Reading List
Here’s where I keep track of all the books I have been reading lately. This is mostly for my own personal benefit so that I don’t forget what I have read. You can also view this list arranged alphabetically and by rating.
2024
The Little Sister
For whatever reason this Philip Marlowe novel did not click with me. I had long stretches where I put... more
The Art and Craft of Wood Engraving
Chris Daunt is known in wood engraving circles as one of the few remaining block makers out there. Here... more
Tiamat’s Wrath
The penultimate entry in the Expanse-o-verse has the crew scattered across the galaxy and we’re finally getting a glimpse... more
Wood Engraving How to Do It
I have been slowly building out a little library of wood engraving books and this one is a book... more
Engravings by Hogarth
This one is a giant Dover paperback with glorious, near actual-sized reproductions of most of William Hogarth’s prints. But,... more
Strip for Violence
The title and cover art have absolutely nothing to do with the story within the pages of the pulp... more
The Book of Elsewhere
I got this book as an advance copy and was really wanting to like it so I could say... more
Persepolis Rising
My first post The Exapnse the T.V. show novel and it’s a good one. What makes it good? The... more
Garth Marenghi’s Incarcerat
Incarcerat continues much along the same lines as Terrortome. Things start to lose steam in the last part of... more
The Dance of Death
This is a weird, hybrid art book. Not exactly coffee table ready, and not exactly an art history paperback.... more
The Mezzotint
This is probably the definitive guide to the history and process of mezzotint printing. There are tons of images... more
Babylon’s Ashes
The sixth Expanse novel is the last of the series that was adapted for the show. The biggest problem... more
2023
Cards on the Table
The story sets the puzzle up in an interesting way. Eight guests are invited to a dinner party. Four... more
Season of Storms
Season of Storms is a fitting palette cleanse after the main Witcher series thud of an ending. There’s no... more
The Utopia
This is the first book I’ve read that was written by a saint. It’s the description of an ideal... more
Van Eyck
This is your standard mass-market artist overview with plenty of high quality color images. The writing is to the... more
James Ensor
This is from one of those mass market art book series, Crown Art Library. I’m a sucker for these... more
How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything In It
Quite frankly I was bored by this litany of Scottish people and their ancestors and all their accomplishments. I... more
Mysteries of the Unknown: Dreams and Dreaming
I found this volume in the Mysteries series to be much more readable and informative than the last few... more
Cibola Burn
The Expanse keeps expansing! The story takes a break from galactic politics and focuses on the first group of... more
Truth and Fantasy: Goya the Small Paintings
Most of the paintings featured in this coffee table art book are preliminary studies for major works. The time... more
The Broken Branch
The final book in the Tower and the Tree doesn’t quite work as well as the earlier books. I... more
Garth Marenghi’s TerrorTome
The audiobook is the way to go here. The character of Garth Marenghi (who reads the book) is hilarious... more
The Anarchist Handbook
A collection of essays about anarchism from 1800s to the present. The older essays were quite tedious and repetitive.... more
Heirs of the Fallen Kingdoms
Along with Barefoot Aivnesi this is backstory for the Tower and Tree fantasy novels. I’m not quite invested enough... more
The Occult in Art
This massive coffee table book seems like it would be a lot cooler than it is. Despite its size,... more
Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions
Public sector unions stink and cause all sorts of problems. This book points out just about every reason why... more
The Idiot
Well, it’s no Crime and Punishment. The plot revolves mostly around relationships and character interactions within the rules of... more
Mysteries of the Unknown: Time and Space
Seems like they are scraping the bottom of the barrel with this MotU entry. The book is roughly divided... more
The High Window
Phillip Marlowe has been hired to track down a stolen gold coin and, of course, it leads to murder.... more
The White Pill
The title of this book would suggest that it is purely about having a hopeful outlook about world events.... more
Titan
Libertarian disaster porn that moves along nicely until the actual disaster hits (figuratively) about two-thirds into the book. At... more
2022
Open: The Story of Human Progress
In many ways this is a continuation of The Future and Its Enemies with a heavy emphasis on open... more
Abaddon’s Gate
The Expanse continues with the story of the first traversals into the mysterious ring. A well-paced story that spends... more
Cosmic Retribution: The Infernal Art of Joe Coleman
Joe Coleman is a sicko and he wants you to know it! While I still like his art, I... more
Gods of Risk
Looks like The Expanse TV show will not be returning so now I have to read a dozen novels... more
Eight keys to Eden
Mid-century sci-fi novel about a planetary colony that goes dark. When the rescue mission arrives they find the colonists... more
Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody
What a mouthful of a title. Anyhow, this book is a case against post-modernism and its application within the... more
Farewell, My Lovely
Another Philip Marlowe mystery featuring excellent hard-boiled prose. The story is filled with drug addicts, drinking, mobsters and crooked... more
Guston
Philip Guston started as a WPA muralist, then became one of the leading figures of abstract expressionism. He is... more
The De-Definition of Art
This one is a collection of art criticism essays from the early 70s. They mostly grapple with the perceived... more
A Butcher King’s Love
The third book in this series is finally bringing things together for most of our main characters. I am... more
The Making of Nox Archaist
Here we go, yet another post about Nox Archaist. This book probably won’t be of much interest to people... more
Bruegel: The Complete Graphic Works
I still chuckle every time I read the name Hieronymus Cock. Maybe I’m just an immature fool, but Hieronymus... more
Barefoot Aivnesi
The was a companion book to the The Tower and the Tree series which at the moment (I’m about... more
Cosmic Connections
So far, this is my least favorite book in this series. Astrology is just not a very interesting topic... more
Otto Dix
I’m slowly working my way through various artist monographs I have collected over the years. Up until now I... more
Murder in Mesopotamia
Now much to say. It’s a swell Poirot mystery that is written in the first person from the perspective... more
2021
Bruegel
This is a nice companion piece to his book on Bosch. There quite a bit more to talk about... more
Hieronymus Bosch
This short and small volume does a good job in contextualizing the work of Bosch. Lots of images but... more
The Renaissance of Etching
A better title for this art book would be Etching from the Renaissance. The book covers the dawn of... more
Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
I read a large chunk of this book in draft form as he serialized it on his Substack blog.... more
The Prestige
A tale of dueling magicians who go through ever more elaborate lengths to uncover each other’s secrets. It’s all... more
From Russia with Love
Bond travels to Istanbul to meet with a rogue Russian agent who claims to be in love with him.... more
Junkie!
This was a PlanetMonk Kindle reprint of a 50s pulp novel. I was expecting tons of scary drug use... more
Death in the Clouds
Poirot on a plane, a blow dart, and many suspects all with reasons to kill the old hag. I... more
Murder on the Orient Express
I read this knowing the ending but I still think it is a top-tier Poirot mystery. The confined setting... more
Three Act Tragedy
A mostly Poirot-free Poirot novel. It was okay, I guess, but pretty forgettable. What was I talking about?
The Stranger
A short, quick read that goes by even faster because of the blunt writing (or blunt translation as the... more
Lady of the Lake
The final Witcher book is a solid conclusion to the series but doesn’t quite stand up to the previous... more
Wood Engraving: The Art of Wood Engraving & Relief Engraving
There are very few books detailing the technical aspects of wood engraving out there. This is about as close... more
Piranesi: The Complete Etchings
I bought this on a whim when I saw the price dropped to $20. Kudos for the completeness and,... more
Resurrection
In the 1960s Fritz Eichenburg illustrated many classics as part of the Heritage Press series of books. This one... more
Diamonds Are Forever
James Bond #4 pits Bond against the mob in America. I’m surprised at how little actual spy-craft takes place... more
The Tower of the Swallow
After a very Geralt-centric novel, this fourth book in The Witcher series returns to the Ciri being the primary... more
Baptism of Fire
The third book in The Witcher series brings the story back to the quality that was shown in the... more
Ravilious: Wood Engravings
A nice collection of works by Eric Ravilious. This isn’t too text heavy, but each print gets a few... more
The Iliad
This is the sort of book that I feel like I have read already but that is mostly because... more
Freezer Burn
Well, this is why I write these reviews. I got about a quarter the way into this book and... more
Words on the Move: Why English Won’t – and Can’t – Sit Still (Like, Literally)
While it’s almost structured as a defense of the “misuse” of words such as literally and like, McWhorter’s book is a very... more
We
A dystopian novel that predates Orwell’s 1984 by a decade or two and was banned in Russia until the... more
South and South and South
The second book in this series moves along nicely as the various characters continue to do the things they... more
2020
Hans Baldung Grien: Prints and Drawings
An excellent catalog of graphic artworks by this famous student of Dürer. A good chunk of this deals with... more
Lord Edgware Dies
A perfectly serviceable Poirot mystery involving the most despicable kind of people on earth. That’s right, theater people.
The Time of Contempt
The Witcher continues with more of Geralt not fighting monsters. There’s a conclave of sorcerers, a double-crossing, a big... more
Scene Through Wood: A Century of Wood Engraving
While wood engraving was the method of illustrating books for at least a century, there doesn’t seem to be... more
Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark
This book is massive. Over a thousand pages filled with colorful photos, poster art and columns upon columns of... more
Lives of the Artists: Volume I
I started reading this thinking it would cover the techniques and materials of the Renaissance masters. Apparently, that’s another... more
Blood of Elves
The first official book in The Witcher series is not as jam-packed with action as the short story volumes... more
Sword of Destiny
The second collection of Witcher short stories is actually the first or something like that. You’ll need to Google... more
The Last Wish
I’ve played the games, watched the television show, and now I am going to work my way through the... more
The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization
This is yet another summation of Western philosophical thought. In this case it’s presented as a perpetual oscillation between the spiritual... more
The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy
One of the best looking books on printmaking I’ve seen. Printed on a think matte stock, with over 100... more
Mediocre Saviors
This was an enjoyable fantasy about a world that’s been turned to blight everywhere except a single kingdom which... more
1917: Lenin, Wilson, and the Birth of the New World Disorder
In the past (“the past” get it… oh, wait you haven’t read the next bit yet), I have tried... more
The Coddling of the American Mind
I did not like this nearly as much as The Righteous Mind, but there are a handful of decent insights... more
Mystery of the Blue Train
It’s been years since I read me some Poirot and it was refreshing to dive back in. I am a better... more
Pillars of the Earth
The historical fiction version of A Feast for Crows with the church versus the crown. It’s a thick but quick-paced read... more
Man and the State: The Political Philosophers
A good collection of political writings spanning from Hobbes to Marx. Hobbes and Locke lay down a nice foundation... more
Mysteries of the Unknown: Mystic Places
So far, my favorite of the MOTU series. I think I liked this one because there is some grounding... more
The City and the Stars/The Sands of Mars
Why do I do this to myself? I am always disappointed with classic science fiction. This stuff is so... more
2019
The City of Gold and Lead
Ok. I may have goofed on the first book in The Tripods series earlier, but these are actually pretty fun reads. It’s not... more
Prey: The Drovers, Book 1
Looks like I am ending the year on a YA fiction kick. Prey is the story of a young boy (aren’t... more
The White Mountains
Young adult fiction about giant three legged machines that transform children into mindless teenagers when they turn thirteen. So... more
Dance of Death: A Graphic Commentary on the Danse Macabre Through the Centuries
Filled with art featuring death (for the most part that means a skeleton… spooky, no?) taunting the living. The... more
Mysteries of the Unknown: Mysterious Creatures
The first chapter about sea creatures is probably the best part of this book. Lots of great illustrations of... more
Mysteries of the Unknown: Transformations
Transformations is divided into three main sections: native American shapeshifters, werewolves and vampires. The shapeshifters chapter is filled with interesting images... more
Public Opinion
I agreed with many of his main points on stereotyping, democracy, propaganda, and the inability for a potential voter... more
Tales of the Peculiar
I went into this book knowing nothing of the many Mrs. Peregrine books/movies/after-dinner mints. Unless Shirley Temple is the main character,... more
The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics
Malice takes a break from trolling to clarify what exactly “The New Right” is. The dear readers are guided through the intellectual... more