Best of the Book Beat 2008-2010

Somehow I have read over 150 books in the last three years.  As it may be my last serious attempt to read 50 books a year (which takes a lot more concentration than you might think), here is my highly subjective list of my favorites since 2008:


Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami 

Lunar Park by Brett Easton Ellis

The Keep by Jennifer Egan

The City and The City by China Mieville

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

The Murderer Vine by Shepard Rifkin

On the Book Beat 2010

For three years running I have managed to make my goal of reading 50 books a year; so I guess I have that one knocked down and perhaps it's time to try some new challenge (although I will continue to keep counting on this blog).  I did vow to read a little smarter this year, though I still read a mountain of trash and pulp.  But I read some really good books, and here are my favorites:

1.  The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno

2.  The Keep by Jennifer Egan

3.  The City and The City by China Mieville

4.  Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

5.  The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie


6.  Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks

7.  Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

8.  Clans of the Alphane Moon by Philip K. Dick

9.  Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem

10.  The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

As always, happy reading!

Who Draws The Crowd and Plays So Loud

Showing off my axe skills to thunderous boos on my new Wii, the first game system of my own since my beloved Atari (and even that one I shared with my brother).  I have been playing this game with the family for several straight days (which seemed like half an hour) and I think it might catch on with people--it's called "Guitar Hero."  It's no "Asteroids" but it might have some staying power.  Happy Holidays!

Santa's Helpers

Wrapping presents and watching movies on Roku.  Happy Holidays, everyone!

Sketchy Heroes

When I did my first 24 Hour Comic, Bad Eggs, I used an online random superhero name generator to come up with these characters, then quickly sketched what I thought they would look like.  Some of them show up in Bad Eggs, The Vow, and other places.

More Sketchy Comics

A frank depiction of what it was like to play Marvel SAGA RPG with me and my friends some years ago.  I used to doodle little sequences and write various quips people spouted off as we went, and if I am reading this account correctly Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Iron Man face off against the Hulk, Ultron, and Loki.

From the Sketchbook

So I was watching "Dateline NBC" and they had a show all about Real Life Super Heroes and people who supposedly had super powers.  They had a guy that liked to glide, a guy who liked to climb buildings, two women who wanted to be mermaids, a smart guy, a person with great cold resistance and a person with a lot of running endurance.  I wondered what that would look like as a superhero team so I doodled this up and got my answer:  pretty lame.