October and November are two big “buying” months because there are book sales, tent sales, and comic book conventions. So, as the month wound down, I decided to take another inventory to see where the numbers are.

And here’s what I’ve got …

• Physical Comics to Read: 43
• Digital Comics to Read: 418
• Trades/Graphic Novels to Read: 22
• Books to Read: 103
• Movies to Watch: 229
• TV Shows to Watch: 50
• TV Seasons to Watch: 83
• Podcast Episodes to Listen to: 87

So here’s this month’s tally with the updated numbers …

• Physical Comics Read: 0 (200/200)
• Digital Comics Read: 0 (418/418)
• Trades/Graphic Novels Read: 0 (22/22)
• Books Read: 1 (102/103)
• Movies Watched: 1 (227/228)
• TV Shows Watched: 0 (50/50)
• TV Seasons Watched: 0 (83/83)
• Podcast Episodes to Listen to: 87

It just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?

Plus, it seems like I did so little in October, but I was reading a LOT, just not books that were on the list. In my defense, I was checking them out of the public library, so they didn’t stay in the house. But with my LCS’ “local comic shop day”, the Baltimore-Comic Con, and the upcoming tent sale at the comic store, there’s a much bigger list of stuff.

Again.

If you want a recap of the Baltimore Comic-Con, listen to the latest episode of Pop Culture Affidavit. I go through everything I got and will be reading. As always, it proved to be a great time and I cam ehome with a lot of back isseus and trades. I’m working my way through them right now, in fact.

My other big buying spree was at the beginning of last month, which was our semi-annual Friends of the Library sale. I’ve been going to this sale for the better part of two years now; last fall, I was there at rope drop, in a line that snaked all the way down the shopping center to the Aldi. This year, I decided to just go whenever I wanted. Unlike the Baltimore Con, I didn’t have a set strategy or even a want list. I had a few ideas in my head of what I was interested in, but if I got little out of it, I wouldn’t be bothered.

This time around? Well, I actually had to put things back because there was so much I wanted to grab. I always hit the sci-fi/horror section first, and I was grabbing Stephen King books I’d wanted to read as well as the remaining books I needed from Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 series. In fact, I found the very editions that I used to check out from my public library when I was a teenager but never actually read (I did a lot of that back then). Once I finish the two short story collections I checked out of the library and the next Required Reading book, I’ll be hitting those.

And it’s going to be time for a cull very soon. With so many books read this year, I can definitely decide what I want to keep. Then, I might take another look through my movies and TV lists and ask myself: do I really want to watch this? And the comics? Oh well … I guess we’ll see what I like out of those back issues I bought a few weeks ago.

At least I’ll be entertained.