Drewybear9111's Challenge for 2016

Hey all,

I took a break from these challenges for a while but I'm back now. I'm already on my way with...well one book but it's still a good start.

1) Supergods by Grant Morrison

Welcome back! Yep, it's a good start.

Thanks drneutron.

I actually have my second selection completed.

2) Batman: The Ultimate Evil by Andrew H. Vachss

If I had to give this one a rating I would give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Time for my reviews of my first two books!

1) Supergods by Grant Morrison

I enjoyed certain sections of this book more than others. When Morrison is giving his history of the superhero, as well as delving into his own works, the book is phenomenal and well worth the read. In the sections where he is talking about his life, his drug induced hallucinations, and his somewhat skewed world perceptions, however, I felt myself taking a step back and wondering if these sections weren't perhaps intended for a different book such as an autobiography. On the whole, I give this one a 4/5 though because, as i said, Morrison is on point and phenomenal when discussing the history and mythology of superheros and their place in modern culture.

2) Batman: The Ultimate Evil by Andrew H. Vachss

I enjoyed the idea of a Batman related novel. It breaks up the monotony of reading countless graphic novels, while still giving me the opportunity to read adventures from my favorite comic book hero. However, the plot was a little too dark even for a Batman story and Vachss changed Batman's origin to fit his agenda. While this book does send a message to its reader, it does not seem to fit into the Batman mythos as well as one would expect. I give this one 2.5/5 and recommend it only to true Batman fans who want to grab a hold of every last piece of Batman material they can get their hands on.

3) Struck by Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal by Chris Colfer

This one I enjoyed so much, I finished it in less than a day (something I have not been able to do since I was a teenager). The downside to reading a book written in journal style is that it spells out pretty much everything. However, Chris Colfer writes so beautifully of the experiences of a high school outcast that I was instantly transplanted back ten years to my own high school experience. I wish that I had read this one sooner. 4/5.

4) Batman: A Death in the Family by Jim Starlin

Perhaps one of the perennial Batman graphic novels, "A Death in the Family" is the first comic book story arch that put the fate of a major character in the hands of the readers. With Jason Todd's death, Batman shows a different, very emotional turn. I enjoyed seeing him turn towards seeking vengeance, even going so far as contemplating breaking his cardinal rule: no killing. As far as the artwork, for being an 80's g.n., the artwork is extraordinary. Being the Batman fan that I am, I can't believe it took me so long to read this one. Great read, recommend it to any Batman or comic fan that hasn't yet read it. 5/5

5) Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

I neither enjoyed nor disliked this novel. I read it simply because, honestly, I had never read any Vonnegut before and this one just so happened to be on the bookshelf where I work. It was okay; well written and fun at points. The narrative was a bit scattered and I'm not entirely sure I buy the ending. Mostly, however, it was good fun to read. 3/5

6) We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy by Caseen Gaines

I am a huge fan of the Back to the Future trilogy. This book was amazing, at least to me. I knew a lot of the anecdotes and stories already, but there was a great deal that I had never heard before. It was an interesting piece of cinematic history, again at least to me. Being a fan of the trilogy, the book made me appreciate the films that much more. 4/5

7) Back to the Batcave by Adam West

Holy blast to the past, Batman! If you haven't guessed by about half of this list so far, I am a huge Batman fan; some of my fondest memories were as a kid watching the old reruns of the Batman TV show from the 1960s with my grandparents when I would stay with them on the weekends. This book brought me back to those times, especially with the sporadic pictures of West as the famed Caped Crusader. Through this book, you get a little bit of West's autobiography prior to and following the success of Batman. Most of the book however, deals with the show itself, it's successes and failures and the pitfalls West had to face playing one of the most iconic characters ever created. 4/5

8) Batman: Sword of Azrael (Prelude to Knightfall) by Dennis O'Neil

The prelude to the epic Knightfall storyline, Sword of Azreal was a good quick read. It packed a lot of great images and an easy to follow, informative storyline into just under one hundred pages. It helps to set up one huge element in Knightfall and establishes the origin story of Jean Paul Valley, aka Azreal. 5/5

9) Batman: Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn

Sometimes I need these quick, easy reads.

I like Batman, as I've said before. I also like historical fiction. This is a combination. This takes Batman, and all the characters we love from Batman (Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon, Alfred, even a slight nod at the Joker) and places them in a nineteenth century Gotham. Gotham by Gaslight is split into two stories: the first is Batman going up against Jack the Ripper, who moves to Gotham after his murder spree in England. The second sees Bruce Wayne, retired as Batman, going up against "The Master of the Future" in an almost Worlds Fair type setting. It was well written, beautifully drawn, and quick to read (I finished it in about an hour). It could be the cleanse I need to move on to my big TBR pile. 5/5

10) Batman: The Doom that Came To Gotham by Mike Mignola

Again, every now and then you need one of these. I finished this the day after I read Gotham by Gaslight and I enjoyed it. It was a bit odd, but odd is always good when talking about Batman canon (although, based on the time period, I'm fairly certain this is noncanon). Early 1920s with a different take on Bruce Wayne, Mr. Freeze, Penguin and even Oliver Queen (The Green Arrow). All three Robins (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake) make appearances. Interesting read. 4/5

11) Undefeated: Inside the 1972 Miami Dolphins' Perfect Season by Mike Freeman

See...I can read non-Batman related things, too. Where do I start with this one? This was an excellent look at the greatest team in professional football, the 1972 Miami Dolphins and their perfect season. The '72 'Phins went 17-0 and won the Super Bowl and Mike Freeman takes us back to those iconic games. He throws in a bit of history about the city of Miami, the game of football and the franchise itself and discusses the post-perfect season as well. He mentions a few times in the afterward how the 1972 Dolphins are disrespected and forgotten today, and it's true. Being a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan (which was hard growing up in PA and now living in NJ), even I hadn't heard of some of the players on the team or the games they played. Great insight into the team and the season. 5/5 (Recommend to any football or Dolphins fan!)

12) Batman: Noel by Lee Bermejo

Who doesn't love Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol? I certainly do. I love it even more when it is told through a Batman storyline. This one is your typical re-telling of the classic tale, complete with Batman as Scrooge, Robin (presumably Jason Todd) as the Ghost of Jacob Marley, Catwoman/Superman/Joker as the Ghosts of Christmas Past/Present/Future respectively, and it even has a character named Bob Crachit and his son Tim. All in all, it was a good, quick read that I finished in one day in between chapters of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak. I give this one 3/5.

13) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Right in the feels with this one. It was short (198 pages), but it was packed. Speak tells the story of Melinda, a young girl entering her first year of high school who for reasons o won't discuss so as not to spoil the novel, becomes withdrawn and quiet. Her grades slip, she skips school and her friends stop talking to her. She is alone.

At almost 30 years old (and being a male), I was afraid that I had been roped into reading another of those tediously boring teen novels (this came as a recommendation from a friend). I felt for Melinda and was proven wrong. This is an important book for any young woman to read; beautifully written with an exemplary story. I give it 5/5; it totally blew my mind away.

14) Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened by Whatculture.Com, James Dixon (Contributor), Jim Cornette (Contributor), Vince Russo (Contributor)

For me, professional wrestling has always been entertaining. It has epic storylines, memorable characters, and displays of tremendous athleticism. This book gives readers a look at none of that. It details numerous storylines, matches and characters that ended up on the cutting room floor -- a lot of them for good reason.

The book (at least the Kindle edition) is marred by numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes that, for me, take away from the overall effect of the book. So for those mistakes alone I rate it a 3/5.

15) Civil War by Mark Millar

Renowned as one of the greatest comic events of our time, Mark Millar's epic Civil War was a quick read that I finished in a little under one day.

The idea of the Super Human Registration Act looking over the Marvel universe gave some lesser known characters a chance to shine in this seven part epic event. Millar is an excellent story teller and it comes across beautifully here.

I have to give this one 4/5; it was really good. I read it in ebook form and could still appreciate all the subtleties and nuances within it.

16) Fool by Christopher Moore

I rather do enjoy Christopher Moore. He's so witty and I find his works to be laugh out loud funny. I started reading the sequel to "Fool" (titled The Serpent of Venice for those unaware) without knowing that Fool came first. My brother-in-law lent me Fool and I began my journey back to "mythical thirteenth century England" where everything was "damp." I love Moore's complete irreverence to everything. I give Fool a 5/5.

(Also, I am amazed that I have two finished and posted in one day Civil War and Fool.)

Oh, I *love* Fool and The Serpent of Venice! So well done and funny! But then again, I love all of Moore's stuff. Glad to see that you liked Fool, too.

I read Bite Me a few years back and loved it. I really want to rad Lamb and Dirty Job.

17) Dan Marino: The Making of a Legend by Beckett Publications

Dan Marino is not only my all time favorite quarterback, he is my all time favorite Miami Dolphin...all time favorite football player!

This book was a great read (for me at least) and was relatively quick. It highlighted Marino's career from his high school days in Oakland, PA to his Hall of Fame Career in the NFL. Written prior to his retirement, the book is written by sports analysts, coaches and players including Don Shula, Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, Jim Kelly, and Jimmy Johnson. 5/5

18) Batman: R.I.P. by Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison is one of the greatest comic book writers of all time. Together with artist Tony Daniel, Morrison's Batman: R.I.P. was intended to be psychological and deep. I enjoyed reading it, but I was at a loss of understanding what was happening. The graphic novel seemed to jump around and nothing really made sense. However, if we are to assume that the ending is the true story then Bruce Wayne/Batman was being driven mad and the entire novel itself is just a false memory.

I'm giving this one a 4/5 just because the art work is amazing. I may re-read this somewhere down the line to see if I can better understand what is going on.

I finished this in less than one day (I started reading it around 2:30pm this afternoon and finished it just now a little before 11:00pm).

>20 drewybear9111: I've read all of his except his latest, and I've loved every one of them. So, so funny.

19) Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford

Maybe it's because of where I work, or maybe it's because I suffer from depression, but this book just hit me. It's catagorized as a "young adult" novel and I guess in some ways it is; ordinarily I'm what my wife calls a "YA snob," I can't even stand to read those things. But this one just spoke to me on so many levels. I guess this is my third YA entry on this list if I had to catagorize them that way (after Chris Colfer's Struck by Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal and Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak) but none of them felt like a YA novel. Especially not this one. As I said, it might have something more to do with my job and less to do with the story but I felt a connection to this book as a whole. I would recommend this to anyone working with teens in the mental health field (like myself); 5/5.

20) If I Stay by Gayle Forman

As of this writing, I am twenty-nine years old. I have been reading for as long as I can remember, and before that I was read to. I can think of only one other time in my entire life that I read a story and felt as deep an emotion connected to it as I did with If I Stay (and that was when, like an idiot, I read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars shortly after a close friend of mine passed away of cancer). If I Stay actually made me tear up; literal tears flowed from my eyes. It was great; it came as a recommendation from my wife.

This is a beautiful story and in general was well written. Gayle Forman takes her readers along for the ride on this emotional roller-coaster of Mia Hall, a seventeen year old musical prodigy who has a very difficult choice to make. It is one of those novels that I know will stay with me forever.

Here comes my "bashing" of the young adult genre again: I feel like this book is falsely advertised as being a young adult novel. If the only reason it is characterized as such is because the main character/narrator is a teen then I think we as a literary community need to seriously reconsider how we define the genre as a whole. This is not a young adult novel; this is a human novel. I honestly cannot tell you the last time I had a strong emotional connection to a literary character.

5/5

(The problem I face now, is that I am working an overnight shift at work and now have nothing to read for the last five and a half hours of my shift; I could't put this book down and finished it quickly because of this fact.)

21. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Yeah, so if you're a fan of the show, maybe don't read the book? It's dry, blah, and filled with moments of, "golly me I'm a rich white girl in prison." Kerman is kind of annoying at times throughout this book; it's saving grace (the reason I give it 3/5) is that it does give an interesting look at the US prison situation /environment.

22. Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials by Marc Aronson

I received this book as part of a social media experiment called "#savetheculture." I almost wish, after reading this, that I did not participate in the experiment.

The book was poorly written, and did not really explain anything. It was little that I couldn't have found online or in an encyclopedia. I did not find it interesting and it seemed that the further you got into the book, the more typos and errors popped up. The subject matter was just shallow and the writing style was poor.

I suppose the one redeeming quality of this book was that it was well researched for what it was. I give this book 2/5 based solely on the research done.

23. The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore

Oh, Christopher Moore, you silly man. Where do you come up with this stuff?

I loved this book. I didn't enjoy it as much as Fool, but only slightly. This one was filled with penis jokes, cross dressing, betrayal, revenge, shagging, dragons, Marco Polo makes an appearance (what?!) and it combines my two favorite Shakespeare works: The Merchant of Venice and Othello. Loved it, go read it-especially if you like Christopher Moore and haven't read it yet. 4.95/5 stars.

{as an aside, this book was also one I received from the #savetheculture social media experiment}

24. Witchblade: Origins by Christina Z. Wohl

A graphic novel that was the basis for one of my favorite shows when I was younger, Witchblade: Origins was a fantastic read. The artwork was amazing, the story was well written, and the read was quick. While it was different from the TNT series is remember, it would make for an excellent theatrical remake. 3.5/5

25. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

Chalking up another book in my non-fiction category, I just finished reading As You Wish by Cary Elwes. The actor who brought Westley the farmboy to life on screen tells his tales from behind the scenes of one of my absolute favorite movies. Elwes writes in a sense that makes you feel his nostalgia; he relates many stories that fans may not know. Interspersed with comments from other cast and crew members, this book is a highly recommended read for any fan of the Princess Bride. 5/5

So in summation:

By Month:
January
1) Supergods by Grant Morrison (1/11)
2) Batman: The Ultimate Evil by Andrew Vachs (1/13)
3) Struck by Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal by Chris Colfer (1/15)
4) Batman: A Death in the Family by Jim Starlin (1/17)
5) Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut (1/20)
6) We Don’t Need Roads by Caseen Gaines (1/24)

February
7) Back to the Batcave by Adam West (2/9)
8) Batman: Sword of Azreal by Dennis O’Neil (2/20)
9) Batman: Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn (2/25)

March
10) Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham by Mike Mignolia (3/2)

April
11) Undefeated by Mike Freeman (4/6)

May
12) Batman: Noel by Lee Bermejo (5/11)
13) Speak by Laurie Halse Andersn (5/17)
14) Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won’t Believe Almost Happened (5/26)

June
15) Civil War by Mark Miller (6/1)
16) Fool by Christopher Moore (6/1)
17) Dan Marino: The Making of a Legend (6/3)
18) Batman: R.I.P. by Grant Morrison (6/3)
19) Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford (6/10)
20) If I Stay by Gayle Forman (6/14)
21) Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman (6/23)

July
22) Witch-Hunt by Marc Aronson (7/14)
23) The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore (7/29)

August
24) Witchblade: Origins by Christina Z. Wohl (8/1)
25) As You Wish by Cary Elwes (8/15)
26) He Is Risen (The Adventures of Jesus Christ, Book One) by Colin Campbell (8/18)
27) Creationfest (The Adventures of Jesus Christ, Book Two) by Colin Campbell (8/20)
28) See You in Vegas (The Adventures of Jesus Christ, Book Three) by Colin Campbell (8/20)
29) Miles Away from the Nearest Road (The Adventures of Christ Book Four) by Colin Campbell (8/25)

{With Cary Elwes' As You Wish, I reached my Goodreads goal of 25 books for the year. This is the first time I've reached this goal in years}

26) He is Risen (The Adventures of Jesus Christ) by Colin Campbell

Book One in The Advenures of Jesus Christ series of short novels by Colin Campbell. Humorous, well written and leaves you wanting more! 4/5. Can't wait to read the rest!

Hello drewybear9111! I'm glad I stopped in. I have enjoyed looking over your thread. I was excited to see all the Batman reviews as well as the Christopher Moore (Though I stopped reading him at Lust Lizard).

I'll be back as I am interested to see what else you have in store.

>32 drewybear9111: Tell me more about this. Is it more irreverent comedy or something else?

>33 brodiew2: brodiew2: It is! Its not over the top but it still has humorous moments. Basically, Christ returns to earth and is thrown into a mental institution. He escapes with help from his new roommate Lyle and the two embark on an adventure to save the world. Its a four book series, and each book can be read in about two hours as they are very short. I recommend the series to anyone who enjoys irreverent humor.

Thanks for stopping by!

27) Creationfest (The Adventures of Jesus Christ Book 2) by Colin Campbell

The Adventures of Christ continue in this irreverent comedy of errors. This time, Christ and Lyle embark on a journey to Central Pennsylvania to find the souls needed to save the world. The run into an angry Amish man, a fervent southern minister (akin in my eyes to the Westboro Baptist Church), and a mysterious stranger named Lucy who tells them that she is basically immortal and a part of the most corrupt business known to man. I like part two better than part one, but only slightly. This one puts more focus on Jesus' humanity. 5/5

28) See You in Vegas (The Adventures of Jesus Christ Book 3) by Colin Campbell

Not the best in the series so far. This one sees Jesus and his friends Lyle and Jeremiah embark on a journey to, you guessed it, Las Vegas. There isn't much in this one apart from one road bump after another and a funny little spot where Jesus ends up in federal prison; all in all, it was enjoyable as the third quarter of the story, but it shouldn't have been a stand alone one. I give this one 4/5.

29) Miles Away From the Nearest Road by Colin Campbell

The fourth and final book in the Adventures of Christ series starts off slow at first. But it's final act hits you with a twist you didn't see coming. This one features Lyle's latest scheme to make a buck, an old timer named Otto who just wants to see a Dodgers game, and a Hollywood director who once made a movie about Christ's death but then fell out of the public eye after a DUI and some Anti-Semetic remarks (sound familiar?). Overall, a great closing chapter to a good series. 5/5

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here, but I'm back and feeling good.

30) The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

I absolutely love this book. So much so, that this is actually my third time reading it. I love Enzo and I love Denny and I love little Zoe. Reading about their struggles and hardships just makes it easier for me to accept my own. I give this book a 5/5 always and definitely recommend it to all my friends.

31) Batman by Craig Shaw Gardner

This is a novelization of the Tim Burton movie from 1989. So, as far as an original story goes there wasn't much of one. Some of the scenes are a little different but it mostly stuck to the film. I give it 3/5 stars.