2019 Book Review and 2020 Plans

As is my habit, I pick out some books each year to read so I can keep whittling down my shelf of shame. It's fun to have a challenge and I try not to pick too many books or else I can't do any spontaneous reading. Here's my list of planned reading from last year--I read them all! This is the first year in a long while that I accomplished a full list. My secret was not to be overly ambitious. Maybe I'll switch that up for next year. Here's the 2019 success story...

Fiction

• Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset--Something finished up from 2018. Reviewed here.
• The Fall of Gondolin by J. R. R. Tolkien--Another "edited together by his son" work that was very interesting. Reviewed here.
• The History of Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson. Reviewed here.
• The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green--This is a leftover from our time in England. Reviewed here.
• English Fairy Tales and Legends by Rosalind Kerven--More leftovers that were fun. Reviewed here.

History

• The Medieval Myths by Norma Lorre Goodrich--One of the included myths is Beowulf! Reviewed here.
• Visiting the Past by Gillian Hovell--A book for amateur archeologists! Reviewed here.
• The Anglo-Saxon World by Kevin Crossley-Holland--Yes, yet more leftovers from England. Reviewed here.
• Ellington at the White House 1969 by Edward Allan Faine--Jazz and politics, should they mix? In 1969 the occupant of the White House was...Richard Nixon! Nixon and Ellington sound like a weird combination but somehow it worked. Reviewed here.

Theology

• Showings by Julian of Norwich--After reading Medieval Women Mystics, I added this to my wish list and got a copy! Reviewed here.
• Humility Rules by J. Augustine Wetta--Bragging about humility has got to be interesting, right? Reviewed here.
• Means to Message by Stanley Jaki--Scientist, priest, and theologian Jaki wrote a bunch of essays on truth. Reviewed here.
• St. Thomas Aquinas by Ralph McInerny--Most famous for the Father Dowling Mysteries, McInerny was an astute medieval philosopher, so this is more theology than biography. Reviewed here.
• The Right to be Wrong by Kevin Hasson--Another paradoxical title! Reviewed here.
• Psychology and Religion by Carl Jung--Maybe not theology, but I didn't want to leave Jung hanging all by himself. This was a bit too technical for me to appreciate fully. Reviewed here.

Fun Stuff

• The Geek Dad Book for Aspiring Mad Scientists by Ken Denmead. Reviewed here.
• The Bluffer's Guide to Beer by Jonathan Goodall. Reviewed here.

I also read graphic novels and manga (basically, graphic novels from Japan). Here's last year's graphic novel challenge list:

1. Superman for All Seasons--reviewed here.
2. Asterix and the Falling Sky--reviewed here.
3. Koshchei the Deathless--reviewed here.
4. My Hero Academia Volume 2--reviewed here.
5. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 8--reviewed here.
6. Level Up--reviewed here.
7. The Man of Steel--reviewed here.
8. Rasputin: Voice of the Dragon--reviewed here.
9. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 9--reviewed here.
10. The Life of Frederick Douglass--reviewed here.
11. My Hero Academia Volume 3--reviewed here.
12. Form of a Question--reviewed here. 
13. Pacific Rim Aftermath--reviewed here.
14. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 10--reviewed here.
15. Royden Lepp's Rust Volume 1--reviewed here.
16. Life of Captain Marvel--reviewed here.
17. My Hero Academia Volume 4--reviewed here.
18. Black Hammer Volume 2--reviewed here.
19. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 11--reviewed here.
20. Royden Lepp's Rust Volume 2--reviewed here.
21. The Chancellor and the Citadel--reviewed here.
22. My Hero Academia Volume 5--reviewed here.
23. Black Hammer Volume 3--reviewed here.
24. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 12--reviewed here.
25. The Shadow Hero--reviewed here.
26. I Kill Giants--reviewed here.
27. Big Ideas: Rocket to the Moon--reviewed here.
28. My Hero Academia Volume 6--reviewed here.
29. A Fire Story--reviewed here.
30. Secret Coders Volume 3--reviewed here.
31. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 13--reviewed here. 
32. Secret Coder Volume 4--reviewed here.
33. The Walking Dead Volume 31--reviewed here.
34. My Hero Academia Volume 7--reviewed here. 
35. Secret Coders Volume 5--reviewed here.
36. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 14--reviewed here. 
37. The Night Witches--reviewed here.
38. Secret Coders Volume 6-reviewed here.
39. Shazam!--reviewed here.
40. The Quantum Age--reviewed here.
41. My Hero Academia Volume 8--reviewed here.
42. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 15--reviewed here.
43. Hawking--reviewed here.
44. Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane--reviewed here.
45. Grimoire Noir--reviewed here.
46. Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1--reviewed here.
47. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 16--reviewed here.  
48. My Hero Academia Volume 9--reviewed here.
49. The Walking Dead Volume 32--reviewed here.
50. Amazing Decisions--reviewed here.
51. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 17--reviewed here. 
52. Shackelton: Antarctic Odyssey--reviewed here. 
53. Miles Morales: Spider-Man--reviewed here.
54. Deogratias: A Tale of Rawanda--reviewed here.
55. My Hero Academia Volume 10--reviewed here.
56. Fullmetal Alchemist 18--reviewed here.
57. Castle in the Stars Volume 3--reviewed here.
58. Spider-men--reviewed here.
59. New Super-man and the Justice League of Chinas--reviewed here.
60. Ghosts--reviewed here.
61. My Hero Academia Volume 11--reviewed here.
62. Lewis & Clark--reviewed here.

Here's next year's plans:

Fiction

• The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age by Stanislaw Lem--he's the author of Solaris, so I've had him on my radar for some time.
• Neuromancer by William Gibson--more cyber-shenanigans!
• Outer Banks Tales to Remember by Charles Harry Whedbee--local stories and myths from North Carolina.
• Scottish Myths and Legends selected by Rosemary Gray--Scotland must be a good source for myths and legends, right?

History

• Swords Around the Cross: The Nine Years War by Timothy T. O'Donnell
• Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland by (you guessed it) Malachy McCourt--This should pair well with the previous book?
• Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America by David Stick--More from North Carolina, though this is actual history.
• The Apostle of the Marianas 1627-1672 by Juan Ledesma--I bought this book on Guam last century/milennium (take your pick), so it's been on the shelf of shame for a while.

Theology

• Friar Thomas D'Aquino: His Life, Thought and Works by James A. Weisheipl, O.P. A Dominican writing about the Dominicans' superstar!
• Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church by Stephen K. Ray
• Science of Today and the Problems of Genesis by Patrick O'Connell, B.D.
• What is the Point of Being a Christian? by Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.

Philosophy

• Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill--Will I keep this after I've read it?
• Five Moral Pieces by Umberto Eco--Some non-fiction from The Name of the Rose author
• The Poverty of Historicism by Karl Popper
• The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton--I may have to read Boethius's original Consolation of Philosophy along with this.
• The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche--I still haven't read any full work by Nietzsche. I had a professor who said Nietzsche is very popular with teenage boys but they shouldn't read him because a lot more is going on than the surface meaning.
• The Evidential Power of Beauty: Science and Theology Meet by Thomas Dubay, S. M.--maybe this should be in theology?

I'll be doing the graphic novel challenge again as well, though I still haven't seen a sign-up for it yet. My Hero Academia and Fullmetal Alchemist are still going strong for me and I am hoping the final Amulet book comes out in 2020.