Reading Challenge Review (2016) and Preview (2017)

Here's the results from my personal 2016 reading challenge. I read almost everything. Poor Michael O'Brien didn't make it this year either (I planned to read two of his books last year and carried it over to this year but still didn't read him) and I left the hefty Concept of Woman tome to the end. I may start it in January or maybe for Lent? Otherwise, I've done quite well.

Women's studies

• The Concept of Woman: The Aristotelian Revolution 750 B.C. - A.D. 1250 by Sister Prudence Allen--not read yet, alas...
• The Flight from Woman by Karl Stern--Reviewed here.
• The Wisdom of Hildegard of Bingen compiled by Fiona Bowie--Reviewed here.
• Medieval Women Mystics edited by Elizabeth Ruth Obbard--Reviewed here.
• Heloise and Abelard by Etienne Gilson--Reviewed here.
• Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel--Reviewed here.

English-themed non-fiction

• English Catholic Heroines edited by Joanna Bogle--Reviewed here.
• Newton and the Counterfeiters by Thomas Levenson--Reviewed here.
• History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth--Reviewed here.
• Richard III by David Baldwin--Reviewed here.
• Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage by Gerard B. Wegmer --Reviewed here.
• The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer--Reviewed here.

Philosophy/theology

• Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages by Umberto Eco--Reviewed here.
• The Art of Praying by Romano Guardini--Reviewed here.
• The Journey of the Mind to God by Bonaventure--Reviewed here.
• A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge by George Berkeley--Read but not reviewed due to Christmas time crunch.
• A Letter Concerning Toleration by John Locke--Reviewed here.
• On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life by Friedrich Nietzsche--Reviewed here.

Fiction

• Two from Michael O'Brien's end time series--Put off yet again.
• Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.--Reviewed here.
• The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J. R. R. Tolkien--I've always been interested in the Ring Cycle so I hope this fills in some holes. Reviewed here.
• The Woodcutter by Kate Danley--a birthday present! Reviewed here.
• Chasing the Phoenix by Michael Swanwick--a Christmas present! Reviewed here.

I managed to read 57 graphic novels/mangas this year, easily achieving my goal of 52. Boxers & Saints was my favorite of the bunch. Morning Glories showed a lot of promise at the beginning but got too bogged down in its own mythology. Captain Marvel is a fun new superhero for me. I'm looking forward to her eventual movie incarnation.

1. Age of Ultron--reviewed here.
2. Jessica Jones Alias Vol. 1--reviewed here.
3. Avatar Smoke and Shadow Vol. 2--reviewed here.
4. Morning Glories Vol. 1--reviewed here.
5. Fantastic Four by Aguirre-Saca--reviewed here.
6. Jessica Jones Alias Vol. 2--reviewed here.
7. Morning Glories Vol. 2--reviewed here.
8. Jessica Jones Alias Vol. 3--reviewed here.
9. Morning Glories Vol. 3--reviewed here.
10. The Guild Vol. 1--reviewed here.
11. Jessica Jones Vol. 4--reviewed here.
12. Captain Marvel Vol. 1--review here.
13. The Comic Book Story of Beer--reviewed here.
14. Serenity Vol. 3--reviewed here.
15. Asterix the Gladiator--reviewed here.
16. Morning Glories Vol. 4--reviewed here.
17. The Walking Dead TP 25--reviewed here.
18. X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga--reviewed here.
19. Chocolate: The Consuming Passion--reviewed here. 
20. Alamo All-Stars--reviewed here.
21. X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Vol. 1--reviewed here.
22. ApocalyptiGirl--reviewed here.
23. X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Vol. 2--reviewed here.
24. Captain Marvel Vol. 2--reviewed here. 
25. Tintin: King Ottokar's Sceptre--reviewed here.
26. X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Vol. 3--reviewed here.
27. Superman Vol. 1--reviewed here.
28. Morning Glories Vol. 5--reviewed here.
29. Captain Marvel: Higher, Faster, etc.--reviewed here.
30. Asterix and the Banquet--reviewed here.
31. Hellboy in Hell issues 7-10--reviewed here.
32. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: The Cloud of Hate and Other Stories--reviewed here.
33. Saints--reviewed here. 
34. Boxers--reviewed here. 
35. Suicide Squad Vol.1--reviewed here.
36. Fantastic Four: Doom, Where's My Car!?--reviewed here.
37. Captain Marvel: Stay Fly--reviewed here.
38. Cowboys and Aliens--reviewed here.
39. Captain Marvel: Rise of Alpha Flight--reviewed here.
40. Pretty Deadly Vol. 1--reviewed here.
41. Squirrel Girl and the Great Lakes Avengers--reviewed here. 
42. Superman: Red Son--reviewed here.
43. Saga of the Swamp Thing--reviewed here.
44. Batman: Cacophony--reviewed here.
45. Guardians of the Louvre--reviewed here.
46. Secret Coders Vol. 2--reviewed here.
47. Avatar: The Last Airbender: North and South Part 1--reviewed here. 
48. Saga of the Swamp Thing Vol. 2--reviewed here.
49. Neil Gaiman's Lady Justice Vol. 1--reviewed here. 
50. Black Widow Vol. 1--reviewed here.
51. Pretty Deadly Vol. 2--reviewed here. 
52. Walking Dead Vol. 26--reviewed here. 
53. Fairy Tail Vol. 1--reviewed here.
54. The Mansions of the Gods--reviewed here.
55. Fagin the Jew--reviewed here.
56. Hellboy in Mexico--reviewed here.
57. Fairy Tail Vol. 2--reviewed here.

What are my plans for the new year? I am going to do another graphic novels challenge. Fairy Tail and Avatar are the only series that I am sure to continue with (though I will be picking up the occasional random Asterix classic ever now and then).

For regular books, I have some new focuses:

Great men

• English Catholic Heroes edited by John Jolliffe--a companion volume to English Catholic Heroines from last year.
•  Medieval People: Vivid Lives in a Distant Landscape by Michael Prestwich--a Christmas present!
• Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick
• Fearless: Stories of the American Saints by Alice Camille and Paul Boudreau
• Robin Hood by David Baldwin
• The King's Good Servant but God's First by James Monti
• Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week by Pope Benedict XVI

Books made into movies

• Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa--Akira Kurosawa put post-World War II Japanese cinema back in America with his brilliant adaptation of "In a Grove" from this collection.
• Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
• The Children of Men by  P. D. James
• The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawiz--made into "The Way Back" a few years back, following POWs escaping a World War II Soviet Siberian prison camp and making it all the way to British India!
• Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence--You probably know this author as Lawrence of Arabia. 'nuff said.
• True Grit by Charles Portis--so good those Hollywood folks made it twice! The courtroom scene was exactly the same in both movies, so I assume it will be the same in the novel.

Great Filmmakers

• Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa
• Serling by Gordon F. Sander
• Alfred Hitchcock: A Life is Darkness and Light by Patrick McGilligan
• This is Orson Welles by Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich
• The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi by John Kenneth Muir

Also about movies

• Monsters from the Id: The Rise of Horror in Fiction and Film by E. Michael Jones
• Christians in the Movies: A Century of Saints and Sinners by Peter E. Dans

Oh yeah, and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens because of Fagin the Jew.

There's more I could add but twenty is already plenty. I'm sure I'll read other stuff, including the occasional A Good Story is Hard to Find book!