Tag Archives: memoir

My 2024 Reading Stacks #2 of 2: The Omnibus Edition

July 12, 2025 By in Comics/Lit Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
The first fur books covered in this entry, all of them large hardcovers.

Special thanks to Gem City Books out of Dayton, OH, for showing up at comic-cons and selling such oversized collections at enticing discounts.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Welcome once again to our recurring MCC feature in which I scribble capsule reviews of everything I’ve read lately that was published in a physical format over a certain page count with a squarebound spine on it — novels, original graphic novels, trade paperbacks, infrequent nonfiction dalliances, and so on…

…and so on goes the usual intro. Last year’s stacks are cluttering the living-room space next to our PC but can’t be put away till this delayed annual tradition is finished. Onward, then, for feng shui‘s sake! Starting with the heaviest! Keep in mind, all these numbers aren’t rankings, just random tallying, not even listed in actual reading order. Continue reading →

My 2023 Reading Stacks #4: The Ludicrously Delayed Triple-Sized Wrap-Up

June 16, 2024 By in Comics/Lit Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Bunch of books piled on our dining table, mostly graphic novels.

I usually prefer showing off all the covers, but we are waaaaay past the deadline that nobody gave me.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Welcome to our recurring MCC feature in which I scribble capsule reviews of everything I’ve read that was published in a physical format over a certain page count with a squarebound spine on it — novels, original graphic novels, trade paperbacks, infrequent nonfiction dalliances, and so on. Due to the way I structure my media-consumption time blocks, the list will always feature more graphic novels than works of prose and pure text, though I do try to diversify my literary diet as time and acquisitions permit.

Occasionally I’ll sneak in a contemporary review if I’ve gone out of my way to buy and read something brand new. Every so often I’ll borrow from my wife Anne or from our local library. But the majority of our spotlighted works are presented years after the rest of the world already finished and moved on from them because I’m drawing from my vast unread pile that presently occupies four oversize shelves comprising thirty-five years of uncontrolled book shopping. I’ve occasionally pruned the pile, but as you can imagine, cut out one unread book and three more take its place…

Yeah, this is beyond late and into the realm of “why bother now?” It isn’t even the only “year in review” post still on my to-do list. The stacks have cluttered the area around our computer desk this entire time and really need to be moved so I don’t start mixing them up with the books I’ve read so far in 2024, but in my mind they can’t be moved till their capsules are finished. I hate to post an abbreviated entry simply to get something “over with”, but the time has come, gone, lapped around and come again. In the spirit of spring cleaning before summer begins this very week, here’s everything else I read last year but with (mostly) shorter capsules than usual. Longer capsules could be provided upon request, I guess?

Continue reading →

My 2023 Reading Stacks #2

November 10, 2023 By in Comics/Lit Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Hardcover memoirs by Patrick Stewart and Brian Cox. See reviews below.

From the Department of Candid UK Actor Memoirs That Have Been Mined for Clickbait Fodder by Entertainment News Sites.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Welcome to our recurring MCC feature in which I scribble capsule reviews of everything I’ve read that was published in a physical format over a certain page count with a squarebound spine on it — novels, original graphic novels, trade paperbacks, infrequent nonfiction dalliances, and so on. Due to the way I structure my media-consumption time blocks, the list will always feature more graphic novels than works of prose and pure text, though I do try to diversify my literary diet as time and acquisitions permit.

Occasionally I’ll sneak in a contemporary review if I’ve gone out of my way to buy and read something brand new. Every so often I’ll borrow from my wife Anne or from our local library. But the majority of our spotlighted works are presented years after the rest of the world already finished and moved on from them because I’m drawing from my vast unread pile that presently occupies four oversize shelves comprising thirty-five years of uncontrolled book shopping. I’ve occasionally pruned the pile, but as you can imagine, cut out one unread book and three more take its place…

Continue reading →

Admiral Picard’s Personal Log: Star Trek Fans Welcome Patrick Stewart’s Memoir Tour to Cincinnati

October 7, 2023 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
Me holding a copy of Patrick Stewart's memoir "Making It So" in each hand. The front cover is a closeup of Stewart's smiling head against a black background, hands stacked under his chin.

Our copies of Making It So, now available at a bookseller or other upstanding merchant near you! Or through bookshop.org! Or Amazon, if you must!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: two weeks ago my wife Anne and I drove two hours southeast from Indianapolis to attend our fourth Cincinnati Comic Expo. Their fun lineup of guests from pop culture works past and present included two actors from the world of Star Trek whom we’d met before but had reasons to seek out for encores. Longtime MCC readers are well aware Trek is a mutual interest of ours, though Anne outdoes me in numerous ways on this front (and many others). Among her various Trek-related collections and hobbyist accomplishments, over the course of 30+ years of convention-going she’s met every major Trek captain who served prior to 2017.

For those of you doing the math: yes, that illustrious roster includes Sir Patrick Stewart, who hasn’t attended a Midwest convention in over a decade. Anne had the pleasure of seeing him twice in person at shows prior to this website’s existence. On March 21, 1993, before she and I ever shared a relationship status, she watched him onstage at a con where interpersonal interaction wasn’t an option. Her second chance came at Wizard World Chicago on August 13, 2011, which the two of us attended together but were split up for a few hours because there were so, so many stars we each wanted to meet. I was off at some other booth when she obtained his autograph and got to exchange pleasantries with him, in a little anecdote I like to call “That Time Anne Nearly Made Patrick Stewart Cry”. It’s a long story that isn’t mine to tell here, but she’ll tell you if you ever run into us at a con and if you’re nice about it.

Fast-forward to today: the beloved British actor who’s played Jean-Luc Picard, Professor Charles Xavier, countless Shakespeare characters, literally every single speaking part in A Christmas Carol, Captain Ahab, the skinhead gang leader from Green Room, the poop emoji in The Emoji Movie, and more more more has just written his first book, a memoir titled Making It So. As soon as his U.S. speaking tour was announced, Anne was on top of it within minutes and found his closest stop to our house was Cincinnati. Back to the Queen City we’d go, so I could see him live for once. And third time’d surely be the charm for her.

Continue reading →

My 2020 Reading Stacks #2: The Horror and Heroism of “Becoming Superman”

February 14, 2020 By in Comics/Lit Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Becoming Superman!

A highly recommended read, from the introduction by onetime Babylon 5 writer Neil Gaiman to all those other pages not written by Gaiman.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Every year, each and every squarebound work of qualifying length that I’ve read gets a capsule review apiece. I refrain from devoting entries to full-length book reviews because 999 times out of 1000 I’m finishing a given work decades after the rest of the world is already done and moved on from it. As time permits and the finished books pile up, I’ll be charting my full list of books, graphic novels, and trade collections in a staggered, exclusive manner here, for all that’s worth to the outside world. Due to the way I structure my media-consumption time blocks, the list will always feature more graphic novels than works of prose and pure text. Novels and non-pictographic nonfiction will still pop up here and there, albeit in an outnumbered capacity…

And now, we rejoin reading time already in progress…though this time with a single memoir that hit me on numerous levels.

7. J. Michael Straczynski, Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood. The sub-subtitle on the cover of the celebrated writer’s 2019 autobiography pulls no punches and tells no lies: With Stops Along the Way at Murder, Madness, Mayhem, Movie Stars, Cults, Slums, Sociopaths, and War Crimes. Those diverse, potentially lurid topics are by no means a complete list. He left more than a few surprises between the covers, where they await discovery as each is torn out of his family’s deep, dark closets and brought to light.

Continue reading →