I found myself completely unable to keep up with these reading logs once summer ended — on top of my usual work at a public school, I also returned to college after a 10 year break, and covid has not made either of these things less stressful. Below is most of what I read, with some trims made for sanity's sake; the prospect of compiling and linking to 100+ articles is what had kept me from this task for so long, so I elected not to do so.

I also read much less recreational fiction than usual because I took a Shakespeare class during the fall and spent that time reading (and writing about) four plays multiple times. The materials I read/watched for that class, some assigned and some not, are in their own category at the end of this post.

A ⌛︎ before a title indicates that I have not finished reading it.

Novels

• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
• Non-Player Character by Victoria Corva
• Tales of Nevèryon by Samuel Delaney
• Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer (reread)
• ⌛︎ Lord of the Flies by William Golding (reread, for work)
• ⌛︎ Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov trans. Stephen Pearl
• ⌛︎ Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin trans. Henry Spalding
• ⌛︎ Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
• ⌛︎ Dracula by Bram Stoker (aloud)
• ⌛︎ The Secret Service by Wendy Walker

Short Stories

• The King in Yellow by R.W. Chambers (reread, 4 short stories)
• “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell (reread, for work)
• Human Domestication Guide (15 stories)
• “The Scruggsdale Organizer #5: Local Man Drives All The Way To Jackson For Grindr Hookup” by Natalie Ironside
• “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson (reread, for work)
• “The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie” by Kathleen Jennings (on Tor.com)
• “The Truth” by Stanisław Lem (in The MIT Press Reader)
• “An Explosion of A Pinch of Snuff” by Mordecai Martin (in Timber Journal)
• “Every Cat A Sphynx” by Mordecai Martin (in SORTES)
• “Mother Tongue” by Mordecai Martin (in The Bitchin' Kitsch)
• “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates (reread, for work)
• “Egg-Mouth” by Blake Planty (in Butter Magazine)
• “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe (reread, for work)
• “The Sphinx” by Edgar Allan Poe
• “Jack and Jesse” by Mads Viande
• “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut (reread, for work)
• “penny in a bed of flowers” by Sarah Zedig (Homestuck fanfiction)

Light Novels

• Konosuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World vol. 1 by Akatsuki Natsume
• Invaders of the Rokujouma vols. 1-2 by Morgan Dreher
• A Sister's All You Need vol. 4 by Hirasaka Yomi & Kantoku
• ⌛︎ The Executioner and Her Way of Life vol. 1 by Mato Sato
• Yes, No, or Maybe? by Michi Ichiho
• Konosuba vol. 4 by Mishima Kurome
• Tearmoon Empire vol. 3 by Mochitsuki Nozomu
• The Ideal Sponger Life vol. 2 by Tess Nanavati

Comics

• Bocchama by Amandurr (ongoing, 7 webtoon chapters)
• Obnoxious Hero-kun by Amandurr (81 webtoon chapters)
• Plain Boy & Prince by Amandurr (ongoing, 64 webtoon chapters)
• Please be my GAL PAL by Amandurr (ongoing, 2 webtoon chapters)
• Kimi to Hamu Hamu shitai no da! by Machiko trans. No Pressure Scans (5 manga chapters)
• Tsubanakasu Haru by Migino Yagi trans. scan beans (5 manga chapters)
• Majo no Geboku to Maou no Tsuno by Mochi trans. Fanatic Scans (ongoing, 8 manga chapters)
• Issho ni Itadakimasu by Mike Nako trans. Pink Cherry Blossom Scans (ongoing, 2 manga chapters)
• 2DK, G-Pen, Alarm Clock by Ohsawa Yayoi trans. Sexy Akiba Detectives (ongoing, 1 manga chapter)
• Can I Get You To Go? by Ohsawa Yayoi trans. Sexy Akiba Detectives (manga one-shot)
• Idiots Don't Catch Colds by Aina Palm (ongoing, 190 webtoon chapters)
• Suitor Armor by Purpah (ongoing, 51 webtoon chapters)
• The Amazing Magic Only You Possess by sono trans. Sexy Akiba Detectives (manga one-shot)
• Gleipnir by Takeda Sun trans. Kirishima Fansub (ongoing, 36 manga chapters)
• An Undesirable Relationship by tmfly trans. Sexy Akiba Detectives (manga one-shot)
• So, Do You Want To Go Out, Or? by tmfly trans. Sexy Akiba Detectives (ongoing, 3 manga chapters)

Interactive & Gaming

• Bread Minus by Freya C. (interactive essay)
• Winter by Freya C. (interactive fiction)
• ⌛︎ Snow Sakura by D.O./G-Collections (visual novel, 2 routes)
• Logging Off by Celine Nguyen (interactive fiction)
• Lesbian Vampire Dating Online by Alison Tam (interactive fiction)
• witchcraft (TTRPG system write-up) by iolbs

Poetry

• “One Source of Bad Information” by Robert Bly (in Morning Poems)
• “Peaches—Six in a Tin Bowl, Sarajevo” by Sandra Cisneros (in My Wicked Wicked Ways)
• “Response, Years Later, to Two Male Poets I Overheard Discussing How Sick They Were of Women’s Poems about the Body” by Meghan Dunn
• “A Toast to the Alchemists” by Laura Gilpin (in The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe)
• “The Pilgrim Reaches Rome (1350 AD)” by A.J. Hammer
• “Binsey Poplars” by Gerard Manley Hopkins (poem)
• “Inversnaid” by Gerard Manley Hopkins (on sowe.li)
• Every Crayola Crayon Color (Past & Present) (Rob Keller/Wikipedia)
• “Hoar-Frost” by Amy Lowell (on Poets.org)
• “Áhàméfùla” by Uche Ogbuji (in Uncanny Magazine)
• “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe (reread, for work)
• Greek Anthology 5.135 by Anonymous trans. Sententiae Antiquae
• Greek Anthology 12.38 attributed to Rhianos trans. Sententiae Antiquae
• “Do You Ever Think About Leaving, My Mother Asks”by Angela María Spring (in Muzzle Magazine)

Misc.

• The Importance of Being Earnest bu Oscar Wilde (reread, play)
• bugwomb by Blake Planty and dev (short fiction/art)
• https://catboy.church/rx.html (zine)
• https://www.surfaces.cx/catboy-church (short stories)
• https://catboys.exposed/2.html (short fiction)
• https://elfboys.com/kiss.html (webpage)
• Elf 9/11 by Porpentine Charity Heartscape (zine/image)
• 102 Total Miscellaneous Articles

Shakespeare (and accompaniments)

• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, New Cambridge Shakespeare edition (reread, aloud,)
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten (1960 opera, libretto and BBC recording)
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (2015 dir. Julie Taymor)
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, New Cambridge Shakespeare edition (reread, aloud)
  • Practice Pieces for Actors: Romeo and Juliet by Bertolt Brecht trans. George Tabori (1964 Creative Arts Television)
  • Romeo and Juliet (2009 dir. Dominic Dromgoole)
  • ”'To Free-Town, Our Common Judgement Place': Commoners in Romeo and Juliet” by Barbara Mather Cobb (academic paper)
• As You Like It by William Shakespeare, New Cambridge Shakespeare edition (aloud)
  • As You Like It (2009 dir. Thea Sharrock)
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare, New Cambridge Shakespeare edition (reread, aloud)
  • Practice Pieces for Actors: Hamlet by Bertolt Brecht trans. Michael Lebeck (1964 Creative Arts Television)
  • Hamlet (1996 dir. Kenneth Branagh)
  • Hamlet (2009 Royal Shakespeare Company/BBC)
  • “Shakespeare’s Early Gothic Hamlet” by Gary Taylor (academic paper
  • “More Than Kin, Less Than Kind: Similitude, Strangeness, and Early Modern English Homonationalisms” by Urvashi Chakravarty (academic paper)

Total: 4 completed and 6 partial novels; 34 short stories; 9 light novels; 5 plays; 395 webcomic chapters/updates and 63 manga chapters; 4 short text games/pieces of interactive fiction and 2 visual novel routes; 14 poems; 3 academic papers; and 108 articles, zines, and miscellanea.

#ReadingLog

• I want to try making rock candy. This is a note to self.
• On that note... here is a recipe for a cement smoothie and edible rocks if you wish to eat rocks that have more substance than sugar and food coloring.
• Have you gone sicko mode on a mango lately? Here's your sign if you've been waiting for one.
• This week's menu is: frozen hashbrowns and smoothies (breakfast), lentil-kale salad with grilled cheese on dark rye (packed lunches), chicken noodle soup (dinner), and we're still working on finishing those cookies.

Art Resources

• That repository of vintage art I mentioned last week continues to grow and can now be found on github and itch.io.
• Heritage Type Co. also has some good free-to-use images.
• Flow is a very cool tool to mess with.

Cranesbill from Water-color sketches of plants of North America and Europe

Nature

• Guide to Photographing Mushrooms for Identification
• The fungal mind: on the evidence for mushroom intelligence
• The Intelligent Forest
• How the Pre-Raphaelites Became Obsessed with the Wombat
• Today I separated and transplanted the foxgloves I started in March into a larger container... fingers crossed that they survive the move and make some sexy flowers next spring.

Misc.

• Two essays by Jordy Rosenburg: Gender Trouble on Mother's Day and Trans/War Boy/Gender: On the Primitive Accumulation of T.
• I made some collages with old sex ed worksheets. There are a couple more in this batch I haven't finished yet.

#WeeklyLinks

• An article about Pakistani mango imports.
• I liked the playable essay Bread Minus, “a short narration of my process for baking sourdough bread, interspersed with some tangents on rocket countdowns, oven measurements, and the invention of time.”
• I got a puerh tasting set from Crimson Lotus Tea and it was worth the long shipping time.
• My menu for this coming week is: whatever you can find (breakfast), sambal noodles (packed lunches + dinner), digaag qumbe (packed lunches + dinner), kale-lentil salad (packed snack + side), oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (yum).

from Summer flowers of the high Alps, Somerville Hastings, 1910

Miscellanea

• An article about trawling the comments on the Internet Archive's Greatful Dead collection.
• A little poem about a nice butt from the Greek Anthology, plus some Ancient Greek butt vocabulary.
• The visual novel Butterfly Soup now has web and android ports! I read this a few years ago and really enjoyed it, especially since it takes place in a California high school at around the same time I was going to high school in California.
• A friend turned me on to the joys of industrial safety videos, which are a fun thing to watch in bed on a weekend morning. Please enjoy Shake Hands with Danger and Forklift Driver Klaus.
• Here's a very cool in-progress collection of images taken from public domain books and converted into vector format. My favorites so far are: divider11, frame11, ornament19, ornament28, ornament43 (below), ornatec10, torch, agreatcuriosity, and lazywifepolebean.

#WeeklyLinks

A ⌛︎ before a title indicates that I have not finished reading it.

Novels & Short Stories

• Dreadnought by April Daniels
• Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
• Gaffe chapters 4 &5 by Casey Callich
• ⌛︎ Tales of Nevèryon by Samuel R. Delaney

Light Novels

• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya vol. 1 by Tanigawa Nagaru
• Do You Love Your Mom and her Two-Hit Mulit-Target Attacks? vol. 1 by Dachima Inaka
• My Friend's Little Sister Has it in for Me vols. 1 &2 by Hendra Boerma
• I'm in Love with the Villainess vol. 2 by Inori
• The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious vol. 1by Tuchihi Light & Toyota Saori
• The Apothecary Diaries vol. 1 by Sasha McGlynn

Comics

• Ai no su e Ochiro! by Higuchi Misao & Minamijuuji Asuna (chapters 2-4)
• Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs. Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko by Konkichi (6 chapters)
• Atarashii Joushi wa Dotennen by Dan Ichikawa (13 chapters)
• Blades of Furry by Deya Muniz & Emily Erdos (37 chapters)
• Let's Play by Leeanne M. Krecic (135 chapters)
• Tricked into Becoming the Heroine's Step-Mother by Hariheen & Mokgamgi (8 chapters)
• Not So Shoujo Love Story by Curryuku (51 chapters)
• Comic on having long-COVID as a young person. by @vitariesocks@tumblr.com
• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood by Araki Hirohiko (44 chapters)

Articles

• ‘You’re the Problem’: When They Spoke Up About Misconduct, They Were Offered Mental Health Services by Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Ruchika Tulshyan (in The New York Times)
• Why Cookbook Stores Are the Antidote We Need Right Now by Jessica Sulima (in Thrillist)
• England's Upper Classes: A Dangerous Cult by Otto English (in Byline Times)
• This Sweet White Flower Is Actually A Sneaky Carnivore, Scientists Discover by Nell Greenfieldboyce (in NPR)
• New Shape Opens ‘Wormhole’ Between Numbers and Geometry by Kevin Hartnett (in Quanta Magazine)
• Life in the Stacks: A Love Letter to Browsing by Jason Guriel (in The Walrus)
• The Case Against Reading Everything by Jason Guriel (in The Walrus)
• Archival Futures: The Archive as a Place and the Place of the Archive by Sarath Pillai (in Los Angeles Review of Books)
• use computers to store data by J.B. Crawford (in Computers are Bad)
• Book of Lamentations by Sam Kriss (reread, in The New Inquiry)
• The Stages of Not Going on T by Daniel M. Lavery (in The New Inquiry)
• An Accumulation of Nameless Energies by Rob Horning (in Real Life Magazine)
• Just a Girl: Being Briseis by anonymous (in Sententiae Antiquae)
• A history of Simlish, the language that defined The Sims by Brennan Kilbane (in The Verge)
• [The Jean-Paul Sartre Cookbook]()https://pvspade.com/Sartre/cookbook.html by Marty Smith (in The Free Agent, 1987)
• The Mulberry as Placemaker + Community Resource by Kirsten Bradley (on Milkwood.net)
• I Became A Pandemic ‘Wine Mom.’ Here’s What I Learned. by Amanda Montei (in the HuffPost)
• Grizzly bear DNA maps onto Indigenous language families by Rachel Fritts (in Science Magazine)
• Rain falls at Greenland ice summit for first time on record by Kate Abnett and Andrea Januta (in Reuters)
• The Inner Life of James Bond by James Parker (in The Atlantic)
• Safety of folk jamming techniques
• A Secret Spreadsheet Shows There Are No Raises In Coffee by Ashley Rodriguez (in Talk Poverty)
• Starbucks workers in New York are organizing to form first US union by Michael Sainato (in The Guardian)
• Giant bird-eating centipedes exist — and they’re surprisingly important for their ecosystem by Luka Halpin, Rohan Clarke, and Roiwan Mott (in The Conversation)
• Radioactivity May Fuel Life Deep Underground and Inside Other Worlds
• Kasagi: Gates Of Hope by Portland Japanese Garden
• In the Dead Archives by Max Abelson (in n+1 Magazine)
• My Disability Is Obvious In Job Interviews. Is That A Bad Thing? by Wendy Lu & Kelly Dawson (in Refinery29)
• Inside the Secretive, Semi-Illicit, High Stakes World of WhatsApp Mango Importing by Ali Akhbar (in Eater)

Misc.

• Higurashi no Koro ni: Minagoroshi-hen (sound novel arc)
• Earthly Delights ꙮdgo Issue 2A (zine)
• Essay On What I Think About Most by Anne Carson (poem)
• *A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers at Full Speed by Chris Helzer (on The Prairie Ecologist)

Total: 2 novels; 2 short story chapters; 8 light novels; 1 sound novel arc; 65 manga chapters, 231 webcomic chapters, 1 short comic; 29 articles; 2 zines; 1 poem

#ReadingLog

• Safety of folk jamming techniques
• Kanten about / Kanten recipe
• This week's menu, all packed or leftover'd: whatever you can scrounge up (breakfast); bánh mì (packed lunches); burritos with veggie and black bean arroz rojo, refried black beans, cheeses, salsa verde (dinner), barley-lentil-chickpea-orzo soup with roasted red peppers and sundried tomatoes (dinner), muhammara (snack), cheesecake (cake).
• My birthday cake this year was a Basque Burnt Cheesecake. I subbed in chèvre for part of the cream cheese as an experiment, and added a little bit of lemon zest, vanilla, and almond extract. It's very good, as with the other times I've made it. I omitted the tiny bit of flour this time and I think the texture was better with it. (Cobbled together from two recipes.)

Science

• Grizzly bear DNA maps onto Indigenous language families
• Rain falls at Greenland ice summit for first time on record
• A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers At Full Speed
• Giant bird-eating centipedes exist — and they’re surprisingly important for their ecosystem
• Radioactivity May Fuel Life Deep Underground and Inside Other Worlds
• Elephas Anthropogenus — the evolution of elephant depiction throughout the middle ages up to the age of enlightenment
• Clark's nutcrackers are very fun to watch, especially if they're working over a pinecone

from Water-color sketches of plants of North America and Europe (1888-1910), Helen Sharp

Two things that make you feel weird when you read them

• Gaffe: a clown goes through hell
• Essay On What I Think About Most, Anne Carson

The Rainbow, Nikolay Nikanorovich Dubovskoy

Some photos I took at Crater Lake

#WeeklyLinks

• Beet-dyed challah — I was making challah regularly for a few years to use up an excess of duck eggs, and the visual of a horrifyingly red-pink loaf has me wanting to do it again. For a work potluck, perhaps.
• Spain’s Burnt Cheesecake Breaks All the Rules — I've made a version of this several times (it's very good) and it's neat to see where it originated.
• Another heatwave is coming, so I prepped some cold/easy foods:
  • A tweaked version of this kale-lentil salad
  • Cold noodles, served in a communal bowl of ice water with individual dipping sauce bowls and a platter of toppings and sides — this week it's hardboiled eggs; raw cabbage massaged with salt and fish sauce; cubed daikon and carrot fridge pickle with garlic, chili-garlic paste, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar; sliced melon. All I have to do when I want some is boil water for the noodles and plate everything.
  • Muesli with yogurt/overnight oats. This always ends up being a collection of pantry bits, and my current batch has steel-cut oats, thick-cut rolled oats, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, almonds, golden raisins, cinnamon-cardamom sugar, a spoonful of coconut cream, and homemade mesophilic yogurt.
  • Low-effort burritos. It doesn't take long to grab the tortillas, rice (arroz rojo with black beans and frozen mixed veggies), beans (refried from a can), cheese (grated cheddar), and salsa verde from the fridge, assembly-line some burritos, and heat them up in a skillet until they're crispy.
  • Mugi-cha. Toast/roast a bunch of barley until it's anywhere from golden brown to dark brown (but not burnt). Bring 1/3-¼ cup of the toasted barley to a boil in 8 cups of water (that's how big my pitcher is), turn it off and leave it to steep. Strain and refrigerate, topping up the pitcher with water or ice since the barley will have absorbed some of the water. You can also throw in a couple black or oolong teabags while it steeps if you want caffeine.

Mental Health™

• Book of Lamentations — the DSM-5 analyzed as a dystopian novel
• From The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, a mood:

Another [story idea]: THE DAY OF THE TWENTY-FOUR CAKES: Either Kafka lit-mag serious or SATEVEPOST aim high: woman at end of rope with husband, children: lost sense of order in universe, all meaningless, loss of hopes: quarrel with husband: loose ends, bills, problems, dead end. Wavering between running away or committing suicide: stayed by need to create an order: slowly, methodically begins to bake cakes, one each hour, calls store for eggs, etc. from midnight to midnight. Husband comes home: new understanding. She can go on making order in her limited way: beautiful cakes: can't bear to leave them. Try both styles: do it to your heart's content.

Archiving, Browsing, Curation

• Life in the Stacks: A Love Letter to Browsing
• An Accumulation of Nameless Energies
• use computers to store data
• Why Cookbook Stores Are the Antidote We Need Right Now
• Archival Futures: The Archive as a Place and the Place of the Archive

Weird stuff

• isopods will inherit the earth
• A history of Simlish, the language that defined The Sims
• This Sweet White Flower Is Actually A Sneaky Carnivore, Scientists Discover
• Two Homestuck-likes I've been reading lately — The Tapestry and Vast Error
• New fursona just dropped, it's Monstrum Philip: #WeeklyLinks

Things I made or did

• TTRPG Charts for Incubation, Initiatory Visions, or Prophetic Dreams (to be edited, renamed, perhaps reposted elsewhere; or maybe never touched again)
• I made a salve on August 1st; the carrier oils (olive and jojoba) are infused with English thyme (T. vulgaris), 'Flashback' calendula (C. officinalis), common mugwort (A. vulgaris), yomogi (A. princeps), and comfrey (S. officinale), all either grown on my balcony or harvested from plants I left in Idaho.
• I made a new collage on the 1st! This only took a few hours from initial idea to finish, no procrastinating at all.
• I came across this recipe for Banana Paletas a few years ago and I keep it in mind as a basic popsicle. I make them with coconut milk or a mix of coconut milk and yogurt, overripe bananas, vanilla, and no sugar. This time I also threw in some mango.

Older things I wanted to share

• Shkapang and Super Radical Solitaire: Two games by the same designer that I've been using to waste time on my phone — excellent when left on a gurney in a doctor's waiting room for an hour. The former is like a cross between pong, space invaders, and touhou; the latter is a solitaire game that lets you play minigames to swap out hidden cards when you get stuck, and it's also the only solitaire care game I've tried on Ubuntu Linux that I've also liked.
• “The Thing-of-the-Month Clubs” by John Brunner is a funny little story written as a magazine review of various thing-of-the-month clubs from a sci-fi future. I remembered it because I'm currently trying out my first-ever subscription box.
• My partner and I continue to pick away at Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and I cannot recommend it enough if you like visual novels, Japanese media, horror, and stories about friends. I am so sucked in; we just started the Minagoroshi arc. Start now if you want summer vibes and cicada sound effects.

New-to-me things

• Worry Herbs: A cute little game that involves writing self-care/reflection prompts on a deck of cards and drawing one every time you water the plant. You win if you finish the deck before the plant dies.
• The current candle in my drippy wax bottle is Sun Goddess Sekhmet from Solis Illuminatum. It's orange beeswax and is scented with orange, clove, and cinnamon.
• I've filled my phone with files from Standard Ebooks. They have a lot of popular/widely-read books that are in the public domain, as well as some interesting looking older works by women and authors of color that I've downloaded to check out. While browsing their catalogue I had a little bit of the “wow I've never heard of this!” feeling that I love about used book stores.
• StackEdit is a nice and easy-to-use in-browser markdown editor. You can see what you're typing and how it looks side-by-side.
• I started watching The Expanse on the recommendation of a relative and it's very cool! Sci-fi with a lot of flavor — the spacers have an interesting pidgin. I have no idea what the show is trying to say politically but it's fun to watch.
• “September Moonrise” by Childe Hassam is supposedly a painting of, you know, the moonrise, but the colors give it a “beautiful summer in a smoky-skied western US hellscape” vibe:

#WeeklyLinks

A ⌛︎ before a title indicates that I have not finished reading it.

• A Bait of Dreams by Jo Clayton (novel)
• A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab (novel)
• SCP-5254 (short story)
• “A Guide to Getting Wet in Toronto Hotels” by Ninjalicious (zine article in Infiltration)
• “How Twitter can ruin a life: Isabel Fall's Complicated Story” by Emily VanDerWerff (article on Vox)
• “1992: Silverwolf” by Aaron A. Reed (article in 50 Years of Text Games)
• The Forsaken Saintess and Her Foodie Roadtrip in Another World by Yoneori and Kogami Nana (4 manga chapters)
• I Am Their Catships' Catservant by Kitaguni Rato (2 manga chapters)
• “The Unleavening” by Brin Solomon (essay)
• “Until a Hundred Generations of People Have Departed” by E. Saxey (creative translation)
• “Jules Gill-Peterson reunites with Daniel Lavery in: The Case Of The Barely-There HRT” by Daniel Lavery and Jules Gill-Peterson (interview/discussion)
• “Daniel Lavery reunites with Jules Gill-Peterson in: The Case of the Barely-There HRT” by Jules Gill-Peterson and Daniel Lavery (interview/discussion)
• “Feds may investigate Chemawa Indian School in Salem after discovery of Canadian graves” by Natalie Pate (article)
• “The bison are back: Bison could appear in Glacier soon” by Keila Szpaller (article)
• Jeeves Stories by P. G. Wodehouse (22 short stories)
• The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc (9 short stories)
• Arsène Lupin Versus Herlock Sholmes by Maurice Leblanc (2 novellas)
• Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Tsumihoroboshi-hen by 07th Expansion (visual novel arc)
• “Differentiating online variations of the Commonplace Book: Digital Gardens, Wikis, Zettlekasten, Waste Books, Florilegia, and Second Brains” by Chris Aldrich (article)
• “Temptation” by stupid (short story)
• “In Defense of Helga G. Patacki” by A. Tony Jerome/Alexis Smithers (poem)
• “I am reminded via email to resubmit my preferences for the schedule” by Chen Chen (poem)
• Fine Print extended preview by Shiniez (comic)
• “multi-species girl ricecorn grazing” by Porpentine Charity Heartscape (short story)
• Homestuck^2 (webcomic, chapters 10—16)
• “try to find your way out of my wizard maze” by wizardsanimal (uquiz/interactive fiction)
• “Myths About Testosterone and Fertility, Told Through Three Perspectives” by Will Betke-Brunswick (comic on Autostraddle)
• “It's Summer, And That Means The Mysterious Return Of Glacier Ice Worms” by Nell Greenfieldboyce (article on NPR)
• ” Estradiol Stickies: Preparation and Usage” by estradiol.stickies@protonmail.com (zine)
• ““No Way Out Except From External Intervention”: First-Hand Accounts of Autistic Inertia” by Karen Leneh Buckle, Kathy Leadbitter, Ellen Poliakoff, and Emma Gowen (scientific paper)
• “The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds” by Chris Heath (article)
• Mage & Demon Queen by Color_LES (3 webcomic updates)
• Exiled From My Old Party For Being A Woman, Me And A Legendary Witch Formed The Ultimate Tag Team by Kaeruda Ameko and Seto Ririura (1 manga chapter)
• “The POC Guide to Writing Dialect In Fiction” by Kai Ashante Wilson (article on Tor.com)
• Seifuku no Vampiress Lord by Matsumoto Tomoki (27 manga chapters)
• “He invented karaoke, saw it take off, then walked away – Daisuke Inoue taught the world to sing, if not always in harmony “ by Julian Ryall (article)
• ⌛︎ Floornight by nostalgebraist (novel, reread)
• “When an Eel Climbs a Ramp to Eat Squid From a Clamp, That’s a Moray” by Sabrina Imbler (article)
• Epode III – Garlic! by Horace trans. by A. S. Kline (poem)
• “My Changes, Are They Reversible?” Yet More Chatting About HRT, With Lola Pellegrino by Daniel Lavery & Lola Pellegrino (interview)
• “Hospitable Takeover” by Wayril (short story)
• “A Rogue By Any Other Name” by Wayril (short story)
• “The case of the flaking floor and other tales of concrete forensics” by Mitch Jacoby (article)
• Haiti’s Creole: Language of Revolution by Dady Chery (article)
• Konya mo Kimi ni Gochisousama by Morishima peco (8 manga chapters)
• “The Queer Art of Fucking Your Friends” by Sophia Giovannitti (article)
• The Fashion Issue by River Furnace (zine)
• Sex Ed by River Furnace (zine)
• INTERNET MURDER REVENGE FANTASY by Merritt Kopas et al. (comic, reread)
• “How to Become a Really Really Not Famous Trans Lady Writer” by Torrey Peters (zine, reread)
• Of Grub & Grain by Maxwell Lander (TTRPG handbook)
• Fruit Picker by Chris Kettle-Frisby (game guide)
• Learning What Joy Is by Neen Lancaster (zine)
• Trusted with Its True Name by Victor A. Gonzalez (game guide)
• Throst Membrances by Charity (zine)
• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (novel)
• ⌛︎ Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (novel)
• “My Best Friend Lost His Life to the Gig Economy” by George Ciccariello-Maher (article)
• ‘We don’t deserve this’: new app places US caregivers under digital surveillance by Virginia Eubanks and Alexandra Mateescu (article)
• Konosuba vol. 3 by Mishima Kurone (light novel)
• A Sister's All You Need vol. 3 by Hirasaka Yomi (light novel)

Total: 3 novels, 2 novellas, 2 light novels, 33 short stories, 1 visual novel arc, 1 IF game, 6 zines, 37 manga chapters, 8 webcomic chapters and 1 short comic, 3 poems, and 25 articles, papers, interviews, and misc.

#ReadingLog

It's been a while! In 2020 I maintained the habit of posting these lists (almost) every month, but when my workplace returned to in-person in January all my project habits fell apart. I did, however, manage to keep records of what I read. Here is a big-ass list; because I wasn't able to reconstruct a nice chronological list like I usually do, everything is split into categories this time. Here's hoping for shorter lists posted more frequently in the coming months.

A ⌛︎ before a title indicates that I have not finished reading it.

Novels & Novellas

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (reread for work)
• Merchanter's Luck by C.J. Cherryh
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (reread for work)
• Non-Player Character by Victoria Corva (3 chapters, pre-publishing preview)
• Zofloya; or, The Moor: A Romance of the Fifteenth Century by Charlotte Dacre
• Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
• ⌛︎ Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
• Queen City Jazz by Kathleen Anne Goonan
• ⌛︎ With My Dog Eyes by Hilda Hilst
• Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
• Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• City of Red Midnight: A Hikayat by Usman T. Malik
• Crystal Line by Anne McCaffrey
• In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
• Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
• Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
• How to Murder Fate by Kimberly A. Riley (chapter 1, ongoing)
• Allegro by D. Moonfire (39 chapters, ongoing)
• Second-Hand Dresses by D. Moonfire
• Sand and Blood by D. Moonfire
• Sand and Ash by D. Moonfire
• Sand and Bone by D. Moonfire
• ⌛︎ Floornight by nostalgebraist (reread)
• The Longest Night by E.E. Ottoman
• Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
• Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin
• Night by Elie Wiesel (reread for work)
• ⌛︎ From the New World by Yusuke Kishi trans. eerabbit (reread)

Light Novels

• A Wild Last Boss Appeared! vol. 1 by Firehead
• A Wild Last Boss Appeared! vol. 2 by Firehead
• KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! vol. 1 by Akatsuki Natsume
• KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! vol. 2 by Akatsuki Natsume
• A Lily Blooms in Another World by Ameko Kaeruda
• Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With A Mythical Sorceress! vol. 1 by Ameko Kaeruda
• Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With A Mythical Sorceress! vol. 2 by Ameko Kaeruda
• Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! vol. 1 by kiki
• Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! vol. 2 by kiki
• A Sister's All You Need vol. 1 by Hirasaka Yomi
• A Sister's All You Need vol. 2 by Hirasaka Yomi
• Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon vol. 1 by Hirukuma
• Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon vol. 2 by Hirukuma
• Otherside Picnic by Miyazawa Iori (1 arc/chapter in 2021)
• Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 2 by Jyumonji Ao
• Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 3 by Jyumonji Ao
• Tearmoon Empire vol. 1 by Mochitsuki Nozomu
• Tearmoon Empire vol. 2 by Mochitsuki Nozomu
• My Next Life as a Vilainess All Routes Lead to Doom! by Yamaguchi Satoru
• My Friends and I Were Granted Three Wishes by a Cat Goddess and I Swear I Got Distracted When My Turn Came Around by Alex Zandra (reread)
• My Friend Took Me To A Feline Therapy Place For My Anxiety And I’m Starting To Wonder Where The Cats Are? by Alex Zandra (reread)
• I Signed Up To Be The Substitute Familiar Of A Struggling Witch To Pay My Bills And I'm Just Now Realizing What I Got Myself Into by Alex Zandra (reread)

Short Stories

• “Champion of the World” by Maya Angelou (chapter excerpted from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)
• “Gaffe” by Casey Callich (3 chapters, ongoing)
• “I'm Going to Kill You and Eat You for Food” by Henry Hoke
• “Nad and Dan adn Quaffy” by Diana Wynne Jones
• “So your grandmother is a starship now: a quick guide for the bewildered” by Marissa Lingen
• “Flight of the Scions 46: Celebrations” by D. Moonfire
• “A Friendly Game” by D. Moonfire
• U.N. Report On Magical Realism Warns Of Increased Incidences Of Women’s Tears Flooding The Entire World in The Onion
• SCP-4413
• “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan
• “Bisexual Unicorn Vampires Teach Me the Importance of the Vampire Cough” by Chuck Tingle
• “How to make an omelet” by Tricia (reread)
• “Kiss With a Fist” by Mads Viande
• “Jeeves and the Amatory Dilemma” by wholahoop (reread, fanfic, 23647 words)

Plays

• A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (reread for work)
• Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (reread for work)

Poetry

• “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou (read for work)
• “the sonnet-ballad” by Gwendolyn Brooks (read for work)
• “I am reminded via email to resubmit my preferences for the schedule” by Chen Chen
• “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party” by Chen Chen
• “Flirtation” by Rita Dove (read for work)
• “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden
• “Dreams” by Langston Hughes (read for work)
• “Harlem” by Langston Hughes (read for work)
• “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes (read for work)
• ” The Quangle Wangle's Hat” by Edward Lear
• “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti
• “football dreams” by Jacquelie Woodson
• “genetics” by Jacqueline Woodson (read for work)

Manga & Manhwa

• Useless Princesses by Ajiichi (35 chapters)
• Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ by Akahori Satoru and Katsura Yukimaru (2 chapters)
• A Meaningless Sunday by Akiyama Haru (manga one-shot)
• I Wouldn't Mind Being Loved by Amano Shuninta (4 chapters)
• I Favor the Villainess by Aono Sumire (10 chapters)
• Honjitsu wa Ohigara mo Yoku by Aoume Ao (7 chapters)
• A Classmate Who Recommends Crossdressing by Asazuki Norito (oneshot)
• Tonari ni by Basso (5 manga chapters)
• Mukuchi na Omoi wa Koi to Naru by Edanaka (4 chapters)
• VRMMO de Summoner Hajimemashita by Fujishima Shinnosuke (11 chapters)
• Sono Yo ni Tada Hitori by Fuji Tamaki (8 chapters)
• Otokonoko Doushi Renai Chuu by Fumiko Fumi and Kaoru Ooshima (4 chapters)
• Aoi Hitomi no Bakemono by Gamoko Tsuyu (5 chapters)
• Puberty, an All Boys School!? and Nakano-kun by Higashi 385 (5 chapters)
• Ai no su e Ochiro! by Higuchi Misao and Minamijuuji Asuna (1 chapter)
• Osananajimi (♂) to no Arekore by Hoshikura Zozo (1 chapter)
• Exiled From My Old Party For Being A Woman, Me And A Legendary Witch Formed The Ultimate Tag Team by Kaeruda Ameko and Seto Ririura (1 chapter)
• Apron Yankee by Katagiri Lyla (6 chapters)
• Aoi-kun is a Suicidal Girl (♂) by Kobayashi Kina (one-shot)
• The Four Best People in the World by Kobayashi Kina (one-shot)
• My Childhood Friend Changes Daily by Kobayashi Kina (one-shot)
• Genshiken Nidaime by Kio Shimoku (72 chapters)
• Can a Guy Like Me Be a Maid? by Koshou (14 chapters)
• Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl by Majoccoid and Mochi Au Lait (14 chapters)
• The Small Sage Will Try Her Best In the Different World from Lv. 1! by Misaki Juri and Yume Ayato (22 chapters)
• Sakura-chan to Amane-kun by Norito Asazuki (7 chapters)
• 2DK, G-pen, Alarm clock by Ohsawa Yayoi (9 chapters)
• My Demon Secretary by Ontabahlul (7 chapters)
• For Your Love by Park Nodeok (85 chapters)
• *Form of Sympathy * by Park Nodeok (34 chapters)
• noe67 Warawanai Sekusaloid by Saku Hiro (1 chapter)
• Ichinose-kun wa Itsumo Iinari by Sakura Rico (9 chapters)
• Miss Sunflower by Sugano Manami (3 chapters)
• Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!! by Syundei (11 chapters)
• Kono Koi wa Kataranai by Tadano (2 chapters)
• Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku by Takase Umi (50 chapters)
• Asagao to Kase-san. by Takashima Hiromi (36 chapters)
• Yamada to Kase-san by Takashima Hiromi (20 chapters)
• Tadokoro-san by Tatsubon (81 webmanga chapters)
• So, Do You Want To Go Out, Or? by tmfly (28 chapters)
• Tatoe Todokanu Ito da to Shite mo by tMnR (38 chapters)
• Ise-san and Shima-san by Tokuwo Tsumu (3 chapters)
• Friday Night Cinema by Usui Shio (one-shot)
• Trying Out Marriage With My Female Friend by Usui Shio (6 chapters)
• Butter!!! by Yamashita Tomoko (34 chapters)
• Zombie Hide Sex by Yodogawa Yuo (15 chapters)
• Between Philia and Eros by Yorita Miyuki (15 chapters)
• Seibetsu “Mona Lisa” no Kimi he. by Yoshimura Tsumuji (6 chapters)
• Kinou Nani Tabeta? by Yoshinaga Fumi (24 chapters)
• Otoko no Ko Tsuma by Crystal no Yousuke (35 chapters)
• My Pure Boyfriend Has an Unusual Dog by yuuryuuuuu (one-shot)

Other Comics

• Witches' Forest by blop (short webcomic)
• Mage & Demon Queen by Color_LES (129 webcomic updates)
• fresh meat by gray Folie/Dupe (completed webcomic, reread)
• “Good ol' Charlie B” by Marina Kittana (short webcomic)
• “A Hole is A Hole” by null_backdoorhoe
• The Queen and the Woodborn Shiniez (webcomic, 4 chapters)
• The Tapestry by Monckat (Homestuck-like, archives start—July 5th 2021)
• Boyfriends. by refrainbow (39 webcomic updates)

Zines

• “I'm Worried About Wine Moms” by Moss B.
• “Grief” by Hanny Weddz

Text-based Games & Writing on Games

• A Shower Story by A. Tony Jerome
• “The Tragedy of GJ237b” by Ben Lehman
• Priority Realignment by Nyx Games
• Dead Wife Game by Em Reed
• Ear Canal Simulator 3000 by Em Reed
• The Iron Hand in the Velvet Glove by Em Reed
• “some game economics for the ancient world” by iolsb
• “d100 Merchants” by Nick LS Whelan

Essays, papers, articles, etc.

• “Tracing Paper” by Mitch Anzuoni
• “An Interview With the Man Who Keeps Uploading My Feet to WikiFeet” by Laura Bassett
• “Yeti Researcher Reconsidered, by a Smarty Pants English Student” by Joshuah Bearman
• ” Everyone Is Beautiful and No One Is Horny: Modern action and superhero films fetishize the body, even as they desexualize it” by RS Benedict
• “68 Slogans of '68” compiled by Casey Callich
• “On Recursive Islands” by Freya Campbell
• “Does yoga have a conspiracy theory problem?” by Joshua Cheetham
• “Distinguishing New York Mustard Weed Species” by Cornell Weed Identification
• “Figures, Doors and Passages” by Robin Evans
• “Web Conversations With the Year 2000” by Paul Ford
• “The Mysterious Case of the F*cking Good Pizza” by Emilie Friedlander
• “Yaoi Tropes: “A Gay Exclusive to You” by Fudanshi Essayist
• “How Did a Self-Taught Linguist Come to Own an Indigenous Language?” by Alice Gregory
• “Thriving Together: Salmon, Berries, and People” by ‘Cúagilákv (Jess Housty)
• “How to bring a language to the future” by Alizeh Kohari
• “A Sex Close to Noise: An Essay about Transgender Women and Music” by Leah
• “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” by Ursula K. Le Guin
• “Genre: A Word only a Frenchman Could Love” by Ursula K. Le Guin
• “SERF 'n' TERF: Notes on Some Bad Materialisms” by Sophie Lewis
• “Lebadeia & The Oracle Of Trophonius”, section from Description of Greece by Lucian of Samosata, trans. W.H.S. Jones
• “How the Web Became Unreadable” by Kevin Marks
• “Mushoku Tensei Is Not the Pioneer of Isekai Web Novels, But...” by Kim Morrissy
• “F*ggot As Gender Identity, Detransition As A Form Of Suicide.” by Rani (reread)
• “Post-Ownership” by Em Reed
• “Sexy Times with Wangxian: The internet’s most beloved fanfiction site is undergoing a reckoning” by Aja Romero
• ”'I am not who I was': Michael Rosen on surviving Covid” (excerpt from Many Different Kinds of Love by Michael Rosen)
• “lesbian fascism on TERF island” by Indiana Seresin
• “On Heteropessimism” by Indiana Seresin
• “The Men Who Eat Like Boys” by C. Brian Smith
• “Grunge at Ground Zero: The Story Of Bam Bam” by The Sonic Mosquito
• “Unlocking PinkRabbit” by Jessica Stokes
• ” The Anxiety of Influencers” by Barrett Swanson
• “Plant Flagging and the Queer Ecology Hanky Project” by Caroline Tracey
• “DNA of Giant ‘Corpse Flower’ Parasite Surprises Biologists” by Christie Wilcox
• “Where Do Butts Come From?” by Katherine J. Wu
• “I have one of the most advanced prosthetic arms in the world — and I hate it” by Britt H. Young

Total: 24 novels and novellas plus 43 chapters of novels currently being written; 22 light novels; 14 short stories; 3 plays; 14 poems; 716 manga chapters; 2 full webcomics, 3 short comics, 172 webcomic updates; 2 zines; 6 text games and 2 pieces of game writing; 36 essays, articles, and papers.

NOTE: “work”

I work at a school, so things that I read for work were often read multiple times and had some kind of deep reading/analysis/discussion/teaching component to them.

NOTE: things not included

I have of course read many more things than are on this list because as an online person I am constantly bombarded with text. Anything that made it to this list had some quality such as “good” or “interesting” or “left an impression on me” or “I didn't forget about it immediately” or “I wanted to remember it so I made a note for later”.

NOTE: where to find things

• I tried to link back to stuff that was hosted online, e.g. articles from online publications, works freely offered by the author, webcomics, etc. People are more likely to read something if there's an easy link!
• I would never recommend pirating books from websites like z-lib.org, especially if the book is out of print or the author is dead or the book is old enough that the copyright should be expired in any reasonable country or if you were just going to buy it used from am*zon anyway.
• I read most of my manga on dynasty-scans.com, which is focused on yuri, shoujo ai, and gender-y stuff. You can find almost everything on mangadex.org, but I used a variety of sites of varying qualities when that was down over the spring. If you can't find something feel free to ask me.
• Your websearch is a good as mine.

#ReadingLog

Week of 1/4/21:

Bánh mi

My typical bánh mi, with French rolls, mayonnaise-chili paste spread, lunch meats, grated carrot salad, and cilantro, but with added cucumber for a change.

No photo this time! Our workplace opened back up to in-person instruction and there was much fuckery with regards to scheduling and stress-levels.

Week of 1/11/21:

Kale-Lentil Salad with Grilled Cheese

A combo I've packed before. No photo, again, for the same reasons!

Week of 1/19/21:

Veggie Tortellini

Tortellini and broccoli with garlic, olive oil, butter, lemon, red pepper flakes, and 21 seasoning salute. The side is roasted kabocha and orange bell peppers, with sesame oil.

Apricot-Beef Curry

This has become one of my go-to curries (from the Hermes House Indian book). Served as usual over spiced green lentils and rice, with a full complement of roasted cranberry chutney, banana raita (not pictured), and cilantro. Side is roasted kabocha and kale.

Week of 1/25/21:

Chickpea Burgers

These were so good last month that we wanted them again. Same recipe as before, but with a ton of garlic and cilantro in the patties. The burgers came together with harissa, roasted red bell peppers, and white cheddar on potato buns. The side salad is a riff on one of my mom's recipes, and is a mix of green cabbage, peanuts, and cubed pepper jack, with a honey-sesame vinaigrette.

I'm quarantining this week after a workplace exposure, so lunches were only packed for my partner. They get two days of burgers and two days of lunch from our freezer buffer. I get to eat whatever the hell I can cook or reheat in an hour.

#PackedLunches