Monday, December 31, 2012

112 Books


I have been keeping a movie-watching log for several years, but 2012 is the first time I thought to keep a record of the books I read during the year. My total: 112, which is probably about average for me.

First book of 2012: TOM BROWNING’S TALES FROM THE REDS DUGOUT by Tom Browning & Dann Stupp
Last book of 2012: REASONABLE DOUBT by Philip Friedman

Of the 112, only six of them were re-reads:
NIGHTMARE USA: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE EXPLOITATION INDEPENDENTS by Stephen Thrower
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS by Mike Wallace (I re-read his autobiography after his death)
I SPY: A HISTORY AND EPISODE GUIDE TO THE GROUNDBREAKING TELEVISION SERIES by Marc Cushman & Linda J. LaRosa
ROD SERLING’S NIGHT GALLERY: AN AFTER-HOURS TOUR by Scott Skelton & Jim Benson
LIVE FROM NEW YORK: AN UNCENSORED HISTORY OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE by Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller
REASONABLE DOUBT by Philip Friedman

Hardcover: 32
Paperback: 67
Trade paperback: 13
I read no book electronically in 2012.

Counting by genre:

Fiction: 78
Action/Adventure (mainly men’s adventure novels of the 1970s): 16
Crime Drama: 10
Mystery/Thriller: 43
Science Fiction: 5
Western: 6 (the first westerns I have read in my life)

Non-Fiction: 32
Biography: 2 (James Garner and Mike Wallace)
Comic Books: 11
Film: 7
Sports: 2
Television: 10

From the 1930s: 4
1940s: 2
1950s: 5
1960s: 15
1970s: 25
1980s: 6
1990s: 7
2000–2011: 43
2012: 5

Ace Double paperbacks: 15
Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child: 15
Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly: 2
Lew Archer novels by Ross Macdonald: 2
Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout: 1
Perry Mason novels by Erle Stanley Gardner: 3

Other authors read more than once:
David Ellis: 5
Edward S. Aarons: 3
John Callahan: 2
Lionel White: 2
Louis Trimble: 2
Ralph Hayes: 2
Tom Weaver: 2

Ten recommendations:
THE DOOMSTERS by Ross Macdonald
GOD SAVE THE FAN by Will Leitch
I WANT MY MTV: THE UNCENSORED STORY OF THE MUSIC VIDEO REVOLUTION by Craig Marks & Rob Tannenbaum
NIGHTMARE USA: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE EXPLOITATION INDEPENDENTS by Stephen Thrower
REQUIEM FOR A SCHOOLGIRL by Robert Rossner (as Ivan T. Ross)
THE SIMON & KIRBY SUPERHEROES by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
THE TOWER by Richard Martin Stern

How many books did you read this year?

1 comment:

Brandon L. Summers said...

I read a dismal 10 books, maybe. They weren't spectacular either. I read the first two Star Wars THRAWN! books to see where the story went, but didn't care enough to read book 3. I read Shatner's "Star Trek: The Return" (a sequel to the movie "Generations") and it was damn great! I read Stephen King's "On Writing" and Kevin Smith's "Tough Shit", both great. I also read "Twilight," just because.

I did write and publish two books of my own, though. One is about an insecure teen girl spy and the other is my silly, sexy version of "Dracula." That's something, right?

Thanks for informing us about all those interesting books about comic books and comic book history and indie horror movie history. I want to read them all.