This BRY (Book Reading Year, roughly Christmas to Christmas), I completed, what, 111 books?
- The Hungry Ocean Linda Greenlaw
- Death Valley Scotty: The Man and the Myth Hank Johnston
- Taekwondo Kyorugi: Olympic Style Sparring Kuk Hyun Chung, Kyung Myung Lee, Sang H. Kim
- Whatever Became Of? Second Series Richard Lamparski
- You Can Tell You’re A Midwesterner When Dale Grooms
- Holland In Pictures L.A. Boehm
- Croutons on a Cow Pie Baxter Black
- Cactus: A Prickly Portrait of a Desert Eccentric Linda Henrics and Nikolay Zurek
- The World’s Greatest News Photos 1840-1980 Craig T. Norback and Melvin Gray
- Contemporary Mosaics Ronit Attias
- Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations
- Mary Cassatt: Oils and Pastels E. John Bullard
- The Official Guidebook of Wisconsin Dells Boat Tours
- Brady’s Civil War Webb Garrison
- Walk High Bobbie J. Lawson
- The Martial Artist’s Way Sifu Glen Doyle
- War Born The Executioner #123
- A Million Hours of Memories Dick Grosenbaugh
- Pop Art Michael Compto
- Mount Vernon: An Illustrated Handbook
- Monuments: Masterpieces of Architecture Laura Brooks
- Modern Electronics Wayne J. LeBlanc and Alden R. Carter
- The Raven Steals the Light Blll Reid and Robert Bringhurst
- Sudan Slaughter The Executioner #128
- Running Scared Gregory Mcdonald
- Finish Jon Acuff
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle
- A Man Called Baraboo M.Richard Tully
- The Face David St. John
- Stories of Suspense
- Trace Ike Keen
- The Time of Your Life William Saroyan
- On the Banks of Plum Creek Laura Ingalls Wilder
- The Zen Way To Martial Arts Taisen Deshimaru
- Poems C.S. Lewis
- The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
- Dinner with Friends Donald Margulies
- Haitian Hit The Executioner #129
- Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
- Blood Song Michael Schmeltzer
- Dead Line The Executioner #130
- How to Read a Play Ronald Hayman
- The Physics of Love Carla Kirchner
- Divine Fruit Julian Lynn
- Caligula and 3 Other Plays Albert Camus
- How to Read a Poem Nancy C. Millett and Helen J. Throckmorton
- Life Lessons From Your Cat Anthony Rubino Jr.
- Who Built That Michelle Malkin
- Cabal Clive Barker
- Sanibel Shell Shocked Art Stevens
- Creature John Saul
- Ice Wolf The Executioner #131
- Retraining Your Mind D. Dyneska
- Selected Poems from Midnight Galleries Jennifer Silvey
- Out of Season Michael Z. Lewis
- By the Shores of Silver Lake Laura Ingalls Wilder
- The Coloring Book Colin Quinn
- Into the Wild Jon Krakauer
- Funny Ladies Stephen M. Silverman
- Bait and Switch Barbara Ehrenreich
- Potbelly Mammoth Vol. 1 Nate Howard
- The Big Kill The Executioner #132
- Unto These Hills Paul W. Johns
- Blood Run The Executioner #133
- A Dangerous Man Robert Crais
- Platoon Dale A. Dye
- The Willow Bees Lucy Willoughby Jones
- Miracle of the Ozarks Chester Funkhouser
- A Blade So Black L.L. McKinney
- The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art Stephen K. Hayes
- Catherine Murphy: New Paintings and Drawings
- Missouri: Images of Nature Charles Gurche
- Herschend Family Values D.R. Jacobsen
- The Chemistry of Love Billy Pearson
- Jon Corbino: An Heroic Vision
- The Art of Carl William Peters
- Scooby Apocalypse Volume 1
- The Book of Goodbyes Jillian Weise
- Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom Cory Doctorow
- Seven Dwarfs and Some Odd Tales Isaac Crawford
- Duel! Seth Wifshorndl and Matt Meyers
- Rook City Seth Wolfshorndl and Elton Gahr
- The Art of America in the Gilded Age Shirley Glubok
- Alan Gussow Oils 1950-1980 Lyle Gray
- Rodin Yvon Taillandier
- Games Zen Masters Play: Writings of R.H. Blyth Robert Sohl and Audrey Carr
- Random Realities Elton Gahr
- Henry Fuseli Carolyn Keny
- Stueuben Glass James S. Plaut
- Lassie Come-Home Eric Knight
- The Addams Family Elizabth Faucher
- H.G. Wells Alan L. Paley
- Thawed Gary Bedell
- Adolf Dehn Drawings Selected by Virginia Dehn/Intro by Carl Zigrosser
- Dan Worth: Photographs 1955-1985 Introduction by Hal Fischer
- On the Run John D. MacDonald
- Mother Goose in the Ozarks Ray Hood
- Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
- Colorful Missouri Edward King/Bill Nunn
- I’m a Stranger Here Myself Ogden Nash
- The World of the Polar Bear Norbert Rosing
- White Line War The Executioner #134
- Vancouver: A Year in Moton
- Humphrey Bogart: A Hollywood Portrait Marie Cahill
- Devil Force The Executioner #135
- The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane Robert E. Howard
- The Long Winter Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Christmas Lights Christine Pisera Naman
- Direct Hit The Executioner #141
- The Homecoming Harold Pinter
- Collections of Madness Jane Smith, Asil Nottarts, Nod Nihill2
I also browsed several collections of June Wayne’s work, but they contained so little text and actual images that I could not in conscience count them in my annual total.
So I am pretty pleased with the selection here. Although I did “read” a large number of art monographs, I did read some smarter works, including (by my quick count):
- Between 2 and 5 classics; Jane Eyre and The Count of Monte Cristo, but also Siddhartha, Lassie Come-Home, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes which some might consider classics;
- 12 collections of poetry;
- 4 plays or collections of plays;
- 10 Executioner novels;
- 3 of the Little House novels;
- 3 martial arts books;
- 3 horror novels/collections;
- 1 book I bought to give as a Christmas present (A Blade So Black, given to two people);
- Probably too many graphic novels for someone with an English degree from the 20th century.
Mostly fiction, and the nonfiction tended to local interest or history. A couple literature textbooks kinds of things (How to Read a Play, How to Read a Poem).
Overall, a good selection, and I feel good about it. I like to put together these year-end lists and take a little time to reflect and review what I’ve read this year. Sometimes, I’m surprised that it was in the current BRY (Book Reading Year, remember) as January or March can seem like so long ago. I get to re-experience a bit of my vacationing as I remember the books I read on vacation (if nothing else from the vacation). And, I am pleased to say, I did read the five books I bought at Calvin’s Books whilst on vacation in May.
So onto BRY 2020 which should see the completion of this Dickens novel I’ve been reading amongst other things for the last month or so.