Reading Challenge Review (2017) and Preview (2018)

Here's the results from my personal 2017 reading challenge. I managed to get everything in except Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which I am in the middle of right now. It's a big book and will be finished in the new year.

Great men

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

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. Reviewed here.
• Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor. Reviewed here!
• The Children of Men by  P. D. James. Reviewed here!
• 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! Reviewed here.
• Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence--You probably know this author as Lawrence of Arabia. 'nuff said. In Progress!
• 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. Reviewed here!

Great Filmmakers

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

Also about movies

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

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


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).

1. The Eternal Smile--reviewed here.
2. Troll Bridge--reviewed here. 
3. Fairy Tail Vol. 3--reviewed here.
4. Wonder Woman: The True Amazon--reviewed here.
5. Irredeemable Premier Edition Vol. 1--reviewed here.
6. Doctor Strange Vol. 1: Way of the Weird--Reviewed here.
7. Fairy Tail Vol. 4--reviewed here.
8. Black Widow: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted--reviewed here. 
9. Ultimate Spider-man vs. the Sinister Six--reviewed here.
10. Avatar: The Last Airbender: North and South Vol. 2--reviewed here.
11. Invincible Iron Man Vol. 1--reviewed here. 
12. Avengers: Endless Wartime--reviewed here.
13. Fairy Tail Vol. 5--reviewed here.
14. Wonder Woman: Her Greatest Battles--reviewed here.
15. Captain Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Hero Vol. 2--reviewed here.
16. Irredeemable Premier Edition Vol. 2--reviewed here.
17. Miss Fury Sensational Sundays Vol. 1--reviewed here.
18. Brendan and Erc in Exile Vol. 1--reviewed here.
19. Fairy Tail Vol. 6--reviewed here. 
20. Brief Histories of Everyday Objects--reviewed here.
21. Deadpool Killogy--reviewed here.
22. Vote Loki--reviewed here. 
23. Fairy Tail Vol. 7--reviewed here.
24. Avengers vs. X-Men--reviewed here.
25. Wires and Nerves Vol. 1--reviewed here. 
26. Avatar: The Last Airbender: North and South Vol. 3--reviewed here.
27. Fairy Tail Vol. 8--reviewed here. 
28. Wonder Woman Vol. 2 Year One--reviewed here. 
29. Smash!--reviewed here. 
30. Hostage--reviewed here.
31. Irredeemable Premier Edition Vol. 3--reviewed here.
32. Fairy Tail Vol. 9--reviewed here.
33. Geis Vol. 1--reviewed here.
34. Zita the Spacegirl Vol. 1--reviewed here.
35. Rise of the Dungeon Master--reviewed here.
36. Spill Zone--reviewed here.
37. Batman vs. Two-Face--reviewed here.
38. Fairy Tail Vol. 10--reviewed here. 
39. The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up--reviewed here.
40. Amulet Book One--reviewed here.
41. The Baker Street Four Vol. 1--reviewed here. 
42. Fairy Tail Vol. 11--reviewed here.
43. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"--reviewed here. 
44. Amulet Book Two--reviewed here. 
45. Spider-man/Doctor Strange: The Way to Dusty Death--reviewed here. 
46. Fairy Tail Vol. 12--reviewed here.
47. Amulet Book Three--reviewed here.
48. The Walking Dead Vol. 27--reviewed here.
49. Doctor Strange: Last Days of Magic--reviewed here.
50. Fairy Tail Vol. 13--reviewed here.
51. Amulet Book Four--reviewed here.
52. The Creeps--reviewed here.
53. Fairy Tail Vol. 14--reviewed here.
54. Amulet Book Five--reviewed here.
55. Firefly: No Power in the 'Verse--reviewed here. 
56. Fairy Tail Vol. 15--reviewed here.
57. Runaways Vol. 1--reviewed here.
58. Amulet Book Six--reviewed here.
59. Fantastic Four/Inhumans--reviewed here. 
60. Fairy Tail Vol. 16--reviewed here.
61. The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel--reviewed here.
62. Amulet Book Seven--reviewed here.

The new year's reading plan is a mostly like previous years. The graphic novels challenge is moving to Facebook so it will be a little easier to for me to post my accomplishments. I'm thinking of switching from Fairy Tail to another manga, maybe Attack on Titan. Anyway, I plan for the 52 in a year plan, though for 2017 I exceeded that number.

For regular books, I have some new focuses (i.e. not all movie-centric):

Fiction

• The Christus Experiment by Rod Bennett--a time travel novel where the travelers plan to visit and possibly kidnap Jesus Christ!
• The Bradbury Chronicles edited by William F. Nolan and Martin H. Greenberg--an anthology of stories written by sci fi and fantasy writers inspired by and in honor of Ray Bradbury. 
• After the King edited by Martin H. Greenberg--an anthology of stories written by sci fi and fantasy writers inspired by and in honor of J. R. R. Tolkien.
• Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset--I found this classic at the church rummage sale for a dollar. I've been meaning to read it for a while, and at 1100+ pages I will be reading it for a while.

Science

• Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe by Nathan Spielberg and Bryon D. Anderson--this has been sitting on the shelf for a while.
• Christianity and Extraterrestrials? by Marie I. George--another long resident of the bookshelf that bridges nicely into the next category.

Faith

• Spiritual Excellence: How to Make Progress in Prayer and Love by Alban Goodier, S.J.--it's got to be helpful, right?
• Essays of a Catholic by Hilaire Belloc--Belloc was back in the day with Chesterton, so this should be really good.
• A History of the Church in 100 Objects by Mike Aquilina and Grace Aquilina--highly recommended by Happy Catholic
• Crossing the Goal: A Saint Goes Marching On by Danny Amramowicz--football and faith?
• Saint Joseph: Shadow of the Father by Andrew Doze--my patron saint, so this is obvious.
• The Life and Times of Fray Junipero Serra by Msgr. Francis J. Weber--tied to the next book...
• Saint Junipero Serra's Camino by Stephen J. Binz--also recommended by Happy Catholic!

Board Games

• Dice Games Properly Explained by Reiner Knizia--Knizia has a doctorate in mathematics and has published over thirty board games. 
• GameTek by Geoff Englestein--From the Dice Tower podcast, a bunch of essays on gaming with a scientific bent.

 Other Stuff

• Your Child's Writing Life: How to Inspire Confidence, Creativity, and Skill at Every Age by Pam Allyn--my kids are getting interested in writing, so this should be good.
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
• News from Tartary by Peter Fleming--brother of Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond) who had a life just like his brother's superspy hero.
• Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions by Guillermo del Toro and Marc Scott Zicree--a lot of the chapters are based on movies, so I will probably read a chapter and watch a movie.
• Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence--might as well get credit for it!

I'm sure I'll read other stuff, including the occasional A Good Story is Hard to Find book!