Read in July

This was a surprisingly full month; I wasn't consciously trying to do a book-a-day pace, but I was piling up a lot of comics (and similar stuff) and trying to knock off at least one of them a day, and that added up. (A business trip to the opposite coast early in the month helped, too -- that meant nearly a whole day of travel and waiting at each end.) It added up a lot, so I'll get right to the long list -- which, as usual, is of interest only to me:

• Chica Umino, Honey and Clover, Vol. 2 (7/1)
  
• Mike Mignola and Jason Armstrong, Lobster Johnson, Vol. 1: The Iron Prometheus (7/2)
  
• Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto, Vol. 16 (7/4)
  Yes, I celebrated Independence Day by reading a ninja comic. I think this was the one where Naruto set off with the Pervy Sage -- whose name (and character) I love a lot more now than when I first heard it, passing through the room where my boys were watching the TV show, and feeling my head whip around of its own accord -- to find someone else to fob the job of protector of their village onto.
  
• Charles Stross, Saturn's Children (7/4)
  
• Lawrence Block, A Diet of Treacle (7/5)
  
• Scott Kurtz, PvP, Vol. 5: PvP Treks On (7/5)
  
• Joshua W. Cotter, Skyscrapers of the Midwest (7/6
  
• Christa Faust, Money Shot (7/7)
  
• Manu Larcenet, Ordinary Victories: What Is Precious (7/7)
  
• Lawrence Block, Grifter's Game (7/8)
  
• Koge-Donbo, Kamichama Karin Chu, Vol. 1 (7/8)
  
• Ume Aoki, Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 1 (7/9)
  
• Stephen King, The Colorado Kid (7/9)
  
• Chihiro Tamaki, Walkin' Butterfly, Vol. 1 (7/9)
  
• Richard Aleas, Songs of Innocence (7/9)
  
• Naomi Azuma, Suihelibe!, Vol. 1 (7/10)
  
• Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, et. al., Jack of Fables, Vol. 3: The Bad Prince (7/11)
  
• Donald E. Westlake, 361 (7/12)
  
• Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto, Vol. 17 (7/12)
  I think this was the gathering tension before the big battle -- which turned out to be not quite so big or as final as one might have hoped -- between the evil Orochimaru and all of the good guys. But I don't remember precisely right now.
  
• Chris Ware, The ACME Novelty Date Book, Vol. 2: 1995-2002 (7/12)
  
• Sara Varon, Robot Dreams (7/12)
  
• Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, et. al., Fables, Vol. 10: The Good Prince (7/12)
  
• Jason Lutes and Nick Bertozzi, Houdini: The Handcuff King (7/12)
  
• Kio Shimoku & Koume Keito, Kujibiki Unbalance, Vol. 1 (7/14)
  
• H.G. Wells, adapted by Rick Geary, Classics Illustrated #2: The Invisible Man (7/15)
  
• Surt Lim and Hirofumi Sugimoto, Kasumi, Vol. 1 (7/16)
  
• YoungHee Lee, You're So Cool, Vol. 1 (7/17)
  
• John Varley, Rolling Thunder (7/17)
  
• Dan Nadel, Art Out of Time (7/19)
  
• Rob Vollmar & Pablo G. Callejo, Bluesman (7/19)
  
• Akira Hiramoto, Me and the Devil Blues, Vol. 1 (7/21)
  
• Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto, Vol. 18 (7/22)
  The Tsunade plotline continues, as we get some flashbacks to explain who she is and what motivates her. And Naruto continues to struggle to learn a particularly difficult ninja technique faster than anyone normally could -- he will, of course, but he has to be seen to struggle to do it. This plot is pretty short after the massive advancement exam epic; it's almost done here.
  
• James Kochalka, Monkey Vs. Robot and the Crystal of Power (7/22)
  Once again, monkeys fight robots in the jungle. This time, there's a bit of dialogue -- on the part of the robots, naturally -- and they're fighting over a crystal that the monkeys worship and that the robots need to power their Mother Computer. But, really, this is just an excuse for some hot monkey-on-robot violence. Who! Will! Win!
  
• Tim Pilcher with Gene Kannenberg, Jr., Erotic Comics: A Graphic History from Tijuana Bibles to Underground Comix (7/22)
  
• Jay Hosler, Clan Apis (7/23)
  
• Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto, Vol. 19 (7/24)
  And this volume sees the end of the "recruit Tsunade to be the new Hokage" story, with Tsunade accepting the job, Naruto learning some new tricks, and the villain Orochimaru being driven off but not killed. The next volume seems to pick up with the rest of the main cast, off doing something else -- I suspect that is the unpopular storyline that led Viz to speed up publication of Naruto from every other month to three times a month last fall to get through it more quickly.
  
• John Scalzi, Zoe's Tale (bound galleys) (7/25)
  
• Nate Powell, Swallow Me Whole (7/25)
  
• Danica Novgorodoff, Slow Storm (7/27)
  
• Jeff Lemire, Essex County, Vol. 3: The Country Nurse (7/27)
  
• Anna Hanamaki, Nephilim, Vol. 1 (7/28)
  
• JiSang Shin & Geo, Very! Very! Sweet, Vol. 1 (7/29)
  
• Shoko Iwami, Suzunari!, Vol. 1 (7/29)
  
• Richard Bitner, Confessions of a Subprime Lender (7/29)
  
• Ushio Mizta & Akiyoshi Ohta, Kaze no Hana, Vol. 2 (7/30)
  
• Erin McKean, ed., Totally Weird and Wonderful Words (7/30)
• Shiro Ihara, Alice on Deadlines, Vol. 3 (7/31)
  

Another 47 books -- the same as April's epic total -- which was inflated by a couple of trips and a bunch of Hard Case Crime books. Eleven of those were "real" books, with words on every page and only words. And I haven't written reviews for far too many of them at this point, including a number of books stretching back as far as April (I think). Yoinks! This is where I say that I should get to work, but let's see if I actually do anything. (Writing long posts about whatever crisis is flying around the net on a given day is much easier and quicker than grappling with the good and bad points of a worthwhile book, after all.)