Reading Log, September—December 2021
Almost everything that I read in the last third of 2021.
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.