Is this Blog Dead? No Sir-ree!

Hey folks,
I know that you've probably left me for dead. Not so! Once a month is not a good way of keeping you here, but I assure you this blog is not far from my mind. At the moment I am feeling that crazy urge to get back to reading those pesky things called books. Maybe it's a blind panic but I feel as if I am getting behind. I need to engage my mind.

I've managed to keep my promise to avoid buying books. Although I despair that I am nowhere near a Borders liquidation sale (the store near us closed it's doors 5 years ago) there's no reason for me to add to the piles of paper that stack up around here. At least books from the library are transitory. Admittedly though I need them to be more transitory. I had successfully managed to get the piles down, but now in this spring book fever they have reemerged.

I find myself obsessing over book reading plans again.

This is all good because I have been very busy (this is no lie, just an excuse) running a writer's workshop and trying to pull off a coup over a neglected library program. Looking to revolutionize your alternative press collection and promote these unique collections? Then I aim to prove that I am your girl.

But the books are calling me again. I can't help but be pulled in.

I hope to contribute more here. And earn back your attentions.
Have a great week! Book Slave.

Update: Blame it on the alcohol. No Really.

Hey folks,
Just wanted to let you guys know that I'm not dead. Still here, still alive. Just too busy to really read or write about it. It's a good excuse I think. The workshop that I run is starting up so I've been busy putting that together. Add that to the library load. There's only so much awesome me to go around. Here's some highlights bullet-style:
*Met my library-idol Scott Douglass. Still embarassed by my fan-girlish behavior.
*Loved X-Men: First Class. Marvel, bring on the Erik Lensherr: Nazi Hunter prequel series.
*Never thought Woody Allen would be on top of a literary sci-fi trend.
*Participating in 1book1twitter again by reading Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Yay!
*Dropped out of my other book club, because I don't have time for it. Which is sad, but it had to happen.
*Put together a fantastic event with local artist Jess Smiley which restored my faith in humanity.

That's all I got for you folks, Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 5/3/2011-5/10/2011

Hey guys,
It's a new month! Let's be happy brothers and sisters. Apologies for being MIA last week, but I was busy, sick, neurotic, tired and there was a wedding...well I had a lot going on. And really not too much time to read. But this week I'm on it. Really. I swear.

Reading List 5/3/2011-5/10/2011
Books
Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith-Terribly excited for this. I loved The Way He Lived, even though it hurt me physically with it's words.
Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware

Magazine
Library Journal

Comics
Got some back issues of Unwritten, Morning Glories, and Batgirl for fun.

Also looking forward to digging into Downton Abbey, and Mad Men Season 4. Also there's some small movie about a Norse God that I'll be seeing.

Have a great week! Book Slave.

Heads Up! Shameless promotion ahead!

Hello,
Are interested in hearing what my voice sounds like? Wanna hear me prattle on about the comic books? My friend Ryan invited me to talk on his podcast Audio Vaudeville. I had a delightful time talking with co-hosts Ryan and Conor, as well as doing a olde-timey radio play. Look for it to come down the line on the itunes. Or in fact you could subscribe and it will automatically download onto your audio device of choice. Also I'm told that some pictures will be posted to their tumblr which I've linked above. I'd suggest subscribing to both. All right, shameless promotion over.
Enjoy, Book Slave.

Reading List 4/19/2011-4/26/2011

Hey folks,
It's rainy again! Seriously I am done with this. Done! I hope that you all are doing better than I. It's obviously stay at home and curl up with a book time. Brew some tea and just escape...this sounds like a plan.

Reading List 4/19/2011-4/26/2011
Books
Bossypants-Tina Fey folks! Tina Fey!
Return of the Dapper Men
Confederacy of Dunces-Hard Boiled Book Club is finally getting me to read this! More proof that book clubs are awesome. They just are.

Magazine
Four Four Two

Comics
Less of the stack of comics. I'll get there guys. Someday.

Books I Have Finished
Astonishing X-Men vol. 3
The Ticking

Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 4/12/2011-4/19/2011

Hey folks,
Howse it rolling? Good I hope. Here's my plan for the next week.

Reading List 4/12/2011-4/19/2011
Books
Seven Soldiers of Victory
Dark Phoenix Saga
Astonishing X-Men vol. 3

Magazine
Four Four Two

Comics
The same stack of comics. Full of Shame.

Books I Have Finished
Flash: Rebirth
Essex County: Ghost Brothers
Wired April 2011
Astonishing X-Men vol. 2

Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 4/5/2011-4/12/2011

Hey,
Apologies for last week but honestly I didn't know what I wanted to read. Sometimes it's hard to choose when I have a myriad of options. I read a wide variety of materials and it's hard when there's nothing that leaps out. That was last week for me. But this week I've got a plan. So there's one thing I've got going for me.

Reading List 4/5/2011-4/12/2011
Books
Flash: Rebirth
Essex County: Ghost Brothers

Magazine
Vanity Fair

Comics
A whole stack of comics folks. Nice.

Books I Finished
X-Men: Nation X
Astonishing X-Men vol. 1 & 2
Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne
Essex County: The Country Nurse

Also if I can pull it together this week I'll post a review of the new Jane Eyre film. (Preview tease: I liked it.) And I'll talk about my current obsession with the X-Men.

Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 3/22/2011-3/29/2011

Hey guys,
Apologies for missing last week. It's a busy time for this wee lass. Also the internet is not always free and available to me.

Finished Books
Killing Shakespeare vol. 1 - Very Clever. Yet I did not like the art-style. Definitely for the lit types.
Daytripper - Pure Magic. This book is well worth all the praise that it has received. Do yourself a favor and read this. Now.
The Dead - My annual St. Patrick Days read. The last page still kills me. Oh Joyce.
Essex County vol. 1: Tales from the Farm - A reread for my Graphic Novel Book Club. Lemire is a wonderful purveyor of Canadian sadness.

Reading List 3/22/2011-3/29/2011
Books
The Moviegoer
Irredeemable vol. 4

Magazines
Four Four Two

Comics
More new comic goodness. Some Fantastic Four, Detective, and even Walking Dead. Should be good.

Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 3/8/2011-3/15/2011

Hey folks,
In my neck of the woods we just got slammed with a snowpocalypse. Perfect reading weather right? I know what I'll be doing tonight.
So here's the plan this week.

Reading List 3/8/2011-3/15/2011
Books
Kill Shakespeare vol. 1-Looks very Fables-esque.
Daytripper

Comics
Green Lantern #62, Batman #707, New Avengers #8 & 9, Fables #102, Flash #9, Action Comics #897, Walking Dead #81-Finally some new stuff to read! It's been too long.

Finished
Superman Secret Origin

Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 3/1/2011

Hey folks,
Yep I'm still alive. Don't worry. Between the new job, and the continuous piling on at my other job, it leaves very little time for this. However I'm not a quitter. The Reading List will go on! Even if it's just for me.

Here's a list of books I did finish last month. Trust me I still read.
The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke
Brightest Day Vol. 1
Unbearable Lightness
Short Cuts
Nightly News


Of these titles the best book I read this past month was The Outfit. For those who do not know, this is a sequel to Cooke's The Hunter last year. These graphic novel adaptations of Richard Stark's Parker novels continue to impress. If you are not reading these books then you are missing out on something special. They are Darwyn Cooke at the top of his game.

So here's the plan this week.

Reading List 3/1/2011
Books
Superman: Secret Origins
Shopgirl

Magazines
Vanity Fair-Still digging on that Hollywood Issue for March.

Have a great week! Book (and work) Slave.

Reading List 2/8/2011-2/15/2011

Hey folks,
Hope that y'all are having a good week. Here's my plan, reading-wise:

Reading List 2/8/2011-2/15/2011
Books
Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman
Shopgirl by Steve Martin
"A Case of Identity" by Arthur Conan Doyle - More Sherlock! Yeah.

Magazine
Entertainment Weekly

Comics
Diving back into the oldies stack. I've noticed that I am reading less new comics these days. I guess that happens when you drop Amazing Spider-Man, Superman, and Daredevil.

Also I'm fully enraptured with Doctor Who. If you only watch one episode of this series ever, you need to watch "Blink" from Season 3. It's incredible! This ep also stars Carey Mulligan, who is mind-blowingly fantastic. Do yourself a favor folks and watch it. You'll thank me.

Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 2/1/2011-2/8/2011

Hey folks,
It's a horrible bitter cold world out there. Like Siberia or Chicago.
Here's my plan this week:

Reading List 2/1/2011-2/8/2011
Books
Shopgirl by Steve Martin -This is for the reading challenge at work. It's also been sitting on my TBR pile for a long time.
Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman
Heed the Thunder by Jim Thompson

Magazine
Entertainment Weekly

Comics
Batman & Buffy-An interesting combo I gotta say.

Also I'm full on obsessed with Doctor Who. Really. Where has this been all my life? Geektastic.

Have a great week! Book Slave.

The Game's Afoot!: Sherlock

Hello All,
Spurred on by my love of the new BBC series Sherlock (that I discussed here) I decided that this year I would delve into the world of the famous detective. I wanted to avoid overwhelming myself, as I often do, so I decided that I'd do two short stories a month. So for January I started off with "Scandal in Bohemia" & "The Red-Headed League". An excellent start I have to say.

Although I find myself plagued with one thing: I can't stop picturing the main characters as their film versions. (By the way I'm referring to Mr. RDJ, Mr. Law, and Ms. McAdams. Strangely it's not the wonderful gentleman from the recent BBC series. Perhaps it's because the BBC series performances and stories are so well adapted to the modern world.) It's clear that Holmes & Watson, initially are a bit of a blank slate. A reader's interpretation is built up over a series of stories, they do not jump immediately off the page. In a movie you only have 5-10 minutes to establish the main characters, so it's up to the actors, writers, directors, etc. to create a distinct character right off the bat. Whereas Doyle, as an author, is clearly more plot driven.

I am reminded of Wilkie Collins detective character Sergeant Cuff from The Moonstone, who was wonderfully distinct in a dickens-esque way. I guess since Doyle was writing for the serials, he didn't feel compelled to include character moments over fast-moving plots. I'll wait till I read a few more to see if this is true.

Highly enjoyable tales both of these, and easily readable in one sitting.
Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 1/25/2011-2/1/2011

Hey folks,
It's a wonderful horrible snowpocalypse outside. It's like a shower of a fluffy white which I can safely observe from the warmish inside of the Hermitage. It's definitely hermit-weather. So here's the plan this week.

Reading List 1/25/2011-2/1/2011
Books
Heed the Thunder by Jim Thompson
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Magazines
Entertainment Weekly-(At Sundance they hand these out like candy.)

Comics
All caught up again, I will be diving back into the quarter bin pick ups. Yes it's back to classics like this:


I'm also gonna spend this week diving into Dr. Who and Wallander dvds, as well as hopefully some laid back time usage. It'll be good for the soul.

Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 1-18 to 1-25

Hey folks,
Howse it going? It's delightfully warm and sunny this January. I like it. I like it a lot. You know what I don't like? These books piling around me. Need some motivation. Need some drive. Or I need to know when to give. It's a tough balance that I have trouble maintaining. Thank god I have some major reading/watching/being time piled up next week. So here's some of the plan for next week. (Of course I endeavor to do more, but here's a goal to pitch for)

Reading List 1-18 to 1-25
Books
Now and Here Again and Heed the Thunder-These Jim Thompson books are slow reads. I believe he gets leaner later on. At least I hope so.
And Then There Were None
"The Red-Headed League"-Oh Sherlock! Can't wait.

Comics
Oh the bi-weekly stack of comic goodness has arrived. Good to see some new Comics on deck.

Magazine
Four Four Two.

So I'll be relaxin' & Sundancing this week. Let's see what happens. Have a great week! Book Slave.

Reading List 1-11-2011 to 1-18-2011

Hello,
It's very chilly here in this salty cold desert. I'm really not kidding. Let's get going.

Reading List 1-11-2011 to 1-18-2011
Books
Now and On Earth
And Then There Were None-Agatha Christie is "cozy" right? I think I can make that argument.

Magazine
Four Four Two

Comics
Dakota North Investigations-Yeah this is another $0.25 purchase. I just can't believe this series ever existed.

And a wonderful array of DVDs which are in my possession. One even involves shirtless wolf-boys. (It's from the library folks. I'd never actually pay for that.)

Have a great week. Book Slave.

Old Comics: Incredible Hulk #316

Hey,
In an attempt to get rid of what's been lying around for far to long, I'm finally getting around to reading some of these old quarter-bin books that I've picked up here and there. So this week I picked up the delightful Incredible Hulk #316. Now I've never really been a Hulk fan but I thought that for a quarter it's worth checking out. I mean look at that cover!


So here's Five Things I Found Delightful About This Old Comic:
1. Opens With A Wonderful Dutch Angle Full Page With She Hulk. John Byrne does a wonderful job bringing us into this issue with a fun off-kilter beginning.
2. That John Byrne Really was great back in 1986. Mind you this was before his legendary "Man of Steel" re-imagining of Superman. Now I must read that series if it's better than this. This was fun.
3. Tony Stark's Wonderful Arrogance. Of course he can take on the Hulk alone. He tells other superheroes to hang back and then gets pummeled. It's great.
4. Namor saves the Day! Then gets his Ass kicked by Doc Samson. Yeah Namor and Doc Samson are also in this book! Also Hercules, Wonder Man and Betty Ross. This book is full of characters all in one issue!
5. First and Last Hulk Conference page. Rather than a letters page there is a delightful little one page which is a mixture of photo and comic. This one-pager stars a 1986 versions of Byrne, Denny O'Neil, Jim Shooter, and the Hulk with word balloons and sound effects. Delightful!

What a great surprise. Sometimes you get lucky. Have a great week. Book Slave.

Reading List 1/4/2010-1/11/2011

Hey folks,
As always it's the first Tuesday of the year so here's a new Reading List post. It's a hope of mine that I can return to a push to get these books/magazines/comics read throughout the week. That's my intention anyway. So here we go.

Reading List 1/4/2010-1/11/2011
Books
DMZ vol. 1-This is a reread for the Graphic Novel Club program that I run
Now and On Earth by Jim Thompson-Part of my Jim Thompson Year.

Short Story
"A Scandal In Bohemia"-Part of the Sherlock Holmes Year

Magazine
Four Four Two

Comic
The Incredible Hulk #316-Picked up for a 25 cents. Should be fun eh?

So there it is. A New Year. It's amazing that I've done this so long, and that you, Constant Reader, are somehow still reading out there in cyberspace. Have a great week! Book Slave.

Year Four: Origins & Goals

Hey folks,
Yes Indeed it is YEAR FOUR of this blog. If you go back far enough in the archives you will discover that I began this blog way back in 2008. I've told the origin story before but I will repeat it for those who are new: I had been thinking about putting my own thoughts out on the inter-webs already. I needed an outlet for my thoughts and writings but I didn't see a viable vehicle.

Now why CNN forces Anderson Cooper to spend New Years Eve with Kathy Griffin is beyond me. It seems like unnecessary torture for a man who honorably reports from around the globe. I had to see this train wreck live so there it was New Years Eve and I was watching CNN. They started speculating on goals/resolutions for the new year. Anderson Cooper, looking handsome as ever, said that he wanted to blog more in the new year. And that's when I thought to myself, well if Anderson Cooper has a blog, then why can't I? Then I looked around and knew that one of my resolutions that year was to cut down on the amount of books in my TBR pile. Why not combine both? I would do a blog centered around my reading goals. So on Jan 1, which just happened to be a Tuesday I began The Reading List of a Book Pusher.

In YEAR FOUR here's a few goals and projects I like to through out there:
-I'm going to read 24 Jim Thompson books. That's 2 books per month. I'm really looking forward to this challenge since The Grifters is one of my favorite titles, but I haven't re-read it in 15 years. Nor have I read any other Thompson titles either.
-Going to read 1 short story a week. Could be Sherlock Holmes or a modern author. I just feel that this is a good habit to pick up.
-Zines. These unique materials exist in my department at work and my reader's advisory needs to be sharpened in this regard.
-Sandman. I'm reading it all this year, due to my new-found love of Neil Gaiman.
-Participate in the Get Your Read On challenge at my library. Sometimes I'm very competitive with my co-workers. I also like to read outside of my comfort zone.
-Last but not least: A 25% deduction in the TBR pile. More of a focus on the books I have lying around here, then library books. It's a good idea.

There it is. And I hope to maintain a regular posting schedule for you, Constant Reader. Life can get in the way, but I wouldn't still be doing this blog if I didn't feel it was worth something. So I hope you stick around. Have a great year! Book Slave.