The Foxfire Book Edited By Eliot Wigginton

Foxfire 2 Edited By Eliot Wigginton

American Stories By Calvin Trillin

Composed By Rosanne Cash

The Walking Dead Vols. 13, 14, 15, 16 By Kirkman, Adlard, Rathburn

Here’s Negan! By Kirkman, Adlard, Rathburn

The Book of Leviathan By Peter Blegvad

The Contract With God Trilogy By Will Eisner

Through the Woods, Stories By Emily Carroll

The Plot By Will Eisner

Watchmen By Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

As you can tell the beginning of last year was devoted to graphic novels. I finally finished the Walking Dead series (very enjoyable, and different from the never ending TV series) I reread some Will Eisner and a few others, then on to some finance and history books.

Living Well on a Shoestring By the Editors of Yankee Magazine

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth By Ric Edelman

The Americanization of Edward Bok By Edward W. Bok

Iowa, Land Across the River By Don Doyle Brown

Remembering Santa Fe By Willard F. Clark

Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons By Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Vonnegut was one of my favorites growing up, and I have decided to reread some of his stuff during 2025.

Other than newspapers, magazines and online articles that was it for 2024.

May 2025 be a good reading year for both you and me.

Last summer I listed what I was reading at the time and I decided to share what I am currently working on. As I have said before I enjoy reading multiple books at the same time, and this year is no different:

Winesburg, Ohio By Sherwood Anderson. The introduction to this edition claims that Anderson offered little cohesiveness to the short stories in this, his most acclaimed book. I have to agree, and add that they are about strange people that, so far, don’t have much of a relationship with each other. Still, it is an interesting read knowing that so many great writers that came after him claimed Anderson as an early influence.

The Metamorphosis, In The Penal Colony, and Other Stories By Franz Kafka. The last time I read Kafka must have been well over 20 years ago. Many of the stories in this volume I have not read before. A few are only a paragraph long, others really have no discernible plot, while some are otherworldly and masterful.

Earth, My Friend By Peter Townsend. Townsend was a RAF pilot during WW 2 who decided to travel around the world in the 1950’s and write a book about it. This could be a boring read to some but I am enjoying reading about his adventures.

Eerdmans’ Handbook To The History Of Christianity edited by Dr Tim Dowley. This has been in my collection for a long time and I finally decided to read it. I think it will take awhile to plow through it.

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald. This might be my third or fourth attempt over the years to read this one. I find myself not caring for any of the characters and and loosing interest, but I am going to try to finish it this time.

Listening Point By Sigurd F. Olson. When my son returned from working as a canoe guide in Canada a few years ago he mentioned being introduced to the work of Mr Olson. After remembering that I am finally reading this book that has been in my collection for years.

Smiling through the Apocalypse, Esquire’s History of the Sixties edited by Harold Hayes. Featuring articles by Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, William Burroughs, Tom Wolfe, Terry Southern, Saul Bellow, Rex Reed, Malcolm Muggeridge, Peter Bogdanovich, William Styron, James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr, among many others. My favorite article so far is by Gay Talese titled “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold.”

I have had the habit of reading multiple books at the same time since childhood. The advantage of this practice is I can widely vary my chosen topics. The downside is it takes much longer to actually finish a book. If one turns out to be more interesting than the others I will usually spend more time reading it, but my ritual is so ingrained that I must give all the others in the stack at least a few pages worth of attention during the same session. I seem to have a better recall of the books I spend longer periods of time reading but I don’t know if that is because of the increased interest or the duration of attention. Maybe it is both. Anyhow, I enjoy making lists and reading those of others, so here is a snapshot of my current summer reading.

These Were The Sioux by Mari Sandoz. This little book tells of the customs and lifestyle of the Sioux, including personal observations by the author.

The Grass Harp and A Tree of Night by Truman Capote. I read In Cold Blood years ago and decided to try out this compilation. Not bad so far.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. This is his original edition; he revised this book several times. I have tried off and on for years to make it all the way through this. I seem to like the idea of Whitman and his life more than his writing.

Living On An Acre (U.S.D.A.) edited by Christine Woodside. From deciding if rural living would be right for you, to how to do it if it is.

On Killing, The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. This is one in my collection I have avoided reading for years, the subject seeming rather dark and gloomy. Learning that most soldiers would rather do anything but kill during combat is a revelation, contradicting what is usually portrayed by the entertainment industry.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois. Published in 1989 gathering the best from 1988. I started this last winter and am finally on the last story. A superb anthology.

American Heritage, October 1964. I have a small stack of these I have been going through. One interesting aspect of these slim volumes is reading the life stories and accomplishments of so many people who are now almost completely forgotten.