The Itinerant Librarian: My Reading List for 2019

Sunday, January 12, 2020

My Reading List for 2019

Welcome to my end of year reading list (with some end of year thoughts) for 2019. Let's see what has been going on.

My professional blog continues on hiatus, and it is likely to stay that way for a good while. My actual library work does keep me busy, but I do not always have the time to write about it for the blog. I have been incubating some writing ideas, but not I am not sure they are substantial enough to re-open that blog at this time. So for now, that shop stays closed.

Over the last year, I have worked on adding some more bookish content in this blog in addition to my book reviews. It is still a work in progress. I continue to enjoy being a book blogger very much. This focus will be where I focus most of my blogging efforts moving on (that and my cartomancy, but more on that below).

Speaking of book reviews, if you are an author, editor, or publisher, and you think you have a book I may want to read and review, check out my book review statement, then let me know. I'd be happy to consider it if fits with my review statement and reading interests. I am also a Tarot and oracle card reader and collector, so if you are an author, editor, and publisher of a deck and/or book on this subject, feel free to pitch it my way. If you want to see a sampling of what I have reviewed in that area, you can check the "Tarot" tag on this blog (right side column).

In milestones, in September 11, 2019 I marked seven years working at Hutchins Library. As I said before, it may not all be roses and rainbows, but it has been a pretty good run overall, and I look forward to the new year working there.

In other blogging and social media updates and news. I found a new home for now for Alchemical Annex over at NewTumbl, one of the various sites that came up after the the whole Tumblr debacle at the end of 2018. It took me a while to figure things out over there, and it is still a bit of a work in progress. One of the things I do like is their post tagging and ratings system, done by humans rather than an algorithm; it is not perfect but works pretty well I think. I set the rating on the blog to "mature" (or rather I had it set to "mature." I recently felt the need to raise it up to "X" not necessarily because I post or reblog X-rated level content but because other reasons due to their systems. My blog's content there still remains "M" or below, but you may need to log in to see some of it. A bit of a long story I posted about over there). I may write a post reviewing my experience over there down the road. Meanwhile, Alchemical Annex on NT is mainly for fun as the old Tumblr was, plus it is starting to become home to my Tarot and cartomancy content including my daily card draws (which I also still share on Twitter). So if you visit over there it's a bit like a commonplace book of images, short posts, and my cartomancy stuff mainly for fun and amusement. While I still have the Wordpress site, just put that on hiatus since in NewTumbl I do not have to worry (so far) over things like image limits. Also putting the Wordpress Alchemical Annex on hiatus means one less thing to manage for now. I am really looking over my options and see what can stay operative and what needs to be put on hiatus or dormant. I started some of these things back in the days of Library 2.0 as a way to learn new things and experiment, but I am finding I am not using them as much, so makes sense to put them dormant. I am not deleting them, and I may go back if I find a good focus I want to work on, but for now, less is better.

Meanwhile, Alchemical Thoughts is still semi-active, mainly to keep track of things I want to read and some other miscellaneous commonplace things. As I mentioned above, I opened Wordpress account to try out their blogging platform back in the days of Library 2.0, but these days it may be a bit redundant. I seriously need to reflect on what I may want for that blog. For now, I am going to try and give it a go to make it more my Tarot and cartomancy blog in 2020. We'll see how it goes.

So let's get on to the actual reading for 2019. I predicted that I likely read a bit less last year than before. I am pretty much at peace with that. Reasons for that include:

I have been watching a bit more media and videos. This includes checking out DVDs from my local public library, plus I have bought a few that I need to watch and blog about down the road. On the media front, I have been using Tubi, and it has been quite fun, even if it can be a "video jukebox of schlock and craptitude" (by the way, that great little phrase comes from B-Movie Poster Vault, @TheBMovieVault on Twitter). When they have a rare gem they are good; rest of the time, not so much, but it can be fun overall. One of the highlights in Tubi is they have some nice runs of old 1980s cartoons, so I often binge watch those during down times. I am also trying out a few other free streaming sites that contain curious things here or there. If you are interested or curious about what I have been watching, including a few things I watched so you do not have to, check out my "film and television" tag on this blog.
I do continue with politics/social issues reading moratorium, which means I am not reading books in those topics or any related topic. I want as much escapism as possible, so if it is not books it is older movies and shows for me. To be honest, I do not find much appealing in a lot of modern entertainment, and I am not necessarily willing to pay extra for streaming services just for that one series or movie everyone else in the herd considers a big deal. Overall, I have plenty of options to keep me entertained without worrying about extras.
I continue with my study of Tarot, oracle cards, and cartomancy. My skill at reading the cards has improved over the past year. One of things I want to try in the next year is to post spreads I try out. This is mainly card spreads that other more experienced readers share, so for me it would be an exercise trying a spread and seeing how it worked out for me. I will be posting those over at the Alchemical Annex if you wish to check them out along with my daily card draws. May also post them at Alchemical Thoughts.

Next, we look at what and how I read in 2019. After the list, you will find my comments and remarks. Note that books with an asterisk (*) are rereads.

January:

Lauren Reeves, And Then You Die of Dysentery.
D.L. Hughley, How Not To Get Shot.
Michael Dirda, Browsings.
Michael Dirda, Book by Book.
Matt Birbeck, The Quiet Don.

February:

Don Miguel Ruiz, The Three Questions.
Rick Remender, Venom: The Complete Collection, Volume 1.
David Annandale, Yarrick: Imperial Creed (Warhammer 40,000).
Robert Kirkman, Battle Pope Presents: Saint Michael.

March:

Ann Fiery, The Book of Divination.
Anne Bogel, I'd Rather Be Reading.
Debbie Tung, Book Love.
Stella Harris, Tongue Tied: Untangling Communication in Sex, Kink, and Relationships.

April:

Graham McNeill, A Thousand Sons (Horus Heresy, # 12).
Michael M. Hughes, Magic for the Resistance.
Andrew S. Curran, Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely.
Fred Rogers, You are Special.
Michael Crisp, The Kentucky Bucket List.

May:

James Lileks, The Gallery of Regrettable Food.
Ellen Dugan, Witches Tarot (book and card deck kit).
Deborah Black, Everyday Witch Tarot (book and card deck kit).
Marcus Katz, Tarot Time Traveller.
Michael Mayo, The Horror Show Guide.
Lisa Freinkel Tishman, Mindful Tarot.
Gary Larson, Valley of the Far Side.
Robert McParland, Bestseller: A Century of America's Favorite Books.
John Baxter, A Pound of Paper.

June:

Nina Katchadourian, Sorted Books.
Joyce Higginbotham and River Higginbotham, Paganism: an Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions.
Margaret C. Sullivan, Jane Austen Cover-To-Cover.
Clive Barker, The Hellbound Heart.

July:

John Ostrander, Star Wars: The Stark Hyperspace War.
CNN, Anthony Bourdain Remembered.
David Domine, A Splash of Bourbon.
Scott Tipton, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Intelligence Gathering.
Tim Seeley, G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers, Volume 3: The Art of War.

August:

Julia Young, Please Don't Grab My P#$$y.
Rob Sears, The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump.
Jeannie Reed, The Language of Tarot.
Duane Swierczynski, Birds of Prey, Volume 1: Trouble in Mind (DC: The New 52).
Leeza Robertson, Pathworking the Tarot.
Viktor Kalvache, Pherone.
Howard Harrison, Corporate Crap.
Diarmuid, Jeffreys, Hell's Cartel.
Keith R.A. DeCandido, et.al., Star Trek Alien Spotlight, Volume 2.

September:

Michelle Garza and Melissa Larson, Mayan Blue.
Jonathan Eig, Get Capone.
Shin-ichi Hiromoto, Star Wars Return of the Jedi Manga, Volume 4.

October:

Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet.
Jim Davis, Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack #14.
Campbell Soup Company, Cooking in Minutes.
Kia Asamiya, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Manga, Volume 1.
Kia Asamiya, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Manga, Volume2.
Randel Plowman, Masters: Collage.
Jim Davis, Garfield's Sunday Finest.

November:

Marcus Katz, Around the Tarot in 78 Days.
Robert Mazur, The Infiltrator.
Jerry Scott, Are We Out of the Driveway Yet? (Zits collection).
Paul McIlhenny, The Tabasco Cookbook.
Parragon Books, Irish Pub Cooking.
Melissa Wagner, Everything I Need To Know I Learned from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
John Ostrander, et.al., Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire, Volume 1.
Jerry Scott, Dance Like Everybody's Watching!: A Zits Treasury.

December:

Jim Davis, Garfield Slurps and Burps: his 67th Book.
Christine Heap, The Big Book of Trains.
Tomás Prower, Morbid Magic: Death Spirituality and Culture from Around the World.
Various authors, Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire, Vol. 2.
Various authors, Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire, Vol. 3.
Patricia J. Telesco, Cake and Ale for the Pagan Soul.
Joy Perrine and Susan Reigler, The Kentucky Bourbon Cocktail Book.
Peter Kuper, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
DK Publishing, LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary, New Edition.

Number of books read in 2019: 72

Number of books read in 2018: 74, including 2 rereads (the 2018 list).
Number of books read in 2017: 84 (the 2017 list).
Number of books read in 2016: 92, including re-reads (the 2016 list).
Number of books read in 2015: 123, including 2 re-reads (the 2015 list).
Number of books read in 2014: 152, including 2 re-reads (the 2014 list).
Number of books read in 2013: 173, including 2 re-reads (the 2013 list).
Number of books read in 2012: 117, with 6 re-reads (the 2012 list).
Number of books read in 2011: 119, with 3 re-reads (the 2011 list).
Number of books read in 2010: 119, with 6 rereads (the 2010 list).
Number of books read in 2009: 98, with 5 rereads. I believe this is the first time I started to actively track rereads. (the 2009 list).
Number of books read in 2008: 111 (the 2008 list).
Number of books read in 2007: 85 (the 2007 list).
Number of books read in 2006: 106 (the 2006 list).
Number of books read in 2005: 73

Categories on reading/stuff:

To be honest, I thought the total would be a lot less than last year. Only two books less, so it was comparable. This was a year where I felt I did pick up some slow and/or not so good books that felt like a drag at times to read. Something to think about as I move forward into 2020.
I continue to use GoodReads to help me keep track of books as it is easy and convenient to mark a book as read and give it a quick rating when I am done with it. Naturally I still do the primary reviewing of books I read here on the blog, and I make some small "first impressions" notes on GoodReads (GR got a bit bitchy about me putting links to my blog there, so now I do not give them anymore than I absolutely have to). Only reason I do not dump it is because so many publishers and editors are in its thrall, so as a book reviewer I feel a pressure to keep using it.
On a side note, I tried to get back to using BookLikes for book reviews and such, but I was not really able to get a habit going. I do like the sort of Tumblr-hybrid concept it has for books, but it is still another thing to mind, and it is not as popular as GR is. I may give it another try this year.
I did not re-read anything in 2019.
I took a break from reading challenges in 2019. I am going to do a very small number of reading challenges for 2020. As of this post, I have not decided which I am going to do, so stay tuned for a post on that later this month.
Best reading month: In good times, I can do 10 books a month. This month I was not able to finish reading 10 books in any month. The highest I got per month was 9, and I was able to do that in May, August, and December.
Worst reading month: September with 3 books read.
Total books in print read: 65
Total e-books: 7. These were mainly e-book galleys.
Total audiobooks: 0
Total fiction (not including graphic novels, comics, nor manga): 4. When I started the year, I wanted to make an effort to read more fiction. It did not quite go as planned as I kept finding more interesting works in nonfiction. We'll see how 2020 goes in this regard.
Total nonfiction: 47. This continues to be the genre I favor for my reading.
Total graphic novels (includes comics and graphic novels, but not manga): 18
Manga (includes manwha and similar): 3
Library books:

Public Library: 42
Hutchins Library (Berea College, where I work): 5
Via Interlibrary Loan (through Hutchins Library): 3. Furthest library an ILL came from this year was the Ada Community Library, Boise, Idaho.

Books owned (or borrowed from another family member): 12. I read a bit of books that I owned this year, in part because I am undertaking a weeding of books at home, so I read some before they got weeded out. I will be doing a bit more of that in 2020.
Books borrowed from someone else, a colleague in this case: 1. I usually never borrow personal books from other people, but this was a special case.
Other numbers of interest (to me at least):

Erotica (includes fiction as well as nonfiction in sexuality topics): 1
LIS, including reference works for my work library: 0. Not intentionally, but I took a break from any LIS books in 2019.
Tarot and oracle: 7
Pagan/other beliefs/spirituality/esoterica: 7
NetGalley/Edelweiss: This year books came from NetGalley. I did not use Edelweiss in 2019: 6.
Books offered for review (i.e. not from NetGalley or Edelweiss. These are books I got from a publisher or author, so on either because I requested them or they were offered to me for review): 1
Books in Spanish: 0
Crime/True Crime: 2. I started tracking this in 2017, so I continue doing it.

A little follow up from last year's list. As I started 2019, I was reading the following in January.

Michael Dirda, Browsings. (Finished. Link to review).
D.L. Hughley, How Not To Get Shot. (Finished. Link to review).
David Annandale, Yarrick: Imperial Creed (Warhammer 40,000). (Finished. Link to review).
Matt Birkbeck, The Quiet Don. (Finished. Link to review).
Simon Dewar, ed., Suspended in Dusk II. (Not finished. Returned to TBR list. This is an e-book, and at the moment I keep getting distracted by other things but I do hope to read it).

As we enter 2020, I am currently reading the following books (no particular order, with a bit of commentary). By the way, you can always see what I am currently reading on the right side column of this blog:

Goscinny and Uderzo, Asterix and the Black Gold.
Robert Scott, Rivers of Blood.

A true crime selection about a serial killer in the Wyoming area. On pause because I had two ILL book loans arrive this week, and I need to read those first.

Dan Abnett, Titanicus (Warhammer 40,000).

I own this one, but it is seriously slow. Does not look like Abnett's best work. I may or not finish it. On pause due to the ILL loans.

Michel de Montaigne, Essays. Took this from the freebies shelf in my work library to try out. Another slow read on pause at the moment.
Box Brown, Cannabis: the Illegalization of Weed in America.
H.P. Lovecraft, The Complete Fiction.

I own this one. It is a big volume, and I am reading it here and there a story or two at a time. Part of the reason I am reading it is so I can prepare myself to study the Necronomicon Tarot deck, which I own, down the road.

Various authors, Star Wars: Legends Epic Collection: Rise of the Sith, Volume 1. One of the two ILL book loans that arrived this week. I will be starting it this weekend.
Nicholas Pileggi, Wiseguy. The other ILL loan that arrived this week. This is one I have been wanting to read for a while, so I put everything else on pause and started it last night. So far, very good.

Finally, thank you for sticking around and reading my blogging and reviews. Also thank you for reading this post, and I hope you will continue stopping by in 2020. As I have done before, I am ending this post with a sampling of reading reports from other bloggers out there that I could find at the time of this post. By the way, if you did an end of year reader summary, and you want to share it, you are welcome to share it in the comments.

Links to other people who do end of year lists (in no particular order):