Nonfiction of 2020

     A list of nonfiction read in 2020.

JANUARY
The Few: The American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain, by Alex Kershaw (2006)
     There are lots better WWII histories than this one, but at least I know more about the Battle of Britain and the sky portion of the early days of the war.

Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals, by Rupert Sheldrake (1999)
     This technical work argues for the existence of telepathy in animals, specifically in pets, and existent to a limited degree in humans.

Heavens to Betsy and Other Curious Sayings, by Charles Earle Funk (1955)
     An elderly fussy lexicographer relates as best he can the origins of many folk sayings, most of which have vanished from history.

A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs and Me, by Jon Katz (2002)
     A New Jersey tech writer adopts a neurotic Border Collie from Texas, says goodbye to his beloved elderly Labs, and learns somewhat how to calm his anger issues.

The Dogs of Bedlam Farm: An Adventure with Sixteen Sheep, Three Dogs, Two Donkeys and Me, by Jon Katz (2005)
     The sequel to A Dog Year, Katz becomes a hobby farmer raising sheep in upstate New York along the Vermont border.

Total read this month: 5.

FEBRUARY
The Catcher was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, by Nicholas Dawdoff (1994)
     This had the potential to be really interesting, a mix of baseball history and World War II history. Unfortunately, it was tedious and not very informative.

Walking My Dog, Jane: From Valdez to Prudhoe Bay, by Ned Rozell (2000)
     In the summer of 1997, a man decides to hike through Alaska south to north with his dog. Confirmed that I could never live in Alaska.

Fireflies, Honey, and Silk, by Gilbert Waldbauer (2009)
     An elderly entomologist wrote about all the ways insects are useful to society and the world. Fairly dull, but his enthusiasm was nice.

A Letter to My Dog: Notes to Our Best Friends, collected by and Robin Layton, photos by Robin Layton (2012)
     Celebrities from Oprah to Hilary Duff to random schoolkids write thank you notes to their dogs. All the warm fuzzies.

Diners, written and illustrated by John Baeder (1978)
     This art book details many paintings of diners scattered throughout the country.

The Great American Sports Page: A Century of Classic Columns from Ring Lardner to Sally Jenkins, edited by John Schulian (2019)
     This just made me sad as the state of irrelevancy that America classifies journalism into now.

Total read this month: 6, bringing total to 11.

MARCH
Bravo! A Guide to Opera for the Perplexed, by Barrymore Laurence Scherer (1994)
     This was a nice primer on the basics of how opera works and some of the famous examples from various countries.

Football Revolution: The Rise of the Spread Offense and How It Transformed College Football, by Bart Wright (2012)
     An overly-detailed history of the spread offense in college football.

Bowling Across America: 50 States in Rented Shoes, by Mike Walsh (2008)
     After his father's death from a heart attack while playing handball, a man decides to go on a road trip and bowl in every state of the Union. Decently written, but the adventure seemed a little pointless by the end.

Sports in America, by James Michener (1976)
     This very comprehensive, thorough and naive look at the place of sports in American society has its highlights, but overall wasn't great.

Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon, by Michael Adams (2003)
     Language is very interesting. Buffy is great art, even though I don't care for the show itself. But a literal dictionary written about the slang of the show written by a North Carolina State professor of linguistics is very tedious.

Total read this month: 5, bringing total to 16.

APRIL
In the Country of Country: People and Places in American Music, by Nicholas Dawidoff (1997)
     This was better than his Moe Berg book, but still not very good. It would also help if I was more familiar with the pioneering and fringe artists of country music that he describes and talks with.

The Naked Chef Takes Off, by Jamie Oliver (2000)
     A very conversational and tasty-looking cookbook. I learned a lot about the basics of cocktails reading this.

Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 18.

MAY
The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties and Talking Poodles, by James Thurber, edited by Michael J. Rosen (2001)
     A posthumous collection of essays and short stories about dogs.

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 19.

JUNE
Chevrolet Summers, Dairy Queen Nights: Of Cloudless and Carefree American Days, by Bob Greene (1997)
     A collection of his newspaper columns, covering everything from murders and custody battles to riding a train and the joy of restoring a beloved old car.

Nightscapes: Poetry from the Depths, by E.M. Welcher (2020)
     This is raw and frightening at times in how intense it is, which is a sign that it's very good poetry.

The Curious Christian, by Barnabas Piper (2017)
     This nice, readable book about the virtues and purposes of curiosity was excellent.

Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 22.

JULY
One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey into the HEart of Shelters and Rescues, by Cara Sue Achterberg (2020)
     A fellow Dog Writers Association of America member sent me a preview copy of her book to review on Dog O'Day.

Total read this month: , bringing total to 23.

AUGUST
Angel on a Leash: Therapy Dogs and the Lives They Touch, by David Frei (2009)

     A book of stories about the mission and achievements of therapy dogs and brave humans. Hard not to feel joyful by this emotional roller coaster. 

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 24.

SEPTEMBER
The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson (2014)

     A now sixtysomething Bryson reflects on the England of the mid-2010s, pondering how it's changed since he first came there as a college student in the late 1970s. Average Bryson, in that the societal observation is offset by the crankiness. 

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 25.

OCTOBER
Pet That Dog! A Handbook for making Four-Legged Friends, by Gideon Kidd and Rachel Braunigan (2020)

     Aimed at an elementary audience from the kid behind the I've Pet That Dog IG/Twitter account, this was very pleasant. Read for review for Dog O'Day. 

Hockey for Weekend Warriors: A Guide to Everything from Skates and Slapshots to Separated Shoulders, by Scott Noble (2005)

     An entertainingly-written basics guide for getting into recreational hockey. 

Poppy in the Wild: A Lost Dog, Fifteen Hundred Acres of Wilderness and the Dogged Determination that Brought Her Home, by Teresa J. Rhyne (2020)

     Reviewed from a DWAA author for Dog O'Day, this memoir follows the fostering and then rescue of a Beagle named Poppy who got lost in Southern California for about a week. A heroic team of volunteers eventually brought her home safe and sound. 

Hockey for Dummies, by John Davidson and John Steinbreder (1997)

     One of the early Dummies books, this does a good overall job of introducing the sport of hockey. 

Total read this month: 4, bringing total to 29.

NOVEMBER
Sitcom: A History in 24 episodes from I Love Lucy to Community, by Saul Austerlitz (2014)

     Exactly what the title sounds like - kind of academic in tone, but still very readable and interesting. 

Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns, edited by John P. Avlon, Errol Louis and Jesse Angelo (2011)

     Everyone from Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway to Peggy Noonan and Bob Greene are in here.

Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality, by Rachel Joy Welcher (2020)

     A refutation of Christian culture's purity culture mindset about sexuality. 

Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 32.

DECEMBER

As One Twig is Bent: True Stories of Childhood and Parenting in the Depression, by Beth Stiles Leffingwell (2001)

     An elderly lady tells about her childhood years growing up in Denver during the Great Depression and high school/college during World War II. As a book, it's appropriately terrible, but as a time capsule it works well. If she wasn't a classical music snob it might have made for easier reading. 

Hockey Night Fever: Mullets, Mayhem and the Game's Coming of Age in the 1970s, by Stephen Crane (2015)

     An groovy history of the rock 'em sock 'em era of 1970s hockey. 

Advent, A Thread in the Night, by E.M. Welcher (2020)

     Evan reflects on the passing of his first wife Danielle and the mystery of Christ's coming to earth in this moving poetry anthology. 

Total read this month: 3, bringing total for the year to 35. When added to the fiction read this year, that takes me to a grand total of 65 books for 2020.

Fiction of 2020

     A list of fiction read in 2020.

JANUARY
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon (2003)
     An autistic teenager in England finds his world upended after he investigates why his neighbor's dog was murdered. Worth reading but difficult to follow at times.

Clarence the TV Dog, by Patricia Lauber (1955)
     This was an excellent bit of 1950s MG fiction.

The American, by Henry James (1877)
     A wealthy American man tries to win the hand of a French woman to help her escape her very strict aristocratic family.

The Great Good Thing, by Roderick Townley (2001)
     This highly imaginative MG novel takes place inside a novel, which for the characters is something like a stage play. It spans three generations of readers' lives. and is very touching.

The Darkest Evening of the Year, by Dean Koontz (2007)
     A decent thriller, if you like that sort of thing, about a woman who devotes her life to dog rescue. The first I'd ever read of his, seems like William Goldman meets Nicholas Sparks.

 Total read this month: 5.

FEBRUARY
The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde (1895)
     This play is a classic of the "British aristocracy romantic mishaps" subgenre. 

Marty, by Paddy Chayefsky (1953)
     A screenplay for a television anthology, it was a serious sketch of a fat, unhappy butcher looking for love.

The Admirable Crichton, by J.M. Barrie ()
     A classic play about class and society from the author of Peter Pan. 

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London (1903)
     I didn't enjoy reading this, but I can now understand why it's a classic. Reviewed for Dog O'Day. 

Gooseberry Park, by Cynthia Rylant (1994)
     A Full House-style story about a Lab, a hermit crab and a bat taking care of their squirrel friend's children after a devastating ice storm.

Total read this month: 5, bringing total to 10.

MARCH
Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (1997)
     This is a terrific grounded fairy tale, a million times better than the movie.

The Ugly Dachshund, by G.B. Stern (1938)
     A satire set in a fancy French manor, this was a little hard to follow but very clever. The Philadelphia Story meets Lady and the Tramp.

Star in the Storm, by Joan Hiatt Harlow (2000)
     Loosely based on her grandmother's childhood in Newfoundland, this historical fiction children's novel was fine but unspectacular

Thunder from the Sea, by Joan Hiatt Harlow (2004)
     Again loosely based on true events in Newfoundland and personal family history, this one was slightly better, a male version of Anne of Green Gables. 

The Wish, by Gail Carson Levine (2000)
     A very good modern fairy tale, as an eighth-grade girl learns the perils of popularity.

Fairest,by Gail Carson Levine (2006)
     About the sister of Ella Enchanted's best friend, this was rather drawn out too long for a adaptation of Sleeping Beauty, though the way the kingdom's society worked was clever.

Total read this month: 6, bringing total to 16.

APRIL
Romeo and Juliet Together (and Alive!) at Last, by Avi (1987)
     Middle schoolers stage the most homemade production of Shakespeare imaginable as a way to convince two of their friends to admit they like each other.

Who was that Masked Man, Anyway?, by Avi (1992)
     Written entirely in dialogue matching the 1940s radio serials the main character loves, this WWII-set book about a curious and mischievous boy is clever but very flat, which is disappointing from Avi.

Texaco Mornings, by Wesley Coburn (2017)
     Since it's been produced I guess I can put this here? There are some good lines in this that I'd forgotten about.

Tales from Tent City, by Bryan James Polak (2013)
     This play is a thought-provoking look at a group of homeless teenagers.

Total read this month: 4, bringing total to 20.

MAY
Maybe none?

JUNE
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866)
     This was really heavy, so I missed a lot, but can see why it's a classic.

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 21.

JULY
Darkness at Noon, by Arthur Koestler (1941)
     An aging Soviet finds himself in prison yet again, pondering his life and whether socialism was worth the sacrifices required to build a grander nation.

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 22.

AUGUST
The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate (2012)

     A brilliant, melancholy Newbery-winning novel narrated by a gorilla. 

The Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith (1957)

     The original novel that started the franchise.

Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 24.

SEPTEMBER
The Starlight Barking, by Dodie Smith (1967)

     All the dogs in the world, led by Pongo, Missis and Cadpig, have to decide whether to stay on Earth after receiving a spectacular offer. Quite odd but good. 

The Midnight Kittens, by Dodie Smith (1978)

     A pair of twins visiting their grandma on fall break find a mysterious group of kittens. Average at best, but considering Smith was in her early 80s when she wrote this, it's highly impressive. 

Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 26.

OCTOBER

Lit Riffs: Writers Cover Songs They Love, edited by Matthew Miele (2004)

     This was a better concept for a short story collection than the finished product turned out to be, though it might have helped if I was more familiar with the songs. 

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 27.

NOVEMBER
The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, translated by Katharine Williams (1941)

     This is a classic of children's lit, but I don't quite understand it. 

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 28.

DECEMBER
Fray, written by Joss Whedon, illustrated by Karl Moline (2003)

     Several hundred years after Buffy Summers and several hundred years before the Serenity crew, roamed the 'verse, a street-smart thief named Melaka Fray becomes the newest of the Slayers.

Astonishing X-Men: Torn, written by Joss Whedon, illustrated by John Cassaday (2004)

     Not quite as good as the opening graphic novel in this series (which The Gifted TV series was based on), but solid. 

Total read this month: 2, bringing total fiction for year to 30. When added to total nonfiction read this year (35), that comes to 65 books read in 2020.

Thoughts of Early March

     I'm sitting here in my bedroom/office with the radio playing college basketball, the East Tennessee State Buccaneers and the Wofford Terriers playing for the Southern Conference championship. Rags is sitting here beside me, occasionally editing and sometimes interrupting to get pets. Tortoiseshell cats are demanding assistants.

     Just about finished reading a collection of sports journalism, an unpleasantly battered ARC copy from Thriftbooks' sale last week. There's some good stuff in there, though overall it was disappointing. Among them a 2002 Bill Plaschke column from the Los Angeles Times titled "Her Blue Haven." It's about a semi-paralyzed woman with cerebral palsy who can't talk and lives in the sticks of central Texas, yet who obsessively kept a Dodgers team blog that had only a handful of readers. One of those well-written features that leaves you staring into space for a while afterwards.

     Only watched two movies so far this year, one a documentary about the Oklahoma City bombing (very informative and complicated), the other a dreadfully dull Harrison Ford spy movie called Patriot Games. Finally canceled my Netflix this morning - didn't seem like it was worthwhile any longer.
     I might reactivate it for a bit when the second half of the final season of Fuller House drops, or maybe just borrow someone else's. It's been really nice to go through Full House from beginning to end - the Tanner household is a calming one well worth visiting more often. 

     The final trailer for Black Widow dropped this morning, and it looks fantastic. Mentally prepping a reaction piece for Bam Smack Pow.at the moment while procrastinating. (I needed to get back into blogging anyway.)
         I'm not quite sure where it will go, but it definitely has to do with the concept of improvised family. Natasha Romanoff needs that more than anyone else in the MCU not named the Guardians of the Galaxy. And doesn't everyone, when you stop and think about it?

     Without Jessica and Amanda I'm not sure I'd have been able to get through college. They say the same for me about high school and college. They're pretty great adopted sisters, and I'm lucky I met them. 

     Heard from Ashland the other day, it was great to catch up. Still trying to figure out a way to get up to Springfield for her graduation.

     This keyboard doesn't quite work as well as the previous one, and the laptop is on its last legs, but for now it's still working, which is a very good thing.

     Thinking of getting a Nintendo Switch Lite, which is about four generations more advanced than the Game Boy Advance. I've heard good things about the Animal Crossing series, the newest of which drops next week or so. Supposed to be kind of like Webkinz, which is a very important role that needs to be filled. Another game I've heard good things about is Rocket League, which is soccer played by cars. That sounds just ridiculous enough to be amazing. And there's Mario Kart, of course.

     The Terriers Wofford is nicknamed after are Boston Terriers, the guy who founded the small private school in the western part of South Carolina used to breed them or something.
     Things are going well right now in the world of dog writing - decided to leap into covering Crufts, England's premiere dog event of the year, and that's gone well so far with pageviews. Several in-depth stories in the works for later this week at Dog O'Day, and a few days ago we broke the airdate times of the Beverly Hills Dog Show telecast in early April.   

     Will it matter next November which of these teams won this game? For almost everyone, no. I'll forget who won the NCAA Tournament by June. But for some of those students at ETSU and Wofford, this season will always have a special place in their memories. because of the personal associations, and there's probably some fans with special needs out there that keep up with the teams because it inspires them to keep going through the day.
     That's why sports can be so important sometimes, their cathedrals of play so magical. It's easy to forget that. On the other hand, it can also be easy to get sucked in and assume that they're everything, which is why I could never make a living writing about them all the time - I don't care enough. Yeah, I have the knowledge to be decent at it, but burnout hits hard when you're working on empty.

     The 2020 NASCAR season is about a month old, and my mental health has been a lot better not covering it. Sure, I miss working with everyone at Frontstretch, but it's been nice to step away for a while.
     Ryan Newman's wreck in the Daytona 500 was terrifying. I thought I was watching the first fatality since Dale Earnhardt hit the wall in 2001. (I was watching in Grandpa's living room, and in the same place five months later on 9/11.)
     It's unbelievable that Newman is still alive and left the hospital 48 hours later, and further proof that racers are insane.

     Caleb's still in Mexico, things have been awfully quiet around the house without him. Courtney's really busy with clinicals. Trevor's prepping for his competitions this summer, and Amy's learning how to read and write some. Thus ends the sibling update.

     East Tennessee State won the game. Peaceful nights are welcome. 

Movies of 2019

JANUARY
The Princess Bride (1987)
     S. Morgenstern's classic tale of true love and high adventure.

Arrival (2016)
     Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner star in this rather odd alien invasion story about the power of language and memory.

It Takes Two (1995)
     Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen star in this Prince and the Pauper-inspired tale. It's goofy and improbable, but not bad.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
     The best Star Wars movie ever, because it's gritty and focused, dealing with how the Death Star plans were stolen.

Total watched this month: 4.

FEBRUARY
Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
     This was a beautiful documentary about Mr. Rogers..

Total watched this month: 1, bringing total to 5.

MARCH
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
    The final entry in the Night at the Museum trilogy, it was oddly moving.

Captain Marvel (2019)
     This is the best MCU solo movie yet.

Rewatch of Captain Marvel

Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008)
     Jamie Lee Curtis, Piper Perabo, Drew Barrymore and George Lopez all kind of sleepwalk through this goofy dogcentric picture, but it's better than it ought to be. Reviewed for Dog O"Day. 

Rewatch of Captain Marvel

Total watched this month: 3, bringing total to 8.

APRIL
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
     Based on the James Dashner novel, this didn't really follow the book that well, but covered most of the same storyline in a Jurassic Park type way. It got all the heart and emotions for sure.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
     So trippy. But worth watching.

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
     This was fantastic.

Sunday School Musical (2008)
     "Let's make a Christian version of Glee and High School Musical mashed together!" I only watched this because Paul Asay and Jake Roberson of PluggedIn recommended it as a bad movie to watch on their podcast. It was pretty awful, but not quite good enough to laugh at, mainly because it was so earnestly dreadful and dreadfully earnest.

The Natural (1984)
     Robert Redford's classic baseball fairy tale. It was pretty good (hadn't seen it before).

Total watched this month: 5, bringing total to 13.

MAY
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
     Everything led up to this. All the emotions.

Total watched this month: 1, bringing total to 16.

JUNE
Underdog (2007)
     A spoof of Superman starring a clumsy Beagle. It works really well.

Toy Story 4 (2019)
      This didn't need to be made, but I was in tears at the end.

Turner and Hooch (1989)
     The world's strangest, slowest-paced and violent buddy cop movie ever, starring Tom Hanks as a detective and a massive slobbering dog.

Total watched this month: 3, bringing total to 19.

JULY
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
     After returning from the Snap, Peter Parker and his classmates go to Europe as a end-of-school trip. The best Spider-Man movie ever.

Rewatch of Spider-Man: Far From Home

Pleasantville (1998)
     I'm not sure what I thought about this movie, which stars Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire as 90's twins who are zapped into a 1950's sitcom, but it's definitely art.

Superman Returns (2006)
     This is very slow, but not a bad movie, Brandon Routh is great as Superman/Clark Kent, though it would make a far better novel, due to a lot of subtext.

Total watched this month: 3, bringing total to 22.

AUGUST
About Time (2013)
     This British film is maybe the most beautiful movie I've ever seen. It's about a man and his relationship with his father (they can both time travel), his sister, and his wife, and stars Rachel McAdams.

The Mighty Ducks (1992)
     An arrogant lawyer finds himself coaching a ragtag group of peewee hockey players...and finding out that he enjoys it.

Air Bud (1997)
     Josh finds a new friend in basketball-playing Golden Retriever Buddy after they move across the country to Fernfield, Washington, following his dad's death.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
     One of my favorite Westerns, this was written by William Goldman and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford as the legendary and fascinating outlaws.

Total watched this month: 4, bringing total to 26.

SEPTEMBER
High Noon (1952)
     A thoughtful classic Western starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.

Witness (1985)
     Harrison Ford is a Philadelphia police detective protecting an Amish boy who witnessed a murder.   

Total watched this month: 2, bringing total to 28.

OCTOBER
Holiday (1938)
     Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn star in this tightly-structured tale as a dreamy engaged businessman and the fiancee's sister who falls in love with him.

Valkyrie (2008)
     Tom Cruise stars in this well-done movie about a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler.

Total watched this month: 2, bringing total to 30.

NOVEMBER
Over the Hedge (2006)
     This film very faithfully reproduces the energy of the comic strip it's based on, with some excellent voice acting as well.

Lady and the Tramp (1955)
     The original animated Disney classic.

Lady and the Tramp (2019)
    This live-action remake might be slightly better than the original.

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
     The very inferior adaptation of Fannie Flagg's Southern Gothic novel.

Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)
     This was dreadful.  I thought it would be, but wow.

Total watched this month: 5, bringing total to 35.

DECEMBER
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
     The annual Jimmy Stewart classic never gets old.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
     This is maybe the best Spider-Man movie out of all of them, which is saying something.

Total watched this month: 2, bringing total for the year to 37.

Fiction of 2019

LATE DECEMBER
The Complete Peanuts: Volume Two, 1953 to 1954, by Charles M. Schulz (2004)
     Collecting the Peanuts strips from 1953-1954, which saw the introduction of Linus and Snoopy occasionally beginning to think.

The Complete Peanuts: Volume Three, 1955 to 1956, by Charles M. Schulz (2004)
     Pig-Pen was introduced, and Shermy, Patty and Violet are beginning to become minor characters. Snoopy pretends to be a rhinoceros.

Sideways Tales from Wayside School, by Louis Sachar (1979)
     Bizarre whimsical children's stories about a very peculiar school.

Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 3.

JANUARY
Watchmen, written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons (1987)
     This graphic novel is an interesting look at what could happen if superheroes were real.

The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein (2008)
     An elderly dog recalls the events of his life as the pet of an aspiring sports car racer. Heartbreaking with a too-shiny ending, but worth reading.

Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 5.

FEBRUARY
Civil War, written by Mark Millar, illustrated by Steve McNiven (2006)
     The Marvel Universe is ripped apart by the Superhero Registration Act.

The House on the Strand, by Daphne du Maurier (1969)
     Somewhat tedious sci-fi novel, but that ending makes it worthwhile.

For Love of the Game, by Michael Shaara (1991)
     An aging pitcher throws a no-hitter while thinking over his life.

Dirt Bike Racer, by Matt Christopher (1977)
     He was cashing in on the popularity of motocross, which got started in the 1970s.

Total read this month: 4, bringing total read to 9.

MARCH
Civil War II, written by Brian Michael Bendis, illustrated by David Marquez and Justin Ponsor (2016)
     Is police profiling ever okay? The Avengers are split after encountering an Inhuman who sees visions of the future.

Secret Invasion, written by Brian Michael Bendis, illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu (2008)
     The Skrulls invade Earth.

House of M, written by, illustrated by Oliver Coipel (2005)
     Scarlet Witch creates an alternate reality where mutants no longer exist and her family rules as the royal family.

Captain Marvel: In Pursuit of Flight, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, illustrated by Dexter Soy and Emma Rios (2012)
     Carol Danvers revisits her past and makes some new friends while coping with taking the reins of the rebooted Alpha Flight.

Troy High, written by Shana Norris (2009)
     A young adult retelling of the Illiad set inside a modern-day South Carolina high school. It worked pretty well, actually.

Total read this month: 5, bringing total to 14.

APRIL
Bobby Baseball, by Robert Kimmel Smiith (1989)
     A young boy gradually learns why your dad shouldn't be your baseball coach, sometimes girls can be good friends, and that your athletic talent is usually a lot less than you think it is.

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 15.

MAY
A Case of Need, by Michael Crichton, written as Jeffrey Hudson (1969)
     A Boston pathologist digs into the medical hierarchy of the city in order to solve a murder case.

Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 16.

JUNE
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (2001)
     Confusing and dark but interesting, as most of Gaiman's writing is.

Superman: Birthright, written by Mark Waid, illustrated by Lienil Francis Yu (2004)
     A Smallville-inspired reimagining of Superman's origins.

The Infinity Gauntlet, written by Jim Starlin and illustrated by George Perez (1991)
     The comic book storyline Avengers: Infinity War was based on. It was pretty terrible.

The Death of Captain America, written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Steve Epting (2008)
     Following Civil War, Steve Rogers was assassinated.

The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton (1920)
     A richly written story of New York high society of the 1870s, and what happens when convention is pitted against desire.

Superman: Red Son, by Mark Millar (2003)
     What if Superman had landed in the USSR? This was excellent.

Not Without Laughter, by Langston Hughes (1930)
     A deeply poetic novel about growing up black in a small city in southeastern Kansas early in the twentieth century.

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, by Karina Yan Glaser (2017)
     A noisy, energetic large family tries to save themselves from eviction after their landlord decides to kick them out of their Harlem neighborhood in this wonderful children's novel. 

Total read this month: 8, bringing total to 24.

JULY
Batman: Year One, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli (1987)
     A reimagining of how Bruce Wayne became Batman.

Ironweed, by William Kennedy (1983)
     In 1938 Albany, New York, a homeless alcoholic who played professional baseball long ago grapples with the errors of his past. Winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize.

'night, Mother, by Marsha Norman (1982)
     A middle-aged woman argues with her difficult mother on the night she plans to commit suicide. Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize.

Chapter Two, by Neil Simon (1977)
     A widower and a divorcee find themselves navigating married life again after a whirlwind romance.

The Odd Couple, by Neil Simon (1966)
     Two friends try not to kill one another after becoming roommates when their marriages fall apart.

A Dog's Purpose, by W. Bruce Cameron (2010)
     A dog is reincarnated several times, including as a female search-and-rescue dog, eventually returning to reunite his boy, now an old man, marry his high school sweetheart. Nicholas Sparks with dogs, essentially, which isn't a bad thing, necessarily.

Total read this month: 6, bringing total to 30.

AUGUST
The Fast and the Furriest, by Andy Behrens (2010)
     In this MG novel, an unathletic boy and his equally overweight Beagle fall head over heels for agility.

The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett (1896)
     A woman writer goes on vacation in rural coastal Maine, and documents her experiences. Not much happens, but it's pleasant and worthwhile.

WLT: A Radio Romance, by Garrison Keillor (1991)
     A history of  the fictional AM radio station WLT .out of Minneapolis. It was interesting, though the ending is all wrong.

Spaghetti Breath, by Page McBrier (1989)
     The third book of the Treehouse Times series, middle-school girls in suburban St Louis try to use their neighborhood newspaper to bring justice to a landlord withholding heat from his tenants in the middle of winter. 

The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan (1989)
     Four elderly Chinese immigrant mothers try to relate to their grown American daughters and vice versa. Interesting look at culture differences.

Total read this month: 5, bringing total to 35.

SEPTEMBER
The Road to Yesterday, by L.M. Montgomery (1970)
     This posthumous short story collection was an abridgment of her final manuscript, which wasn't published in full until the late 2000s.

The Pillars of the Community, by Henrik Ibsen (1877), translated by Una Ellis-Formor (1950)
     What makes a good man? Society's declarations that he is so, or his conscience?

The Wild Duck, by Henrik Ibsen (1884), translated by Una Ellis-Formor (1950)
     In this depressing play Ibsen explores what makes life worth living.

Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen (1890), translated by Una Ellis-Formor (1950)
     "Why do humans need some level of freedom mixed with their interconnectivity and dependence on others?' is the topic explored here.

The Shadow on the Dial, by Anne S. Lindbergh (1987)
     Two siblings repeatedly time travel through history to improve the life of their great-uncle, becoming better people in the process. 

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1968)
     A young wizard battles depression in this classic fantasy novel, the beginning of a pioneering trilogy in Young Adult literature.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg (1989)
     A woman in a nursing home tells stories of her hometown during the Depression in this charming work of Southern Gothic literature.

Total read this month: 7, bringing total to 42.

OCTOBER
The Fala Factor, by Stuart M. Kaminsky (1984)
     The ninth book of the series featuring detective Toby Peters, who gets tasked by Eleanor Roosevelt to track down Fala the Scottie.

All the President's Pets: One Reporter Refused to Roll Over, by Mo Rocca (2004)
     From a routine political journalism memoir into an outlandish spy mystery in seconds? I'd expect nothing less from a staff writer of Wishbone. Entertaining but dumb, this wasn't actually that good of a novel, but I still like him.

The Circle, by Dave Eggers (2013)
     A new employee at a Big Tech Company unthinkingly leads the world into a tyrannical hostage situation in this dystopian novel. 

Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale, written by Joss Whedon and Zack Whedon, illustrated by Chris Samnee (2010)
     This graphic novel short story tells the backstory of Shepherd Derrial Book, which is as fascinating and complicated as would be expected.

Total read this month: 4, bringing total to 46.

NOVEMBER
The Complete Peanuts, Volume Four, 1957 to 1958, by Charles M. Schulz (2005)
     The Great Pumpkin is introduced, and Snoopy is a vulture.

The Complete Peanuts, Volume Five, 1959 to 1960, by Charles M. Schulz (2006)
     Sally Brown is born, and Charlie Brown gets a pencil pal.

Daredevil, Vol. 1, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Klaus Janson (2008)
     A collection that spans 1978-1980, the beginning of the definitive era for the character of Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Especially for the time, very deep and satisfactory for a comic.

Coraline, by Neil Gaiman (2001)
     A very creepy and well-done fairy tale about a little girl who exhibits remarkable bravery. G.K. Chesterton would approve.

The Hundred and One Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith (1956)
     A perfect British fantasy about talking dogs out to save their puppies.

Total read this month: 5, bringing total to 51.

DECEMBER
The Penderwicks at Last, by Jeanne Birdsall (2018)
     The fifth and final book of the series, this takes place about sixteen to eighteen years after the first, and deals with the preparations for Rose's wedding.

The Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen (1879)
     A thought-provoking study of marital roles in society.

Titus Andronicus, by William Shakespeare (1590ish)
     This was Shakespeare's first work, and exceptionally violent.

Love's Labours Lost, by William Shakespeare (1598)
     Clever language is used to the utter exclusion of all action here in this comedy where  nothing happens.

All Cats Go to Heaven, edited by Beth Brown (1960)
     This is an anthology of short stories and essays all about cats. It was amazing.

Buffalo Girls, by Larry McMurtry (1990)
     Calamity Jane and her friends struggle to cope with the reality that the Old West is nearly gone. in this introspective and bleak novel.

Total read this month: 5, bringing total to 56.

Total nonfiction estimated read this year: 47, bringing total for the year to around a hundred books.

Nonfiction of 2019

LATE DECEMBER
     No nonfiction read during this time.

JANUARY
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, by Charles Panati (1987)
     Short recaps of the origins of everyday things, from bread to marbles to socks and sunscreen.

Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merriman (2013)
     There's a lot of interesting science behind competitiveness.

Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 2.

FEBRUARY
Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense, by Paul David Tripp (2018)
     Life doesn't make sense a lot of the time. Paul Tripp is always a worthwhile read.

"Daddy's Gone To War": The Second World War in the Eyes of America's Children, by William M. Tuttle Jr (1993)
     This was a very interesting angle to approach it from, especially having read Our Mother's War about six months earlier.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir, by Bill Bryson (2006)
     Bryson's account of growing up in the Iowa of the 1950s and 1960s. One of his better works.

Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 5.

MARCH
Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's, by Ray Kroc and Robert Anderson (1978)
     Ray Kroc's autobiography. He was an appalling man.

Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings, by Diana Pavlac Glyer (2016)
     Rewritten from a scholarly work as a condensed version of the same material for a general audience, this could have been better. It felt a little scattered and unfocused.

My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business, by Dick Van Dyke and Todd Gold (2011)
     This was pretty good for a celebrity memoir.

Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 8.

APRIL
Franklin: The Man Behind the United States Commando Dogs, by Matthew Duffy (2017)
     This was awful writing, but interesting to see the level of detail that goes into training military-grade working dogs. Reviewed for Dog O'Day.

Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye (2009)
     This was ponderous and fairly dull, but if you didn't know much about baseball it could have potentially been interesting.

Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant's Tales of Sex, Rage and Queasiness at 30,000 Feet, by Elliott Hester (2001)
     An interesting look at the life of flight attendants pre-9-11.

Vanished Arizona: Recollections of the Army Life of a New England Woman , by Martha Summerhayes (1908)
     At her children's request, a woman retells in written form the stories of being an Army wife during the settling of the Old West. It's a good premise, but rather tiresome to read.

Lacrosse for Dummies, by Jim Hickson and Joe Lombardi (2010)
     An explanation of the rules and tactics of the sport of lacrosse.

Total read this month: 5, bringing total to 13.

MAY
Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor, by Brad Gooch (2009)
     A very thorough biography of Flannery O'Connor, contrary traditional Catholic, written by a gay atheist English professor. Odd juxtaposition, that, which she probably would have found amusing.

Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul, edited by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Marty Becker and Carol Kline (1998)
     A variety of sweet and somewhat sappy small essays from a variety of people both obscure and famous.

Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 15.

JUNE
Star Wars FAQ: Everything Left to Know About a Galaxy Far, Far Away, by
     A very thorough look at everything Star Wars, skimming across the surface of essentially every facet possible.

Buyology, by Martin Lindstrom and Peter Steele (2008)
     An interesting look at the neuroscience of marketing.

In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson (2000)
     Bill Bryson exploring through Australia. I want to go there now.

Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 18.

JULY
All Things Possible: My Story of Faith, Football and the Miracle Season, by Kurt Warner and Michael Silver (2000)
     For a sports memoir, this was decent.

One Dog at a Time: Saving the Strays of Afghanistan, by Pen Farthing (2009)
     A British marine's story of how he started a rescue for abandoned dogs while serving very far away away from home.

The Garner Files: A Memoir, by James Garner and Jon Winokur (2011)
     A memoir of James Garner. Very interesting and entertaining.

Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 21.

AUGUST
Roads: Driving America's Great Highways, by Larry McMurtry (2000)
     He explores the highways of America, comparing them to the rivers the pioneers traversed.

84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff (1970)
     A delightful book of letters between a freelance writer in New York City and the employees of a used bookstore in London, spanning twenty years.

Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 23.

SEPTEMBER
To Indy and Beyond: The Life of Racing Legend Jack Zink, by Dr. Bob L. Blackburn (2008)
     A rather dull biography of 1950s IndyCar owner Jack Zink of Tulsa. Good to know for racing and state history, but not an enthralling read.

Concussion, by Jeanne Marie Laskas (2015)
     The story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian immigrant who discovered the brain disease CTE, incurring the wrath of the NFL.

The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World, by Jere Longman (2000)
     A thorough, riveting account of the 1999 Women's World Cup final.

Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, by Brian Stelter (2013)
     Behind the scenes of the battle for TV supremacy between The Today Show and Good Morning America.

Total read this month: 4, bringing total to 27.

OCTOBER
Duty: A Father, His Son and the Man who Won the War, by Bob Greene (2000)
     Bob Greene deals with the passing of his father and learns more about the mindset of World War II soldiers thanks to his friendship with the pilot who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives, by Tanya Biank (2005)
     I've thought that about the only thing worse than being in the Army would be being married to someone who was. This book confirmed that impression, though it also provided an interesting look at how like works on a military base.

All the News Unfit to Print: How Things Were....and How They Were Reported, by Eric Burns (2009)
     A lighthearted and breezy look at bad journalism, both intentional and accidental, throughout history.

Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak and Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager, by Buzz Bissinger (2005)
     A look at the St Louis Cardinals and manager Tony La Russa during one series in the middle of the 2003 National League season.

Total read this month: 4, bringing total to 31.

NOVEMBER
So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading, by Sara Nelson (2004)
     An editor of a women's magazine (who's married to the production designer on Saturday Night Live) chronicles the books she read in a year, the ones she meant to read, and the ones life threw at her.

Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball, by Bob Costas (2001)
     I don't care enough about baseball to care about Bob Costas' detailed plans to try to fix what ails Major League Baseball (didn't realize wild cards in the playoffs were a problem, for one), but I think enough time has passed that it can't be fixed. Which makes me slightly sad for him.

The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers, by L. Edward Carter (1984)
     This was depressing, given the state of journalism in the past 35 years and the book's hopeful tone for the future..

Heretics, by G.K. Chesterton (1905)
     Chesterton talks about his friends and contemporaries among writers and preachers of the day and explains why they're wrong.

The Andy Griffith Show, by Richard Kelly (1981)
     A thorough, slightly dull history of the show.

A Bridge of Childhood: Truman Capote's Southern Years, by Marianne Moates (1989)
     The author lived in Monroeville, Alabama around the time of To Kill a Mockingbird's publishing, and became friends with a cousin of Truman Capote's named Jennings Faulk. Jennings, Truman and Nelle's adventures as kids provided a lot of the inspiration for Jem, Scout and Dill.

X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe, by Michael Mallory (2011)
     A nice general history of the X-Men, found at the Okmulgee Public Library book sale.

Ten Stupid Things Men Do to Mess Up Their Lives, by Dr. Laura Schlessinger (1997)
     Most of this wasn't very applicable, since I'm not married or a parent, but it was all right.

Total read this month: 8, bringing total to 39.

DECEMBER
The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen, by Jacques Pepin (2003)
     This was an interesting memoir, especially the parts about his WWII childhood and adventures as a young man.

Cronkite's War: His World War II Letters Home, edited by Walter Cronkite IV and Maurice Isserman (2013)
     Excerpts from Walter Cronkite's letters to his wife as a young newspaper journalist in London during World War II. A side of the war we don't often think of.

The Art of Cars, by Michael Wallis (2006)
     A look behind the scenes at the process of creating the art of Pixar's movie Cars.

The Art of Monsters University, by Karen Paik (2013)
     A look behind the scenes at the process of creating the art of Pixar's Monsters University.

An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood, by Jimmy Carter (1999)
     This was excellent, about growing up in the Depression/WWII in rural southwest Georgia.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2005)
     This very exhaustive but mostly readable history of mid-nineteenth century politics is well worthy of the Pulitzer Prize..

The Dangerous Book for Dogs: A Parody, by Rex and Sparky (actually written by Joe Garden, Chris Pauls, Janet Ginsburg, Anita Serwacki and Scott Sherman; illustrated by Emily Flake) (2007)
     A parody of The Dangerous Book for Boys, written by Onion and WordGirl staff writers, this includes chapters like "The Formal Rules of Fetch," "Creative Pee Stains," and "How to Make Your Owner Look Like an Idiot."

The Daring Book for Cats: A Parody, by Fluffy and Bonkers (actually written by Joe Garden, Janet Ginsburg, Chris Pauls, Anita Serwacki and Scott Sherman; illustrated by Emily Flake) (2008)
     From a feline perspective, this parody of The Daring Book for Girls includes chapters like "The Laws of Petting," "Reasons You Meant to Do That," and "Cats and Arch-Villains."

King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus, by Tim Keller (2011) 
     The Gospel of Mark is kind of overlooked, making this an enjoyable and instructive read.

The Complete Shih Tzu, by Victor Joris (1994)
     This rather dry history of the breed was informative.

Total read estimated this month: 10, bringing total for the year to at least 49.

Total fiction estimated read this year: 56, bringing total for the year to around 105.