2020 Book Review and 2021 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 (like the occasional volume recommended by A Good Story is Hard to Find). Here's my list of planned reading from last year--I read them all!

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. Reviewed here.
• Neuromancer by William Gibson--more cyber-shenanigans! Reviewed here.
• Outer Banks Tales to Remember by Charles Harry Whedbee--local stories and myths from North Carolina. Reviewed here.
• Scottish Myths and Legends selected by Rosemary Gray--Scotland must be a good source for myths and legends, right? Reviewed here.

History

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

Theology

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

Philosophy

• Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill--Will I keep this after I've read it? Depends on how useful I find it. Reviewed here.
• Five Moral Pieces by Umberto Eco--Some non-fiction from The Name of the Rose author. Reviewed here.
• The Poverty of Historicism by Karl Popper. Reviewed here.
• The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton--I may have to read Boethius's original Consolation of Philosophy along with this. Reviewed here.
• 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. Reviewed here.
• The Evidential Power of Beauty: Science and Theology Meet by Thomas Dubay, S. M.--maybe this should be in theology? Reviewed here.

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

1. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 19--reviewed here.
2. Apocalypse Taco--reviewed here.
3. Frog Catchers--reviewed here.
4. Houdini: The Handcuff King--reviewed here.
5. My Hero Academia Volume 13--reviewed here.
6. Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crowe--reviewed here. 
7. Essential Thor Volume 3--reviewed here.
8. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 20--reviewed here.
9. The Umbrella Academy Volume 1--reviewed here.
10. Snow, Glass, Apples--reviewed here.
11. Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Major Impossible--reviewed here.
12. My Hero Academia Volume 13--reviewed here. 
13. Saint John the Baptist--reviewed here.
14. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 21--reviewed here.
15. Wonder Woman: Warbringer The Graphic Novel--reviewed here.
16. Jenny Finn--reviewed here.
17. My Hero Academia Volume 14--reviewed here.
18. Stanislav Lem's The Seventh Voyage--reviewed here.
19. Y: The Last Man Volume 1--reviewed here.
20. Saint Francis and Brother Duck--reviewed here.
21. ZombieWorld: Champion of Worms--reviewed here.
22. My Hero Academia Volume 15--reviewed here.
23. Hellboy 20th Anniversary Sampler--reviewed here.
24. Y: The Last Man Volume 2--reviewed here.
25. B.P.R.D. The Devil You Know Volume 1--reviewed here.
26. Mr. Higgins Comes Home--reviewed here.
27. My Hero Academia Volume 16--reviewed here.
28. Introducing Time--reviewed here.
29. B.P.R.D. The Devil You Know Volume 2--reviewed here.
30. Dark Horse Freebies--reviewed here.
31. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 22--reviewed here.
32. Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers--reviewed here.
33. B.P.R.D. The Devil You Know Volume 3--reviewed here.
34. They Call Us Enemy--reviewed here.
35. The Shadow/Batman--reviewed here.
36. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 23--reviewed here.
37. Batman Vs. Superman: The Greatest Battles--reviewed here.
38. Marvel Masterworks X-Men Volume 1--reviewed here.
39. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 24--reviewed here.
40. My Hero Academia Volume 17--reviewed here.
41. Marvel Masterworks X-Men Volume 2--reviewed here.
42. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 25--reviewed here.
43. Dragon Hoops--reviewed here.
44. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 26--reviewed here.
45. The Oracle Code_--reviewed here.
46. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 27--reviewed here.
47. Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier--reviewed here.
48. Daredevil Volume 1--reviewed here.
49. This Land is My Land--reviewed here.
50. Marvel Masterworks X-Men Volume 3--reviewed here.
51. My Hero Academia Volume 18--reviewed here.
52. One Trick Pony--reviewed here.
53. Black Widow: Sting of the Widow--reviewed here.
54. My Hero Academia Volume 19--reviewed here.
55. Marvel Masterworks: X-Men Volume 4--reviewed here.
56. Daredevil Volume 2--reviewed here.
57. Black Widow: No More Secrets--reviewed here.
58. My Hero Academia Volume 20--reviewed here.
59. Olympus--reviewed here.
60. Superman Smashes the Klan--reviewed here.
61. Daredevil Volume 3--reviewed here.
62. Marvel Masterworks: X-Men Volume 5--reviewed here.

Here's next year's plans:

Fiction

• A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe. This book is not a recent publication but a classic about the great plague of 1665. Seems appropriate.
• Gilgamesh: The New Translation by Gerald J. Davis. I love those classic epics!
• Legends of the Outer Banks and Tar Heel Tidewater by Charles Harry Whedbee. Local stories and myths from North Carolina. Not to be confused with the book from last year by the same author that also told stories from North Carolina.
• Hawaiian Legends of Ghosts and Ghost-Gods collected and translated from the Hawaiian by Willam D. Westervelt. More folkloric goodness!
• Ghost Stories of California by Barbara Smith. West coast (of America) ghost stories.
• Nevada Myths & Legends by Richard Moreno. Yet more folklore. 

History

• The Wright Brothers: A Biography by Fred C. Kelly. I picked this up in North Carolina on a visit long ago.
• The Planets by Dava Sobel. I think this was written before Pluto got demoted. Should be interesting.
• The Age of Illumination: Science, Technology, and Reason in the Middle Ages by Scott Rank. The author hosts the History Unplugged Podcast, to which I have been a faithful listener for many years.

Theology

• The Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical and Archeological Evidence by Mark Antonacci. The Turin Shroud is a perpetually fascinating topic.
• New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy by Robert J. Spitzer. Arguable, this belongs in the next section. Spitzer is a Jesuit, so I'm not counting on him to leave out Revelation.

Philosophy

• Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann. Birth of Tragedy was a bit of a dud for me, maybe this will be more interesting.
• The Psychology of the Transference by C. G. Jung. Reading Jung has been easier for me and I am trying to clear out unread books. The time has come!
• An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume. This is another book that's been sitting around for a while and may not be kept after it is read.
• Escher on Escher: Exploring the Infinite. Can M. C. Escher be as enjoyable as a writer as he is as an artist? I may have used "as" too many times in that last sentence. 

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 will probably slow down this coming year as I am catching up to the current publishing and I am hoping the final Amulet book comes out in 2021. Usagi Yojimbo is a new series I will be starting.