{"id":5173,"date":"2026-01-19T11:34:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T19:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=5173"},"modified":"2026-01-19T11:34:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T19:34:38","slug":"book-list-1700","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=5173","title":{"rendered":"Book List: 1700"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As promised<\/a>, here is the complete listing of the last 100 books I’ve read. As is my standard practice, I do not count comics and graphic novels (or books of strips like Zippy or The Far Side, for that matter) towards that 100 book total, though I will list those here for your perusal and possible enjoyment. We started off the last century with the math populi book Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities<\/em>, which was not the worst such book I’ve read, though I did find his explications a tad confusing, assuming facts not in evidence\u2014which may have been aggravated by some noticeable typos in the text, as I mentioned before in that page linked to just above. So that’s Book #1601.<\/p>\n

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In the first 10 books of the last 100, the standout tome is quite obviously Stanley Lombardo’s translation of the Iliad<\/em>. (As is usual in these periodic catalogs of my books read, I’ll be trying to highlight the best of the best, without descending into the joyful pit of hating on the bad trash I read \u2026 though sometimes the temptation becomes too great.) He may not be the most academically exact translator\u2014his line numbers are not going to line up with the original Greek, for those of y’all playing the Home Game version of Homer\u2014, but for sheer verve and readability nobody beats Lombardo. I am a huge fan of the Odyssey<\/em>, had read it many many times before stumbling upon the Lombardo translation, but had never managed to get all the way through the Iliad<\/em> before reading this version. Suddenly the ebb and sway of the decade-long battle and siege became clear, the passions of the Greeks and Trojans became real, and the doom upon almost all of these actors became a very real presence that could not be avoided, only met on the best terms possible. I really cannot recommend Lombardo’s Homer enough. (I still haven’t managed to get through the Aeneid<\/em> in either his or another’s version, but that may just be me.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1601<\/td>\n9\/3\/25<\/td>\nIan Stewart<\/td>\nProfessor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities<\/em><\/td>\nMathematics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1602<\/td>\n9\/9\/25<\/td>\nPeter Matthiessen<\/td>\nNine-Headed Dragon River<\/em><\/td>\nReligion & Spirituality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n9\/9\/25<\/td>\nSophie Cr\u00e9pon & B\u00e9atrice Veillon<\/td>\nL’Histoire de France en BD<\/em><\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1603<\/td>\n9\/13\/25<\/td>\n“Richmond”<\/td>\nRichmond: Scenes in the Life of a Bow Street Runner<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1604<\/td>\n9\/13\/25<\/td>\nPhilip K. Dick<\/td>\nDr. Futurity<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1605<\/td>\n9\/16\/25<\/td>\nJean de Brunhoff<\/td>\nBabar bient\u00f4t papa<\/em><\/td>\nForeign Language<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1606<\/td>\n9\/18\/25<\/td>\nO. G. Sutton<\/td>\nMathematics in Action: Applications in Aerodynamics, Statistics, Weather Prediction and Other Sciences<\/em><\/td>\nMathematics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1607<\/td>\n9\/19\/25<\/td>\nEmil Petaja<\/td>\nThe Star Mill<\/em> [Ace F-414]<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1608<\/td>\n9\/21\/25<\/td>\nHomer; Stanley Lombardo, trans.<\/td>\nIliad<\/em><\/td>\nPoetry<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1609<\/td>\n9\/22\/25<\/td>\nNorman Dodge<\/td>\nThe Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop<\/em> February 1934, Vol. V No. 6<\/td>\nBooks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1610<\/td>\n9\/24\/25<\/td>\nPhilip K. Dick<\/td>\nVulcan’s Hammer<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

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My first experience with this Brazilian wonder, the short stories of Clarice Lispector fascinated me and grabbed my head and my heart and my psyche and \u2026 well, it’s pointless to write about her writing. She writes too well to be lessened by my own cheap words of effusive praise. I will say, however, that I was enthralled to see the development of a woman’s spirit and voice from the inside, in a way that I’ve not read before. (Admittedly I’m a poor reader of women authors, both in quantity and in my conclusions. I am likely a hateful, horrible man.) The quality changes drastically towards the end of the works presented here in The Complete Stories<\/em> of Clarice Lispector, but that may be as much my own failing as anything else. She is truly a rare genius, and\u2014to the extent I can tell (I cannot tell)\u2014these translations seem very good, or at least very persuasive. I am told I might not like her novels, but after reading these works, I must make the essay.<\/p>\n

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From my “Other” section of shelves comes this unclassifiable work of imaginary natural history originally published in German and translated in 1967 by Leigh Chadwick. The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades<\/em> is presented as written by the noted scientist Harald St\u00fcmpke, but of course is the work of Gerolf Steiner, who amused himself and myself with this delightful account of these lifeforms which evolved (and devolved) in every which way possible for mammals to go. The illustrations evoke the best of beauty in scientific drawing, and the crazy lengths to which St\u00fcmpke, I mean Steiner, goes to make this tract are well worth the effort to look up many many new words (to me), who passed biology by before I even got to high school. I learned more than I would ever expect to from a text that seems a prototype for the Journal of Irreproducible Results<\/em>, and, due to the tragedy mentioned in the closing pages, the study of the Rhinogradentia\u2014so named because their eponymous noses become used for every possible use a lifeform could find\u2014is more irreproducible than most.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1611<\/td>\n9\/25\/25<\/td>\nMichael Bonner, ed.<\/td>\nUncut Magazine<\/em> December 2024<\/td>\nMusic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1612<\/td>\n9\/25\/25<\/td>\nClarice Lispector; Katrina Dodson, trans.<\/td>\nThe Complete Stories<\/em><\/td>\nLiterature & Fiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1613<\/td>\n9\/26\/25<\/td>\nRobert Benchley<\/td>\nBenchley Lost and Found<\/em><\/td>\nHumor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1614<\/td>\n9\/28\/25<\/td>\nWilliam L. Hamling, ed.<\/td>\nImaginative Tales<\/em> Vol. 2 No. 2 November 1955<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1615<\/td>\n9\/28\/25<\/td>\nCaroline Graham<\/td>\nThe Killings at Badger’s Drift<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thriller<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1616<\/td>\n10\/1\/25<\/td>\nWilkie Collins<\/td>\nLittle Novels<\/em><\/td>\nLiterature & Fiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1617<\/td>\n10\/3\/25<\/td>\nJohn Reed<\/td>\nTen Days That Shook the World<\/em><\/td>\nHistory<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1618<\/td>\n10\/4\/25<\/td>\nHarald St\u00fcmpke (Gerolf Steiner); Leigh Chadwick, trans.<\/td>\nThe Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades<\/em><\/td>\nOther<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n1619<\/td>\n10\/8\/25<\/td>\nMaurice Leblanc<\/td>\nArs\u00e8ne Lupin, Gentleman Cambrioleur<\/em><\/td>\nForeign Language<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1620<\/td>\n10\/9\/25<\/td>\nBarry Hoffman, ed.<\/td>\nGauntlet: Exploring the Limits of Free Expression<\/em> Number 9 1995<\/td>\nPolitics & Social Sciences<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

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I only bought this digest because I could not believe that Ben Bova had actually said the words quoted in a book on deviance I’d read (Deviance and Moral Boundaries: Witchcraft, the Occult, Science Fiction, Deviant Sciences and Scientists<\/em> by Nachman Ben-Yehuda for those of you playing along at home.). But he did, in an absolutely bonkers editorial arguing, stridently declaiming in fact, that Star Wars<\/em> and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind<\/em> are in no way no how anything at all to do with ‘real’ science fiction. I found myself liking the stories in this magazine much more than I expected, however. Perhaps that is merely nostalgia, as I was a subscriber to Analog<\/em> around the time this June 1978 issue came out, and rereading the SF current at the moment when I was developing a love for the genre may have colored my thoughts about this ‘literature’ now. I always do love me a Randall Garrett parody, however. (The full Bova quote, in case you’re still wondering after wading through my blather, is as follows: <\/p>\n

So, although “Star Wars” and “Close Encounters” are delighting millions and making their backers rich, neither film can be regarded seriously as science fiction. In fact, they bear the same relationship to science fiction as the Nazi treatment of Poland bore to the Tend Commandments.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

)<\/p>\n

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Of course, my favorite book from this decade of books was the best Philip K. Dick novel, The Man In The High Castle. (I should point out, however, that I have four books which I will assert are the best Philip K. Dick novel.) I’ve been re-reading all the PKD novels in publication order, sort of, and so I came to 1962 and this his breakthrough work. The story of altered reality where the Axis won World War II still hits hard, and is made much more persuasive by just that restraint and focus on the minor day-to-day life of ordinary people in San Francisco just trying to get along under the Japanese occupation. Dick’s extensive research in the Nazi archives found in Berkeley really shows (and he’ll continue to mine that lode for the next half decade), but during this 2025 re-read I couldn’t help but notice his elision of such Japanese atrocities as Nanking or their own mad and murderous scientist wing, Unit 731; whether this was a conscious choice or simply not part of his research, I couldn’t say. Still, this is a brilliant book, and Dick plays to his strengths, building a story of believable humans in his mosaic of another world which is, of course, this world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1621<\/td>\n10\/10\/25<\/td>\nHenry Kane<\/td>\nPeter Gunn<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thriller<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1622<\/td>\n10\/15\/25<\/td>\nBecky Chambers<\/td>\nBecky Chambers<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1623<\/td>\n10\/17\/25<\/td>\nMichael Bonner, ed.<\/td>\nUncut Magazine<\/em> Review of the Year 2024<\/td>\nMusic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1624<\/td>\n10\/20\/25<\/td>\nBen Bova, ed.<\/td>\nAnalog Science Fiction\/Science Fact<\/em> June 1978<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n10\/21\/25<\/td>\nMike Baron<\/td>\nBadger<\/em> #40<\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1625<\/td>\n10\/24\/25<\/td>\nWilkie Collins<\/td>\nHide and Seek<\/em><\/td>\nLiterature & Fiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1626<\/td>\n10\/26\/25<\/td>\nH. L. Gold, ed.<\/td>\nGalaxy Science Fiction<\/em> October 1952<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1627<\/td>\n10\/26\/25<\/td>\nMichael Elder<\/td>\nThe Alien Earth<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1628<\/td>\n10\/28\/25<\/td>\nNorman Dodge<\/td>\nThe Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop<\/em> April 1934, Vol. V. No. 8<\/td>\nBooks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1629<\/td>\n10\/28\/25<\/td>\nH. L. Gold, ed.<\/td>\nIF Science Fiction<\/em> September 1959<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
31*<\/td>\n10\/29\/25<\/td>\nPhilip K. Dick<\/td>\nThe Man in the High Castle<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n10\/30\/25<\/td>\n(Philip K. Dick)<\/td>\nBlade Runner (The Official Comics Illustrated Version)<\/em><\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1630<\/td>\n10\/31\/25<\/td>\nPhilip K. Dick<\/td>\nThe Game Players of Titan<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* I re-read this particular version of the PKD novel because I forgot that I’d already read and entered it in my database. (The last time was way back in January of 2016.) A shame, ’cause I have some other editions I could have read instead\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Should I feature another Philip K. Dick novel? Right after touting the High Castle<\/em>? Of course I should! The Penultimate Truth<\/em> comes from 1964, and tells the story of the mechanized warfare of the far future in the hellscape that the Earth’s surface has become, full of radioactivity and battling robots who have killed off every lifeform on the surface. On the rare chance that you don’t know the twist here, I’ll say no more. In this Bluejay Books edition, Thomas Disch provides a somewhat negative afterword which, I found, palliated to some extent this excellent novel. To my mind, PKD played to his strengths in ignoring most of Dicsh\u2019s pearl-clutching concerns, and does what he does best: showing us the reality beneath, above, and beyond the surface. If he cannot show the reality of the plots of the high & mighty, who among us can comprehend their inhuman and callous machinations and their insensate world-unmaking?<\/p>\n

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The nostalgia mentioned in the 2nd set of ten books continues apace with my next read, and certainly the appearance of so much science fiction in my spotlighted books is unusual, compared to previous centuries of my reading. This one, Tactics Of Mistake<\/em>, is definitely a blast from my own past as a teenaged reader. Part of Gordon R. Dickson’s fabled Dorsai series, these vignettes show the nascent military leader who will found the ‘pumped up’ SF mercenaries which became one of the early progenitors of today’s military science fiction. The battles of the brash young Cletus Grahame\u2014really more set pieces designed to show off the bold new tactics of the hyper-trained (and a little lonely \u2026 ah!) tactician\u2014are a fun read, were even more fun for a young teen with ideas of the glory of battle and like that. Of course, the premise is ridiculous, and it has always been easy to win battles when you write the script, but still and all this book exceeded my aged expectations of my youthful favorites, which do not always hold up on second or later meeting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1631<\/td>\n10\/31\/25<\/td>\nRobert Howard<\/td>\nSwords Of Shahrazar<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1632<\/td>\n11\/1\/25<\/td>\nNorman Dodge<\/td>\nThe Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop<\/em> May 1934, Vol. V. No. 9<\/td>\nBooks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1633<\/td>\n11\/1\/25<\/td>\nH. L. Gold, ed.<\/td>\nGalaxy Science Fiction<\/em> Vol. 5 No. 2 November 1952<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1634<\/td>\n11\/2\/25<\/td>\nNorman Dodge<\/td>\nThe Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop<\/em> June 1934, Vol. V. No. 10<\/td>\nBooks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1635<\/td>\n11\/4\/25<\/td>\nPhilip K. Dick<\/td>\nThe Penultimate Truth<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1636<\/td>\n11\/8\/25<\/td>\nGordon R. Dickson<\/td>\nTactics of Mistake<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1637<\/td>\n11\/11\/25<\/td>\nEllis Peters<\/td>\nThe Devil’s Novice<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n11\/12\/25<\/td>\nBill Griffith<\/td>\nFrom A to Zippy: Getting There is All the Fun<\/em><\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n11\/13\/25<\/td>\nGoscinny & Uderzo<\/td>\nAst\u00e9rix et le chaudron<\/em><\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1638<\/td>\n11\/13\/25<\/td>\nFrancis A. Soper, ed.<\/td>\nIf You Smoke, What Have You? – Selections From Smoke Signals<\/em><\/td>\nDrugs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1639<\/td>\n11\/14\/25<\/td>\nJonas Ward<\/td>\nBuchanan Calls The Shots<\/em><\/td>\nWestern<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1640<\/td>\n11\/14\/25<\/td>\nMichael Bonner, ed.<\/td>\nUncut Magazine <\/em> January 2025<\/td>\nMusic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

From famine to feast we go in this next set of ten books. I was complaining that there weren’t many choices to highlight through the first 40 books in my last set of 100 read, and now in the last tranche of ten before the midpoint I have a plethora of outstanding books, stellar works I’d put front and center if only I had world enough and time. Most of the kids’ books fall into this category, with the Virginia Lee Burton being wistful nostalgia for a time long past and now even longer paster. Ah, me! The Thornton Burgess is, of course, a little preachy, but the tales have a real heart beneath their silly moralizing, and they are also interesting and fun. But I’m determined to give you only two from these ten, so here they are:<\/p>\n

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Staggeringly good. Early English: A Study of Old and Middle English<\/em> by John W. Clark is one of those rarest of beasts: a well-written overview of a difficult subject that leaves the reader both better informed and equipped to learn more. Clark also manages to make the descent from Old to Middle English much clearer than I’ve ever grokked before, with all the historical and other factors laid out for our inspection\u2014those which we can be sure of, in any event. This is a tight pr\u00e9cis by one who obviously knows his subject backwards and forwards and yet chooses to explain it in a straightforward but not condescending manner. I found some difficulty with both the pronunciation guide and the applied sections under OE and ME, but I have a hard time with IPA generally. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

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I said some harsh words about the afterword Disch wrote for that PKD novel above, but I cannot stay mad, not after reading this stunning antiwar novel which manages to subvert about three genres at once, all while playing on strange Dr. Moreau meets Flowers For Algernon vibes. Camp Concentration<\/em> by Thomas Disch is deservedly acclaimed, science fiction that pulls you in before you’re reading about the future or now or you don’t even know anymore. And though I patted myself on recognizing the first ‘reveal’ of the book long before the narrator, I wasn’t prepared for \u2026 well, best if you discover that for yourself. Wow. This is an amazing and revelatory book, though I wonder sometimes about its harsh verdict upon \u2018genius\u2019; Harrison Bergeron would like a word.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1641<\/td>\n11\/15\/25<\/td>\nFrederik Pohl, ed.<\/td>\nIF Science Fiction<\/em> Vol. 13 No. 6 January 1964<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1642<\/td>\n11\/16\/25<\/td>\nJohn W. Clark<\/td>\nEarly English: A Study of Old and Middle English<\/em><\/td>\nLanguage & Linguistics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1643<\/td>\n11\/17\/25<\/td>\nThornton W. Burgess<\/td>\nMother West Wind “Why” Stories<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1644<\/td>\n11\/17\/25<\/td>\nVirginia Lee Burton<\/td>\nThe Little House<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1645<\/td>\n11\/17\/25<\/td>\nVirginia Lee Burton<\/td>\nMike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1646<\/td>\n11\/17\/25<\/td>\nJean de Brunhoff \/ Florence Hayes<\/td>\nThe Story of Babar<\/em> \/ Johanna Spyri’s Heidi<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1647<\/td>\n11\/18\/25<\/td>\nJean de Brunhoff \/ Beatrix Potter<\/td>\nThe Travels of Babar<\/em> \/ The Tale of Peter Rabbit<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1648<\/td>\n11\/18\/25<\/td>\nJean de Brunhoff \/ Beatrix Potter<\/td>\nBabar and Zephir<\/em> \/ The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1649<\/td>\n11\/18\/25<\/td>\nJean de Brunhoff \/ Beatrix Potter<\/td>\nBabar and His Children<\/em> \/ The Tale of Benjamin Bunny<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1650<\/td>\n11\/19\/25<\/td>\nThomas M. Disch<\/td>\nCamp Concentration<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

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I was reading a lot of children’s books during this stretch, trying to pump up my numbers like a CFO just before earnings. And this set of ten books was much less great than the ten that preceded it. (Captain Underpants didn’t seem to hold up very well, heh-heh. I guess the elastic had gotten old and all stretched out.) But there were some real winners, though likely you’ve read them time and time again heretofore. One which was new to me was Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague<\/em>, one of the classics about horses which it seems that women of a certain age simply had to read as young girls, just as young boys had to decide whether they were DC or Marvel. But I’d never read it before, and was so happy I got the chance now. I finished reading it with happy tears simply streaming down my face. It’s a blessedly beautiful story, wish fulfillment at its finest, and suddenly I wanted to be a ‘horse boy’.<\/p>\n

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I do not feel compelled to re-read Winnie-the-Pooh<\/em> in the same way I insist to myself that I’m gonna read some version of Alice In Wonderland<\/em> (or Through The Looking Glass<\/em>, or both) every hundred books or so. (Checking my data shows that I’m on a Lewis Carroll pace of closer to once every 200 books.) But every time I read the two classic books by A. A. Milne about the not-very-bright stuffed bear, I forget my lifelong animus towards stuffed Teddy Bears and feel heartened by just life the way it is. Winnie-the-Pooh<\/em> is still just one of the most remarkable children’s books of all time. Every page has phrase and constructions to delight, the Shepard illustrations are a wonder, and there is a surfeit (only you can\u2019t ever have too much, you know) of compassion and clear thinking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1651<\/td>\n11\/19\/25<\/td>\nDav Pilkey<\/td>\nRicky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot Vs. the Mutant Mosquitoes from Mercury<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1652<\/td>\n11\/20\/25<\/td>\nGeorge Sims<\/td>\nThe End of the Web<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thriller<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1653<\/td>\n11\/20\/25<\/td>\nDav Pilkey<\/td>\nThe Adventures of Captain Underpants<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1654<\/td>\n11\/20\/25<\/td>\nDav Pilkey<\/td>\nCaptain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1655<\/td>\n11\/21\/25<\/td>\nDav Pilkey<\/td>\nCaptain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds)<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1656<\/td>\n11\/21\/25<\/td>\nMarguerite Henry<\/td>\nMisty of Chincoteague<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1657<\/td>\n11\/22\/25<\/td>\nSamuel R. Delany \/ Keith Woodcott<\/td>\nCaptives Of The Flame<\/em> \/ The Psionic Menace<\/em> [Ace Double F-199]<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1658<\/td>\n11\/22\/25<\/td>\nDav Pilkey<\/td>\nCaptain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1659<\/td>\n11\/23\/25<\/td>\nA. A Milne<\/td>\nWinnie-the-Pooh<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1660<\/td>\n11\/23\/25<\/td>\nDav Pilkey<\/td>\nCaptain Underpants And The Wrath Of The Wicked Wedgie Women<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

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The next book decade continued the focus on children’s books, for the same unworthy reason of pumping up the numbers. But there were still treasures to be found; I’d never read any of the Frog and Toad books before, only knowing them through memes. (What a world.) And if you don’t know the art of Joel Nakamura, his little book of devils going to sleep, Siesta<\/em>, is a fine introduction. I like as well his robots and Godzilla paintings, but his devils and other nasties are always an awesome delight.<\/p>\n

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I have not highlighted Beatrix Potter since my listing of Books #401\u2013#500, so it’s worthwhile mentioning once more how gratifying spending time with her stories and illustrations can be. This time I killed two (very small) birds with one (quite precious) stone, both getting my total books read count up and also working on my comprehension of the French language\u2014which is abysmal. A children’s book of less than 60 pages with hardly two sentences to every other page is just about my speed. But Potter’s illustrations are still wistfully wonderful, and L’Histoire de Toto le Minet<\/em> (Tom Kitten for y’all Potter purists) is a very compelling story of troublesome kittens \u2026 but then again, what did their mother expect?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1661<\/td>\n11\/23\/25<\/td>\nDav Pilkey<\/td>\nThe Captain Underpants Extra-Crunchy Book o’ Fun<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1662<\/td>\n11\/24\/25<\/td>\nDav Pilkey<\/td>\nThe All New Captain Underpants Extra-Crunchy Book o’ Fun 2<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1663<\/td>\n11\/24\/25<\/td>\nJoel Nakamura<\/td>\nSiesta<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1664<\/td>\n11\/24\/25<\/td>\nBarbara Brenner<\/td>\nWalt Disney’s Three Little Pigs<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1665<\/td>\n11\/24\/25<\/td>\nArnold Lobel<\/td>\nThe Frog and Toad Treasury<\/em> [Frog and Toad Are Friends<\/em> \/ Frog and Toad Together<\/em> \/ Frog and Toad All Year<\/em>]<\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1666<\/td>\n11\/24\/25<\/td>\nV.M. Hillyer<\/td>\nA Child’s History of the World<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1667<\/td>\n11\/25\/25<\/td>\nH. L. Gold, ed.<\/td>\nGalaxy Science Fiction<\/em> Vol. 5 No. 3 December 1952<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1668<\/td>\n11\/26\/25<\/td>\nBeatrix Potter<\/td>\nL’Histoire de Toto le Minet<\/em><\/td>\nForeign Language<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1669<\/td>\n11\/26\/25<\/td>\nAndrew Quiller [Kenneth Bulmer]<\/td>\nThe Gladiator: The Land of Mist<\/em><\/td>\nFiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1670<\/td>\n11\/27\/25<\/td>\nWilliam P. Gottlieb<\/td>\nThe Golden Age of Jazz<\/em><\/td>\nMusic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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In addition to reading the kids’ books to pump up my numbers, I read any number of comics for the same purpose in the last set of 100 books. Now, it is true that I don’t count comics towards the ‘official’ 100 Book Count; but I do keep track of the total books read\u2014of all<\/strong> types\u2014versus the total number of books bought or otherwise acquired. (TBH, I just read a half dozen Amar Chitra Katha comics in my collection for just this reason, primarily motivated by the fact that I just bought over 25 books at a local estate sale. The problem continues.) And thus it was that I read between Books #1571 and #1572 two numbers of Rip Off Comix<\/em>. And boy howdy was issue #1 a great ball-o’-fire! The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and of course Wonder Wart-Hog stories were standouts, of course, but I also just loved loved loved (as I almost always do) the Griffith Observatory pieces, from the creator of our favorite pinhead. Issue #7 hadn’t quite the same charm on every page, and I prefer Dopin’ Dan to Dealer McDope, but the Dick Whittington Fat Freddy’s Cat tale was a surefire winner. Good stuff!<\/p>\n

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Having been burned by Martin, I approached Kingsley Amis’s mystery tale with some trepidation. I’d only read his poetry heretofore\u2014which is quite good\u2014but found myself absolutely entranced by The Riverside Villa Murders<\/em>. The novel is a startlingly good recreation of a \u201830s British mystery, with weirdly \u2018pansified\u2019 elements which turn out to be absolutely necessary to the story. The denouement was mostly satisfactory (a rarity in mysteries written by litterateurs), and though I knew who I hadn\u2019t worked out how, and in this case that\u2019s not the point, and the words between father and son at the close are some of the best stuff of the sort since perhaps Atticus Finch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1671<\/td>\n11\/27\/25<\/td>\nRobert Aitken<\/td>\nZen Master Raven: Sayings and Doings of a Wise Bird<\/em><\/td>\nReligion & Spirituality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n11\/27\/25<\/td>\nGilbert Shelton, Frank Stack, Ted Richards, Dave Sheridan, Bill Griffith, & Justin Green<\/td>\nRip Off Comix<\/em> #1<\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n11\/27\/25<\/td>\nR. Diggs, Dave Sheridan, Joel Beck, Bill Griffith, Gilbert Shelton, & Frank Stack<\/td>\nRip Off Comix<\/em> #7<\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1672<\/td>\n11\/28\/25<\/td>\nKingsley Amis<\/td>\nThe Riverside Villas Murder<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1673<\/td>\n11\/28\/25<\/td>\nH. L. Gold, ed.<\/td>\nGalaxy Science Fiction<\/em> Vol. 5 No. 4 January 1953<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1674<\/td>\n11\/30\/25<\/td>\nCharlotte MacLeod<\/td>\nThe Odd Job<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1675<\/td>\n11\/30\/25<\/td>\nD. M. Black, Peter Redgrove, & D. M. Thomas<\/td>\nPenguin Modern Poets 11: Black Redgrove Thomas<\/em><\/td>\nPoetry<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1676<\/td>\n11\/30\/25<\/td>\nMichael Bonner, ed.<\/td>\nUncut Magazine<\/em> February 2025<\/td>\nMusic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n11\/30\/25<\/td>\nJim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., ed.<\/td>\nSeduction of the Innocent<\/em> #3<\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n11\/30\/25<\/td>\nJim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., ed.<\/td>\nSeduction of the Innocent<\/em> #2<\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n11\/30\/25<\/td>\nJim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., ed.<\/td>\nSeduction of the Innocent<\/em> #1<\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1677<\/td>\n12\/1\/25<\/td>\nWilliam R. Hunt<\/td>\nDictionary of Rogues<\/em><\/td>\nTrue Crime<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1678<\/td>\n12\/2\/25<\/td>\nWoody Allen<\/td>\nWithout Feathers<\/em><\/td>\nHumor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1679<\/td>\n12\/4\/25<\/td>\nJack London<\/td>\nStories of Hawaii<\/em><\/td>\nFiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1680<\/td>\n12\/4\/25<\/td>\nPeter Alding<\/td>\nRansom Town<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Another slice of ten books in which a plethora of great books makes choosing just two to focus on a very difficult choice. I mean, can I really pass up Martian Time-Slip<\/em>? How can I skip over that absolute banger by Philip K. Dick about madness and isolation and society and its downsides? But I can, because I must instead highlight a couple of perhaps lesser known (at least to me) works which I think very worthy of mention. And first up is Eric Brighteyes<\/em>, a novelization recreation of a Norse (or Icelandic) saga which truly lives up to its ideal. That the author is H. Rider Haggard does not hurt at all, and he shows here that he can write action in a completely different style than his classic King Solomon’s Mines<\/em>. The book perhaps dragged a bit in the middle, but then, so do some sagas. But the inevitable ending is stellar, as is the entire working out of one of the grandest conceits I\u2019ve come across in literature. Of course, Haggard’s tale cannot compare to Njal\u2019s Saga<\/em>\u2014but that\u2019s one of the Top Ten greatest works of all time. But his ability to translate the millennium-old tales of Iceland into a modern (late 19th C.) novel is stunning, as is his realization of this reality-based fantasy. Top marks!<\/p>\n

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Not sure what I expected (likely just another throwaway mystery read to occupy some time; value received for the $1 spent at the local library book sale), and I confess I started this one two or three times before finally getting into it, but I discovered a powerful book reminding me of The Long Firm<\/em> by Arnott. Without giving anything away, I found its unfolding of the mystery as interesting as the unraveling itself. Death In The Garden<\/em> by Elizabeth Ironside (pen name for Catherine Manning) is staggering in its brilliance, both for its recreation of another ancien regime now gone as well as for the depiction of multiple characters through a very wide variety of lenses. Perhaps you\u2019ll guess the mystery, and the other one, as I did, but still \u2026 Ironside’s novel becomes, in the end, another type of book altogether, a pensive reflection on the nature of time and choice and human life and the passions and suppressions that are lived with\u2014or not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1681<\/td>\n12\/6\/25<\/td>\nH. Rider Haggard<\/td>\nEric Brighteyes<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1682<\/td>\n12\/8\/25<\/td>\nH. L. Gold, ed.<\/td>\nGalaxy Science Fiction<\/em> Vol. 5 No. 5 February 1953<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1683<\/td>\n12\/10\/25<\/td>\nPhilip K. Dick<\/td>\nMartian Time-Slip<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1684<\/td>\n12\/11\/25<\/td>\nSarah Caudwell<\/td>\nThe Shortest Way to Hades<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1685<\/td>\n12\/11\/25<\/td>\nLeslie Charteris<\/td>\nSe\u00f1or Saint<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1686<\/td>\n12\/13\/25<\/td>\nL. Frank Baum<\/td>\nThe Magical Monarch of Mo<\/em><\/td>\nChildren’s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1687<\/td>\n12\/13\/25<\/td>\nElizabeth Ironside<\/td>\nDeath in the Garden<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1688<\/td>\n12\/20\/25<\/td>\nP. G. Wodehouse<\/td>\nThe Luck of the Bodkins<\/em><\/td>\nFiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1689<\/td>\n12\/22\/25<\/td>\nLouis Trimble<\/td>\nThe Wandering Variables<\/em><\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1690<\/td>\n12\/27\/25<\/td>\nJ. K. Rowling<\/td>\nLeslie Charteris<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Finally got a chance to read Lookout Cartridge<\/em> by Joseph McElroy and \u2026 hrm, afraid I may have to damn this one with faint praise. On the one hand, the amazingly sustained stream-of-consciousness writing is pretty much a tour de force, truly masterful, especially in its revelation of the novel\u2019s plot in the haphazard ping-ponging way that actual thought takes. On the other hand \u2026 the sustained voice is a strangely distant one, which ended up making me very very sleepy, as if hypnotized rather than transfixed by the action, and the difficulties of accessing the plot seemed a bit trop, and the d\u00e9nouement a bit forced\u2014if such can be said about a revelation that spans pretty much the last hundred pages, or ~20% of the book. It’s easy to see why comparisons are made between McElroy and Pynchon (and Gaddis, but I still haven’t caught up with that author yet), but the hooks here\u2014Tell you what: Let’s just assume I’m a poor reader and missed overwhelmingly the entire point of the novel. YMMV<\/p>\n

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I’ve already told you about The Simulacra<\/em> in my preliminary announcement of 1700 books read<\/a>, so instead here I’ll talk about A Case Of Need<\/em>, an early work by Michael Crichton, who published this his 3rd novel in 1968 under the pen name Jeffery Hudson. Perhaps to tout Crichton after my side eye at McElroy shows my pedestrian tastes (it does), but I also think there’s a place for writing parallel to that art brought to the fore in Baudelaire’s The Painter of Ordinary Life<\/em>. The ability to write page-turning fiction that doesn’t make you feel guilty after you finish is a rare one which should be celebrated. This Crichton novel kept me turning the pages and guessing\u2014though admittedly as soon as he left the hospital the plausibility dropped drastically. The out-of-date elements (abortion crime, no informed consent, etc.) make this one more interesting, not less\u2014although I am told this one hits very different for a woman reader. This taut, well-planned thriller uses a trope that is always a favorite of mine: the non-detective detective. Crichton does well here what he does best, in a complex drama of strong personalities and stronger emotions (no sex scenes, which is for the best, as that\u2019s what Crichton does worst).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/th>\nRead<\/th>\nAuthor<\/th>\nTitle<\/th>\nGenre<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1691<\/td>\n12\/27\/25<\/td>\nJoseph McElroy<\/td>\nLookout Cartridge<\/em><\/td>\nFiction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1692<\/td>\n12\/28\/25<\/td>\nMichael Bonner, ed.<\/td>\nUncut Magazine<\/em> March 2025<\/td>\nMusic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1693<\/td>\n12\/29\/25<\/td>\nMarcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre<\/td>\nThe Silent Executioner<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n12\/30\/25<\/td>\nJacques Martin<\/td>\nAlix, Tome 2 : Le Prince du Nil<\/em><\/td>\nComics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1694<\/td>\n12\/31\/25<\/td>\nErle Stanley Gardner<\/td>\nThe Case Of The Baited Hook<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1695<\/td>\n1\/2\/26<\/td>\nMargaret Yorke<\/td>\nThe Hand of Death<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1696<\/td>\n1\/3\/26<\/td>\nErle Stanley Gardner<\/td>\nThe Case Of The Terrified Typist<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1697<\/td>\n1\/4\/26<\/td>\nJean de La Fontaine<\/td>\nFables: Tome 1<\/em><\/td>\nForeign Language<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1698<\/td>\n1\/5\/26<\/td>\nMichael Crichton [as Jeffery Hudson]<\/td>\nA Case of Need<\/em><\/td>\nMystery & Thrillers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1699<\/td>\n1\/8\/26<\/td>\nAlan Brownjohn, Michael Hamburger, & Charles Tomlinson<\/td>\nPenguin Modern Poets 14; Brownjohn Hamburger Tomlinson<\/em><\/td>\nPoetry<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n1700<\/td>\n1\/9\/26<\/td>\nPhilip K. Dick<\/td>\nThe Simulacra<\/em> (Ace F-301)<\/td>\nSF & Fantasy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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And thus we come to the end of the book list for Books #1601\u20131700, a mere ten days after I finished the last of the century. (I should track how long it takes me to fulfill my promises, though that might be a bleaker project than charting my book inflow and outgo.) I had promised myself that I would read more slowly \u2026 but that was before going to an amazing estate sale this weekend where I picked up almost 50 books! Ah, me\u2014I’ll have to read a bunch of short works to maintain parity this month. So, I may see you again in these pages more quickly than I’d planned. Until then \u2026 good reading!<\/p>\n

 
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The lists of previously read books may be found by following the links:<\/p>\n