Books acquired: none.

Books read: “The Crack in Space,” Philip K. Dick; “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” and “Great Tales and Poems,” Edgar Allan Poe; “The Essential Ellison,” Harlan Ellison; “Dave Barry’s History of the Millennium (So Far),” Dave Barry; “The Martian Chronicles,” Ray Bradbury.

Ringing out the old year, December saw me reading, or finishing off, six books. The stack looks more impressive than it is, as I’ll explain.

To run through these in brief, the two best of the month were “The Crack in Space” and “The Martian Chronicles.” The former, from 1966, takes place in 2080 and involves an overpopulated Earth, an interdimensional rift that promises an off-world place to ship the overflow, and a man who may become the first black president. It’s not one of Dick’s best, but it’s still pretty great. The latter, from 1950, in my opinion is Bradbury’s greatest, a lyrical allegory about western expansion. This is at least my third time through it. Possibly my favorite book.

The Dave Barry book collects some of his hilarious year-in-review pieces. Of the two Poes, “Mystery and Imagination” has all his best stories but, alas, many of his curiosities that have little interest for modern readers. The other one, “Great Tales,” hits most of the highlights of both stories and poems. The Harlan Ellison anthology is for admirers only (I’m one), weighing in at 1,250 pages and more than 3 pounds (says Amazon). You might convert the unconverted with 250 pages of prime Ellison, but only a fan would pick up an overstuffed collection like this. Also, where is his “City on the Edge of Forever” teleplay? I know, in a separate book, but most would consider it essential Ellison.

I’d read a lot of Poe the past year, and a lot of Ellison in recent years, so there was a lot of overlap with books already read, and much of the remaining material had been read over the course of 2014. I made a push to finish them before 2015.

The Bradbury and Dick books date to my childhood, while the others were acquired relatively recently. “Mystery” was bought at North Hollywood’s Iliad Bookshop, “Great Tales” came from Rancho Cucamonga’s fall Big Read, Barry from Amazon and Ellison from Barnes & Noble.

In 2014, I read 68 books, not a bad total. (And, crucially, I acquired less than a dozen.) This was the sixth year in a row in which I read 50 or more books, after years of sluggish reading. I expect to write a column soon on my year in reading and to post a list of all the titles and authors. Until then, leave a comment on your December, your experience with any of the above books and your whole year if you like.