Okay, time to finish off the books I read in 2004. (For 2005 I'm going to see if I can figure out enough HTML to keep a running tally of books read.)

• The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges. Borges came up a fair amount in the annotations to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, vol. 2, and I was reminded of how much I enjoy his stories, so I put this on hold at the library, & it took a little while to come in. (Checked out of the library, of course.)
  
• Don't Stand Where the Comet Is Assumed to Strike Oil By Scott Adams. I believe Dilbert has run its course, that Adams has mined the topic for all it is worth. Or at least all he has to say about it. (Library.)
  
• Unshelved by Bill Barnes & Gene Ambaum. A collection of comic strips about a public library. Not terribly funny, but there are a few moments. (Library.)
  
• America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by the writers of The Daily Show. A Christmas gift from Teena. Extremely funny, but what else would you expect from these people? The Daily Show may be my favorite TV program. Consistently hilarious.
  
• The Brick Testament: The Story of Christmas by Brendan Powell Smith. You've gotta love Bible stories rendered in Lego bricks.
  
• Hench by Adam Beechen & Manny Bella. The story of a guy who works as a henchman for a variety of supervillains. This is the kind of thing that Kurt Busiek does in Astro City, and while this isn't as good as that, it's still a lot more interesting than the majority of superhero comics out there. (Library.)
  
• The Essential Tomb of Dracula, vol. 3 by Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan. Collecting the final 20 issues of the comic book & the first few issues of the magazine (which wasn't covered by the Comics Code Authority since it wasn't a "comic book"). Good stuff. There's going to be a fourth collection, but since Wolfman didn't write that much of it, I don't think I'll be picking that one up.
  
• Shock Rockets: We Have Ignition by Kurt Busiek & Stuart Immonen. (Library.)
  
• Sleeper, vol. 2: All False Moves by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips. An excellent comic series about a man who is deep undercover in an international criminal organization, so deep undercover that only one person knows he isn't the outlaw he appears to be. Unfortunately, that one person is in a coma. This collection deals with Carver having a chance at extraction. Really, this is a spy story with superhero trappings. Excellent stuff. (Library.)
  
• Dork Side of the Goon: The Collected Dork Tower VII by John Kovalic.
  
• Champs by Steven Weissman. Terrific comics about being a kid. (Library.)
  
• Axis of Trouble by Lloyd Dangle. A collection of political cartoons. (Library.)
  
• Girl Genius, vol. 3: Agatha Heterodyne & the Monster Engine by Phil & Kaja Foglio. (It's too soon after publication for Amazon to have a listing for this small press book.) The latest collection of my favorite comic currently being published. Rollicking fun adventure with mad science in an extremely well thought-out setting. Marvelous stuff. (Still a little pricey, though, at $21 for a collection of four issues that initially cost $4 each.)
  
• Mystique: Dead Drop Gorgeous by Brian K. Vaughan & Jorge Lucas. (Library.)

And that's it for the books I read in 2004. All in all, there were 628 of them. And despite the number that I bought, borrowed, & reread, I now have fewer unread books in my apartment than I did at the beginning of the year.