Friday, January 14, 2022

My Reading List for 2021

Welcome to my 2021 reading list. This post will also include some thoughts on blogging and the past year. As I did at the end of 2020, I wrote some end of year thoughts on the pandemic for 2021, which you can check out if interested. 

In terms of the professional blog, Notes from a Simple Librarian, I did attempt to reopen it in 2021, but I did not get far in that regard. To be honest I am not sure what I want to do with it, if anything at all. Libraryland drama just does not interest me, and once a semester gets in full swing, I just do not have time to write about some of the work I do or thoughts on librarianship. A part of me wants to keep it going, but to be honest, I have new interests I am happily exploring. As for librarianship, I do my small part in the form of reader's advisory with the reviews I do in this blog. The motivation to keep that blog going is not there as it used to be, and COVID is not exactly helping matters. These days I prefer to focus on what does work for me and makes me happy. So unless I get it going again in 2022, I may archive it, hang up the "closed" sign, and just leave it as is online as long as the powers that be allow it to stay online. Bottom line here is I am going to stop fretting over it, and what happens happens. 

This blog here, The Itinerant Librarian, is going rather well. I write book reviews and a bit of miscellaneous book blogging. This and Alchemical Thoughts (see below) is where I am concentrating my efforts, and I am happy with that. I want to continue working on maintaining a good reputation as a book reviewer and blogger. Also, that serves as a form of reader's advisory, so that is my small contribution to the profession as well as a small resource for readers out there. Most reviews and posts here come out on Fridays, but I also post at other times when the Muse comes over. 

On a reminder note and a bit of self-advertising, if you are author, editor, or publisher, and you think you have a book, or cartomancy deck (and related works), I may want to read and review, please read and check out my book review statement, and let me know. I am happy to consider books if they fit within my reading parameters and interests. For a sampling of what I have reviewed in Tarot and cartomancy, check out the Tarot tag in this blog.

Alchemical Thoughts is working out well as my Tarot, cartomancy, and miscellany blog. I continue to post at least every Wednesday over there. A favorite feature there are the deck interview spreads I post. I also do other spreads I try out with my cards. 

I continue using NewTumbl for some microblogging and just fun posting. You can find my microblog Alchemical Annex here. I've been using it for a good while now, and while it is OK for what it is, the overall environment in NewTumbl is not that great if you do not do porn and adult material. To be honest, since the service launched, they've really embraced the "we are not Tumblr" and gone deep on the porn and adult content. Now, I like some adult content, but the saturation over there I feel is getting out of hand. If you run a microblog with mixed content like I do (some reposts of my posts elsewhere, memes, other light content), it really is hard to get some traction there. While you can filter for the content you are interested in, a strength in NewTumbl, once you filter the adult stuff out, there is just not that much left. The site also lacks some functions that other places, including Tumblr, have such as the ability to schedule posts for specific dates. Also, the blocking function they claim to have is pretty much a joke. In contrast, when you block someone on Twitter, for example, it means that: they are blocked; they cannot interact with you or your content in any way, shape or form. NewTumbl needs to do that but either they are unable or refuse to do so. The one time I mentioned it on Twitter they got back at me with a basically unhelpful lame reply. Bottom line: their block function, if you can call it that, is a lie. Other than that, what I wrote in my review of the site previously still applies. This is a thing I am evaluating to see if I keep it or not. 

Last year I got a profile in Letterboxd to keep track of films and media I watch much like I track books with GoodReads.  I like some of its features, but for me feels like a bit more effort to log in and track things. I already do a monthly wrap up of films and media here on the blog. I may give Letterboxd another chance, but we will see. 

On the other hand, something I continue to greatly enjoy is using TubiTv to find all sorts of things to watch and stream. Yes, it still has a lot of schlock, some of it good schlock, but they've also been adding some older and/or classic television series that I enjoy discovering and watching. In the Hard Times, I know I can usually find some escapist thing to watch on TubiTv. While I do have some other free streaming services marked for use, TubiTv is the one I tend to go back to. Yes, it is ad supported but ads tend to be fairly minimal. 

In other news, my politics and social issues moratorium in reading and media continues, and it will continue into the foreseeable future. Given the Hard Times, I may tighten it even more in 2022. Tuning out of most news, especially politics, social issues, and activist stuff, helps me keep my sanity. While I cannot 100% tune out of everything, I am doing a very conscious effort to minimize as much as possible. 

As for the cartomancy studies, they are going well, and they are a source of solace for me as well as a good thing for me to work on. I post some things about that journey at Alchemical Thoughts, so if that interests you, feel free to check it out. In addition, during the regular work week, I do a daily Tarot card draw which I share with my followers over on Twitter (I am @bloodravenlib on Twitter). At the time of this post, I am on holidays break, but I will be back to posting my daily card draws when the spring semester of 2022 starts. 

With the status remarks done, let's look at the reading. If 2020 put a damp on my reading, 2021 did it no favors. 2021 certainly kept the damp on reading. To be honest, it is a miracle I am able to read anything in these Hard Times. Whatever I did manage to read I consider an accomplishment. 

So without any further ado, let's see what I DID read in 2021. Here is the list of books read, asterisks at end of a title (*) are rereads.

 

January

  • Richard Ovenden, Burning the Books: a History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge. 
  • George Anastasia, Gotti's Rules. 
  •  Jennifer McCarthy, The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place. 
  • Toby Muse, Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels-- From the Jungles to the Streets.

 

February

  • Jim Davis, Garfield Feeds the Kitty: His 35th Book. 
  • B. Clay Moore, JSA Liberty Files: the Whistling Skull. 
  • Rachel Kramer Bussel, ed., Best Bondage Erotica of the Year, Volume 2. 
  • Peter Washington, Madame Blavatsky's Baboon. 
  • Rachel Maddow, Bag Man: the Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House. 
  • Henry Hill, Gangsters and Goodfellas: Wiseguys. . . and Life on the Run.

 

March

  • Barbara Moore (book author) and Eugene Smith (deck art), Tarot Made Easy (kit that includes the book Your Tarot Your Way and the Llewellyn Classic Tarot deck).  
  • Grady Hendrix, Paperbacks From Hell. 
  • Kei Honjo, Sota's Knife, Volume 1. 
  • Jim Davis, Garfield Cooks Up Trouble: His 63rd Book.*
  • Nick Bilton, American Kingpin: the Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road. 
  • Ioan Grillo, Blood Gun Money: how America Arms Gangs and Cartels. 
  • Gary Larson, The Chickens are Restless; a Far Side Collection. 
  • Ciro Marchetti, Tarot Grand Luxe (deck and small book kit).

 

April

  • Diana B. Henriques, The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust (audiobook edition).
  • Jim Davis, Garfield Weighs His Options: His 49th Book. 
  • Jim Davis, Garfield Shovels It In: His 51st Book. 
  • The Washington Post, The Mueller Report Illustrated: the Obstruction Investigation. 
  •  Mark Bray, Antifa: the Anti-Fascist Handbook. 
  • Mike Doyle, Beautiful LEGO. 

 

May

  • T. Susan Change and M.M. Meleen, Tarot Deciphered: Decoding Esoteric Symbolism in Modern Tarot. 
  • Dennis Hopeless, X-O Manowar, Book 1. 
  • Gary Larson, The Far Side Gallery. 
  • Jim Davis, Fat Cat 3-Pack (volume 1).
  • Garth Ennis, et.al., The Boys Omnibus, Volume 1. 
  • John Caudill, Who Killed Harlan Parker?

 

June

  • Justin Fenton, We Own This City: a True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption.
  • Xan Arch, Academic Library Services for First-Generation Students.
  • Claudia Gray, Master and Apprentice (Star Wars novel).
  • Anthony M. DeStefano, The Big Heist: The Real Story Behind the Lufthansa Heist, the Mafia, and Murder (audiobook edition).
  • M. William Phelps, Kiss of the She-Devil. 
  • Peter Normanton, ed., The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics.*
  • Gary Larson, The Far Side Gallery 4.

 

July

  • Garth Ennis, et.al., The Boys Omnibus, Volume 2. 
  • Jeff Rogers, Kentucky Wide. 
  • Gary Larson, The Far Side Gallery 5. 
  • Jim Davis, Fat Cat 3-Pack, Volume 12.

 

August

  • Stephen King, Danse Macabre.
  • Ian Watson, The Inquisition War (Warhammer 40,000). 
  • Alana Fairchild, Divine Circus Oracle (kit with card deck and companion book).
  • Philip Carr-Gomm, Stephanie Carr-Gomm, and Will Worthington, Druidcraft Tarot (kit with card deck and companion book).

 

September

  • Jim Davis, Garfield Goes Hogwild: His 70th Book.
  • Disney Company, Star Wars: A New Hope Cinestory Comic: 40th Anniversary Edition. 
  • Lunaea Weatherstone, Mystical Cats Tarot (kit with card deck and companion book).
  • Danny Trejo, Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood.
  • Michael Carroll, John Higgins, and Sally Jane Hurst, Dreadnoughts Book 1: Breaking Ground.
  • Katalin Jett Coda, Experience the Mystery of Tarot. 
  • Gabriel Hardman, Green Lantern Earth One, Volume 1.
  • Erik C. Dunne and Kim Huggens, Tarot Illuminati (kit with card deck and companion book). 
  • Angela Hartfield and Josephine Wall (illustrator), Nature's Whispers Oracle (kit with card deck and companion book).

 

October

  • Nacho Carretero and Luis Bustos, Cocaine Coast.  
  • Sasha Graham, The Magic of Tarot. 

 

November

  • Rob Liefeld, Snake Eyes: Deadgame (G.I. Joe). 
  • David Nelles, This Is Climate Change.
  • Lauren Etter, The Devil's Playbook: Big Tobacco, Juul, and the Addiction of a New Generation.
  • Jim Davis, Garfield What Leftovers? His 71st Book. 
  • Munier Sharrief, Battle of the Planets Digest, Volume 1: Trial by Fire. 
  • Garth Ennis, et.al., The Boys Omnibus, Volume 3.

 

December

  • Barbara Moore and Mieke Janssens, Wizards Tarot (kit with card deck and companion book).
  • Garth Ennis, et.al., The Boys Omnibus, Volume 4. 
  • Sandy Mitchell, The Last Ditch (Ciaphas Cain, Book 8. Warhammer 40,000).
  • Jim Davis, Garfield Takes Up Space: his 20th Book. 
  • Jim Davis, Garfield Worldwide: his 15th Book. 
  • Jim Davis, Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack, Volume 14.* 
  • H.P. Lovecraft, H.P. Lovecraft: the Complete Fiction. 

 

Number of books reading in 2021: 69, including 3 re-reads.
 
Number of books read in 2020: 80, including 5 re-reads (the 2020 list).
Number of books read in 2019: 72   (the 2019 list).
Number of books read in 2018: 74, including 2 re-reads (the 2018 list).

  
 
Commentaries and thoughts and numbers:

Total number of books read in 2021: 69. I read 11 books less than I did last year. By the way, my GoodReads count is 70, but that is because their clunky system is counting the one book I started but dropped this year. That is a little glitch they really should fix. Anyhow, not surprising the count was lower considering the hard year 2021 was. At this point I am not speculating on whether I will match that count in 2022 or not. These Hard Times are just too uncertain. 

Reading challenges: I completed 4 out of the 6 reading challenges I chose to attempt in 2021. As of this post, I have not decided if I am going to attempt any reading challenges in 2022. I am leaning, if I do any, to just do the Mount TBR and the Netgalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenges. If I do, I will post update posts here later. 
 
I continue using GoodReads for basic tracking of books read. It remains a clunky kind of blah site, but right now there is no competitor worth their salt for me to migrate over. 

A side note about the Big A, which I have noted before. This goes to those authors on social media begging for Big A reviews and claiming no purchase is necessary. I can assure you from personal experience that is not true. You have to have done a certain amount of purchases, on a debit or credit card (i.e. gift cards do not count) or else they do not allow you to review. While I may do a purchase on the Big A once in a while (the curse of living in Bumfuck, USA), it is not enough for their ever inconsistent excuse for standards. The issue does not seem to go away because no matter how many times I mention it certain authors persist in the review begging, so I will simply say if you want me to review your book, I am happy to do it here and share it all over social media, but the Big A is not an option here. 

Books re-read: 3. 
 
Best reading month: March with 8 books. 
 
Worst reading month: October with 2 books. 
 
Number of books in print read: 49
 
Number of e-books (including galleys): 14

Number of audiobooks: 5

Number of graphic novels (includes comics and graphic novels, not manga):28
Number of manga: 1

Number of nonfiction: 33
Number of fiction (not including graphic novels, comics, nor manga): 7

Library books:
 
  • Public Library (mainly Berea branch, Madison County, KY Public Library): 29
    • Hoopla: 3, and they were audiobooks. 
    • Overdrive: 0
  • Hutchins Library: 7
    • ILL (via Hutchins): 0
 
Books I own: 12 

Books borrowed (from anyone not family) or recommended by others: 0
 
Other numbers of interest (to me at least): 
 
  • Erotica: 1
  • LIS, including reference works for my work library: 2
  • Tarot and oracle: 10, including companion books for specific Tarot and oracle decks.
  • Other esoterica/pagan/spirituality: 0
  • NetGalley: 11. 
  • Edelweiss: 0 
  • Other books offered for review, i.e. not from NetGalley or Edelweiss. These are books I got from a publisher, author, so on either because I requested them or they were offered to me for review: 2.
  • Books in Spanish: 0
  • Crime/true crime: 12
  • Food and drink: 0 
  • Poetry: 0 
 
This time, last year, I was reading the following books (links provided for books reviewed). I did read and finish all of them: 
 
 
I am reading the following as we enter 2022:

  • Leanna Greenaway, Catalog of the Unexplained. 
  • Sinclair Sexsmith, ed., Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year, Volume 6.
  • Jim Davis, Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack Volume 22. 
  • Anthony M. DeStefano, The Deadly Don: Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss. 
  • Juan Villoro, Horizontal Vertigo: a City Called Mexico.
I would like to thank my readers for stopping by throughout the year, and I hope you all keep coming back in 2022. Paz y amor. 

To close this, as I usually do, here is a small list of other bloggers who have done end of year lists, compilations, etc. in no particular order.
 
 


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