Books acquired: “Reading Comics,” Douglas Wolk; “My Ideal Bookshelf,” Thessaly La Force, ed.; “Becoming Ray Bradbury,” Jonathan Eller; “My Bookstore,” Ronald Rice, ed.; “The Onion Book of Known Knowledge”; “Earth (The Book),” the Daily Show staff; “The Rock Snob’s Dictionary,” David Kamp and Steven Daly.

Books read: “Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers!,” Sean Howe, ed.; “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story,” Sean Howe; “Marvel Comics in the 1970s,” Pierre Comtois.

For December, having read 77 books the previous 11 months, I decided to take it easy and read three, for a nice round total of 80. I wanted to read a history of Marvel Comics that had just been published, and that reminded me that the author had edited a book of essays about comics, which I had received as a gift a year ago and hadn’t read. A third comics-related book had been on my shelves unread for a year. And, as Stan Lee might grandly have titled an issue of the Fantastic Four: “Lo, There Shall Come a Theme!”

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Sunday’s column is about Sherlock Holmes, the world’s greatest consulting detective. I recently finished reading all the original stories and thought I’d tell you about them, and him. The photo above was shot outside the Baker Street stop of the London Underground on my vacation last year.

Books acquired: “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story,” Sean Howe; “Dreams and Schemes,” Steve Lopez; “The Ecstasy of Influence,” Jonathan Lethem; “The Wonderful World of Robert Sheckley,” Robert Sheckley; “The Day After Tomorrow,” Robert A. Heinlein; “Los Angeles, the Architecture of Four Ecologies,” Rayner Banham; “The Winner of the Slow Bicycle Race,” Paul Krassner.

Books read: “My L.A.,” Matt Weinstock; “Orange County,” Gustavo Arellano; “Farewell to Manzanar,” Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James Houston; “Translating L.A.,” Peter Theroux; “This is Claremont,” Harold Davis, editor; “Ancient L.A.,” Michael Rochlin.

For yours truly, November was a month of California books. In the order presented above, my choices were a 1947 book of lore and facts about L.A. by a famous newspaper columnist of the day; a history of Orange County combined with a family history by the OC Weekly editor and “Ask a Mexican!” columnist; a famous memoir of the Japanese-American internment camp experience; an exploration of L.A. as it stood in the 1980s and early 1990s; a 1947 history of Claremont, then a mere 60 years from its founding; and a collection of three essays about aspects of L.A.’s past that influence its present.

I liked all the above, but my favorite was Theroux’s. He wrote “Translating L.A.” in 1994 as a transplant to LA who had lived through the riots and two major earthquakes and felt his adopted city was misunderstood and caricatured. He ranged throughout L.A., including Watts, East LA and the Inland Empire, to report on what he saw and ponder what it meant. Open-minded, slyly funny, perceptive. He even rode Metrolink from Union Station to Riverside for the final chapter, further endearing his book to me.

How did the books fall into my hands? “My L.A.” came from Magic Door Books in Pomona (I think I bought it on my first visit), “Orange County” from the remainder bin at Montclair’s Borders, “Translating LA” from (I think) Brand Books in Glendale, “Farewell to Manzanar” from the Rancho Cucamonga Library’s Big Read earlier this year, “This is Claremont” from the Antique Gallery in Pomona and “Ancient L.A.” from Half Off Books in Whittier. All were obtained in the past five years or so.

For a change of pace, for the photo I laid out the books in my laundry room. I have a small bookcase there too.

These six bring my total to 77 books read for the year. (As I bought seven this month, I didn’t make any headway on my backlog, but at least my backlog is slowly being refreshed.) My plan is to read a leisurely three in December, to top off at 80 for 2012. Although I might knock off an extra one or two.

What’s everyone else been reading, in between shopping, cooking turkey and bouts of the flu?

Sunday’s column (read it here) is my annual roundup of books reprinting vintage newspaper comic strips, from the very old (“Krazy Kat”) to the modern (“Opus”). Just in time for Christmas!

Books acquired: “Conversations With Jonathan Lethem,” Jaime Clarke, ed.

Books read: “Weird Heroes Vol. 1,” Byron Preiss, ed.; “Zorro,” Isabel Allende; “The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes,” A. Conan Doyle; “Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar,” Edgar Rice Burroughs; “Doomsman/Telepower,” Harlan Ellison/Lee Hoffman.

October was a heroic month, at least in my reading life. Knowing I would be reading the Allende version of Zorro, Pomona’s community read, I used that as an excuse to pick other  books with larger than life characters.

“Weird Heroes” was a late 1970s series of eight paperbacks featuring modern takes on positive heroes by SF and comics writers, with a few pen and ink illustrations by comics-friendly artists. This first one was a mixed bag and unsatisfying, but it was an interesting idea.

“Zorro,” at 400 pages, is perhaps more Zorro than you need, but it provides a convincing origin for the 1840s character that involves the San Gabriel Mission, Spain, Portugal, pirates and royalty.

In “Jewels of Opar,” the fifth in the series, Tarzan suffers a blow to the head and loses his memory, reverting to his ape-like ways. Meanwhile, Jane is kidnapped, which I suspect will be her role in many of the remaining 19 books. Overall, an enjoyable entry in the series. Also, I might have a crush on La, the priestess of Opar. If anyone knows her, please let her know she does not have to choose a mate from the gnarled, grotesque men of her hidden kingdom because she has an admirer in the Inland Valley. Thanks.

“Casebook” is the final Holmes story collection by his creator. Not up to the quality of the earlier books, although it’s arguably better than “Valley of Fear,” but for fans, the pleasures of spending time with Holmes and Watson sweep away any petty criticism.

As for “Doomsman/Telepower,” that’s two short novels in one, both involving soldiers of the future. Published in 1967, after Ellison had begun winning SF awards, “Doomsman” is a novella he cranked out in 1958 that is laughably awful. (Four pages after telling us a character being tortured no longer has eyes, he looks at someone.) I’m not sure the publisher had his permission to rescue the story from magazine oblivion. Making matters more embarrassing, despite its cheapjack cover and publisher, this is among the easier Ellison books to find at used bookstores. Lore has it that Ellison at least once was asked at a convention to autograph a copy and instead bought it from the fan and tore it up right in front of him. “Telepower,” by the way, is far better.

I’d had hopes of reading another Fu Manchu book — the next one is “President Fu Manchu,” a timely title — but I ran out of time. Soon. My five books in October brings my total this year to 71; I’m now aiming for 80.

I’ve owned these books anywhere from a few weeks (“Zorro”) to two decades (“Doomsman,” which still bears the $1.25 price tag from Atlanta’s Book Nook, marked up from the original 50 cents due to its out-of-print status). “Weird Heroes” I owned as a teen, never read, sold, then bought back four years ago for another try. Reading that and “Doomsman” meant a lot due to their longtime presence in my life, even if the contents weren’t so hot. “Casebook” was bought this year but is another book I owned as a boy, and read all or most of back then. “Tarzan” was bought in the past few years.

What have you been reading? I’m sure you’ve all been making heroic efforts.

Books acquired: “Zorro,” Isabel Allende; “Taco USA” and “Ask a Mexican,” Gustavo Arellano; “Silent Visions,” John Bengston; “Record Store Days,” Gary Calamar and Phil Gallo.

Books read: “The Man in the Maze,” Robert Silverberg; “A Maze of Death” and “The Man in the High Castle,” Philip K. Dick; “The Trail of Fu Manchu,” Sax Rohmer; “Lost and Found” and “Lost and Found 2,” Elizabeth Pomeroy.

I must have felt a little aimless during September, as the titles make clear. I seem to have been wandering trails and mazes near a castle, finding myself both lost and found. Or something like that.

The “Lost and Found” books compile dozens of two-page capsule histories of notable sites in the L.A. area, centered in the San Gabriel Valley and many of them parks or historical society-managed properties. Some are even out our way, like adobes in Chino and Pomona and the original San Antonio Hospital. Recommended for local history buffs.

The two Philip K. Dick novels were among his best. “Maze of Death” is about a bunch of misfits sent to a remote planet for reasons they have to figure out for themselves; “High Castle,” from 1962, imagines a world in which the Allies lost WWII, with Japan controlling the western states and Germany the east. A very thoughtful book about the ramifications and subtle changes in society that might ensue.

“Man in the Maze” is about a former American ambassador who (after an alien encounter) physically repulses people and who, disillusioned and betrayed, exiles himself to a maze-like world. And then he’s sought out by his country for a mission only he can perform. I really liked it.

“The Trail of Fu Manchu” is the seventh in the series (of 14) and among my favorites so far.

So, six books finished in September (the “Lost and Found” books had been read over a period of months), and I was enthusiastic about all six. I’m up to 66 for the year.

As for where they came from, “High Castle” is one I’ve owned probably 20 years or more; the others are comparatively recent purchases. “Man in the Maze” was bought earlier this year.

Currently I’m reading “Zorro” by Isabel Allende, the novel everyone in Pomona is supposed to be reading, and liking it. In October I’ll be reading other, semi-related novels of larger than life heroes.

What about you? What have you been reading?

Reading the story “The Rocket Man” in the Ray Bradbury collection “The Illustrated Man,” I was struck by the following passage. You’ll quickly see why:

“That night we sat on the mechanical porch swing which swung us and blew a wind upon us and sang to us. It was summer and moonlight and we had lemonade to drink, and we held the cold glasses in our hands, and Dad read the stereo-newspapers inserted into the special hat you put on your head and which turned the microscopic page in front of the magnifying lens if you blinked three times in succession. Dad smoked cigarettes and told me about how it was when he was a boy in the year 1997.”

Ha ha! Bradbury came up with earbuds and wall-filling flat screen TVs in “Fahrenheit 451,” but envisioning the future is tougher than it seems. Be grateful you don’t need to don a “special hat” to read this blog!

Books acquired: none.

Books read: “Men Without Women,” Ernest Hemingway; “The Illustrated Man,” Ray Bradbury; “The Bride of Fu Manchu,” Sax Rohmer; “Partners in Wonder,” Harlan Ellison; “Family Man,” Calvin Trillin.

Five books read in August, their titles forming something of a romantic arc, if you can picture the Illustrated Man and the Bride of Fu Manchu apart, meeting, marrying, living happily and spawning a family. (Me, I’m in the first phase, living vicariously through book titles.)

Hemingway’s book is an early collection of short stories, one of his best; Bradbury’s is his second story collection and ditto; the Rohmer novel is the sixth in the Fu Manchu series and silly fun; the Ellison book is a collection of not-bad collaborative stories with various SF greats, enlivened by the warm introductions; and the Trillin is a loose-limbed, humorous memoir about life with his wife and two daughters in Greenwich Village.

The Hemingway and Bradbury books were the clear winners with me. I’m of two minds about Trillin’s book. It’s often quite funny, but on the other hand there’s something of the insularity of a Salinger book or Wes Anderson movie.

I’ve owned some of these books a loooong time. Bradbury’s, which still has “10 cents” on the cover in grease pencil, might be the first one of his I bought, circa the mid-1970s. I read it back then but hadn’t touched it since. The Ellison was bought on vacation in Atlanta at the Book Nook in probably 1982 and unread ever since. Yikes! It’s satisfying to see it on my shelf now and know I’ve read it.

The other three are much more modern acquisitions: Trillin came from the former Foozles (!) remainder-bookstore in Ontario Mills around 2003, Rohmer from St. Louis’ Book House around 2006 and Hemingway from Powell’s in Portland in 2007.

So, five more down (and only, um, 523 unread books to go!) means I’ve finished an even 60 books in 2012, the precise number I read in all of 2011. A part of me would like to knock off for the rest of the year, but I’ll press on. New goal, based on what I expect to read in the next four months: 80.

Have you read any of the above? What are you folks reading? Are you getting to some of the books you had been hoping to get to this summer, or this year?

Books acquired: none

Books read: “A Memory of Murder,” “A Medicine for Melancholy,” Ray Bradbury; “At the Mountains of Madness,” H.P. Lovecraft; “Mail-Order Mysteries,” Kirk Demarais; “The Mad Morality,” Vernard Eller; “Of Mice and Men,” John Steinbeck; “The Marx Brothers at the Movies,” Paul Zimmerman and Burt Goldblatt; “The Mask of Fu Manchu,” Sax Rohmer.

Mm-mm! July’s reading was made up of books with a couple of M’s in the title. As organizing principles go, that’s moderately mad, but it was as good a reason as any to get to a clutch of eight (!) books that have lingered unread on my shelves for far too long. (Alas, I ran out of time to read four more: “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Man Who Sold the Moon” and “From Metal to Mozart.”)

My selections encompassed two Ray Bradbury collections, one compiling his early pulp detective fiction, the other a 1959 book of fantasy and mainstream stories; an H.P. Lovecraft horror collection; an amusing book revealing what you really got if you responded to mail-order ads in comic books for U-Control Ghosts, Sea Monkeys and the like; a book about the 10 Commandments and modern morality illustrated with satirical examples from Mad magazine and written by a La Verne professor of religion; a Steinbeck classic almost everyone has read; a film-by-film guide to the Marx Brothers; and the fifth in the Fu Manchu series of thrillers.

“Of Mice and Men” was, naturally, the best of the above, although I liked them all to varying degrees. “Mail-Order Mysteries” was especially entertaining to this longtime comics fan and made me glad I never wasted my money on any of the novelties. The Mad book was perhaps the oddest of the plethora of Mad mass-market paperbacks, a sort of “Gospel According to Peanuts” effort. I wrote an obituary about the author a few years ago but hadn’t read his book until now.

I’d read the Steinbeck and “A Medicine for Melancholy,” albeit three decades ago; the others I’d never read. “Mail-Order” was a Christmas gift last year, most of the rest were purchased this century and the Marx Brothers book has, embarrassingly, been in my collection since my teens.

What have you folks been reading?

Books acquired: “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” Baroness Orczy; “Treasure Island!!!,” Sara Levine; “Gently Down the Stream,” Bill McClellan.

Books read: “Children of the Streets,” Harlan Ellison; “The Son of Tarzan,” Edgar Rice Burroughs; “Daughter of Fu Manchu,” Sax Rohmer; “Methuselah’s Children” and “Orphans of the Sky,” Robert A. Heinlein.

Choosing my books by title is somewhat childish, admittedly — or playful, to be more upbeat — and this month I made it official by choosing books with titles concerning children.

The Ellison is a collection of circa-1960 fiction about juvenile deliquents; the Tarzan and Fu Manchu books are the fourth entries in their respective series (alas, son and daughter do not cross over and meet); and the two Heinleins are midcentury science fiction novels.

Best of the bunch was “Orphans of the Sky,” a neat religious allegory (with some “Idiocracy” thrown in) about an enormous spaceship that has traveled so long, for so many generations, that its occupants have no memory of Earth and don’t even understand they’re on a spaceship. Heh. The other Heinlein, about a secret society of long-lived people who have bred among themselves to extend life further, was less successful. The Ellison was all right, kind of a time capsule of its era, and the Fu and Tarzan books were good clean fun.

I’ll bring to the attention of commenter McBride that the protagonist of “Orphans” is named Hugh.

I bought all these books in the past, oh, eight years or so. These five bring me to 47 books read at the halfway point of the year. One hundred will elude me. Ninety may elude me. If I can finish 80 I’ll be happy.

OK, your turn. In the unlikely event that any of you have read any of the above, let us know; otherwise, let us know what you’ve been reading and how you’re doing on any personal reading goals. Do you anticipate a fruitful summer of reading or are you working like dogs?