In 2008 I read around 190 volumes of manga and graphic novels and 55 books. These estimates might be a bit on the low side, because I sometimes forget to track everything that I’m reading. For books, I think I enjoyed reading Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley books the most, and I still need to read the final volume in the series. I think that will be my first book read in 2009. The worst book I read in 2008 was undoubtedly Breaking Dawn.

New manga series I enjoyed in 2008: Song of the Hanging Sky, Sand Chronicles, High School Debut, and the VIZbig edition of Vagabond. A bunch of series I’ve been reading for a few years ended: Hana Kimi, Basara, and Tramps Like Us. The manga I enjoyed the least were Heavenshield and Yozakura Quartet.

I finally got around to reading Ed Brubaker’s Captain America, and I found it extremely entertaining. I also had my mind blown by the first of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World reprints. Those were the graphic novels I liked the most in 2008.