Day 40: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice is a classic love story and interesting phenomena of both pop culture and high culture. This is the Victorian tale of prideful Mr. Darcy and prejudicial Miss Bennett and how they meet and interact amidst local politics in the socio-political norms of the bygone era. This is an excellent romance that is relatively feminist for its time and praised for its characteristic witty dialogue. Austen’s portrayal is sharp in its biting accuracy towards gossips, a colourful past, and a rich society.

              

Day 39: The Amory Wars: The Second Stage Turbine Blade by Claudio Sanchez

This graphic novel is actually the second in the series, preceded by a prose novel setting up the events depicted here. But since this was published first, I thought I’d start off here. Sanchez is the frontrunner of the band Coheed and Cambria, the music they play is the work that the comics are based off. The meta concept is really interesting and you might worry that the stories might not live up to the form, but you’d be wrong. The Amory Wars tells the tale of Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon, a married couple from a little peaceful neighbourhood on one of the seventy-eight planets held together by mystical energy called Heaven’s Fence. The couple believe they are just ordinary people until disaster causes them to confront their mysterious origins and take the war to the dictator ruling Heaven’s Fence, Wilhelm Ryan, the Tri-Mage. The story evokes images of Star Wars but the writing is lyrical and fluid. Claudio Sanchez is a great writer, the art is wonderful, and the story Shakespearean.
                        

Day 38: The War of the Worlds by HG Wells

For a Victorian era piece, Wells astonished me by the level of gritty, gruesome realism he portrays ravishing England in this powerful novella about extra-terrestrial invaders from Mars. You might have seen the Tom Cruise version set in modern times or you might even have some knowledge of the radio play. But this original is just as good, as vivid, and haunting in its approach of classical weaponry against a monstrous foe they can’t even conceive of. Wells is a fantastic speculative writer with a vivid mind.

       

Day 37: The Republic by Plato

One of Plato’s greatest works and one of the founding pillars of political philosophy, The Republic is a Socratic Dialogue that explores essential themes in Plato’s society that holds just as crucial relevance today. His views on justice and the unjust, governance, power, and morality are all exhibited with Plato’s brilliant logical primacy. Even 2393 years after it was written, this work is still read and studied today. The concepts within are still significant. The thought is staggering; I can’t think of anything else that is as important today from so very long ago. That alone merits a look into Plato’s magnum opus.

Day 36: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

A great novel about the dark, urban adventures of professional wizard Harry Dresden. This is the first in the series and right away, the tension begins to build as Dresden is thrown headfirst into the trauma and violence of Chicago’s drug war. Butcher has a good hand for characters’ personalities, but they are a little one-dimensional. The pacing and tension never slows down. For a debut novel, this is classic textbook and it definitely got me hooked for the next one.
                

Day 35: Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

Palahniuk’s novel is a tantalizing satirical examination of media culture, religion, celebrity icons, and suicide. It’s a fast-paced, provocative, and funny as all hell. Tender Branson –the last surviving member of the Creedish Death Cult– is dictating his life story into a black box before the airplane crashes, from his meek subservient beginnings as a Creedish child to the drug-abusing, hypocritical, collagen-bloated mass media messiah.

Day 33: Misery Loves Comedy by Ivan Brunetti

This case study of schizophrenia and psychosis collects Ivan Brunetti’s first three issues of the brilliant comic book series Schizo, as well as a agglomeration of miscellaneous musings and writings from over a decade. Brunetti’s self-caricature is intriguing realistic, in all its foibles and flaws: he is paranoid, deluded, graphically scatological, self-loathing, and violently depressed. But behind Brunetti’s fascinating nihilism, is a study of the darkest corners of human nature and an exploration of that selfish, brutish side of ourselves that we shudder to inspect closely.

Day 32: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

For a thriller writer, “The Book of Lost Things” presents a major step in a different, though not altogether unpleasant, direction. Connelly explores the story of a boy during World War 2 who experiences an adventure not unlike Carroll’s Alice. Connelly’s take on classic fairy tales and giving them a new perspective was one of the most positive aspects of the narrative. The ending is beautifully, and unexpectedly, bittersweet and touching. Overall, it is a wonderful coming-of-age book with a bend towards the nostalgic past.

Day 31: The Art of War by Sun Tzu

This ancient and informative text is as essential to classical warfare as it is to modern business. Sun Tzu’s great textbook is a series of profound advice. Their greatest asset is how applicable and malleable his rules and advice are given the context and circumstance. It is a truly captivating work and a look into the minds that dominated the craft of war.

Day 30: Y: The Last Man - Book One by Brian K. Vaughn

Several words to describe Vaughn’s work would be: clever, political, wry, variably pessimistic and optimistic, well-written, and fast-paced. The dystopian future where all living things with a Y chromosome die in the same exact instant (except for one man and his monkey) is a truly fascinatingly concept that is explored intelligently. I applaud the writer for handling the political and social fallout realistically. The first arc depicts Yorick’s travels with Agent 355 and Dr. Mann to reach her lab in California and develop a means of cloning males for the human species to survive. Their long journey across America’s chaotic landscape culminates in a climactic confrontation in a small settlement in Ohio between Yorick and his sister, wherein they find one another fearsomely changed by the event that changed the world. 

Day 29: Animal Farm by George Orwell

A political satire that every high school student must have studied in their English class. I must have been one of the few that actually enjoyed this vital work of contemporary culture. George Orwell’s classic work is an allegory and satire of the Russian Revolution, a biased and yet informative paradigm that illustrates how boundless hope and potential can disintegrate into tyranny. The bold struggle of the animals against the oppression of Mr. Jones in his Farm forges the Animal Farm, founded on the notion that All Animals Are Created Equal. But when the pigs re-establish an elite class over the masses, betraying their faithful followers, all realise the dark significance of the tacked-on postscript that Some Animals Are More Equal than Others. If you didn’t study this phenomenal work in high school, it’s never too late to read it now.

Day 28: Die Trying by Lee Child

The second thrilling novel chronicling Lee Child’s epic ass-kicking hitchhiker: Jack Reacher. “Die Trying” finds Reacher, along with a woman whom he helps carry her dry cleaning, kidnapped right off the sidewalk and thrown into the back of a van. As he studies his increasingly dire situation, he tries to understand just who the woman he was kidnapped with is, against the backdrop of terroristic devastation waiting to happen. This was the second Child book I picked up and remains one of my favourites.

Day 27: Grimms Fairy Tales (Folio Society)

Perhaps the greatest collection of fairy tales. The Brothers Grimm has provided fodder for my imagination for years. The unforgettable opening of “once upon a time” will bring you back to the timeless realm of knights and princesses, goblins and giants, wizards and witches. The adventures are all here – they will fall in love, seek wealth, and scheme for power, revealing through the fantastical and magical, very fundamental and human truths about ourselves. What was originally a staple of Western culture is now a treasured collection of tales around the world. Grimms’ best fables includes such classics as “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” “Hansel and Grethel,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “and “The Frog Prince,” and “Little Red Riding Hood.”

Day 26: Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The second entry in Stephen King’s magnum opus series, the drawing that takes place brings Roland Deschain through three doors on the sands of the beach across time and space to different points in 20^th Century New York City. Through two of these doors, Roland recruits members of his new ka-tet, who will become gunslingers like him. This was the first book I read of the Dark Tower series and is probably my favourite. I loved the character of Eddie Dean, the junkie, and his character arc has remained one of the most memorable.

Day 25: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I sometimes hate low late I am at getting around to reading these really good books that you feel like everyone else has already devoured. It’s like coming really late to a party, except you’re not fashionable and all the good food is gone. “American Gods” is quite phenomenal in Gaiman’s manner of handling the deities and belief systems. Shadow is a relatable protagonist with an uncanny ability to take all the wonderful, remarkable, and terrible stuff that happens to, and around him, in stride. The premise of the novel is essentially that when immigrants landed in America, they brought along the mythological deities that they worshipped, but when they forgot or began to disbelief in these old gods, their powers began to wane, yet they remained in the New World, stranded and abandoned by their followers. The fascinating exploration of religions and worship, the clever writing, and the powerful execution make this a truly classic read.

Day 24: The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

This is JK Rowling’s first novel since she completed her epic and unforgettable Harry Potter series, as well as her first for an adult audience. this novel combines a small town atmosphere with thrilling political intrigue. Here’s to hoping she continues to exceed expectations and shine through with another literary doorstopper.

Day 23: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll is a genius of nonsense fiction. “Wonderland” tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a hole into a strange world called Wonderland whilst chasing after a white rabbit. This is the epitomizing example of the nonsense genre in literature. Before “Alice” the art of creating meaningless and yet entertaining had never happened. Perhaps it never will again.

Day 22: Superman/Batman: Supergirl Vol. 2 by Jeph Loeb

Jeph Loeb and artist Michael Turner join to usher in the classic Supergirl’s return to the primary DC Universe continuum. This story is as much about Supergirl’s first experiences on Earth as it is about the tension and interactions between the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight. Loeb’s writing is at its finest, while his plotting is wrought with tension and suspense. I have to give the late Michael Turner his share of credit for drawing some amazing panels. He has a way for drawing women and depicting epic battle scenes. The dialogue Loeb wrote between Superman and Darkseid in their final confrontation was fantastic and believable. This is good writing meets good art. What more can you ask for?

                                                    

Day 21: Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

  

Steppenwolf (Der Steppenwolf), by Hermann Hesse, is an existential novel about the loneliness of a man torn between two aspects of his soul and his displacement between periods of history. Originally published in Germany in 1927, the first English translation was in 1929. Utilizing both autobiographical and psychoanalytic elements, the novel takes its name after the solitary “wolf of the steppes”. The story expresses Hesse’s profound spiritual crisis, while portraying the protagonist’s split between his civilized humanity and his barbaric, wolfish discord and homelessness. Hesse would later claim that the book was largely misunderstood.

Day 20: Fables Vol 1 by Bill Willingham

This hardcover collects “Legends in Exile” and “Animal Farm,” introducing a host of characters that populate the Fables universe along with the two primary communities of the Fables on Earth: Fabletown and the Farm. Each chapter tackles a different genre as it explores the relationships between these immortal characters and their varied and often misinterpreted histories. Willingham’s writing is clever and witty and the stories are beyond phenomenal. Often his take on the fables are unique; he enjoys twisting and turning our expectations for these characters. For example, Prince Charming is a divorced, promiscuous womanizer with an insurmountable ego, Snow White is the deputy mayor of Fabletown, and Bigby Wolf, the sherrif, is the shapeshifting Big Bad Wolf of infamy. This is easily my favourite ongoing comic book.