2024 Reading List Monthly Update: November

Books read in November of 2024:

"Four Great Comedies: A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Tempest" (William Shakespeare) 11-8-24

"There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale" (Sean Astin + Joe Layden) 11-15-24

"The Greek Alexander Romance" (Unknown) 11-19-29

"Spiritus Ex Machina: Dark Tales of Creation" (LC von Hessen) 11-20-24

"Princess Diana: A Little Golden Book Biography" (Sonali Fry/Illustrated by Hollie Hibbert) 11-20-24

"Cats In Art: From Prehistoric to Neo-Pop Masterpieces" (Alix Paré) 11-23-24

"Set My Heart on Fire" (Izumi Suzuki) 11-25-24

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2024 Reading List Total:

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1. "The Explosion of a Chandelier" (Damian Murphy) 1-7-24

2. "Empire of the Sun" (J.G. Ballard) 1-11-24

3. "The Consolation of Philosophy" (Boethius) 1-14-24

4. "CAW: Colossal Abandoned World" (James Champagne) 1-17-24

5. "The Green Fly and Other Stories" (Robert Scheffer) 1-19-24

6. "Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again" (Shigeru Kayama) 1-22-24

7. "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982" (Cho Nam-joo) 1-27-24

8. "The Planetary Omnibus" (Warren Ellis) 1-28-24

9. "A Song in the Night" (Daniel Mills) 1-31-24 

10. "The Princess of Darkness" (Rachilde) 2-13-24

11. "i'm still growing" (Josiah Morgan) 2-15-24

12. "Winona" (Robert Rich) 2-16-24

13. "Alexandria: The City That Changed The World" (Islam Issa) 2-21-24

14. "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)" (Mindy Kaling) 2-27-24

15. "Self-Portraits" (Osamu Dazai) 2-27-24

16. "The Siren's Lament: Essential Stories" (Jun'ichirō Tanizaki) 3-10-24

17. "The Secret History with Related Texts" (Prokopios) 3-13-24

18. "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" (Marie Kondo) 3-14-24

19. "Crampton" (Thomas Ligotti & Brandon Trenz) 3-16-24 +

20. "Stitches" (Hirokatsu Kihara + Junji Ito) 3-26-24

21. "Artists and Their Cats" (Alison Nastasi) 3-28-24

22. "Great Cities of the Ancient World" (L. Sprague de Camp) 4-3-24

23. "Terminal Boredom" (Izumi Suzuki) 4-12-24

24. "Dragon Palace" (Hiromi Kawakami) 4-16-24

25. "Alexander the Great: His Life and Mysterious Death" (Anthony Everitt) 4-21-24

26. "The Antichrist: A New Biography" (Philip C. Almond) 5-24-24

27. "The Old Capital" (Yasunari Kawabata) 5-16-24

28. "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" (Bettany Hughes) 5-20-24

29. "The Cat Inside" (William S. Burroughs) 5-22-24 +

30. "A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes" (Anthony Bale) 5-29-24

31. "Diary of a Void" (Emi Yagi) 5-29-24

32. "The Book of Marvels and Travels" (Sir John Mandeville/Anthony Bale translation) 6-4-24

33. "The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are" (Michael Pye) 6-9-24

34. "The Three Cornered World" (Natsume Soseki) 6-15-24

35. "A Kingdom of Frozen Tears" (Tom Champagne) 6-21-24

36. "Michigan Basement" (Thomas Ligotti & Brandon Trenz) 6-22-24

37. "The Stronghold" (Dino Buzzati) 6-24-24 

38. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (Gawain-Poet/Keith Harrison translation) 7-1-24

39. "The Death of King Arthur" (Sir Thomas Malory/a retelling by Peter Ackroyd) 7-2-24

40. "Flunker" (Dennis Cooper) 7-4-24

41. "The Rule of St. Benedict" (St. Benedict of Nursia) 7-5-24

42. "Beowulf" (Unknown/John McNamara translation) 7-9-24

43. "Alley" (Junji Ito) 7-15-24

44. "Out of the Silent Planet" (C.S. Lewis) 

45. "Soviet Asia" (Roberto Conte + Stefano Perego) 7-17-24

46. "The Adventure Zone Vol. 6: The Suffering Game" (The McElroys + Carey Pietsch) 7-19-24

47. "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" (Soji Shimada) 7-27-24

48. "The Singularity" (Dino Buzzati) 7-31-24

49. "Goodnight Tokyo" (Atsuhiro Yoshida) 8-3-24

50. "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders" (Vincent Bugliosi + Curt Gentry) 8-5-24

51. "Spook" (Klabund) 8-7-24

52. "Dark Entries: Bauhaus and Beyond" (Ian Shirley) 8-9-24

53. "The Sun Also Rises" (Ernest Hemingway) 8-15-24

54. "Depeche Mode: A Biography" (Steve Malins) 8-20-24

55. "The Sirens of Titan" (Kurt Vonnegut) 8-25-24

56. "We" (Yevgeny Zamyatin) 8-26-24

57. "Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography" (Mark Paytress) 9-3-24

58. "Vita Nouva" (Dante Alighieri/Mark Musa translation) 9-5-24

59. "Shakespeare and the Medieval World" (Helen Cooper) 9-10-24

60. "The Medieval Castle: Design - Construction - Daily Life" (Charles Phillips) 9-19-24

61. "The Art of War" (Sun Tzu) 9-23-24

62. "Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show That Defined a Television Era" (Saul Austerlitz) 9-26-24

63. "Peppermint Werewolf: Murkstave" (Aaron Lange) 9-28-24

64. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (J.R.R. Tolkien) 9-29-24

65. "Nightlands Issue 2 - Summer 2024" (Various) 10-2-24

66. "Charnel Glamour" (Mark Samuels) 10-4-24

67. "Uncanny: The Origins of Fear" (Junji Ito) 10-6-24

68. "The Universe As Performance Art" (Colby Smith) 10-10-24

69. "Come Tomorrow and Other Tales of Bangalore Terror" (Jayaprakash Satyamurthy) 10-13-24

70. "The Dark Chamber" (Leonard Cline) 10-14-24

71. "The Worlds of George R.R. Martin" (Tom Huddleston) 10-19-24

72. "Tales of the Grotesque" (L.A. Lewis) 10-23-24

73. "The Medieval Warrior" (Martin Dougherty) 10-28-24

74. "The Jordan Rules" (Sam Smith) 10-29-24

75. "Four Great Comedies: A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Tempest" (William Shakespeare) 11-8-24

76. "There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale" (Sean Astin + Joe Layden) 11-15-24

77. "The Greek Alexander Romance" (Unknown) 11-19-29

78. "Spiritus Ex Machina: Dark Tales of Creation" (LC von Hessen) 11-20-24

79. "Princess Diana: A Little Golden Book Biography" (Sonali Fry/Illustrated by Hollie Hibbert) 11-20-24

80. "Cats In Art: From Prehistoric to Neo-Pop Masterpieces" (Alix Paré) 11-23-24

81. "Set My Heart on Fire" (Izumi Suzuki) 11-25-24

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

Currently Reading: 

"The Epic of Gilgamesh" (Anonymous) 

Bathroom Reads #16: THERE AND BACK AGAIN by Sean Astin + Joe Layden

 

My dad purchased this book when it was first published (in 2004, less than a year after the theatrical release of The Return of the King, to almost universally poor reviews: this one is representative for the curious: https://www.popmatters.com/there-and-back-again-2496241478.html), but I don't believe he ever actually read it, though I myself would sometimes flip through it... a number of years ago he asked me if I wanted it, so I said sure, and it ended up becoming one of those books I would skim through in the bathroom once a year or so (though this year I finally did read it for real). 

I actually don't have all that much to say about this one, other than it's mainly an actor's memoir (despite the fact Astin was only in his early thirties when he wrote it) dealing briefly with his early years in a bit of detail, but which is mainly concerned with his time spent during the production of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. It must be said that reading this book, one does not walk away with a very good impression of Astin as a person, as he comes off as very needy, self-centered, selfish, always needs to be the center of attention, and so on and so forth (he also does a lot of backhanded complimenting, where he'll talk about a person and praise them at length, then proceed to whine and complain about them). Basically, in some ways he embodies almost the exact opposite of all of the good traits exhibited by his character Samwise Gamgee in the movies. Which makes him, I suppose, a pretty good actor! I won't lie, for the longest time this book kind of soured me towards him, though he somewhat redeemed himself with an incredible performance in the second season of Stranger Things. . .  perhaps the lean years after the LOTR films humbled him somewhat. 

2024 Reading List Monthly Update: October

Books read in October of 2024:

"Nightlands Issue 2 - Summer 2024" (Various) 10-2-24

"Charnel Glamour" (Mark Samuels) 10-4-24

"Uncanny: The Origins of Fear" (Junji Ito) 10-6-24

"The Universe As Performance Art" (Colby Smith) 10-10-24

"Come Tomorrow and Other Tales of Bangalore Terror" (Jayaprakash Satyamurthy) 10-13-24

"The Dark Chamber" (Leonard Cline) 10-14-24

"The Worlds of George R.R. Martin" (Tom Huddleston) 10-19-24

"Tales of the Grotesque" (L.A. Lewis) 10-23-24

"The Medieval Warrior" (Martin Dougherty) 10-28-24

"The Jordan Rules" (Sam Smith) 10-29-24

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2024 Reading List Total:

-

1. "The Explosion of a Chandelier" (Damian Murphy) 1-7-24

2. "Empire of the Sun" (J.G. Ballard) 1-11-24

3. "The Consolation of Philosophy" (Boethius) 1-14-24

4. "CAW: Colossal Abandoned World" (James Champagne) 1-17-24

5. "The Green Fly and Other Stories" (Robert Scheffer) 1-19-24

6. "Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again" (Shigeru Kayama) 1-22-24

7. "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982" (Cho Nam-joo) 1-27-24

8. "The Planetary Omnibus" (Warren Ellis) 1-28-24

9. "A Song in the Night" (Daniel Mills) 1-31-24 

10. "The Princess of Darkness" (Rachilde) 2-13-24

11. "i'm still growing" (Josiah Morgan) 2-15-24

12. "Winona" (Robert Rich) 2-16-24

13. "Alexandria: The City That Changed The World" (Islam Issa) 2-21-24

14. "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)" (Mindy Kaling) 2-27-24

15. "Self-Portraits" (Osamu Dazai) 2-27-24

16. "The Siren's Lament: Essential Stories" (Jun'ichirō Tanizaki) 3-10-24

17. "The Secret History with Related Texts" (Prokopios) 3-13-24

18. "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" (Marie Kondo) 3-14-24

19. "Crampton" (Thomas Ligotti & Brandon Trenz) 3-16-24 +

20. "Stitches" (Hirokatsu Kihara + Junji Ito) 3-26-24

21. "Artists and Their Cats" (Alison Nastasi) 3-28-24

22. "Great Cities of the Ancient World" (L. Sprague de Camp) 4-3-24

23. "Terminal Boredom" (Izumi Suzuki) 4-12-24

24. "Dragon Palace" (Hiromi Kawakami) 4-16-24

25. "Alexander the Great: His Life and Mysterious Death" (Anthony Everitt) 4-21-24

26. "The Antichrist: A New Biography" (Philip C. Almond) 5-24-24

27. "The Old Capital" (Yasunari Kawabata) 5-16-24

28. "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" (Bettany Hughes) 5-20-24

29. "The Cat Inside" (William S. Burroughs) 5-22-24 +

30. "A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes" (Anthony Bale) 5-29-24

31. "Diary of a Void" (Emi Yagi) 5-29-24

32. "The Book of Marvels and Travels" (Sir John Mandeville/Anthony Bale translation) 6-4-24

33. "The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are" (Michael Pye) 6-9-24

34. "The Three Cornered World" (Natsume Soseki) 6-15-24

35. "A Kingdom of Frozen Tears" (Tom Champagne) 6-21-24

36. "Michigan Basement" (Thomas Ligotti & Brandon Trenz) 6-22-24

37. "The Stronghold" (Dino Buzzati) 6-24-24 

38. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (Gawain-Poet/Keith Harrison translation) 7-1-24

39. "The Death of King Arthur" (Sir Thomas Malory/a retelling by Peter Ackroyd) 7-2-24

40. "Flunker" (Dennis Cooper) 7-4-24

41. "The Rule of St. Benedict" (St. Benedict of Nursia) 7-5-24

42. "Beowulf" (Unknown/John McNamara translation) 7-9-24

43. "Alley" (Junji Ito) 7-15-24

44. "Out of the Silent Planet" (C.S. Lewis) 

45. "Soviet Asia" (Roberto Conte + Stefano Perego) 7-17-24

46. "The Adventure Zone Vol. 6: The Suffering Game" (The McElroys + Carey Pietsch) 7-19-24

47. "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" (Soji Shimada) 7-27-24

48. "The Singularity" (Dino Buzzati) 7-31-24

49. "Goodnight Tokyo" (Atsuhiro Yoshida) 8-3-24

50. "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders" (Vincent Bugliosi + Curt Gentry) 8-5-24

51. "Spook" (Klabund) 8-7-24

52. "Dark Entries: Bauhaus and Beyond" (Ian Shirley) 8-9-24

53. "The Sun Also Rises" (Ernest Hemingway) 8-15-24

54. "Depeche Mode: A Biography" (Steve Malins) 8-20-24

55. "The Sirens of Titan" (Kurt Vonnegut) 8-25-24

56. "We" (Yevgeny Zamyatin) 8-26-24

57. "Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography" (Mark Paytress) 9-3-24

58. "Vita Nouva" (Dante Alighieri/Mark Musa translation) 9-5-24

59. "Shakespeare and the Medieval World" (Helen Cooper) 9-10-24

60. "The Medieval Castle: Design - Construction - Daily Life" (Charles Phillips) 9-19-24

61. "The Art of War" (Sun Tzu) 9-23-24

62. "Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show That Defined a Television Era" (Saul Austerlitz) 9-26-24

63. "Peppermint Werewolf: Murkstave" (Aaron Lange) 9-28-24

64. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (J.R.R. Tolkien) 9-29-24

65. "Nightlands Issue 2 - Summer 2024" (Various) 10-2-24

66. "Charnel Glamour" (Mark Samuels) 10-4-24

67. "Uncanny: The Origins of Fear" (Junji Ito) 10-6-24

68. "The Universe As Performance Art" (Colby Smith) 10-10-24

69. "Come Tomorrow and Other Tales of Bangalore Terror" (Jayaprakash Satyamurthy) 10-13-24

70. "The Dark Chamber" (Leonard Cline) 10-14-24

71. "The Worlds of George R.R. Martin" (Tom Huddleston) 10-19-24

72. "Tales of the Grotesque" (L.A. Lewis) 10-23-24

73. "The Medieval Warrior" (Martin Dougherty) 10-28-24

74. "The Jordan Rules" (Sam Smith) 10-29-24

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

Currently Reading: 

"Four Great Comedies: A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Tempest" (William Shakespeare)