2021 Book Review and 2022 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, except for that pesky Jung book!

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. Reviewed here.
• Gilgamesh: The New Translation by Gerald J. Davis. I love those classic epics! Reviewed here.
• 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. Reviewed here.
• Hawaiian Legends of Ghosts and Ghost-Gods collected and translated from the Hawaiian by Willam D. Westervelt. More folkloric goodness! Reviewed here.
• Ghost Stories of California by Barbara Smith. West coast (of America) ghost stories. Reviewed here.
• Nevada Myths & Legends by Richard Moreno. Yet more folklore. Reviewed here.

History

• The Wright Brothers: A Biography by Fred C. Kelly. I picked this up in North Carolina on a visit long ago. Reviewed here.
• The Planets by Dava Sobel. I think this was written before Pluto got demoted. Should be interesting. Reviewed here.
• 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. Reviewed here.

Theology

• The Resurrection of the Shroud: New Scientific, Medical and Archeological Evidence by Mark Antonacci. The Turin Shroud is a perpetually fascinating topic. Reviewed here.
• 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. Reviewed here.

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. Reviewed here.
• 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!
• From the forward by Jung: "The reader will not find an account of the clinical phenomena of transference in this book. It is not intended for the beginner who would first have to be instructed in such matters, but is addressed exclusively to those who have already gained sufficient experience from their own practice." [p.xii] And on the next page: "I must therefore take it for granted that the reader has some knowledge of my Psychology and Alchemy, otherwise it will be hard for him to gain access to the current volume." [p. xiii] I am not prepared for this volume, and probably never will be, so it's going on the "to donate" pile.
• 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. Reviewed here.
• 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. Reviewed here.

Graphic novels went well, as usual. I discovered a lot of stuff is available on Hoopla through my local library. I am really loving Usagi Yojimbo and I am still hoping that the final Amulet book comes out in 2022.

1. My Hero Academia Volume 21--reviewed here.
2. The Vision Volume 1--reviewed here.
3. Usagi Yojimbo Book 1--reviewed here.
4. Daredevil Volume 4--reviewed here.
5. Star Trek: Debt of Honor--reviewed here.
6. Swamp Thing: Twin Branches--reviewed here.
7. Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time--reviewed here.
8. Hawkeye Volume 1--reviewed here.
9. My Hero Academia Volume 22--reviewed here.
10. Usagi Yojimbo Book 2--reviewed here.
11. Daredevil Volume 5--reviewed here.
12. The DC Universe by Mike Mignola--reviewed here.
13. Black Widow Volume 2--reviewed here.
14. Hawkeye Volume 2--reviewed here.
15. Usagi Yojimbo Book 3--reviewed here.
16. Daredevil Volume 6--reviewed here.
17. Saint Chronicles Collection 4--reviewed here.
18. Black Widow Volume 3--reviewed here.
19. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Imbalance Part One--reviewed here.
20. Usagi Yojimbo Book 4--reviewed here.
21. The Way of the Househusband Volume 1--reviewed here.
22. X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills--reviewed here.
23. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Imbalance Part Two--reviewed here.
24. Daredevil Volume 7--reviewed here.
25. The Way of the Househusband Volume 2--reviewed here.
26. Usagi Yojimbo Book 5--reviewed here.
27. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Imbalance Part Three--reviewed here.
28. The Eternals Volume 1--reviewed here.
29. The Way of the Househusband Volume 3--reviewed here.
30. Resident Alien Volume 1--reviewed here.
31. Marvel-verse: Wanda and Vision--reviewed here.
32. The Way of the Househusband Volume 4--reviewed here.
33. Resident Alien Volume 2--reviewed here.
34. Usagi Yojimbo Book 6--reviewed here.
35. Marvel's Black Widow Prelude--reviewed here.
36. The Plot--reviewed here.
37. American Born Chinese--reviewed here.
38. The Way of the Househusband Volume 5--reviewed here.
39. Royden Lepp's Rust: Death of the Rocket Boy--reviewed here.
40. Royden Lepp's Rust: Soul in the Machine--reviewed here.
41. Usagi Yojimbo Book 7--reviewed here.
42. Resident Alien: The Sam Hain Mystery--reviewed here.
43. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Katara and the Pirate's Silver--reviewed here.
44. Black Widow: Marvel Team-up--reviewed here.
45. The Avengers Volume 1--reviewed here.
46. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Toph Beifong's Metalbending Academy--reviewed here.
47. Usagi Yojimbo Book 8--reviewed here.
48. Hellboy Universe: The Secret Histories--reviewed here.
49. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Suki, Alone--reviewed here.
50. The Avengers Volume 2--reviewed here.
51. Resident Alien Volume 4--reviewed here.
52. Avatar: The Last Airbender: Team Avatar Tales--reviewed here.
53. Lobster Johnson Volume 5--reviewed here.
54. The Death of Captain Marvel--reviewed here.
55. Usagi Yojimbo Volume 9--reviewed here.
56. The Way of the Househusband Volume 6--reviewed here.
57. Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment--reviewed here.
58. Lobster Johnson Volume 6--reviewed here.
59. Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures--reviewed here.
60. Asterix in Corsica--reviewed here.
61. Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Volume 1--reviewed here.
62. Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land--reviewed here.

Here's my plan to get some more books off the shelf of shame this year. I wound up making a bunch of trilogies in the categories below...

Fiction--three books from next year's A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast--thanks to the podcasters for making the list early! Of course, I might read more than three of the books. Also, these are not on my shelf of shame, but that's okay. The library has a shelf of shame too, right?

• Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
• One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters
• Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

History--two trilogies here...

• Galveston Flood trilogy--three books about the hurricane that hit Galveston Island in 1900
• Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson
• A Weekend in September by John Edward Weems
• Through a Night of Horrors edited by Casey Edward Greene and Shelly Henley Kelly
• Legendary Men trilogy--three books about larger than life characters from the past
• Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times by Robert E. Lee (no, not that one)
• Lincoln by David Herbert Donald
• Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends by Allen Barra 

Theology--three books from my shelf about the famous Anglican convert to Catholicism, John Henry Cardinal Newman

• John Henry Newman: His Inner Life by Dr. Zeno, Capuchin
• Mary: The Virgin Mary in the Life and Writings of John Henry Newman edited with an introduction and notes by Philip Boyce
• The Heart of Newman, A Synthesis Arranged by Erich Przywara, S.J.

Philosophy--three books on the natural law that have been waiting around to be read

• A Critique of the New Natural Law Theory by Russell Hittinger
• Natural and Divine Law: Reclaiming the Tradition for Christian Ethics by Jean Porter
• 50 Questions on the Natural Law: What It Is and Why We Need It by Charles Rice