What I Read in July 2012

July appeared to be a Stephen King month for me. Most of the short fiction I read was King and every novel I read was King as well. Short fiction still suffered this month, but that is in part because I read three fairly long books (two of the three books added up to nearly 2,000 pages!) and I went on an article reading binge mid-month as well. I have a backlog of short fiction to catch up on. If only I can find the time to do it!

Incidentally, Stephen King’s It (my second reading of it) marks my 494th book since January 1, 1996. I’ll likely finish book #495 today and since I have 2 books to read for my September book review column, that puts me at least 497 books by the end of August. Anyone want to venture a guess as to when I will hit book #500?

And a reminder: bold titles indicate stories, articles or books that I particularly recommend.

Short fiction

1. 1922 by Stephen King (Full Dark, No Stars) [7/1/2012]
2. Big Driver by Stephen King (Full Dark, No Stars) [7/2/2012]
3. A Good Marriage by Stephen King (Full Dark, No Stars) [7/5/2012]
4. Cain Rose Up by Stephen King (Skeleton Crew) [7/6/2012]
5. The Man in the Black Suit by Stephen King (Everything’s Eventual) [7/7/2012]
6. Cutting by Ken Liu (Electric Velocepede #24) [7/30/2012]

Articles

1. Reflections: “Anthologies” by Robert Silverberg (Asimov’s, Septmber 2012) [7/19/2012]
2. Mannish Boy by Josh Eells (Rolling Stone, August 2, 2012) [7/20/2012]
3. The Only Human Superhero by Jonathan Lethem (Rolling Stone, August 2, 2012) [7/20/2012]
4. The Resurfacing of Anthony Ervin by Constaintine Markides (Rolling Stone, August 2, 2012) [7/20/2012]
5. The Consciousness Connection by Caroline Williams (New Scientist, July 21, 2012) [7/20/2012]
6. On the Brink by Craig Ryan (New Scientist, July 21, 2012) [7/20/2012]
7. Siri, Why Aren’t You Smarter by David Pogue (Scientific American, August 2012) [7/21/2012]
8. The Benevolence of Black Holes by Caleb Scharf (Scientific American, August 2012) [7/21/2012]
9. The Joyful Mind by Morten L. Kringelbach and Kent C. Berridge (Scientific American, August 2012) [7/22/2012]
10. Bruce Springsteen at Sixty-Two by David Remnick (The New Yorker, July 27, 2012) [7/23/2012]
11. Calculating Value in Apple’s Upgraded Software by David Pogue (New York Times, July 25, 2012) [7/25/2012]

Books

1. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King [7/5/2012]
2. Bag of Bones by Stephen King [7/10/2012]
3. It by Stephen King [7/30/2012]

And as always, if you are looking for inexpensive entertainment, a subscription to one of the many terrific science fiction and fantasy magazines out there is cheaper than an evening out at the movies.