By great good chance I happened to be in New York during the first week of November 2008, so I was able to witness at first hand the jubilation around Obama's first election as President. It's a nice coincidence for this month to come up now in my schedule of posts about previous years' reading, as we watch Trump's inability to cope with the reality of defeat. McCain has a lot more class.

We also had a lovely weekend in Cambridge, marred however by the car breaking down on the Brussels ring road just as we were nearing home at 3.30 am.

Literally the following day, I went on one of my regular visits to Cyprus. I filmed a few streetscape shots of the northern part of Nicosia, with the intention of sharing them with work colleagues, but in the end was not satisfied with either the sound or the picture quality. Still, for posterity, here they are.

With transatlantic and Cyprus travels, I read 32 books in November 2008.

Non-fiction 8 (YTD 64)
Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945, by Tony Judt
Brussels versus the Beltway: Advocacy in the United States and the European Union, by Christine Mahoney
More Real Than Reality: The Fantastic in Irish Literature and the Arts, edited by Donald E. Morse and Csilla Bertha
Who Goes There (Travels through Strangest Britain, in Search of the Doctor), by Nick Griffiths
30 Hot Days, by Mehmet Ali Birand
Glafkos Clerides: the Path of a Country, by Niyazi Kızılyürek
Elizabeth I, by David Starkey
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Alison Weir

Non-genre 2 (YTD 24)
The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett
Emma, by Jane Austen

Scripts 3 (YTD 19)
The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare
The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, by William Shakespeare
The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, by William Shakespeare

SF 13 (YTD 53)
The Adventures of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, by Dav Pilkey
Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds), by Dav Pilkey
Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants, by Dav Pilkey
Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman, by Dav Pilkey
Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part 1: The Night of the Naughty Nostril Nuggets, by Dav Pilkey
Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers, by Dav Pilkey
Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People, by Dav Pilkey
Year's Best SF 13, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
Science Fiction Hall of Fame: The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time, edited by Robert Silverberg
Heart of Stone, by C.E. Murphy
House of Cards, by C.E. Murphy
Hands of Flame, by C.E. Murphy

Doctor Who 4 (YTD 169)
Interference Book Two: The Hour of the Geek, by Lawrence Miles
Campaign, by Jim Mortimore
Doctor Who Annual [1966], [rumoured to be mainly written by David Whitaker]
Theatre of War, by Justin Richards

Comics 2 (YTD 6)
Burma Chronicles, by Guy Delisle
Alias vol 4: The Secret Origins of Jessica Jones, by Brian Michael Bendis

9,200 pages (YTD 85,300)
8/32 by women (YTD 47/355)
none by PoC (YTD 355)

I'm going to single out four good ones this month:

• Who Goes There (Travels through Strangest Britain, in Search of the Doctor), by Nick Griffiths – a great book about looking for famous Doctor Who locations in England and Wales, while dealing with real life as well. You can get it here.
• The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett, a lovely little novella about Queen Elizabeth II suddenly deciding to start reading, and the viciously negative reactions of her advisers to her new habit. You can get it here.
• Science Fiction Hall of Fame: The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time, edited by Robert Silverberg, one of those classic collections, assembling the top sf stories published before 1965 as voted for by the membership of SFWA in the late 1960s. You can get it here.
• Alias vol 4: The Secret Origins of Jessica Jones, by Brian Michael Bendis and others; so many pages here where Bendis and the artists achieve statements that couldn't be made in any other medium – the schooldays flashback, Jessica's first encounter with other superheroes, and the unspoken parts of her conversations with her friends and lovers. You can get it here.