52 Weeks of Reading Recommendations by Dennis O’Neil
When ComicMix launched a year ago, we were especially pleased to include the legendary Dennis O’Neil as one of our regular columnists. Denny has written and/or edited every major character in comics, including Batman, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Superman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Iron Man, the Question, Azrael, and Millie the Model.
Back in the day, when comics had letter columns, Denny would usually share his reading preferences with readers. We’re delighted to have continued this tradition here on ComicMix in Denny’s weekly columns.
To celebrate the last 52 weeks of Denny’s contributions to ComicMix, here’s a list of what he’s recommended so far, in the order he recommended them and with his thoughts on the recommendations (when he provided them). You’ll notice that, sometimes, he suggests the same book more than once. And sometimes, he suggests more than one book at a time. That’s the kind of reader Denny is — he takes his time, and he’s eclectic.
Good reading!
2/13/07
Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud
This is the one essential book for anyone with a genuine interest in the subject.
2/20/97
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, by Sam Harris
2/27/07
Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, by Thich Nhat Hanh
3/06/07
Letters to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris
3/13/07
Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre, by Peter Coogan
Full disclosure: I wrote the book’s introduction. But I won’t profit if you buy it. I recommend it because it is, quite simply, the best treatment of the subject I’ve encountered.
3/20/07
Letters to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris
3/27/07
Don’t Know Much About The Universe, by Kenneth C. Davis
If you’re one of us guys who snoozed through science classes, or managed not to take any at all, you need this informative and reader-friendly book. It may surprise you and it may even make you regret your little naps.
4/03/07
Any of the Shadow reprints
4/10/07
The Sandwalk Adventures: An Adventure in Evolution Told in Five Chapters, by Jay Hosler. Clan Apis, by Jay Hosler
4/17/07
More of The Shadow
4/24/07
The Ecstasy Of Influence: A Plagiarism, by Jonathan Lethem
5/01/07
Anything by Kurt Vonnegut.
My favorite among his novels is Sirens of Titan, with Slaughterhouse Five, arguably a better book, a close second. But nothing Vonnegut wrote is likely to disappoint you.
5/08/07
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King
Part autobiography, part literary advice and, like everything of King’s, highly readable.
5/15/07
The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkin
5/22/07
Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s, by Philip K. Dick
The novels in the collection are Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (which became the basis for the film "Blade Runner"), The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and Ubik.
5/29/07
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, by Christopher Hitchens
6/05/07
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig
6/12/07
The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
6/19/07
The Creators, by Daniel J. Boorstin
6/26/07
The Creators, by Daniel J. Boorstin
7/03/07
Introducing Semiotics, by Paul Cobley and Litza Jansz
7/10/07
Adventures in the Screen Trade, by William Goldman
7/17/07
The Mad War on Bush, by the Usual Gang of Idiots
Painful truth in cartoon form
7/24/07
The Assault on Reason, by Al Gore
7/31/07
Understanding McLuhan, by W. Terrence Gordon, illustrations by Susan Willmarth
8/07/07
Awareness, by Anthony de Mello
Those of you who look at this blather every week may have guessed that I’m not a huge fan of organized religion these days, largely because of the misuses to which it’s currently being put, and the book recommended above is by a Jesuit. Well, if the Jebbies who presided over my university years were like de Mello, I might lay some bucks on the alumni fund once in a while.
8/14/07
Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell
8/21/07
On The Road, by Jack Kerouac. Howl, by Allen Ginsberg
8/28/07
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
9/04/97
Roy has revived Alter Ego and I’m suggesting you might want to check out an issue or two. If your comics store doesn’t have them, check out the publisher: TwoMorrows.
9/11/07
Walden and Civil Disobedience, both by Henry David Thoreau
9/18/07
The Original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes – Volume One: Batman, by Michael Fleisher
9/25/07
Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney
10/02/07
You want to know something about Zen? Brad Warner’s your man. Warner is a musician, monster movie fan and Zen priest and that, my friends, is a resume a lot of us would be proud to call our own. His latest book is called Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, Good, Truth, Sex, Death & Dogen’s Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye. The title, for once, says it all.
10/09/07
If you like your crime fiction hard-boiled but believable and your nature scenes lyrical, pick up any of Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels. I’ll be forever grateful to the late, justly beloved Archie Goodwin for recommending Burke to me.
10/16/07
10/23/07
They Have a Word for It, by Howard Rheingold
10/30/07
Superman at Fifty: The Persistence of a Legend. Edited by Dennis Dooley and Gary Engle
I’m making you aware of this because I don’t think many people are. Full disclosure: I wrote one of the essays in this collection, which was published on the occasion of the Man of Steel’s 50th birthday. (The geezer’s now 68.) You have my permission to skip my contribution.
11/06/07
Der Steppenwolf, by Herman Hesse
11/13/07
Spy vs Spy: The Complete Casebook, by Antonio Prohia
11/20/07
Time and Again, by Jack Finney
11/27/07
The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler
12/04/07
Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacso
12/11/07
Mark Twain, by Ron Powers
An excellent bio of the quintessential American writer who, incidentally, has a comedy on Broadway.
12/18/07
Breaking the Spell, by Daniel Denned
And are some of you groaning, not another anti-religion diatribe? Can’t O’Neil find another horse to ride? Neighhhhh…But Dennet’s book is worth noting because, unlike some of the others, it is devoid of anger and it concentrates of what questions we should be asking.
12/25/07
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson
1/01/08
Disguised as Clark Kent, by Danny Fingeroth, and Thank God for Evolution, by Michael Dowd
1/08/08
The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, by Bruno Bettelheim
1/15/08
The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, by Bruno Bettelheim
1/22/08
“The Moral Instinct," by Steven Pinker.
This is an article that appeared in the New York Times Magazine dated January 13, 2008. You might still be able to read it on the Times website, or look at it in your local public library, and the effort is well worth making. Dr. Pinker’s piece is, by a wide margin, the best thing I’ve seen on the real basis for morality and ethics, and how they relate to religion.
1/29/08
The Portable Jack Kerouac, edited by Ann Charters
2/05/08
At Hell’s Gate, by Claude Anshin Thomas
Thomas is the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met and this, the story of a man who began adulthood as a door gunner killing people from a helicoper in Viet Nam and is now a Zen monk and peace activist, is a truly extraordinary autobiography.
Remember, you can read more of Dennis O’Neil’s columns on ComicMix every week and receive even more great recommendations!
Nothing by Raymond Chandler? Dashiell Hammett? John D. MacDonald? Elmore Leonard? For shame!I'll add one, though: "Rule of the Bone" by Russell Banks.
Hmmm. I still think that Tolkien's treatment of Beowulf is still the best. But , horses for courses.