I’m posting what I read last year along with a short list of a few things I enjoyed.

General Stuff I Enjoyed in 2021

• The single “Let’s Do It Again” by the Reigning Sound, which is really this year’s theme song
• New music by two great Kansas City bands, Passerine Dream and Namelessnumberheadman
• The Sparks Brothers documentary
• Andy Stewart’s book, We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep
• Reprints of Steve Gerber’s Howard the Duck comics from the 70s
• The TV series Stargirl, which has been fun father/daughter viewing
• The Bandsplain podcast, even though Spotify may have stolen the name and I never quite make it to the end

Leisure Reading List for 2021 (not a year’s best list)

This list doesn’t include re-reads, non-fiction/biography, comics, or material read for research. If I read it to “accomplish” something, it’s not on here. I do count books I blasted through in grad school and promised myself I’d read at leisure sometime, hence the presence of stuff like Passing and Mardi.

Compared to most writers and academics, I am a sloooow reader. Maybe other folks with ADD can relate. I’ve been playing catch up for most of my adult life. So, I feel guilty and “imposter syndrome” phony that this list isn’t longer, but proud of the fairly eclectic list under my circumstances.

• The Dragon Waiting
• All Systems Red
• Terror Squad/Mugger Blood/Brain Drain (The Destroyer series)
• Forced Perspectives
• The Long Valley
• Camp Concentration
• The Hustler
• Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down
• Mardi
• We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep
• Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters /Seymour, an Introduction
• Age of the Pussyfoot
• On Basilisk Station
• VALIS
• Baltasar and Blimunda
• Main Street
• Masters of Atlantis
• His Majesty’s Dragon
• Swann’s Way
• The Moviegoer
• The Shadow Laughs/The Grove of Doom/Dead Men Live (The Shadow series)
• The Real Cool Killers
• From a Buick 8
• Passing
• Swan Song
• Doomsday Book
• Down and Out in Paris and London
• Jane Eyre

NOTE: I fought WordPress’s block editor ferociously while formatting this. Apologies for typos.