So, I have mentioned not infrequently that I have unending lists of books I’m trying to get to, so I thought I’d share what some of them are.
Currently reading:
NFL Century: The One-Hundred-Year Rise of America’s Greatest Sports League by Joe Horrigan - a friend of mine got me this for either Christmas or my birthday a few years ago and I read the first 60 or so pages and then stopped for whatever reason but now I’m at page 136. So I’m 43% of the way done with the book and we’ve jsut made it to 1960, which is cool because “the modern era of the NFL” is typically discussed as happening after the AFL-NFL merger of 1970 - though sometimes also to refer to the rules changes favoring the passing game and offense that have taken place in the last 16-20 years - and it’s really cool to learn about the franchises that boomed and busted in the preceding 50-or-so years and the All-American Football Conference (original home of the old Browns that are now the Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers). It’s funny to think about how rival leagues would occasionally crop up in the first five to seven decades, and now these parallel minor leagues fold every other year.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley - Page 189. I’ve taken forever to read this, in part because I used to read it during downtime at a job where it elicited a lot of resentment for me toward clientele. I mostly read it on the train or bus commuting to work now.
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo - Page 26 (I think; I just put the receipt-bookmark there after I couldn’t find where I was and I recognized the words). This was Mario Puzo’s successor to The Godfather, and it takes place during the part of the Godfather when Michael is in Sicily. He’s literally on the dock watching the boat he was supposed to take after Apollonia died and he goes back to go on this other adventure.
Cardinal and Gold: The Oral History of USC Trojans Football - Page 59. This one is fun; it’s a page-turner, so I don’t know why I’m not farther in it. USC are my favorite college football team. My mom got me this for Secret Santa in 2021.
Catiline’s War, The Jugurthine War, Histories by Sallust (2007 translation by A.J. Woodman) - I’ve just got through the 30-odd page introduction; several years ago, back when I was living in New Orleans, when I was first reading the ASIOAF books, I went into a used book store and started looking for medieval and ancient history. I either got this then, or when I went to one of the used bookstores in Northampton, Massachusetts doing the same thing.
Black and Blue: How Racism, Drugs and Cancer Almost Destroyed Me by Paul Canoville - this memoir is by the first black man to play for Chelsea Football Club, one of my teams (Bayern Munchen are my number 1.b/2 in Europe; in the states I casually follow the Philadelphia Union, Houston Dynamo, and Houston Dash; internationally, I like Germany’s men’s and U.S. women’s teams); he was interviewed on “Football Ramble Presents” a few years ago, which is a sort of spin-off series from my association football podcast of choice, The Football Ramble (I’m going to do podcast recs sometime soon). I’m on Page 27.
Where the Stars Sing by Aminah Fox - this is my sister’s first self-published novel. I’ve been on page 141 for a while. It’s an adult but YA-adjacent SFF about a young bisexual comic book fan gaining super powers in the wake of a world-changing global phenomenon, and dealing with complex relationships with friends and family. I need to finish it soon so I can move on to her second self-published novel The Mourners: The Deadly Elite.
I Lost It at the Movies: Film Writings 1954 to 1965 by Pauline Kael - Still in the introduction. As I mentioned, it’s improtant to me as someone that aspires and presumes to be a critic to read criticism. This was one I bought with a Barnes 7 Noble gift card. The only physical book, because I didn’t realize what a pain it would be to try to convert Nook books to a Kindle-compliant version. The other books I got were The Phoenix Program by Douglas Valentine, Awake in the Dark: The Best of Robert Ebert, and:
Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West by Aidan Moher. I’m on page 187 of 388 reading solely on my phone. On the one hand, it’s great to be reminded my phone can be used for things besides Twitter and Discord. On the other hand, it being on my phone means I’m likely to end up on Twitter. So, like, does anyone have recommendations for a tablet that can run both Nook and Kindle software? Otherwise I guess I can just buy physical copies of recent digital purchases.
Transatlantic Fascism: Ideology, Violence, and the Sacred in Argentina and Italy, 1919-1945 by Federico Finchelstein. Page 42. The New School for Social Research sent me this when I got accepted into their MA program seven years ago but I didn’t go because I couldn’t afford to live in New York without full funding. What little I’ve read of the book is very interesting.
I’m also partway through the second Timothy Zahn Thrawn novel and Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising on the dying Kindle. And W.E.B. DuBois’s Black Reconstruction, which I recently bought a hard copy of.
Recently finished:
The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives by Adolph Reed Jr. It’s an argument for Jim Crow rather than slavery as the establishing system for contemporary U.S. race and class relations. Dr. Reed is a very interesting and needed voice on these issues, even if I like Django more than he does. I also got his older book Class Notes for Christmas and need to read that.
The Department of Truth Vol. 4: The Ministry of Lies by James Tynion IV. This is a horror/thriller comic about a man that works for the FBI getting recruited to a darker version of the X-Files - an agency that shapes belief and reality in the world.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic by Alex Kane for Boss Fight Books. They do oral histories and critical collections of all your favorite games. Check them out.
I can’t remember if I’ve finished any other books this year because I apparently haven’t updated that tab of my reading tracker, but I’ve read 118 articles this year according to that spreadsheet. Like books, not all articles are created equal and I often will go days or weeks without properly updating it.
Graphic novels I need to finish before next payday so I can have an excuse to go to a comic shop:
Berserk Vol. 3 - I think I read volume 1 in 2021 and volume 2 in 2022. Been dragging my feet, but I never like to rush comic books and manga. I seldom buy single-issue comics, usually waiting for stories to be collected as trade paperbacks. With a manga like this one that’s been completed already, it’s even easier for me to take my sweet time getting through it. From what I can tell, Berserk is the quintessential dark fantasy manga, about a man with a giant sword and a robotic forearm who’s currently fighting demon-possessed nobility, though I know not where the story will go.
Triskelion by Kathryn Briggs - got this one last year at one of Philly’s Punk Rock Flea Markets. It’s like a dark fantasy with really interesting art. I’ll update as I get deeper into it. Support local and independent artists.
Transmetropolitan Book 1 by Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson, Rodney Ramos, and Nathan Eyring (I bought this after hearing about it for a long time, started it, learned that Ellis had a bunch of sexual misconduct allegations, put it down for a while… going to finish this one but probably leave the series alone indefinitely) Dystopian satire drawing on Brave New World and all manner of cyberpunk and steelpunk about a gonzo journalist being dragged out of retirement to write a column on society for his old newaspaper editor. Deals with transhumanism, police brutality, corporate control of the state, all the old favorites.
Nocterra Volume One: Full Throttle Dark by Scott Snyder, Tony S. Daniel, and Tomeu Morey - So I usually go to either Atomic City comics on South Street or Showcase Comics in Bryn Mawr (became a fan when I was attending Villanova) but I went to Blue Line Collectibles on Bouvier and Rittner and saw this. Supernatural horror, action & adventure, rated M; the owner of the shop compared it to Pitch Black (the first Riddick movie; I’ve seen that and Chronicles of Riddick, but not the last movie, yet) as it’s about a woman acting as a ferryman across a dark world.
The Pitiful Human-Lizard: Far From Legendary by Jason Loo - I also picked up this one, seems like a satire of superheroism, which I seemingly never get tired of. This is where I say I very much liked Marshall Law and will probably be getting to The Ultimates off the strength of this essay by Jo Riseman and at some point I need to read 2000 A.D.
Twig by Scottie Young and Kyle Strahm is a sort of far-out seeming human-free fantasy. The back cover copy compares the story to Jeff Smith’s Bone and the world to Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Never read Bone or seen Dark Crystal but heard good things about both. Looking forward to uncorking this one as well.
I don’t remember how I was going to end this, because I got really preoccupied with something else as I was finishing it. The books are ordered sort of haphazardly, but that’s apparent and a reflection of both their physical space in my apartment and the spaces they occupy in my mind. But the Cyberpunk 2077 vomit draft is done, it just needs to be manicured. Watch this space.