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What Ya Reading in 2022?


Dolfan in NYC

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I've started reading The Great Political Theories Part 2 by Michael Curtis. It touches on key components to ideologies like Marxism, Nationalism and (the most interesting topic to me) Romanticism, among others. I also have a vintage copy of The Soviet Union: The Fifty Years by Harrison E. Salisbury that I need to eventually dive into. I've had it for years and hardly ever touched it.

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On 1/28/2022 at 6:00 PM, JLSigman said:

Gonna grab the latest Saga in a minute, and Fine Print by Stjepan Sejic, which I've seen start as some random sketches a couple years ago to a whole ass graphic novel.

Oops, forgot to keep up. Saga #55 was OK, which is still miles better than most, but I'm not 100% on board with the big time jump. Fine Print was a good start, can't wait for the story to circle back to a couple characters introduced at the beginning.

Then I read the collected Abbot 1973 by Saladin Ahmed, and that was very good, and ended up on an "EXCUSE ME WHERE'S THE REST" note.

Now I've just started the collected War of the Realms (Marvel, couple years ago) since the beginning of it was in the Lady Thor stuff I read and enjoyed few years ago.

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Recently I was reading Edna O'Brien's short biography of James Joyce when I became aware that this year is the centenary of Ulysses. So that's the plan this year. Have previously read Dubliners years ago and am now currently reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I may take a break in between but hope to get started on the big one by the summer.

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On 2/12/2022 at 8:46 AM, JLSigman said:

Now I've just started the collected War of the Realms (Marvel, couple years ago) since the beginning of it was in the Lady Thor stuff I read and enjoyed few years ago.

That was actually really enjoyable! Left me grinning several times.

Nothing immediately grabbed me on Hoopla, so I've been staring at my bookshelves to see what I haven't read in years, or where I stashed some of my to be read pile.

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Needed something to read while waiting at the doctor's office with Mom, so I grabbed the collected first 5 issues of Wynd, an indy something which was LOVELY and so well written. I will definitely read the next batch of issues.

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Needed something for the latest doctor's office visit (Mom's heart is being a little wonky, but it's not critical yet), so grabbed the collected 52, vol 1 from DC Comics. I hated Infinite Crisis but didn't hate the multiverse crashing/compressing thing afterwards, and had always been a bit curious about how they bridged the gap afterwards. I'm somewhere between a third and a half gone, and so far the answer is, "Not well."

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On 3/8/2022 at 8:43 PM, JLSigman said:

Needed something for the latest doctor's office visit (Mom's heart is being a little wonky, but it's not critical yet), so grabbed the collected 52, vol 1 from DC Comics. I hated Infinite Crisis but didn't hate the multiverse crashing/compressing thing afterwards, and had always been a bit curious about how they bridged the gap afterwards. I'm somewhere between a third and a half gone, and so far the answer is, "Not well."

Ugh, I forgot this was during the time when they turned Koriander into a brainless whore. And I hate Booster Gold. I will try another issue or two, but I'm about to bail on this.

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On 3/8/2022 at 8:43 PM, JLSigman said:

Needed something for the latest doctor's office visit (Mom's heart is being a little wonky, but it's not critical yet), so grabbed the collected 52, vol 1 from DC Comics. I hated Infinite Crisis but didn't hate the multiverse crashing/compressing thing afterwards, and had always been a bit curious about how they bridged the gap afterwards. I'm somewhere between a third and a half gone, and so far the answer is, "Not well."

Finished the first collected volume, and I'm interested enough in a couple of the plots lines (Black Adam's new family, Renee's quest to be the Question) to grab the second collected volume. But man there's a lot of garbage in here.

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On 3/12/2022 at 8:57 AM, JLSigman said:

Finished the first collected volume, and I'm interested enough in a couple of the plots lines (Black Adam's new family, Renee's quest to be the Question) to grab the second collected volume. But man there's a lot of garbage in here.

Ooh, this one had the added "Fridge a woman for manpain", plus bonus "Pregnancy horror" and "Man mad his wife, who thinks he's dead, might move on with her life". Gack. Why did I read this.

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1 minute ago, JLSigman said:

Ooh, this one had the added "Fridge a woman for manpain", plus bonus "Pregnancy horror" and "Man mad his wife, who thinks he's dead, might move on with her life". Gack. Why did I read this.

And DC is basically all worse from there.

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Read the second collection of Wynd comics, and oh my gods this is amazing and perfect. There's hints as to why Wynd is the way he is, but we have no idea how it happened. Now to wait for the next batch, which I think is next year. *sobbing*

 

Saw that the next collection of Once and Future (issues 19 - 24) was available, so grabbed it. Will read it while I'm at the doctor's office.

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Read the first collection of Undiscovered Country (issues 1 - 6). It has some interesting things, but good lord these writer dudes love ultra violence and don't seem to get there wouldn't be a population at all if that's how it worked all the time. There's also a timeline at the back of the book that should've been in the front. I'm debating on if I want to bother with the second collection.

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Braindump in no particular order…

This year so far, I’ve read every book by horror novelist Grady Hendrix.  There are five of them.  They’re good, but reading them all so close together, there’s some sameness in character, themes, and plotting that’s really nagging.  I’ve also read the newest Stephen King book (it was about a hit man but I can’t remember what it was called).  It was really good and there’s a sly Shining reference in it.  I also just finished a book of Jack Reacher short stories, which I liked a lot.  I’ve only read one other Reacher book but I can see myself reading more — just easy going popcorn fun.  I also read Time Out of Joint by Philip K Dick.  I haven’t read anything by him in years — in my younger days I read a ton of his stuff.  It was a lighter, lesser Dick book, just okay.  Heading to the library Sunday, not sure what I’m getting next.  I’ve been toying with the idea of re-reading King’s Gunslinger series, whose first book kicked off a lifelong love of reading when I was around 15, but I was disappointed by the ending after sticking with it for so long, so maybe not.

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Quick rundown of stuff I've read since last time I posted...

It's a Funny Old Life by Jimmy Greaves - Somewhat of a memoir by footballer turned TV personality, but specifically focusing on the TV years. I picked this up for a $1 thinking I'd get some interesting backstage stories about 80s/90s TV, but it's mostly just a collection of random thoughts he has about TV of the era. Very much "old man shouting at cloud" stuff (didn't care for Julian Clary and bemoans the fact that kids can watch him on TV) Junk.

Dubliners by James Joyce - A re-read, and a much better experience this time around some 20 years later.

Chatterton by Peter Ackroyd - I really enjoy Ackroyd's psychogeographical approach, but he doesn't always stick the landing. That's the case here unfortunately. Our modern day (well, 1980s) protagonist buys a painting of 18th Century artist Thomas Chatterton and slowly becomes obsessed with it and the idea that maybe Chatterton didn't actually kill himself. The book jumps back and forth from the 80s to Chatterton's final days to the painting being created in the 19th Century, and I loved that stuff, but the mystery kinda peters out by the end.

The Mugger by Ed McBain - Just recently got into McBain and enjoy his police procedurals. I love these slim, quick read books for when you're not sure what to read next and have a bunch of McBain of my shelves for that purpose.

Red Lights on the Prairies by James H. Gray - Interesting book about prostitution in the prairie provinces during the early settler era. A bit dry though.

The Young Detectives by R.J. McGregor - I read a lot of Enid Blyton as a kid, and I was feeling nostalgic recently for that 'kids investigating a mystery by the seaside during the summer holidays' vibe. This had all of those ingredients, including the ubiquitous smuggler's cove and secret tunnels stuff but it was mostly dull. Written for children obviously, and I probably would've loved it as a kid.

Maigret meets a milord by Georges Simenon (published under a bunch of different titles over the years) - Like McBain, Simenon churned out a huge amount of 150 page novels, sometimes 3 or 4 a year. I've always wanted to read them and recently found a bunch of Penguins for cheap. This was my first of his and was unfortunately a letdown. Goodreads reviews are mixed on this one, so maybe it's not indicative of the rest of his work.

Currently reading Leo Damrosch's biography of Swift. I live for this stuff.

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Read Saga #58, and I think I'm done with the series until they decide what they actually want to do with it now. Something's been lost over the last couple of years, it's just not as good.

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As someone who loves alt history stuff (I enjoyed most of the Lord Baltimore comic series), I've started in on the collected Arrowsmith comics. Not too bad so far, we're getting hints that this is more than what people think, and that War is Hell No Matter the Universe.

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