45. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer – It is about a man who has no body odor, which was strange in 18th Century France, when the author made clear that everywhere and everyone smelled terribly. The man is also gifted in having a super sense of smell, with which he is willing to kill to get the best scents in the world. For a story about a serial killer, it takes a while for the murders to actually happen, though there are plenty of pages on how old fashioned perfume was made. The ending was unexpectedly crazy, not even counting the mass orgy.

46. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – The story of an overweight Latino obsessed with sci-fi and fantasy while living in New Jersey. Almost sounds like me, except the teenager is Dominicano, obsessed with trying to get a girlfriend, and dealing with an old family curse that may or may not exist. By the end, the book is less about Oscar’s misfortunes and more about how dictator Rafael Trujillo’s legacy messed up families for generations. No wonder it won the Pulitzer Prize.

47. Springfield Confidential – A memoir by longtime Simpsons writer Mike Reiss who was co-showrunner with Al Jean for Seasons 3 and 4. In between talking about his college years, 80s TV work and his semi-retirement, Reiss goes on at length on how The Simpsons is produced. Pretty much lots of writing, re-writing, and research for a single joke, plus even more work as a showrunner. Other than the drama behind the Critic crossover episode, Reiss claims there isn’t that much trouble in making the show. Interestingly, Reiss doesn’t care for the political/philosophical academic studies and “death of the author” interpretations of the show; he argues that sometimes a dumb joke is just a dumb joke.

If all goes to plan, I should be able to finish 3 more books, including the third Mistborn novel, by year's end.