Easton Connell

It seems it took me until March to post this list last year as well. The new year, both solar and lunar, has long since turned, and I’m already steadily making headway through the stack of books I’d like to read this year. 2015 brought some excellent books my way. Some new favorites, some old, and a whole slew of books that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time and finally got around to opening. But before I get to the list, a few highlights:

Octopus! – Katherine Courage Harmon

Octopuses have fascinated me since I was a child. This book taught me a lot about octopuses (starting with how to correctly refer to them in the plural, despite a lifetime of teachers telling me “octopi”). It was entertaining and a heavily informative read without being too dense. I’ve since picked up a few other books about cephalopods and am looking forward to diving deeper.

The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman

I’ve been meaning to read this series for just about a decade. Countless friends have recommended it and I kept putting it off. I finally sat down and opened the first book and was swept right off my feet. The universe within Pullman’s His Dark Materials is beautiful, his prose transportive, and the plot riveting. I read the series in the blink of an eye and couldn’t believe it when it was over. I will most definitely be reading these books again.

The Stand – Stephen King

Stephen King set out to write an apocalyptic epic on the scale of the Lord of the Rings set in the US and gave us The Stand. This hefty novel presents the assembling and eventual conflict of the forces of good and evil in the wake of a biological disaster that wipes out nearly all of mankind. I’ve wanted to read this book since hearing about it on a camping trip as a kid. My desire to read it was reinforced when LOST came out and I heard that The Stand inspired certain aspects of the story. The Stand was intense, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and riddled with the beautiful prose that makes me love Stephen King.

The Tiger’s Wife – Tea Obreht

A friend of mine picked this up at Northtown Books years ago, handed it to me, and told me to read it. I didn’t take it home with me that day but when I saw it again at a used bookstore a few months ago I bought it and read it in a day. There are books that make you text your friends when you’re finished reading to tell them how much they need to read it, and this was one of those. The Tiger’s Wife reads like a Gabo novel in the Balkans, with all the magic, the tragedy, the bizarre made mundane, and the strange interpersonal relationships you find in Garcia Marquez. It inspires me that Obreht published this book when she was only 25.

What Are People For? – Wendell Berry

People have been telling me to read Wendell Berry for years, but it took reading a chapter about Berry in Nick Offerman’s second book for me to finally pick up a collection of his essays. My favorite essay might have been the back and forth letters to the editor about why Berry refused to buy a computer, rude reader responses, and Berry’s polite destruction of their arguments.

Fashion Beast – Alan Moore

A capricious retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in the world of high fashion in the nuclear winter of the not too distant future. Malcom McClaren pitched this story to Alan Moore as a film and had Moore draw up a script. Years later that script was saved from whatever dusty drawer it was left in and adapted into a comic. I read a number of great comics last year, and this was definitely my favorite. The illustrations were beautiful and at times disturbing. The story was gripping, the characters a new cast on the classic faces of the old fairy tale.

The complete list of last year’s books:

Dream Corridor Vol 2 Harlan Ellison

Tapped Out Matthew Polly

The Killing Joke Alan Moore

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader Neil Gaiman

Midnight Days Neil Gaiman

The Books of Magic Neil Gaiman

Trigger Warning Neil Gaiman

Octopus! Katherine Courage Harmon

Pride of Baghdad Brian K. Vaughn

Embroideries Marjane Satrapi

The Golden Compass Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman

Lyra’s Oxford Philip Pullman

The Stand Stephen King

Whispering Bodies Jesse Michaels

Sex Criminals Vol 2 Matt Fraction

Fashion Beast Alan Moore

The Invisibles Vol 1 Grant Morrison

Batman Black & White various

Superman: Red Son Mark Millar

Deadpool’s Art of War

Marvels Kurt Busiek/Alex Ross

New X-Men #114-154 Grant Morrison

XMEN: Magneto Testament Greg Pak

Palestine Joe Sacco

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer Jennifer Lynch

Islam: A Short History Karen Armstrong

Untold: A History of the Wives of the Prophet Muhammad Tamam Kahn

The Butterfly Mosque G. Willow Wilson

Ms. Marvel Vol 1 G. Willow Wilson

Ms. Marvel Vol 2 G. WIllow Wilson

The Princess Bride William Goldman

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling

The Golem & the Jinni Helene Wecker

The Vinyl Underground Vol 1 Si Spencer

Magneto: Infamous Cullen Bunn

The Tiger’s Wife Tea Obreht

Modern Romance Aziz Ansari

Gumption Nick Offerman

What Are People For? Wendell Berry

From Hell Alan Moore/Eddie Campbell

Warm Bodies Isaac Marion

A Fine and Private Place Peter S. Beagle

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Marie Kondo

Why Not Me? Mindy Kaling

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Mindy Kaling

Star Wars: Dark Empire Tom Veitch/Cam Kennedy

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories Tim Burton

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Mary Roach

Sleepwalk With Me Mike Birbiglia

Dr. Strange & Dr. DOOM: Triumph & Torment Roger Stern

The Ice Dragon George R.R. Martin

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms George R.R. Martin

Mouse Guard & Other Stories various

And for 2016? So far I’ve read several delightful and inspiring books, notably The Man Who Spoke Snakish, Larry Livermore’s Spy Rock Road and How to Ru(i)n a Record Label, and my friend’s book about his experiences and mental health, Black Sails and White Rabbits. I’m excited to finally tackle the Wheel of Time series, and I’m knee deep in the second book right now. I imagine that the bulk of my year will be spent getting cozy with Robert Jordan’s ~15,000 page fantasy epic. It goes without saying, however, that I’ll be interrupting that saga with the new Harry Potter book coming out this summer (which I still can’t believe is happening!). In the meantime, back to The Great Hunt, and on to the next page!