Reading Log for 2025 (That’s a Wrap!)

  1. James: A Novel by Percival Everett
  2. Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
  3. The Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman
  4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky
  5. Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers by Deborah Tuerkheimer
  6. The Hike: A Novel by Drew Magary
  7. Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck by Adam Cohen
  8. Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics by Adam Rutherford
  9. Sold by Patricia McCormick
  10. This Book is Gay by June Dawson
  11. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario: Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 2 by Matt Dinniman
  12. Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
  13. Ask for Andrea by Noelle West Ihill
  14. Black Pill by Elle Reeve
  15. Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman
  16. How Propaganda Works by Jason Stanley
  17. My Eyes are Up Here by Laura Zimmermann
  18. We Refuse by Kellie Carter Jackson
  19. Confessions of a Recovering Skinhead by Frank Meeink
  20. The Crumbling of a Nation by Ryan David Gainsberg
  21. 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  22. 19 Minutes Jodi Picoult
  23. Hidden History of American Oligarchy by Thom Hartmann
  24. The Most by Jessica Anthony
  25. Yours Cruely, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson
  26. The Unworthy: A Novel by Agustina Bazterrica
  27. Writing with AI by Sidney Dubrin
  28. Burn Book by Kara Swisher
  29. Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel
  30. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
  31. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
  32. Yr Dead by Sam Sax
  33. White Fear by Roland S. Morton
  34. Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot
  35. Never Flinch by Stephen King
  36. Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
  37. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
  38. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
  39. Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves and Other Things the Bible Doesn’t Say by Adam Hamilton
  40. Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity by Sander van der Linden
  41. A Heart that Works by Rob Delaney
  42. Coming Home by Britney Griner
  43. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (5X Total!)
  44. Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willington
  45. The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource by Chris Hayes
  46. The Tell by Amy Griffin
  47. Address Unknown: A Novel by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor
  48. Verity by Colleen Hoover
  49. Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds by John Fugelsang
  50. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World by Carl T. Bergstrom, Jevin D. West
  51. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  52. Don’t Believe Everything You Think (Expanded Edition) Why Your Thinking Is The Beginning & End Of Suffering by Joseph Nguyen
  53. Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy by Randi Weingarten
  54. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  55. Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children by Noliwe Rooks
  56. Find the Helpers: What 9/11 and Parkland Taught Me About Recovery, Purpose, and Hope by Fred Guttenberg
  57. Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away by Coltan Scrivner PhD
  58. A Very Short History of the Israel–Palestine Conflict by Ilan Pappe
  59. Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
  60. Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaniel West
  61. Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigations of a Lifetime by Ron Stallworth
  62. The Ghost Lab: How Bigfoot Hunters, Mediums, and Alien Enthusiasts Are Wrecking Science by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
  63. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
  64. Monumental: It Was Never About a Statue by Dr. Wes Bellamy
  65. ‘Night Mother by Marsha Norman (Second Time Reading)
  66. There Is No Good Card for This: What To Say and Do When Life Is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love by Kelsey Crowe, Emily McDowell
  67. The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich by Thom Hartmann
  68. Dear Black Girls by A’ja Wilson
  69. Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy Politics and Culture by Jonathan Rauch
  70. King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
  71. Savage Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie

Reading Log for 2024 (FINALLY, finally)

  1. Bad Advice by Dr. Paul Offit
  2. Bad Faith by Dr. Paul Offit
  3. Vaccinated by Dr. Paul Offit
  4. White Rural Rage by Tom Schaller & Paul Waldman
  5. Pandora’s Lab by Dr. Paul Offit
  6. You Bet Your Life by Dr. Paul Offit
  7. Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
  8. Our Fight: A Memoir by Rhonda Rousey
  9. The Shapeless Universe by Samantha Harvey
  10. Overkill by Dr. Paul Offit
  11. There are (NO) Stupid Questions by Leah Elson
  12. Black Friend by Ziwe
  13. Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley
  14. The Warriors by Sol Yurick
  15. Monsters by Claire Dederer
  16. Say More by Jen Psaki
  17. Preparing for War by Bradley Onishi
  18. Down with the System by Sej Tankian
  19. Outrageous by Kliph Nesteroff
  20. Ask Powerful Questions by Will Wise
  21. The Second Coming of the KKK by Linda Gordon
  22. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
  23. The Klansman’s Son by R. Derek Black
  24. The Artist Way by Julia Cameron
  25. Unearthing Joy by Gholdy Muhammad
  26. One Little Mistake by Lucinda Berry
  27. This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer
  28. How to be Anti-Racist by Ibram X, Kendi
  29. Stories Whiteness Tells Itself by David Mura
  30. Deadpool: Paws by Stefan Petrucha
  31. Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality by Renee DiResta
  32. Reading the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott
  33. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  34. From Equity Talk to Equity Walk by Tia Brown McNair, Estela Mara Bensimon, Lindsey Malcolm-Piqueux
  35. Trust the Plan by Will Sommer
  36. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
  37. The Quiet Damage by Jessalyn Cook
  38. The Red Grove by Tessa Fontaine
  39. Pastels and Pedophiles by Mia Bloom, Sophia Moskalenko
  40. Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allan
  41. Earth to Moon by Moon Unit Zappa
  42. The Propagandists’ Playbook by Francesca Bolla Tripodi
  43. Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hall
  44. Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot by Masha Gesson
  45. Attack of the Black Rectangles by Roni Eddo-Lodge
  46. My Fight/Your Fight by Rhonda Rousey
  47. Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Christian Right by Randall Balmer
  48. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
  49. Why Does Everything Have to be about Race? by Ketih Boykin
  50. The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick By: Michael H. Bernstein Ph.D., Charlotte Blease Ph.D.
  51. The Soloist by Steve Lopez
  52. Erasing History by Jason Stanley
  53. That Librarian by Amanda Jones
  54. Come Closer by Sara Gran
  55. Yes, I Can Say That! by Judy Gold
  56. A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
  57. Glimmer by Kimberly Murphy
  58. Lovely One by Katanji Brown Jackson
  59. How to Lose the Information War by Nina Jankowicz
  60. How to be a Woman Online by Nina Jankowicz
  61. Beyond the Big Lie by Bill Adair
  62. Boot Strapped by Allison Quart
  63. The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun
  64. Brothers by Alex Van Halen
  65. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
  66. Stories are Weapons by Annalee Newitz
  67. How to End Christian Nationalism by Amanda Tyler
  68. Giving the Devil His Due by Michael Shermer
  69. Friday the 69th by Chuck Tingle
  70. How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler by Peter Pomerantsev
  71. The Weaponisation of Everything: A Field Guide to the New Way of War by Mark Galeotti
  72. The In-Between by Hadley Vlahos R. N.
  73. Radium Girls by Kate Moore
  74. The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens by Richard Haass
  75. The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
  76. Dungeon Crawler Carl: A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure by Matt Dinniman
  77. Why Memoir Matters: Learning from the Lives of Others by Tahneer Oksman
  78. Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
  79. What the Fact? by Seema Yasmin
  80. Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater
  81. Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison
  82. 100% Match by Patrick C. Harrison III
  83. Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce
  84. Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America by Talia Lavin
  85. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Reading Log for 2023 (FINALLY)

  1. How to Fight a Hydra by Josh Kaufman
  2. The Fall by Albert Camus
  3. Comedy Sex God by Pete Homes
  4. The Real Frank Zappa by Frank Zappa
  5. How am I Doing? by Dr. Corey Yeager
  6. A Lot of People are Saying by Nancy L. Rosenblum
  7. Spoiled Brats by Simon Rich
  8. Speech Police by David Kaye
  9. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Dr. Susan Jeffers
  10. How to American by Jimmy Yang
  11. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz Hetling
  12. Flip It Like This by David Howard
  13. Looking for Alaska by David Green
  14. Things Fall Apart by Jon Ronson
  15. It’s Gotten Worse Since the Last Time We Spoke by Eric LaRocca
  16. Nothing Left but Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khew
  17. Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazierrica
  18. What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker
  19. How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa
  20. Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
  21. It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
  22. Finders Keepers by Stephen King
  23. Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets by Andy Stanley
  24. The Allegory of the Cave by Plato
  25. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  26. Hits and Misses by Simon Rich
  27. Debutante by Jon Ronson
  28. The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Joku
  29. Ivy League Stripper by Heidi Mattson
  30. Make Your Bed by William H. McReardon
  31. Do You Talk Funny? by David Nihill
  32. Atomic Habits by James Clear
  33. Summer of ’99 by J.L. Hyde
  34. Transgender History by Susan Stryker
  35. Breaking Through Gridlock by Gabriel Grant
  36. Hate in the Homeland by Cynthia Miller-Idriss
  37. Not Funny by Jenna Friedman
  38. It Was All a Lie by Sturat Stevens
  39. Redefining Realness by Janet Mack
  40. Synesthesia by Richard E. Cytowie
  41. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte
  42. Extremism by J. M. Berger
  43. Period, End of Sentence by Anita Dianant
  44. Some New Kind Of Kick by “Kid” Congo Powers
  45. Homegrown by Jeffry Toobin
  46. High Conflict by Amanda Ripley
  47. Meme Wars by Joan Donovan, Emily Dreyfuss, etc.
  48. Freedom’s Dominion by Jefferson Cowie
  49. I Never Thought of It That Way by Monica Guzman
  50. Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild
  51. Gunfight: A History of the Second Amendment by Adam Winkler
  52. Cultish by Amanda Montell
  53. Bring the War Home by Kathleen Belew
  54. Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein
  55. The Persuaders by Amanda Gridharadas
  56. The Soul of the First Amendment by Luke Moyelson
  57. The Storm is Here by Luke Moyelson
  58. The Streets of Baltimore by Brandon Novak
  59. Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley
  60. Tribe by Sebastian Junger
  61. End of Watch by Stephen King
  62. The Outsider by Stephen King
  63. Holly by Spehen King
  64. Refuse to be Done by Matt Bell
  65. Breaking Night by Liz Murray
  66. Leslie Fucking Jones by Leslie Jones
  67. Best of Luck by Jason Mott
  68. Ankle Snatcher by Grady Hendrix
  69. In Bloom by Paul Tremblay
  70. Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley
  71. The Pram by Joe Hill
  72. The Politics of Resentment by Kathy Cramer
  73. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
  74. No Common Ground by Karen L. Cox
  75. The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt & Greg Lukianoff
  76. The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
  77. The Worry Cure by Robert L. Lealy
  78. Network of Lies by Brian Stetler
  79. Wrong by Dannagei Goldthwaite Young
  80. Southern Horrors & The Red Record by Ida B. Wells
  81. The Flag and The Cross by Samuel Perry
  82. Taking America Back for God by Andrew Whitehead
  83. American Rust by Philip Meyer
  84. Misbelief by Dan Ariely
  85. How to Host a Viking Funeral by Kyle Scheele

Great Ideas and Long Delays

So I have been keeping a reading log for years now but I got this great idea to do a month-by-month breakdown. Every month I would list all of the books I had read and what I thought was the best of the books. So I have a lot of notes and lists but none of them have made it to the blog yet. That will change! Lots of ideas and over 100 books later I have some new items to post and they will start with lists and reading lists. All good stuff coming soon. By the way, 2023 ended reading 87 books. I am getting close to the 100 mark. Maybe if I didn’t enjoy reading so much I could just push through and get the numbers in.

HALLOWEEN 2022: 31 days of Horror movies I have never seen before.

Oct. 1st Unhuman

Oct. 2nd Black Phone

Oct. 3rd Unfriended: Dark Web

Oct. 4th Willow Creek

Oct. 5th It Stains the Sands Red

Oct. 6th. Curtains

Oct. 7th Scare Package

Oct. 8th Terrifier 2

Oct 9th The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976)

Oct 10th The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014)

Oct. 11th The Dark and the Wicked

Oct. 12th Halloween Ends

Oct. 13th Smile

Oct. 14th Night Watchmen

Oct. 15th Clown

Oct. 16th Stitches

Oct. 17th Victor Crowley

Oct. 18th Hatchet 2

Oct. 19th Hatchet 3

Oct. 20th Splice

Oct. 21st Office Uprising

Oct. 22nd Possum

Oct. 23rd Host

Oct. 24th I Saw the Devil

Oct. 25th My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To

Oct. 26th Savageland

Oct. 27th Bad Milo!

Oct. 28th. Bubba Ho-Tep

Oct. 29th. #Alive

Oct. 30th The Lighthouse

Oct. 31st The Wailing

And Yet, Another (Three Days Into the New Year) Running List of Books for 2022

  1. Information Wars by Richard Stengel
  2. Lonely Boy by Steve Jones
  3. This Is Not Propaganda by Peter Pomerantsev
  4. LongShot by David Heath
  5. Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter
  6. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
  7. On Fascism by Matthew C. MacWilliams
  8. Tranny by Laura Jane Grace
  9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
  10. Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre by Brandy Colbert
  11. Tragedy + Time by Adam Cayton-Holland
  12. Brave by Rose McGowan
  13. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
  14. Dear America by Jose Antonio Vargas
  15. War Dances by Sherman Alexie
  16. Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon
  17. Ask Me What’s For Dinner One More Time by Meredith Masony
  18. Off The Edge by Kelly Weill
  19. Fighting Misinformation: Digital Media Literacy by Tara Susman-Peña, Mehri Druckman, Nina Oduro
  20. Anti-Vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement by Jonathan M. Berman
  21. Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl
  22. How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How an Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers – and Why That’s Great News by Peter Enns
  23. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (Third Time Reading)
  24. Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records by Jim Ruland
  25. Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion by Bad Religion & Jim Ruland
  26. The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City by Jennifer Toth
  27. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
  28. Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green
  29. Christian Nation by Frederic C. Rich
  30. The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Tom Nichols (Second Time Reading)
  31. I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World by Malala Yousafzai
  32. The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War by John “Chick” Donohue and J.T. Molloy
  33. The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday
  34. Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent and Utterly Mangle Science by Dave Levitan
  35. Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
  36. Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs
  37. Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison
  38. Confessions of a Former Fox News Christian by Seth Andrews
  39. Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith by Obery M. Hendricks
  40. White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America by Anthea Butler
  41. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
  42. The N-Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why (Second Time Reading) by Jabari Asim
  43. The Marshmellow Test by Walter Mischel
  44. Paranormality (Second Time Reading) by Dr. Richard Wiseman
  45. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
  46. The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
  47. The Old Man and The Sea (Sixth Time Reading) by Ernest Hemmingway
  48. Science Friction by Dr. Michael Shermer
  49. Is That A Fact? Frauds, Quacks, and the Real Science of Everyday Life by Dr. Joe Schwarcz
  50. Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational by Dr. Michael Shermer
  51. Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding by David Tolin , Randy O. Frost , Gail Steketee
  52. Truth over Tribe: Pledging Allegiance to the Lamb, Not the Donkey or the Elephant by Patrick Miller , Keith Simon
  53. Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave , Seán O’Hagan
  54. We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism by Andy B. Campbell
  55. Engaging College Students: A Fun and Edgy Guide for Professors by Mike Kowis
  56. Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law by James Q. Whitman
  57. The Toaster Oven Mocks Me: Living with Synesthesia by Steve Margolis
  58. Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate by Zoë Quinn
  59. The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher
  60. Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell
  61. Making Space: Creating a Home Meditation Practice by Thich Nhat Hanh
  62. Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going
  63. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
  64. Letters to a Young Scientist by: Edward O. Wilxon
  65. The Metamorphosis A New Translation by Susan Bernofsky by Franz Kafka , Susan Bernofsky – translator
  66. On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
  67. You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion by Dr. Meera Shah
  68. The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service by Laura Kaplan
  69. Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America by Lauren Rankin
  70. The Turnaway Study: The Cost of Denying Women Access to Abortion by Diana Greene Foster PhD
  71. Scarlet A: The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Ordinary Abortion by Katie Watson
  72. Six Impossible Things: The Mystery of the Quantum World by John Gribbin
  73. Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs

Favorite Books of 2021

DISPATCHES by Michael Herr

This book was actually first published in 1977 but I discovered it while reading Mary Carr’s book, “The Art of Memior”. If you have ever seen a Vietnam film you have this book to thank for the realistic dialogue and stark images. Almost every film from Full Metal Jacket to Platoon to Apocalypse Now have all taken dialogue directly from this book.

BECOMING NICOLE by Amy Ellis Nutt

I have referenced this book more times this year than any other I have read. When I do not understand something I often do the work necessary to better understand the conversation. At CCRI we recently had an incident where gender signs were removed from the bathroom doors with “Die Faggots” graffitied in place of a welcoming sign of inclusion. I read this and still think about it all these months later. Although the book was published in 2016 it is still so relevant today. This should be more of required reading for all Americans.

Discovering Jon Ronson!

BBC Radio 4 - So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson - Downloads

I have had the book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed since it came out years ago but had never had a moment to read it. Once I did the hooks were in deep and I loved this writer and his writing style. His name is Jon Ronson and he has the most amazing job ever! Since finishing his book I have since bought every other book he has available and have devoured them with a fire. I was sad to have finished all of them and am patiently waiting for his next book. His work is based around being curious and investigating people, places, and events that may not be of much interest to people but he makes them downright magical. The things he investigated I didn’t even think were possible to write about let alone do any sort of investigative journalism! Remember the real life superhero Pheonix Jones? Yeah, Jon Ronson went on patrol with him and begged a cab driver to stay with him when a fight was close to breaking out. He investigated the tragic suicide of a porn actress August Ames and found many threads to a sad story about public shaming gone too far. He drove an Aston Martin car using the same route as James Bond to write about the experience. If you have not read any of his books he is worth the trouble of looking up. His writing not only inspires me to write but to be curious about the world around me and never stop asking questions. Cheers Jon!