In retrospect, I wonder if that preference for "lighter" books was due to a relatively heavy/stressful year for me at work - books serve a wonderful escape for me and I usually don't find that same level of escape in those of the non-fiction variety. That said, I must say I love good sci-fi's ability to be "light" while still being moving and insightful. It's said that science fiction is more about the present than the future - and I deeply enjoy the ability of that genre to explore pinpointed elements of the human condition while being "looser in the details." If that doesn't make any sense, read "Ender's Game" or "More than Human."
In order read:
1.
Watchmen by Alan Moore, artist Dave
Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins.
2.
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
3.
The Ghost Brigades (Old Man's War) by John
Scalzi
4.
The Last Colony (Old Man's War) by John
Scalzi
5.
Robota by Doug Chiang & Orson Scott
Card
6.
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
7.
The Human Division (Old Man's War) by John Scalzi
8.
Batman: Year One written by Frank
Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, colored by Richmond Lewis, and
lettered by Todd Klein
9.
Dune by Frank Herbert
10. Superman For All Seasons by Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale, with Bjarne Hansen
11. Iron Man: Extremis by Warren Ellis, Adi Granou
12. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
13. Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
14. Because I Said So! by Ken Jennings
15. Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
16. The Omnivore's Dillema by Michael Pollan
17. Short Stories: Beyond Lies
the Web, the defender's and The Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick
18. Green Lantern: Secret
Origin by Geoff johns
19. God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
20. Deepwater Petroleum
Exploration & Production: A Nontechnical Guide by
William L. Leffler
21. Captain America, Vol. 1:
Winter Soldier Ultimate Collection by Ed Brubaker,
Steve Epting, Mike Perkins and Michael Lark
22. Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury
23. More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
I'll group the reviews into three sections: Fiction, Graphic novels/comics, and non fiction.
But first, I'd like to mention a book I didn't read this year - at least not in its entirety: The Fellowship of the Ring. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Hobbit late last year and was very excited to continue into The Lord of the Ring Series. 1/4 of the way into The Fellowship, however, I realized I was reading only so I could tell you I did in this post. I found the story dull and painfully slow moving. I stopped reading about 20 pages into the part where Frodo was lost in a misty valley full of tombstones? Nothing had happened in forever. Maybe the movies (which I love) made me impatient. I don't know.
Fiction
The Old Man War series- Loved it. Devoured it. Cannot wait for more. Set in the future when the old citizens of earth can trade in their bodies for new ones but have to serve in the intergalactic military for several years in return. Very funny, witty, thoughtful books which, in my opinion, take a pretty realistic look at how humans would behave in space, especially when it came to meeting other species. (read: violently.... Not Star Trek style peace.) Highly recommended.Starship Troopers - More of a military adventure/military theory story set in space than what's commonly considered sci-fi today. Much of the book is spent describing the mech-suit as well as military theory for why the military in Starship Troopers is the ideal configuration (which I felt to be a fairly direct criticism of Western military's organization). Great story, gripping, and impressively well aged despite its focus on technical details. Almost completely unrelated to the movie bearing the same name.
Dune series - Seriously mixed feelings on this one. I love the universe; I disliked the story telling (after a while). The first book was deeply moving on both a personal and intergalactic scale but as the story went on I also felt it went progressively slower. I made it to book four out of six and had to stop because I felt like I'd read hundreds of pages of people plotting only to see the entire book's action happen in the last 20 pages. I also felt like Herbert was never sufficiently forthcoming about the motives of his characters - it's always interesting to keep the reader in the dark on motives because that allows the reader to learn over time or even experience a "twist", but in this case the reader often never learned why characters were doing what they were doing, leaving it all to very dissatisfying guess work.
More Than Human - A great read that I strongly recommend, especially to people who are hestitant about sci-fi in general. This is a stand-alone book that never felt like a sci-fi - I didn't even realized it dealt with "sci-fi" (i.e. fantasy) elements until about half way through the book. The book essentially explores a group of gifted individuals as they learn the need for a "new morality" associated with their gifts. Very thought provoking book.
Graphic novels and comics:
I'd never really read a comic before but my brother Brenden gave me several for Christmas, so I decided to give them a try. I was impressed at how useful the graphic novel form is - if the author(s) paint the pictures for you, they need to spend far less time describing the scene and can spend much more time on commentary. As you'll see below, I thoroughly enjoyed two of them: Watchmen and V for Vendetta and found the rest of be fun to read, but not personally moving for me.
Watchmen - A dark, gritty story that ultimately debates the question: Who watches the watchmen? Recall the intro to The Incredibles: Heroes were all of a sudden viewed as being a risk to society - a force that no one could control and were therefore cast out. The back-story for Watchmen is the same in spirit, and also follows these washed-out heroes as they try to deal with real life. Unlike The Incredibles, though, this story is definitely not rated PG (the movie adaptation, which I haven't seen so can't comment on, is rated R) and is anything but happy and fun. Moving, raw, and emotional, but dark. Who gets to decide the fate of the human race? How are those in power monitored? What if someone with that power goes rogue?
Robota - A beautiful, short epic of a humanoid robot race seeking to discover its roots and the source of its consciousness. The robots basically sought answers to mankind's own questions, but watching a non-human do that exploring when the reader knows the answer (humans) was a very interesting and compelling experience. Did I mention the artwork was beautiful? Done by the same guy who did the design work for Star Wars Episodes I-III (yes, they were terrible stories, but you have to admit the landscapes, robots, costumes, etc., had great designs).
Batman: Year One - Obviously the source material for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins movie. Fun read.
Superman for all Seasons - Four interconnected Superman stories; each taking place during a different season of the year.
V for Vendetta - Awesome graphic novel. Again, I haven't seen the movie (yet) so I can't draw comparisons for you, but I seriously loved this book. Great, thought-provoking story about human rights, governmental design, and power; all beautifully illustrated. A bit "gritty" and dark but nothing I'd say was downright offensive (which I can't say of Watchmen...). Strongly recommended for anyone with an inkling for exploring the graphic novel medium.
Green Lantern - My first exposure to the Green Lantern universe (I'd never even seen a trailer for the movie that came out a few years ago). Overall, unimpressed. Most stories require "suspension of belief" but this one was a little too much for me. The fictional universe just didn't make sense to me and while any super hero's super powers are obviously fictional, I feel the interesting stories come out when the hero needs to deal with the limits of his powers. As far as I could tell, the only limits to The Green Latern's powers were his imagination and, only most of the time, the color yellow.
Captain America: Winter Soldier - Captain America fighting his worst nightmares as well as his best friend.
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