Thursday, March 31, 2022

2022 Reading List Monthly Update: March

Books read in March of 2022:

-

"The Ironic Skeletons" (Colby Smith) 3-1-22
"Paradoxes From Hell" (Thomas Ligotti) 3-2-22
"Agitation" (Alexandrine Ogundimu) 3-3-22
"A Most Peculiar Book: The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible" (Kristin Swenson) 3-7-22
"The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral" (Robert Westall) 3-12-22
"Beyond the Mountains of Madness" (Brian Stableford) 3-18-22
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (Josiah Morgan) 3-21-22
"The Topiary Cat: A Bushy Tale" (Richard Saunders) 3-22-22
"The Orchard Keeper" (Cormac McCarthy) 3-29-22

-

2022 Reading List Total:

-

1. "Kingdom Come" (J.G. Ballard) 1-6-22
2. "Dune Messiah" (Frank Herbert) 1-21-22
3. "Nana" (Émile Zola) 1-24-22
4. "Introduction to Jungian Psychology" (C.G. Jung) 2-7-22
5. "Schoolgirl" (Osamu Dazai) 2-21-22
6. "Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages" (Dan Jones) 2-25-22
7. "Rough" (Callum Leckie and Sailor Stephens) 2-27-22
8. "The Ironic Skeletons" (Colby Smith) 3-1-22
9. "Paradoxes From Hell" (Thomas Ligotti) 3-2-22
10. "Agitation" (Alexandrine Ogundimu) 3-3-22
11. "A Most Peculiar Book: The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible" (Kristin Swenson) 3-7-22
12. "The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral" (Robert Westall) 3-12-22
13. "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" (Brian Stableford) 3-18-22
14. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (Josiah Morgan) 3-21-22
15. "The Topiary Cat: A Bushy Tale" (Richard Saunders) 3-22-22
16. "The Orchard Keeper" (Cormac McCarthy) 3-29-22

*= book I have read at least once in the past
+= book I have read before, but not this reprint/edition/translation

Currently Reading: 

"A Shakespeare Motley" (The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust)
"The Green Man" (Kingsley Amis) 

Sunday, March 6, 2022

Top Ten Lists (as of March 5th, 2022)

 Top 10 Bands/Musical Acts (in no order)

Siouxsie & The Banshees (tied for first)

Nine Inch Nails (tied for first)

Current 93

Coil

Lady Gaga

Madonna

Fleetwood Mac (+ Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks solo)

Suzanne Vega

Depeche Mode

Whitehouse

Second Tier (11-20)

Sonic Youth 

Dead Can Dance

Emerson, Lake & Palmer 

The Police (+ Sting solo) 

Throbbing Gristle 

Kate Bush 

Joy Division 

Ministry

Bauhaus 

Consumer Electronics 

Third Tier (21-30)

Nico 

The Velvet Underground 

Yes

Manic Street Preachers 

Wire

Pink Floyd 

David Bowie 

Aphex Twin 

The Residents 

Keane 


Top 10 Favorite Albums (in no order)

A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (Siouxsie & The Banshees) 1982

The Downward Spiral (Nine Inch Nails) 1994

The Marble Index (Nico) 1968 

The Holy Bible (Manic Street Preachers) 1994

Imperium (Current 93) 1987 

Horse Rotorvator (Coil) 1986

Dead Can Dance (Dead Can Dance) 1984

Tusk (Fleetwood Mac) 1979 

A Bell Is A Cup... (Wire) 1988

Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (Aphex Twin) 1992 


Top 10 Favorite Fiction Writers (in no order)

H.P. Lovecraft 

J.-K. Huysmans 

Stephen R. Donaldson 

Dennis Cooper

Bret Easton Ellis 

Carson McCullers 

William S. Burroughs 

J.G. Ballard 

Yukio Mishima 

Thomas Ligotti 

Second Tier (11-20)

Grant Morrison 

Thomas Pynchon 

Denis Johnson 

John Bellairs 

Lewis Carroll 

Clark Ashton Smith 

Samuel R. Delany 

Arthur Machen 

Jean Lorrain  

Cormac McCarthy 


Top 10 Favorite Novels (in no order)

La-bas (J.-K. Huysmans) 

Guide (Dennis Cooper)

American Psycho (Bret Eason Ellis)

Sea of Fertility (Yukio Mishima) 

This Day All Gods Die (Stephen R. Donaldson) 

Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy) 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass (Lewis Carroll) 

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers) 

The Place of Dead Roads (William S. Burroughs) 

Dhalgren (Samuel R. Delany) 


Top 10 Favorite TV Shows (in no order)

Friends 

Game of Thrones 

Seinfeld 

Frasier

Twin Peaks

The Vicar of Dibley 

True Detective (season 1 only) 

Saved By The Bell (original series)

Family Matters

Blackadder

Second Tier (11-20)

How I Met Your Mother 

The Wonder Years

Father Ted

Fawlty Towers 

Hannibal

Monk

Mr. Bean

Zorro (1990-1993 series)

Death Note (anime) 

Batman: The Animated Series


Top Ten Favorite Movies (in no order)

Reality Bites (1994)

Jackie Brown (1997)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Patriot Games (1992)

Barton Fink (1991)

Ghost World (2001)

I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)

Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (1983) 

Les Miserables (2012) 

A Clockwork Orange (1971)


Top 10 Favorite Video/Computer Games (in no order)

Deus Ex (2000)

Thief Gold (1999)

System Shock 2 (1999)

Doom (1993)

Final Fantasy VI (1994)

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines (2004)

Sid Meier's Civilization VI (2016) 

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (2011)

Perfect Tides (2022) added 5-20-22

Shenmue (whole series) 


Misc. Favorites 

Favorite color(s): blue, black, mauve 
Favorite number(s): 28, 88 (tie) 
Favorite holiday: Christmas (2nd place: Halloween) 
Favorite animal: cat 
Favorite bird: crow
Favorite sea creature: sharks (especially Great White Sharks and the Hammerhead shark) 
Favorite stuffed animal growing up: Shark Puppet 
Favorite food: Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup + rice
Favorite body part: the eye 
Favorite card game: Hearts
Favorite board game: Clue 
Favorite Clue character: Mrs. Peacock 
Favorite city: Providence, Rhode Island 
Favorite planet: Saturn 
Favorite Zodiac sign: Gemini 
Favorite subculture: Goth 
Favorite artist: Andy Warhol 
Favorite movie director: Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson (tie) 
Favorite living actor: Sean Bean 
Favorite living actress: Winona Ryder
Favorite comic strip(s):, Doonesbury (1st), Calvin & Hobbes (2nd)

Favorite Game of Thrones character: Qyburn

Favorite DOOM levels: E2M4 (Deimos Lab), E3M4 (House of Pain), E3M7 (Limbo)

Favorite sport: Basketball
Favorite basketball player: John Stockton 
Favorite Beatles song(s): Nowhere Man, Paperback Writer (tie) 
Favorite electronic music program: Voyetra Digital Orchestrator 
Favorite architectural style: Brutalism 
Favorite art movement(s): Surrealism, Symbolist, Pop 
Favorite carnivorous plant: Nepenthes lowii 
Favorite comic book superhero: Batman
Favorite Batman villain(s): Dr. Simon Hurt, The Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, The Mad Hatter 
Favorite comic book writer: Grant Morrison (2nd place: Alan Moore)
Favorite science fiction book series: The Gap Cycle (Stephen R. Donaldson) 
Favorite movie monster: Godzilla
Favorite Doom monster: Cacodemon 
Favorite Broadway musical: Les Miserables 
Favorite Shakespeare play: Macbeth 
Favorite Star Wars character: Momaw Nadon 
Favorite Mario Kart racer: Toad
Favorite Warhol Superstar: Edie Sedgwick 
Favorite old school Hollywood star: Audrey Hepburn 
Favorite Hogwarts House: Slytherin 
Favorite Harry Potter character: Luna Lovegood 
Favorite Ninja Turtle: Leonardo 
Favorite Disney Villain: Scar (The Lion King) 
 Favorite horror writer: H.P. Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti (a close second) 
Favorite Cthulhu Mythos monster: Cthulhu 
Favorite book(s) of the Bible: Revelations, Ecclesiastes (tie) 
Favorite Egyptian deity: Bast 
Favorite occultist: Kenneth Grant

Favorite Ancient culture: Ancient Egypt

Favorite Historical Time Period: The Middle Ages 


Tuesday, March 1, 2022

2022 Reading List Monthly Update: February

  Books read in February of 2022:

-

"Introduction to Jungian Psychology" (C.G. Jung) 2-7-22
"Schoolgirl" (Osamu Dazai) 2-21-22
"Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages" (Dan Jones) 2-25-22
"Rough" (Callum Leckie and Sailor Stephens) 2-27-22

-

2022 Reading List Total:

-

1. "Kingdom Come" (J.G. Ballard) 1-6-22
2. "Dune Messiah" (Frank Herbert) 1-21-22
3. "Nana" (Émile Zola) 1-24-22
4. "Introduction to Jungian Psychology" (C.G. Jung) 2-7-22
5. "Schoolgirl" (Osamu Dazai) 2-21-22
6. "Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages" (Dan Jones) 2-25-22
7. "Rough" (Callum Leckie and Sailor Stephens) 2-27-22

*= book I have read at least once in the past
+= book I have read before, but not this reprint/edition/translation

Currently Reading: 

"A Most Peculiar Book: the Inherent Strangeness of the Bible" (Kristin Swenson) 
"The Ironic Skeletons" (Colby Smith)