2008 ROUNDUP

I know I've been promising Top 10 lists but it's not going to happen. I gave them some thought and have made out some lists in my notebook but I realized it's silly for me to do it. Why just have another post full of lists? And yes, I realize the irony of saying that in a post that's going to be a list/stats. I just need to make sure that I post actual content next year, actual thoughts about what I'm listening to and reading and so forth. Maybe that will make my lists seemed earned next year. Or not.

Anyway, I'm going to rundown my year in pop culture consumption now...

I read 48 books in 2008, meeting the goal I set at the beginning of the year. I also abandoned 7 books this year, reading of 500 pages of those books combined. It was a restless year in a lot of ways, I guess. Last year I read 44 books, so I managed to increase my total again (not so sure that will happen in 2009). I read 26 books in the first half of the year and 22 in the second. I read 10 books by Kage Baker, 3 that George R.R. Martin wrote or at least had a hand in, and 2 each by Michael Chabon, Gregory Frost, and Jeffrey Ford. There were quite a few story collections and a fair amount of non-fiction for me. I average 4 books read each month and it was a good year of reading.

I read 264 short stories in 2008. I'm sure I abandoned some stories this year but I didn't keep track of that stat this year. My high was 50 stories read in November and my low was July, when I didn't read any stories. I read 144 stories in the first half of the year and 120 in the second half. The stories came from 9 issues of Asimov's, 10 issues of F&SF, and 11 story collections. My average stories read per month was 22. Last year I read 216 stories and averaged 18 a month.

I read 83 comics in 2008, 35 of which were trades (and 10 of those were rereads). I read 62 of those in the first half of the year (24 trades) and only 21 in the second half (11 trades). It was a year when I read the entirety of Y: The Last Man and Zot! (well, close to it). I read 14 comics twice - in February and again in June (but in June it was all trades as opposed to only 1 trade and 13 singles in Feb.). I read 2 comics each in September, November, and December (and in each case, it was 2 trades). My average comics read per month was 6.92 (2.92 for trades). Last year I read 119 comics (27 trades) and average 9.92 per month (2.25 for trades).

I'd like to pause and just note the downward trend in all of my reading in the second half of the year. Not a surprise when you consider I was working 2 jobs and taking 6 credit hours from the end of August on.

I bought, downloaded, or received 89 CDs in 2008. 68 of those were downloaded and 4 of the grand total were EPs; I also downloaded 13 songs. March was the biggest month with 10 new CDs and September was the smallest with only 4 new CDs (though one was a double disc set). I got 50 CDs in the first half of the year and only 39 in the second half. My average CDs per month was 7.42. Last year I got 110 CDs and my average was 9.17.

I saw 9 movies in the theater in 2008. June was the biggest month with 3 and May was the second with 2; the rest of the time I either saw 1 or none. My average movies seen was .75. Last year I saw 14 movies in the theater and had an average of 1.17.

I guess my overall trend for 2008 was one of decreased pop culture consumption. I only increased 2 of my 5 categories over last year (books and short stories) and even those tailed off in the second half of the year. Again, it's not a surprise. I don't go into 2009 expecting things to change and I don't really have any goals for my consumption other than to enjoy what I do consume and to write about it with some depth.

Happy New Year!

SHORTS

It was actually warm enough for me to wear shorts on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. I didn't but I could have. After the long winter we've had, that felt very good.

Earlier this week I finished reading Maps and Legends, the new non-fiction collection from Michael Chabon. The essays collected discuss comics, genre fiction, Sherlock Holmes, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, his personal history, his own work, and more. I loved it. He reminds me why I want to be a writer and why I should start being one now. It also has an amazing triple-fold cover by Jordan Crane; McSweeney's knows how to produce beautiful books, don't they?

I've finally managed to finish the March 2008 issues of Asimov's and F&SF. Asimov's was solid with no stories standing out or the opposite (though I didn't quite follow the Steven Utley). I liked F&SF a lot more - a bunch of good stories, my favorite of which is probably Nancy Springer's "Rumple What?," which is a fresh take on that old story.

I'm going to stay on my short story kick for the forseeable future too; my next 2 books are new collections from Kevin Brockmeier and Steven Millhauser. Can't wait.

ARRIVALS

It was a big day today, as some boxes of goodies that I ordered with birthday cash and gift cards arrived. Plus, it's a Wednesday - new comics! It's a nice relief to a long day at work. Here's what I got...

Battlestar Galactica Season Three
Big Dipper/Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology
The Black Keys/Attack & Release
Booster Gold #8
Michael Chabon/Maps and Legends
Justice Society of America #14

I also would have gotten Criminal Vol. 2 #2 but my shop had a shortage on it, so maybe next week. I love getting new stuff.

JEWS WITH SWORDS

That was the original title for Michael Chabon's latest novel, Gentlemen of the Road, as he explains in an afterword that talks about his metamorphosis from a literary writer into one who has become more of a genre writer. GofR was actually serialized in the New York Times last year and I gave some thought to reading along online but ending up waiting for the collected work. Now I've read it for my first book of 2008.

The gentlemen in question are Zelikman, a Frank and Jew who is a healer and hat lover, and Amram, an African who long ago lost his wife and daughter. The start out swindling a group of men at a caravansary and end up involved in the politics of the Kazar kingdom, helping to restore Filaq to his (?) rightful place. It's a story of armies and elephants and philosophy and a wife variety of characters. I enjoyed it, though not as much as some of Chabon's other word. Still, he's not my favorite writer for nothing and there is plenty of joy and humor to be found in this book. A good start to my 2008 reading.

What's next? I have the three trades I picked up a week ago, two issues each of Asimov's and F&SF, and now two books that I checked out of the library this morning. So, we'll see.

BOOKS 2007

With only four days left to go in 2007, I am officially done with reading books for the year. On Dec. 2 I finished my 40th book of the year, meeting my goal for the year. Since then I've read an additional 4 books for a grand total of 44 (I also abandoned 2 books during the year). As usual I read a wide variety of books, from short story collections to literary fiction to SF to fantasy to horror to non-fiction; I read many books that came out this year, many from past years, and even reread books for the first time since I started with a goal for the year. Here's a list of the ten books that I enjoyed the most in 2007...

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
2. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
3. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
4. Here, There & Everywhere by Chris Roberson
5. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
6. Halting State by Charles Stross
7. I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle
8. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
9. Brasyl by Ian McDonald
10. You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem