehad Abusalim)

• The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction: 1948–1985 by James Baldwin

• Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights by Omar Barghouti

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Norton Critical Edition (translated by Marie Borroff)

• Confronting Authority: Reflections of an Ardent Protester by Derrick A. Bell

• Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? by Judith Butler

• Life Against Dementia: Essays, Reviews, Interviews 1975-2011 by Joe Carducci

• Abolition. Feminism. Now. (Edited by Angela Y. Davis)

• Cinema 1: The Movement-Image by Gilles Deleuze

• Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball by Luke Epplin

• Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle by Silvia Federici

• Silence is No Reaction: Forty Years of Subhumans by Ian Glasper

• Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone by Sarah Jaffe

• Superheroes, Movies, and the State: How the U.S. Government Shapes Cinematic Universes by Tricia Jenkins

• Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones

• The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones

• Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future without Policing & Prisons (edited by Colin Kaepernick)

• Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Black Studies (edited by Colin Kaepernick)

• Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution by Neil Lanctot

• The Ninety-Five Theses and Other Writings by Martin Luther

• Knowledge Socialism: The Rise of Peer Production: Collegiality, Collaboration, and Collective Intelligence (edited by Michael A. Peters)

• Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World by James E. Lindsay

• Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Premilla Nadasen

• Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew by John Oller

• Revelations of Divine Love (Penguin) by Julian of Norwich

• Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, 12-1565 by Walter Simons

• Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart

• The Hours Have Lost Their Clock: The Politics of Nostalgia by Grafton Tanner

• Wages for Housework: A History of an International Feminist Movement, 1972-77 by Louise Toupin

• As Serious As Your Life: Black Music and the Free Jazz Revolution, 1957–1977 by Val Wilmer

• A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and A Vindication of the Rights of Men (Oxford) by Mary Wollstonecraft

Books Read 2021

• Green Arrow: A Celebration of 75 Years

• Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold

• Palestine: A Socialist Introduction by Sumaya Awad

• Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America by Russ Baker

• Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

• Small Magic: Short Fiction, 1977-2020 by Terry Brooks

• The Last Druid by Terry Brooks

• I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love by Mahogany L. Browne

• Star Trek: Alien Spotlight by John Byrne

• The Watcher and Other Stories by Italo Calvino

• Into The War by Italo Calvino

• The Road To San Giovanni by Italo Calvino

• Marcovaldo by Italo Calvino

• Under The Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino

• If I Were Another by Mahmoud Darwish

• Echo Tree: The Collected Short Fiction of Henry Dumas by Henry Dumas

• Knees of a Natural Man: The Selected Poetry of Henry Dumas by Henry Dumas

• Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd

• Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice by Jesse Hagopian

• Ibsen's Selected Plays by Henrik Ibsen

• They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie Jones-Rogers

• We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice (Abolitionist Papers) by Mariame Kaba

• Transformers: The Manga Volume Three by Masumi Kaneda

• Eternals: The Complete Collection by Jack Kirby

• The Battle For Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists by Naomi Klein

• Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

• Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language by Seth Lerer

• Legends of Localization: The Legend of Zelda by Clyde Mandelin

• Transformers: All Hail Megatron Volume 1 by Shane McCarthy

• Transformers: All Hail Megatron Volume 2 by Shane McCarthy

• Transformers Historia by Chris MxFeely

• Thick: And Other Essays by Tressiue McMillan Cottom

• The Wrestling Observer Yearbook '93: The Year of Major Beginnings and Major Endings (Wrestling Observer Newsletter) by Dave Meltzer

• The Wrestling Observer Yearbook '97: The Last Time WWF Was Number Two by Dave Meltzer

• The Major Works by John Milton

• Strong In The Rain: Selected Poems by Kenji Miyazawa

• Milky Way Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa

• Night On The Galactic Railroad and Other Stories by Kenji Miyazawa

• Night On The Milky Way Train by Kenji Miyazawa

• Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa by Kenji Miyazawa

• Growing Up with Manos: The Hands of Fate: How I was the Child Star of the Worst Movie Ever Made and Lived to Tell the Story by Jackey Newman

• Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams by Robert Peterson

• River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey by Sister Helen Prejean

• Straight Edge: A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History by Tony Rettman

• Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing by Stuart Schrader

• The Monsters and the Critics: And Other Essays. J.R.R. Tolkien

• Star Trek: Way Point by Dayton Ward

• Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism by Jillian York

• Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Books Read 2020

1. Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature Before Heterosexuality by R. Bach

2. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

3. Transformers: Unicron by Frank Barber

4. Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Intervention Since World War II by William Blum

5. The Fire Is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley, and the Debate Over Race in America by Nicholas Buccola

6. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap by Stephanie Coontz

7. Selected Non-Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges

8. Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan Africanism by Stokely Carmichael

9. Relentless Pursuit: My Fight For The Victims of Jeffrey Epstein by Bradley J. Edwards

10. NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW by Guy Evans

11. Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman

12. A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey

13. Dune by Frank Herbert

14. Transformers: The Manga Volume One by Masumi Kaneda

15. Transformers: The Manga Volume Two by Masumi Kaneda

16. Prejudential: Black America and The Presidents by Margaret Kimberly

17. Football Against The Enemy by Simon Kuper

18. The State and The Revolution by Vladimir Lenin

19. Stream Of Life by Clarice Lispector

20. Superman: Red Son by Mark Miller

21. I Fight For A Living: Boxing and the Battle for Black Manhood 1880-1915 by Louis Moore

22. James Baldwin: Living In Fire by Bill V. Mullen

23. Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over The World by Jathan Sadowski

24. Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In by Bernie Sanders

25. A History Of Medieval Islam by John Joseph Saunders

26. Hate Inc: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another by Matt Taibbi

27. The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale

Read In 2019

• The Story Of Crass by George Berger

• The Western Canon: The Books & Schools Of The Ages by Harold Bloom

• The Stiehl Assassin by Terry Brooks

• We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution by George Circcariello-Maher

• A Penelopean Politics: Reweaving The Feminine In Homer's Odyssey by Barbara Clayton

• Atari To Zelda: Japan's Video Games In Global Contexts by Mia Consalvo

• The Odyssey of Political Theory: The Politics of Departure and Return by Patrick J. Deneen

• Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs by James Dixon

• I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie by Roger Ebert

• K-Punk: The Collected & Unpublished Writing Of Mark Fisher by Mark Fisher

• Transformers: Regeneration One Volumes 1-4 by Simon Furman

• Soccer In Sun & Shadows by Eduardo Galeano

• Radioactive Man: Radioactive Repoository by Matt Groening

• GI Joe Volumes 1-33 by Larry Hama

• My Hero Academia Volume 1-3 by Kohei Horikoshi

• Death Of The Territories: Expansion, Betrayal, and The War That Changed Pro Wrestling Forever by Tim Hornbaker

• The New Testament As Literature by Kyle Keefer

• Ajax, The Dutch, The War: Football In Europe During The Second World War by Simon Kuper

• Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Volume One by Stan Lee

• Kill Shakespeare Volume One by Conor McCreery

• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

• One Piece Volume One by Eiichiro Oda

• Mega Man 3 (Boss Fights) by Salvatore Pane

• Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise & Crazier Demise of the USFL by Jeff Pearlman

• Shakespeare and the Middle Ages by Curtis Perry

• Electronic Literature by Scott Rettberg

• Capitalism: A Ghost Story by Arundhati Roy

• Where We Go From Here by Bernie Sanders

• Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics by Richard Seymour

• Essays by Wallace Shawn

• Night Thoughts by Wallace Shawn

• 1923: A Great Depression Memoir by Harry Leslie Smith

• Harry's Last Stand: How The World My Generation Built Is Falling Down and What We Can Do To Save It by Harry Leslie Smith

• Love Among The Ruins: A Memoir of Life and Love in Hamburg, 1943 by Harry Leslie Smith

• Strike For America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity by Micah Uetricht

• The Unknown Odysseus: Alternate Worlds In Homer's Odyssey by Thomas Van Nortwick

• Never Any End In Paris by Enrique Vila-Matas

• The Future of Our Schools: Teachers Unions and Social Justice by Lois Weiner

• A Politics of Love: A Handbook For A New American Revolution by Marianne Williamson

• Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genuis of Dutch Soccer by David Winner

Books Read In 2018

1. The Conversations by Cesar Aira

2. Culture & Anarchy by Matthew Arnold

3. Transformers Volume 7: Combiner Wars by John Barber

4. Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett

5. The Chapo Guide to Revolution: A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and Reason by Chapo Trape House

6. Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet by Ta-Nehisi Coates

7. Break Out: How the Apple II Launched the PC Gaming Revolution by David L. Craddock

8. Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America by Cathy Davidson

9. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

10. The Oxford Companion To Shakespeare by Michael Dobson

11. White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race by Stephen Duncombe

12. Lockdown High: When the Schoolhouse Becomes a Jailhouse by Annette Fuentes

13. The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene Victor Debs by Ray Ginger

14. The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980–1984 by Ian Glasper

15. Classic GI Joe Volume One by Steven Grant

16. More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing by Jesse Hagopian

17. Long Shot: The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter by Craig Hodges

18. The Odyssey by Homer (Barry Powell translation)

19. The Odyssey by Homer (Emily Wilson translation)

20. Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1989 by George Hurchalla

21. Pillars of Society by Henrik Ibsen

22. When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History Of Racial Inequality In Twentieth Century America by Ira Katznelson

23. All Labor Has Dignity by Martin Luther King Jr.

24. Bad Girls: Young Women, Sex, and Rebellion before the Sixties by Amanda Littauer

25. The People of the Abyss by Jack London

26. Liberalism: A Counter History by Domenico Losurdo

27. How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain’s Most Ineligible Bachelor and his Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate by Wendy Moore

28. The Mosaic of Islam by Suleiman Mourad

29. The Law of the Father? Patriarchy in the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism by Mary Murray

30. Crazy Like A Fox: The Definitive Chronicle of Brian Pillman 20 Years Later by Liam O'Rourke

31. Good Nintentions: 30 Years of NES: An Unofficial Survey of the Nintendo Entertainment System by Jeremy Parish

32. Uneven Developments: The Ideological Work of Gender in Mid-Victorian England by Mary Poovey

33. Black Panther: The Complete Collection Volume One by Christopher Priest

34. The Death of WCW (10th Anniversary Edition) by RD Deynolds

35. Cosmos by Carl Sagan

36. Transformers: Combiner Wars by Mairghread Scott

37. Shakespeare's Hamlet: Manga Edition by William Shakespeare

38. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro

39. Nabakov's Shakespeare by Samuel Schuman

40. Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals by Jonathan Smucker

41. Space Is The Place: The Lives & Times Of Sun Ra by John F. Szwed

42. Shakespeare, Dissent, and the Cold War by Alfred Thomas

43. Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Fool's Gold by David Tipton

44. English Novel in History, 1895-1920 (The Novel in History) by David Trotter

45. The Illogic of Kassel by Enrique Vila-Matas

46. Crime, Gender and Social Order in Early Modern England by Garthine Walker

47. The New Atheist Threat: The Dangerous Rise of Secular Extremists by CJ Werleman

48. Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

49. Citizens to Lords: A Social History of Western Political Thought from Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages by Ellen Meiksins Wood

Books Read 2017

1. The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson
2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Unknown, Simon Armitage (Translator)
3. Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 1 by John Barber
4. Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 2 by John Barber
5. Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 3 by John Barber
6. Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Volume 4 by John Barber
7. Transformers: Robots In Disguise Volume 5 by John Barber
8. Transformers: Robots in Disguise Volume 6 by John Barber
9. Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman by Harold Bloom
10. The Black Elfstone (The Fall of Shannara, #1) by Terry Brooks
11. Enter Naomi: SST, L.A. and All That... by Joe Carducci
12. The Nonexistent Knight by Italo Calvino
13. The Awakening and Selected Stories by Kate Chopin
14. 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep by Jonathan Crary
15. Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto by Jessa Crispin
16. Captain Marvel (Marvel NOW!) #1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick
17. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
18. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
19. Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay by Harlan Ellison
20. The Communist Manifesto: A Modern Edition by Friedrich Engels
21. Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings by Manny Farber
22. Essays, Speeches & Public Letters by William Faulkner
23. The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life by Tim Ferriss
24. When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World by Leon Festinger
25. Clinton in Haiti: The 1994 US Invasion of Haiti by Philippe Girard
26. Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980-1984 by Ian Glasper
27. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
28. A Philosophy of Tragedy by Christopher Hamilton
29. Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation by Blake J. Harris
30. A People's History of the French Revolution by Eric Hazan
31. Film After Film: (Or, What Became of 21st Century Cinema?) by J. Hoberman
32. Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign by Michael K. Honey
33. Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies by bell hooks
34. An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen
35. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
36. Perpetual Peace and Other Essays by Immanuel Kant
37. The Future is Queer: A Science Fiction Anthology by Richard Labonté
38. Engaging the Past: Mass Culture and the Production of Historical Knowledge by Alison Landsberg
39. The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen: Passing, Quicksand, and the Stories by Nella Larsen
40. Wellsprings by Mario Vargas Llosa
41. Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer
42. My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor by Keith Morris
43. Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore by Albert Mudrian
44. A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey by Kevin Murphy
45. Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right by Angela Nagle
46. Employee of the Month and Other Big Deals by Mary Jo Pehl
47. Visual Storytellling: An Illustrated Reader by Todd James Pierce
48. Why Be Something That You're Not: Detroit Hardcore 1979-1985 by Tony Rettman
49. Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson
50. Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution by Heather Rogers
51. Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag (Second Edition) by Henry Rollins
52. American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath by Carl Rollyson
53. Lazarus, Vol. 1: Family by Greg Rucka
54. Der Mond: The Art of Neon Genesis Evangelion by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
55. Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat by J. Sakai
56. A New Companion to Digital Humanities by Susan Schreibman
57. The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet
58. Change Agent by Daniel Suarez
59. Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain
60. Saga, Vol. 1 (Saga, #1) by Brian K. Vaughan
61. Saga, Vol. 2 (Saga, #2) by Brian K. Vaughan
62. A Brief History of Portable Literature by Enrique Vila-Matas
63. Dublinesque by Enrique Vila-Matas
64. Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
65. Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson
66. The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople by Susan Wise Bauer
67. How Fiction Works by James Wood
68. No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes: An Oral History of the Legendary City Gardens by Amy Yates Wuelfing
69. What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States by Dave Zirin

Weekly Reader

• The Reading Experience has another post about John Dewey up.

• One of my favorite pieces of Transformers fan fiction is A Chance In A Million.  Now that I think about it, it might have been the first one I ever read too when I got back into the fandom in 1997.

• Veronica over at Conversational Reading finds War & Peace to be a bit of a disappointment.  I started reading it back in high school but never finished it.  Maybe I will pick that up again this summer.

• It seems that I link to a Marjane Satrapi interview almost every week.  This week’s interview is from Nerve:

I have to tell you something: I never felt as free as when I wrote Chicken with Plums.  When I write about women, and obviously when I write about myself like in Persepolis people relate [the text] to me. In this book, the main character in is a man. I could hide behind him, yet in some ways, he is me. I can be very cynical, but I can also die of love.

• Incoming Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is interviewed over at Mother Jones:

Third, I want to take a look at some of the good things that are being done around the rest of the world that are almost never discussed in the United States. How often is it discussed that the American people work the longest hours of any industrialized country in the world? The two-week paid vacation is almost a thing of the past; meanwhile in Europe you get four to six weeks vacation, and maternity leave with pay. We don’t know about these things. I want to take a look around the world and see what workers are receiving, and compare that to the United States — from an educational point of view.