The Christmas reading

Given everything with the furnace, ice storm and the general madness that engulfs as Christmas approaches, I was kinda surprised at how much reading I was able to get to (even if they are mostly comics). Here's the list with a quick review in order of completion:

Jarhead by Anthony Swofford
Good read on the emotions of a young Marine during the first Gulf War. One thing that didn't click for me was the times when Swofford would slip into 'memoir as literature' mode and write in a voice more for some unseen lit prof that for himself. But when when he stays in the real, the book gives you an insight into those moments between boredom and terror that is war.

Wildcats 3.0 Brand Building and Full Disclosure by Joe Casey (writer), Dustin Nguyen (artist) and Richard Friend (artist) cover by Rian Hughes and Nguyen.
Another of those 'don't know the back story but enjoyed the book' trade reads for me. Collecting between the two books the first 12 issues of WildCats 3.0, I really got into the former superhero now CEO angle taken here with the added jabs at the roll corporations have taken in shaping our lives. Throw in an interesting and sexy red head who knows how to use a gun and you have the making for a great book IMHO. Too bad the run got canceled since I was going to add it to my comic pull.

1602 by Neil Gaiman (writer), Andy Kubert (artist) and Richard Isanove (cover illustrations)
OK, I'm 1. Not a Marvel guy and 2. Not a Sandman fan. But I enjoy Gaiman's books as well as his blog so this was worth a look when I saw it in the library. It was slow at first but really picked up speed. I enjoyed it even if I didn't get all the fan boy call outs.

In progress: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America the Audiobook by Jon Stewart and the writers of the Daily Show.
So I don't watch the Daily Show but I'm still finding parts of this book very funny. Then there are parts so full of condisending humor that many liberals love. This is the stuff that makes me cringe because those who think its funny are the very people who don't get that is why Democrats LOSE ELECTIONS!

So, what's new?

OK, so it's been a bit since the last post but things have been busy between.

1. School (got an A in intro to databases)
   
2. Work
   
3. Getting ready for the holidays (I cooked two turkeys as well as a standing rib roast)
   
4. Vacation with the family to Walt Disney World (more on that later)
5. Having my gas furance try and kill us with a CO leak (25 PPM when it started, will be replaced with a top of the line Trane XV90 with an Aprilaire but only after almost two weeks and one ice storm without heat thanks to the holiday and the before mentioned ice storm.)