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Booking Through Thursday: Category

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Walt

btt buttonOf the books you own, what’s the biggest category/genre? Is this also the category that you actually read the most?

scififantasybookclusterCategorically, I’d say “paperback.” That includes the “mass market” variety as well as graphic novels/comics’ collected editions.

Comics/collected editions/graphic novels certainly have it over prose.

Fiction has it over non-fiction.

Mass market paperback has it over trade paperback.

Fantasy has it over Sci-fi.

In the graphic novels, DC has it over Marvel. As far as hardcover graphic novels, Marvel has it over DC.

Super-heroes have it over non-super-heroes.

And in the non-graphic novels/comics, Sci-Fi/Fantasy would be the dominant genre.

Within that, Dragonlance has it over Magic: The Gathering; Dragonlance and Magic: The Gathering have it over everything else.

I’m thinking right now it’d be really cool to have actual NUMBERS to give based on those categories…but alas, that’s something I do not have. Someday I should attempt to re-create or update some sort of inventory of my collections.

As to reading…I think it’s safe to say that I still read more in the sci-fi/fantasy stuff than anything else. This year, I’ve been through The Last Days of Krypton (sci-fi), Dragons of the Highlord Skies and Dragons of the Hourglass Mage (fantasy) vs. The Summons and The Litigators (Grisham) and The Inner Circle (Meltzer), The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Walking Dead: The Rise of the Governor. Everything else offhand I either have not finished yet (The Overton Window, The Wastelands, Robopocalypse, The Lost Hero) or would be comics/graphic novels.

Filed under: Booking Through Thursday, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Booking Through Thursday: E-volution

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Walt

btt buttonE-readers like the Kindle and iPad are sweeping the nation … do you have one? Do you like it? Do you find it changes your reading/buying habits? If you don’t have one, do you plan to?

No, I do not have either of those. Also do not have a Nook, and Barnes & Noble is getting dangerously close to me unsubscribing from their emails because I’m so danged tired of them pushing it so forcefully.

I’m pretty much “sold” on the iPad, in that “eventually…when I can actually AFFORD one” sorta way. A friend has one, and seeing it in action, I’m pretty sure that really, get myself a wireless keyboard that’ll sync with the iPad and a portable stand to prop the thing up like a laptop monitor, and I could pretty much go “computer-free” (“computer” = “laptop” or “desktop” machines).

I do have an iPhone, and recently I’ve dabbled with digital comics on it. I bought the classic Superman #75 a couple months back, just for the sheer novelty of having the thing right on-hand (next week marks the 19th anniversary of “The Death of Superman”). I’ve also bought two issues of DC Comics’ new initiative “The New 52.” Trouble is, the iPhone even is so relatively tiny that the reading experience feels like I’m trying to read through some sort of blinders.

As far as long-form reading…no-can-do. The iPhone is such a tiny thing that it’s even awkward to try to situate one’s self to even consider “settling in to read for awhile” with it.

An iPad might change that, but until I actually have one, I won’t be able to say for sure. And I certainly won’t be getting the iPad for the sole purpose of “reading”…the digital books/comics will just be a small part of the picture.

Right now, I don’t see any sort of e-reader changing my reading habits or buying habits. I’m buying one single comic series digitally and a month behind, for the discount…but that novelty is wearing off already, 2 issues in. Depending on pricing, I could see having an iPad having an impact on SOME of my comic buying, especially for the stuff that I just want to read once and be done with.

Once I’d get an iPad, I’d have to “take the plunge” with a book sometime to see how that experience would go…but really, I’d much rather have a $20 hardcover with me that gets lost/dropped/rained on/etc than a $500 tablet/computer device.

Given that I’m “sold” on the iPad, know there are “apps” for the Kindle at least and pretty sure also the Nook and OTHER e-reader formats, I absolutely can NOT see spending $150+ on something that’s arguably “just” going to be used to read e-versions of books. I don’t think I spend that much on new books in an entire YEAR, so it’s a huge up-front cost, BEFORE even getting to buy new books to read.

Even though $10ish is much cheaper than the $20-$30 most new (hardcover) tend to be priced at, it’s still $10 for something pretty much intangible (music I listen to, whatever the source…but if I’ve already paid $150+ for an e-reading device, the device itself isn’t going to get bigger or heavier for addition of a digital file). And I often feel that if I’ve already invested 1/3 to half the cost, why “settle” when I’m already on my way to the full, actual item?

The e-readers are also like computers to me, though: you buy one, and 3 months later, the next/greater version is out, or announced, and then it becomes a case of “well, I’ve waited all these years already…why didn’t I wait X more months?!?”

Of course…this all presupposes that I have to make the purchase myself: given a Kindle or Nook or such as a gift…I’m sure I’d find excuse enough to certainly make use of the device. Without an upfront cost to me investing in the actual device…that would certainly “level the playing field” in terms of books to be bought. And stuff like The Hunger Games or some of these other series–I wouldn’t mind getting those digitally.

Having the potential to have numerous books all contained in one device would certainly feed my “book-A.D.D.” and allow me to start numerous books and gradually work my way through ’em as the mood strikes for a given “book.”

Filed under: Booking Through Thursday, DC, DC Misc., General Mills, Justice League, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Booking Through Thursday: Sequel

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Walt

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If you could get a sequel for any book, what would it be?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Dragons of the Hourglass Mage?

Harry Potter’s the obvious: even though DH was a solid ending and there’s no great need of a sequel–it could be interesting to have stories of the kids’ generation. Either filling in the in-between time from the book to the epilogue, or better just picking up where the epilogue ended.

Or, I’ve long thought it could be very interesting to see the world of Harry Potter continued into comics. Soooo much potential there. Rowling could oversee things, of course, but let other writers and artists play in the sandbox. Granted, there could be the stipulation that the main characters, maybe even Hogwarts, would be off the table. But what about the other schools? Surely other students have had adventures!

Meanwhile–Dragons of the Hourglass Mage was the third in a trilogy of books set between the pages of the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy from the 1980s. It revisited the continuity and characters as they were at the time–almost as if expanding those original books by at least double. I would love to have more stories by Weis & Hickman set during their original Dragonlance run. Maybe during Legends, or short one-offs of The Second Generation. Of course, at the moment I can’t think of much of anything dangling, and I’d want it to be the main characters, not just a story of others set at the time.

But overall, I find that the single-volume books I read, lately mainly Grisham, Meltzer, and King–they’re a solid story, and I’m really NOT itching for a sequel. Or, I get into a property when there’s ALREADY a sequel, and there’s already (again) nothing to leave me itching for a follow-up.

Now, there are book series…do those count? I’m still stuck in The Lost Hero, but been looking forward to the next book in the series as well (which came out last week), so I guess technically that’s a sequel, except I’ve “known” it was planned from the start, and was trying to get through the first book before the 2nd came out.

Magic: The Gathering, Dragonlance, Aliens, Predator, Left Behind….all these series sit on my shelves (Magic and Dragonlance have far more books than I could ever hope to get for a “complete” collection). But right now none of them have anything screaming “sequel!” to me; and chances are that other than Left Behind, any of the books that would deserve a sequel could well have one already, for all I know.

I always mention comics, it seems, so let’s look there: by their nature, comics are typically ongoing periodicals, though the “mini-series” or “limited-series” has become extremely popular. Most individual comics will have a “sequel,” aka “the next issue.” But there are specific overall stories, and some of those tend to get sequels. Infinite Crisis was marked as a sequel of sorts to Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Dark Knight Strikes Again was a sequel to The Dark Knight Returns. JSA: The Kingdom was a sequel to Kingdom Come; so was the mini-“event” simply titled The Kingdom.

But other graphic novels that I own? I can’t really think of any offhand that I’d like to see have a sequel made. Scanning my shelves now as I type, the only things I see where I’m even interested in another volume, it’s stuff that I know already exists. More John Constantine: Hellblazer volumes. Preacher and Transmetropolitan. Original Ultimate Spider-Man. Heroes Reborn; X-Men: Age of Apocalypse; Brightest Day; Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.

I suppose ultimately, this is a rather passive topic for me. Sure, if a follow-up comes out, that follows on or builds on or is billed as a direct/specific sequel to something I’ve already read and enjoyed, I’m more likely to go for that than an untried entity. But other than seeing the world of Harry Potter continued or getting even a short Dragonlance story set with old characters in an early part of a huge series…I’m just interested in reading good stories, and look forward moreso to new works by authors I enjoy than to specific sequels of specific books.

Final thought: I’ve found it interesting when I read one book by an author, and it references another. I want to say that the latest Meltzer book took place in the same continuity and referenced events from an earlier book, but was not itself an actual sequel. Ditto some of Grisham and King’s stories.

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The Missing Dead: Why Amazon Wins

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Walt

halloweendisplayofbooksYesterday was the release date for the new hardcover prose novel The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor. I’ve been looking forward to the book for months.

I don’t buy NEW books in hardback often–usually I’m buying stuff from the used-books stores like Half-Price Books or M&P or using a coupon from Borders and picking up something recent-ish but not generally still classified as a new-release. But a few times a year, I’ll buy a brand-new hardback–usually the new Brad Meltzer book, or John Grisham in particular, or something that just really strikes me.

Rise of the Governor was to be one of those books. Go to the store, get the book, start reading, and I figure I’ll dive in right away.

BUT.

Two trips to Walmart–no luck. Target…no luck there, either. Walmart‘s offering it via their website–but I’d have to wait til at LEAST early next week for it to arrive, whether shipped to my apartment or using the Site-to-Store shipping.

Figuring despite my consternation over big retailers like that not having the book where I could expect a ~30% discount off cover price, I knew that surely Barnes & Noble, a dedicated book-seller, would have a new hardback novel based on one of the top cable television shows with a new season debuting in under a week. Surely, a new novel based on a hit comics-and-tv series about survivors in a zombie apocalypse would be available, given it’s October where horror and the like seem to get top billing genre-wise.

Nope.

Oh, you can order it through their website, and while offhand I forget the discount. But I didn’t want to order the book online. I wanted to buy the book in-person, have it already, take it with me upon handing over payment, and start reading the thing.

Even if I’d manage to find some independent bookstore (I don’t know of any near me) it’d likely be a “special order” and highly unlikely the store would be willing (to say nothing of whether or not they’d be “able”) to give me much of a break off the cover price, and I’d still have to wait for the book to come in.

So I was forced online.

Amazon wins. They had the best discount, I’m familiar with their services, and over the past decade they’ve successfully branded themselves as THE place to order new books online (and I’ve even had success with their 3rd-party sellers, but that’s a different post entirely).

Annoyed and frustrated from going to multiple stores, the simple fact no one seemed to stock this book physically, and the fact that I’d already resigned myself earlier to paying full price for the book to get it same-day, I noticed something rather interesting.

For $2 more than cover price, including SHIPPING…I was able to ALSO order The Walking Dead Chronicles, which I’d also been eyeing but was going to hold off on.

This morning I woke to an email saying my Amazon order has shipped, and ought to arrive Monday. The same wait I’d have ordering the book any other way…but here from a familiar brand/service, with another related book, and though I don’t get to read the thing “in preparation” for the new season of the tv show…I get to see the premiere, and on a Walking Dead “high” (assumably), get another “fix” the next day.

And I notice there’s a new Grisham book coming out soon, and a new Stephen King as well. Might as well order through Amazon–and save myself even the potential hassle of stores randomly not stocking it, or just to spite ’em (even if the only one who cares is me).

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Booking Through Thursday: Replay

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Walt

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Have you ever finished a book and loved it so much you went right back and started re-reading it again?

Nope.

I may finish a book and want more, or finish a book that’s part of a series, and go right into the next book.

But I have never immediately re-read a book that I’ve just finished.

I don’t even do that with single-issue COMICS. (Well, the exception would be whatever re-reading I do prior to writing a review).

Sorry…no huge insights or tangents this week. I’m already padding this entry as it is, as it ought to be a one-word answer.

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Booking Through Thursday: Stormy Weather

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Walt

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What’s your book with weather events? Hurricanes? Tornadoes? Blizzards? Real? Fiction? Doesn’t matter … weather comes up a lot in books, so there’s got to be a favorite somewhere, huh?

Taken from the parking lot of my apartment building a couple weeks ago.Other than a book whose title I can’t recall, and don’t remember the author, which had a brownish cover (I think)…I’m not thinking of any books that were specifically about the weather. (This was about the aftermath of some hurricane or flood or something and the devastation it caused an island city maybe near Texas?). Obviously wouldn’t call it a favorite, though it wasn’t a bad read.

Trying to think of stories that had the weather–if not a focus, then a significant part–I think of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, which both opens and closes on rain–it’s significant enough that on the original (I believe) graphic novel, even the inside covers had the rain imagery.

Of course, there’s the Bible–and maybe most notably, the story of Noah. Or Jonah. Or Jesus calming the storm.

There’s the FILM The Lion King, and that scene with Rafiki and Simba where Simba sees his father–Rafiki comments on the weather. There’s also the film The Day After Tomorrow. Or Twister.

If we go back to the 1980s and back to comics, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, you had the “red skies” thing going on, which I supposed would be a “weather” thing. I mean, if the sky turned red and stayed red, beyond sunset/sunrise (red sky in the morning / red sky at night), that’d be kinda worrisome.

There’s loads of symbolic stuff–often talk of a coming/rising storm. I often think of the end of The Terminator where Sarah’s told “There’s a storm coming.” And she replies “I know.” Loaded meanings there. (And I’ll count that as a book, because I read the novelization well ahead of ever seeing the film).

As always, I’m sure there’s plenty that I’m forgetting. But…I’ll wrap here, for now.

rainbow

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Booking Through Thursday: History

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Walt

 

btt buttonWhen is the last time you read a history book? Historical biography? You know, something that took place in the past but was REAL.

I’m not really a fan of “history books,” at least by that term. Books taking place in the past, about stuff that really happened…that’s a bit of a different thing.

Of course, there’s Dewey, and Marley, and Wesley–the “human/pet memoirs” of which I seem to often come back to. I have several books on my shelf about the history of comic books in the US; one specifically on the rise and fall of Marvel Comics in the 1990s.

The Bible, of course, is not something I can overlook as a valuable history book.

What tends to hold my interest much more is historical fiction–maybe it involves real-life people (and of course the situations and time periods). I recently read X-Men – Magneto: Testament. It’s a graphic novel that follows the young boy who would grow up to be Magneto, as he and his family were yanked from their lives and ultimately ended in a concentration camp.

I’m currently moving through Madmen via netflix; set in the 1960s, following ad execs; not really a lot of typical “action,” but a really well-written interpersonal drama.

Final thought: I seem to be ready to leave out another important book: The Norton Anthology of Modern War–excerpts and selections of soldiers’ accounts of their experiences in a number of wars. And The Pacific, which I’m currently partway into as an audiobook. (Following a group of soldiers throughout the war in the Pacific during WWII).

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Make a Run for the Border(s)

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Walt

Though I’ll take advantage of clearance and going-out-of-business sales…I take no pleasure in seeing a store go out of business. I was shocked last month when I got the email announcement THAT the entire [Borders] chain was closing. And I’ve stoutly refused to go to one after my experience with one that went out last December.

At that time, they were not accepting coupons, the selection was highly picked-over, and the remaining books not in good condition overall. The one I wound up buying–Blackest Night: Green Lantern–wound up costing me a bit more with the “going out of business clearance” than if I’d simply been able to use my coupon. But, driving the distance I had, I wasn’t walking out empty-handed. (Yeah, yeah…cutting off a nose to spite the face, and all that).

Plus, I’ve had a lot of good memories associated with Borders, and wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of seeing the place look gutted and picked-over, as that one in December did.

Thursday, though, I wound up deciding to pay what will likely be my last-ever visit to the closest Borders to me–the one that was one of the first places I sought out back in 2004 when I first moved to Kent for grad school. For nearly three-quarters of a decade, it’s been my “home” bookstore, the store I’d go to when I wanted to at least look at books, browse books, see what I’d discover. And–while this is likely part of the business model that may’ve brought ’em down–it’s the store I’d most often visit with the weekly emailed coupons when they were offering 30-45 or occasionally 50 percent off one item.

Looking around my room it’s pretty easy to spot many of the books I’ve bought over the years, just from this one specific store.

Continue reading →

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Booking Through Thursday [catch-up]: Repeats

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Walt

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What’s the first book that you ever read more than once? (I’m assuming there’s at least one.)

What book have you read the most times? And–how many?

I’m not sure, but I’d guess probably something in the vein of Patrick’s Dinosaurs or some other children’s book. Perhaps one of the Boxcar Children books, or maybe a Hardy Boys Casefiles, even.

I know for certain that I’ve read Dragons of Autumn Twilight at least 6-7 times all the way through, and have started it a couple other times. In addition, I’ve seen the animated movie adaptation, and read multiple comics adaptations AND a dramatized audiobook, as well.

I’ve read The Brothers’ War at least 3 times all the way through–the first book in the main Magic: The Gathering series. I’ve read Left Behind (the first/original) at least twice now, in addition to listening to the audiobook, listening to an audio drama, seeing the film, and reading the comic adaptation.

I’ve read the “Greensleeves” trilogy from the ORIGINAL Magic: the Gathering novels at least twice; I’ve read the Aliens: Earth Hive/Nightmare Asylum/Female War trilogy of novelizations at least twice each and pretty sure I’ve read Earth Hive at least one additional time (and I’ve since read the original comics the novels were based on, thanks to Dark Horse‘s Aliens Omnibus vol. 1).

And I’ve read The Death and Life of Superman at least 3 times, and I’ve started it a couple more (plus listened to the audio drama twice now).

…where comics are a whole different thing. I’ve read Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying a number of times; same for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: A Death in the Family. I’ve read The Death of Superman more times than I can even remember. Honestly, as I sit here scanning my bookshelves, it’s an overwhelming prospect to try listing all the graphic novels/etc. that I’ve read multiple times.

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Booking Through Thursday: Size Matters

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Walt

btt buttonWhat’s the largest your personal library has ever been? What’s the greatest number of books you’ve ever owned at one time? (Estimates are fine.)

Is your collection NOW the biggest it’s ever been? Or have you down-sized?

What’s the fewest number of books you’ve ever owned (not counting your pre-reading years)?

IMG_0154I’d say my personal library is the largest it’s ever been now, as I’ve continued adding to it through the years, without any significant downsizing. A large chunk of it is comics-related: graphic novels, collected editions, etc. I couldn’t begin to properly estimate at present–especially as I have several bins of books tucked away in a shed at my parents’ house.

I’ve meant for ages to downsize a bit–but never quite get around to it. I also haven’t quite determined if I’d be merely downsizing what I have in this apartment, on my shelves…or downsize the collection itself permanently.

That’s the trouble, I’ve found, with being a comics & books person: by the very nature of the thing, it’s materialistic. The things take up space.

About ten years ago, I visited a friend’s place, and she showed me her dad’s library. A beautiful room with more books than I could count, organized neatly…and I was simply in awe.

At the time, my personal library could probably fit on 3-4 shelves, and included college textbooks whose “buyback” prices were insulting (Take a $35 book kept in good condition through the semester and offer me $1.25–less than the price of a single-issue comic–I’ll keep the book.)

IMG_0156But I’d received the bite, and found myself stuck with a vision that I hold to this day of someday being able to have my OWN library. A library, study, den, man-cave…whatever the word would be. A space for my book and comics collection.

Though in today’s economy and my own work situation at present…I begin to see definite folly in that vision.

And perhaps morbidly, after watching various CSI and L&O shows…I sometimes think about what my collection says about me. The books I have, the comics I’ve amassed. Quantity and quality of books, where I’ve chosen to shelve them, etc. What someone would deduce about me and my life simply from seeing this bedroom.

Plenty of other stuff to be touched on, such as the collector mentality (I don’t collect for value, but for completism, for one thing); but it branches into other topics. Perhaps to be touched on by future (or already touched on in past) Booking Through Thursday prompts.

’nuff said.

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