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Friday, February 01, 2008

Books for 2008

A few more to add.

1. DC Comics Encyclopedia

2. The Forensic Files of Batman; Doug Moench (320 pages)
A gift from Matt, and as he put it, the title might as well have read 'The Forensic Files of Batman, Stephanie'. Adding that if sushi were somehow involved, it'd be the perfect gift.
This book was amazing. Filled with actual forensic history and procedures, and written with the true voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne. There were case files and journal entries, some relating to 'known' Gotham baddies, like the Joker and Scarecrow, others more...or perhaps I should say less fantastic like a landlord raping/murdering a tenant or a serial killer (without costume or face paint) on the loose.
Such a good book; I stayed up to finish it. And immediately wished there were more...




3. The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond; Simon Winder (312 pages)
When I'd first seen this title, I thought it was going to be a history of Bond; his beginnings and so on.
It was a much different book. Instead, it was a history of England, her flailing after the first World War, a country barely sewn together after the second, and it's astonishing fall in the sixties and seventies. How the rest of the world watched in horror as this once power shriveled to almost nothing. And how Fleming's creation mirrored all that was wrong with Britain at the time, how neither 007 or his home country were willing to change or adapt, and what those results were.

I found it a deeply fascinating book, and I learned a great deal about British history in the process (not something we covered at SMAHS). I found myself reading passages to Matt, because the author was clearly someone we'd enjoy talking with...his sense of wordplay, his grasp of the language itself, was nothing short of beauty.

He lost me in the final chapter, though. I was hoping for, expecting, a certain finish. One that would tie the other beautifully-written ones together, but it simply didn't happen.

However, for the other seven or eight chapters, this book is well worth reading.




4. Batman Chronicles: Volume One; Bill Finger & Bob Kane (192 pages)
We go back to the beginning.
The absolute earliest Batman comics. I'd read a few last year, but having them all together like this is genius. Yes, I'm a Batman fan. Yes, I'm a girl who reads comics. Deal with it.





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