It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Okay. Book club time. So I just finished Fables vol 1, thank you Chris, Fables vol 2 and Preacher vol 1.

Fables is amazing. It is a fantasy world set up where all creatures from fairy tales have been banished from their world so they are left to live in ours. The ones who can pass as humans live in NYC and the ones who can't live on a farm in upstate NY. The first book was a murder mystery and the second was about civil war between the farm and the city dwellers. Most of the characters I recognize, like Snow White, Prince Charming and the three pigs. Some I am not familiar with though, like Bluebeard and Rose Red.

Preacher though. Preacher is something else. It has god, angels, demons, vampires, serial killers, cops, a preacher, John Wayne. Its got it all. It is a little funny. Very action filled. And something else. The premise is that god is alive but he quit his job to roam the earth. The preacher has found this out and he is going to find god and make him return to the job. It really is something else.

A few weeks ago I read Plum Spooky. It is not in the Stephanie Plum series, it is one of the "between the numbers" books. It was good. Normally the Stephanie Plum books are at least grounded in the human world, even if the events that transpire seem rather unlikely. This however had vampires, werewolves and the Easter Bunny. It was a fun departure.

And that brings us to what I really want to discuss. The sad state of literature this year. Last year was a very exciting year. It brought us:

• When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
• The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
• Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman
• A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father by Augusten Burroughs
• Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
• Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
• My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Political Mind by George Lakoff
• Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
• The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
• From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
• Brida By Paulo Coelho, Summer Morning
• Summer Night by Ray Bradbury
• And Kurt Vonnegut was even able to publish something from the grave: Armageddon in Retrospect.

This year though. This year we will get:

• Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
• Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
• The Eternal Smile: Three Stories by Gene Luen Yang
• Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages by Bill Willingham
• Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk
• B Is for Beer by Tom Robbins
• Fool: A Novel by Christopher Moore - which I'm currently reading
• Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
• We'll Always Have Paris: Stories by Ray Bradbury

Fourteen new works last year. Nine this year. And in the this year column we have two from the same author and two graphic novels. So that's really more like six this year. Where is Dave Eggers, Jeffrey Eugenides with a novel, Bret Easton Ellis, Douglas Coupland, Michelle Tea? I mean, Ray Bradbury (no disrepect to him) is 112 and he had a new book last year and this year. And Stephenie Meyer isn't even a writer but she seems to be capable of putting out frequent new work. Maybe Steve Jobs is right. Maybe people don't read anymore. But I do. And I would like more new books please.