A Year in Reviews at OL Weekly
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January
January 1: Superman: Secret Origin, by Geoff Johns (writer) and Gary Frank (artist)January 2: The Good Thief's Guide to Venice, by Chris EwanJanuary 3: The Favored Queen, by Carolly EricksonJanuary 4: Cape Cod Noir, edited by David L. UlinJanuary 5: When Passion Rules, by Johanna LindseyJanuary 7: India Black and the Widow of Windsor, by Carol K. CarrJanuary 9: The Deception at Lyme, by Carrie BebrisJanuary 10: The Year's Best Science Fiction 28, edited by Gardner DozoisJanuary 11: The Darwin Archipelago, by Steve JonesJanuary 12: Sex and the River Styx, by Edward HoaglandJanuary 14: Spartacus: Swords and Ashes, by J.M. ClementsJanuary 15: A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor VingeJanuary 16: The Apocryphal Gospels, translated and edited by Bart D. Ehrman and Zlatko PleseJanuary 17: The Evolution of Ethan Poe, by Robin ReardonJanuary 18: The Drops of God, story by Tadashi Agi, art by Shu OkimotoJanuary 19: Mad About the Earl, by Christina BrookeJanuary 21: Reckless, by Cornelia FunkeJanuary 22: Ben Jonson: A Life, by Ian DonaldsonJanuary 23: Henry VIII, by David LoadesJanuary 24: Death and Resurrection, by R.A. MacAvoyJanuary 25: Fear Itself, by Matt Fraction (script) and Stuart Immonen (art)January 26: An Available Man, by Hilma WolitzerJanuary 27: Iago, by David SnodinJanuary 29: The Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organization, by Adrian Bejan and J. Peder Zane
February
February 1: Star Trek: The Rings of Time, by Greg CoxFebruary 3: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in modern English by John GardnerFebruary 4: Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire, by James RommFebruary 5: Quiet, by Susan CainFebruary 6: Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights, by Sue Donaldson and Will KymlickaFebruary 7: Avengers Prime, by Brian Michael Bendis (script) and Alan Davis (art)February 8: City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas, by Roger CrowleyFebruary 9: The Comedy is Finished, by Donald E. WestlakeFebruary 11: What’s to Become of the Boy? Or, Something to Do with Books, by Heinrich BollFebruary 12: The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and R. G. FreyFebruary 16: Kiev 1941: Hitler's Battle for Supremacy in the East, by David StahelFebruary 17: The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, by Sax SohmerFebruary 18: The Forest Laird, by Jack WhyteFebruary 19: Avengers Assemble Vol. 2, by Kurt Busiek et al (script) and George Perez, et al (art)February 20: The Frontiers of Imperial Rome, by David J. BreezeFebruary 23: Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, edited by John Joseph AdamsFebruary 25: Illumination in the Flatwoods, by Joe HuttoFebruary 26: Enterprise: America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who helped Win World War II, by Barrett TillmanFebruary 27: Watergate, by Thomas MallonFebruary 28: History of a Pleasure Seeker, by Richard Mason
March
March 1: Reading for My Life: Writings 1958-2008, by John LeonardMarch 4: DC Universe: Legacies, by Len Wein (script) and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Joe Kubert, George Perez, et al (art)March 5: The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World, by Carl SafinaMarch 6: A Princess of Mars, by Roger Langridge (script) and Filipe Andrade (art)March 10: The Lost History of 1914: Reconsidering the Year the Great War Began, by Jack BeattyMarch 11: The Inquisitor, by Mark Allen SmithMarch 12: The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens, and the Search for the Good Life, by Bettany HughesMarch 15: Tutankhamen: The Search for an Egyptian King, by Joyce TyldesleyMarch 16: Restless in the Grave, by Dana StabenowMarch 17: The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature, by David George HaskellMarch 18: Heaven Cracks, Earth Shakes: The Tangshan Earthquake and the Death of Mao’s China, by James PalmerMarch 20: The Holy Bible (King James Version), illustrated by Gustave DoreMarch 23: The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination, by Fiona MacCarthyMarch 29: The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome’s Decadent Boy Emperor, by Martijn Icks
April
April 1: Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone, by George BlackApril 2: Love, Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance, by Jean ZimmermanApril 5: Human Rights Watch World Report 2012, published by Seven Stories PressApril 6: Mutants & Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal, by Jeffrey J. KripalApril 7: Songs of the Earth, by Elspeth CooperApril 10: Berlin at War, by Roger MoorhouseApril 13: West Briton Story, by Tom O'RourkeApril 15: Paris, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, by Rosecrans BaldwinApril 16: Elegy for Eddie: A Maisie Dobbs Novel, by Jacqueline WinspearApril 19: The Marsh Lions: The Story of an African Pride, by Brian Jackman and Jonathan ScottApril 21: The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeerApril 22: Uncovering the Truth about Meriwether Lewis, by Thomas DanisiApril 23: Dawn of Egyptian Art, edited by Diana Craig PatchApril 24: That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, by Anne SebbaApril 26: Essential Avengers: Volume 8, Marvel ComicsApril 27: The Unexpected Guests, by Sadie JonesApril 28: The Book of Deadly Animals, by Gordon Grice
May
May 1: The Atlantic and Its Enemies, by Norman StoneMay 2: Farther Away: Essays, by Jonathan FranzenMay 3: Avengers: The Children’s Crusade, by Allen Heinberg (script) and Jim Cheung (art)May 5: The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens, edited by Jenny HartleyMay 6: Star Trek: That Which Divides, by Dayton WardMay 7: The Confession: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery, by Charles ToddMay 10: The Sounding of the Whale: Science and Cetaceans in the Twentieth Century, by D. Graham BurnettMay 11: My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family, by Zach Wahls (with Bruce Littlefield)May 12: Midstream: An Unfinished Memoir, by Reynolds PriceMay 13: The Romans Who Shaped Britain, by Sam Moorhead and David StuttardMay 15: Overseas, by Beatriz WilliamsMay 17: HHhH, by Laurent Binet (translated from the French by Sam Taylor)May 18: Avengers Assemble: Volume 3, by Kurt Busiek (script) & George Perez (art)May 19: Michelangelo: The Achievement of Fame, by Michael HirstMay 20: The Taming of the Rogue, by Amanda McCabeMay 22: Of Moose and Men, by Dr. Jerry HaighMay 24: Anno Dracula: Bloody Red Baron, by Kim NewmanMay 26: The Mabinogion Tetralogy, by Evangeline WaltonMay 28: Midnight in Peking, by Paul French
June
June 3: The Legion of Super-Heroes: Archives Vol. 13, DC ComicsJune 5: The Family Corleone, by Ed FalcoJune 7: The Last Full Measure: How Soldiers Die in Battle, by Michael StephensonJune 8: Batman: The Court of Owls: Vol 1, by Scott Snyder (script) and Greg Capullo (art)June 9: Elusive Victories: The American Presidency at War, by Andrew J. PolskyJune 10: The Weight of Vengeance: The United States, the British Empire, and the War of 1812, by Troy BickhamJune 12: Her Highness the Traitor, by Susan HigginbothamJune 14: The Laws of the Ring, by Urijah FaberJune 15: Capital, by John LanchesterJune 16: Exposing the Big Game: Living Targets of a Dying Sport, by Jim RobertsonJune 17: Hitler’s Berlin: Abused City, by Thomas FriedrichJune 19: At the Mercy of the Queen, by Anne Clinard BarnhillJune 21: Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death, by Bernd HeinrichJune 22: The Last Lost World: Ice Ages, Human Origins, and the Invention of the Pleistocene, by Lydia V. Pyne and Stephen J. PyneJune 25: The Omnivorous Mind: Our Evolving Relationship with Food, by John S. AllenJune 28: The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get the Best Medical Care, by Martine Ehrenclou
July
July 5: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner DozoisJuly 6: Wellington’s Wars: The Making of a Military Genius, by Huw DaviesJuly 7: The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War, by Andrew RobertsJuly 9: Essential Spider-Man: Volume 11, by Roger Stern (script) and John Romita Sr. & Jr. (art)July 10: Wake of the Bloody Angel, by Alex BledsoeJuly 11: The Last Divine Office: Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, by Geoffrey MoorhouseJuly 15: The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food, by Lizzie CollinghamJuly 21: Equal of the Sun, by Anita AmirrezvaniJuly 22: Three A. M., by Steven JohnJuly 23: The Oxford History of the Novel in English, Vol. 3: The Nineteenth-Century Novel 1820-1880, edited by John Kucich and Jenny Bourne TaylorJuly 24: The Second World War, by Antony BeevorJuly 26: Conquest: The English Kingdom of France, 1417-1450, by Juliet BarkerJuly 27: Fevre Dream, George R.R. MartinJuly 29: The Black Rhinos of Namibia, by Rick BassJuly 30: London: A History in Verse, edited by Mark Ford
August
August 4: Legion of Super-Heroes: Hostile World, by Paul Levitz (script) and Francis Portela (art)August 6: Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks, by Juliet EilperinAugust 8: Jack 1939, by Francine MathewsAugust 9: Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations – Forgotten History, by Christopher L. BennettAugust 10: The Spymaster’s Daughter, by Jeane WestinAugust 11: Spartacus: Morituri, by Mark MorrisAugust 12: Fatal Colours: Towton 1461 – England’s Most Brutal Battle, by George GoodwinAugust 13: The Oxford Handbook of Thomas Middleton, edited by Gary Taylor & Trish Thomas HenleyAugust 16: James Madison: A Son of Virginia and a Founder of the Nation, by Jeff BroadwaterAugust 17: The Brontes – Wild Genius on the Moors: The Story of a Literary Family, by Juliet BarkerAugust 19: Terrible Swift Sword: The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan, by Joseph WheelanAugust 20: The Kingmaker’s Daughter, by Philippa GregoryAugust 22: The Lucky Ones: My Passionate Fight for Farm Animals, by Jenny Brown and Gretchen PrimackAugust 23: Fear Itself, by Matt Fraction (script) and Stuart Immonen (art)August 25: Dialectical Disputations, by Lorenzo Valla, translated by Brian Copenhaver and Lodi NautaAugust 27: The Men Who Would Be King, by Josephine RossAugust 28: Venice: History of the Floating City, by Joanne FerraroAugust 30: Venice & Vitruvius, by Margaret Muther D’EvelynAugust 31: Venice From the Water, by Daniel Savoy
September
September 1: Arguably: Essays, by Christopher HitchensSeptember 2: Hadrian: Empire and Conflict, by Thorsten OpperSeptember 3: Master and God, by Lindsey DavisSeptember 4: Legions of Rome: The Definitive History of Every Imperial Roman Legion, by Stephen Dando-CollinsSeptember 5: Reaper, by K. D. McEntireSeptember 6: King Stephen, by Edmund KingSeptember 7: Kiss of Steel, by Bec McMasterSeptember 8: The Caliph’s Splendor: Islam and the West in the Golden Age of Baghdad, by Benson BobrickSeptember 9: The Poems of Jesus Christ, translated by Willis BarnstoneSeptember 11: Emma: An Annotated Edition, by Jane Austen, edited by Bharat TandonSeptember 13: Namor: Visionaries, Volume 2, written & art by John ByrneSeptember 14: Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins, by J. E. LendonSeptember 15: Mistress of Mourning, by Karen HarperSeptember 16: I, Jane, by Diane HaegerSeptember 17: The Unfaithful Queen, by Carolly EricksonSeptember 18: Blood Eye (Raven: Book One), by Giles KristianSeptember 22: Beyond Rosie the Riveter: Women of World War II in American Popular Graphic Art, by Donna B. KnaffSeptember 23: The Christmas Carol Murders, by Christopher LordSeptember 24: Finally Free: An Autobiography, by Michael Vick, Brett Honeycutt, and Stephen CopelandSeptember 25: Who Wrote Shakespeare’s Plays?, by William D. RubinsteinSeptember 26: Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy Snyder
October
October 4: The Paperboy, by Pete DexterOctober 6: Homer: The Iliad, translated by Edward McCrorieOctober 8: Spider-Man: Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut, by Roger Stern (scripts) and John Romita, Jr. (art)October 10: Commentaries on Plato, Volume 2: Parmenides (in two volumes), by Marsilio Ficino, translated by Maude VanhaelenOctober 11: Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy, selected and introduced by Ted WidmerOctober 12: Essential Thor: Volume 6, by Gerry Conway, Bill Mantlo (scripts) and John Buscema, Sal Buscema (art)October 14: The Ice Castle: An Adventure in Music, by Pendred Noyce, by illustrations by Joan CharlesOctober 18: Joseph Anton: A Memoir, by Salman RushdieOctober 20: The Founders and Finance: How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy, by Thomas K. McGrawOctober 21: Through the Eye of a Needle, by Peter BrownOctober 22: Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David QuammenOctober 23: The Shadow: Blood & Judgment, written & drawn by Howard ChaykinOctober 25: The Lion Sleeps Tonight: And Other Stories of Africa, by Rian MalanOctober 27: London Eye (Toxic City, Book One), by Tim LebbonOctober 28: Among the Islands: Adventures in the Pacific, by Tim Flannery
November
November 1: Forever Rumpole, by John MortimerNovember 2: Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year, by David Von DrehleNovember 4: X-Men: The Hidden Years, Volume 2, by John ByrneNovember 8: A True Patriot: The Journal of William Thomas Emerson, by Barry DenenbergNovember 11: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy: A Maggie Hope Mystery, by Susan Elia MacNealNovember 12: 5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline KaelNovember 13: Shakespeare’s Common Prayers: The Book of Common Prayer and the Elizabethan Age, by Daniel SwiftNovember 14: Practically Wicked, by Alissa JohnsonNovember 15: Dialogues, Vol. I (Charon and Antonius), by Giovanni Gioviano Pontano, translated by Julia Haig GaisserNovember 16: Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors, by Peter AckroydNovember 17: The Clone Sedition, by Steven L. KentNovember 18: Legion: Secret Origin, by Paul Levitz (script), Chris Batista (art)November 19: The World of Persian Literary Humanism, by Hamid DabashiNovember 20: Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration, by Scott Tracy GriffinNovember 21: The Pharaoh: Life at Court and on Campaign, by Garry J. ShawNovember 22: Cry Havoc: How the Arms Race Drove the World to War, 1931-1941, by Joseph MaioloNovember 23: Nexus Omnibus Volume 1, by Mike Baron (script) and Steve Rude (art)November 25: Alibis: Essays on Elsewhere, by Andre AcimanNovember 26: Wonders of the Indian Wilderness, by Erach BharuchaNovember 27: The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up, by Jacob M. AppelNovember 28: Kafka in Love, by Jacqueline Raoul-Duval
December
December 4: The Big New Yorker Book of DogsDecember 7: Spectrum 19: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, edited by Cathy Fenner & Artie FennerDecember 8: A Dangerous Inheritance: A Novel of Tudor Rivals and the Secret of the Tower, by Alison WeirDecember 9: The English Bible: King James Version, edited by Herbert Marks, Gerald Hammond, and Austin BuschDecember 11: Counting One’s Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, edited by William Shawcross___Steve Donoghue is a writer and reader living in Boston with his dogs. He’s recently reviewed books for The Washington Post, The National, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Historical Novel Review Online, and The Quarterly Conversation. He is the Managing Editor of Open Letters Monthly, and hosts one of its blogs, Stevereads.