I have found myself in the curious position of being surrounded by unread books. The number of books whose pages have touched the same air that I breathe across their entire surfaces is becoming a smaller and smaller pile in comparison. The read books could fit into my dressers drawer– if it weren’t already packed with things.

Over the last year and a half I have worked on reading. Not just reading the many tabletop gaming manuals and their tables that describe the mechanical effects of a sword. Those fantasy rules are still being read, but they no longer sit on the nightstand. No, that nightstands legs now buckle under the weight of books such as “DUNE” by Frank Herbert, “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, and “The Weird” which is a 1126 page “compendium of strange and dark stories” which was edited and assembled by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer.

As a heads up there will be a reading list at the bottom of this post, but first some backstory on me getting back into reading.

I read more in High School

This enthusiastic plunge into reading again was because of an academic guilt. I had always enjoyed reading books in high school; and not just the ones required. I started a book club that didn’t last long but long enough to read “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson. I also read “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë for fun in English class. But as soon as I finished high school and wasn’t on my way to college I just stopped reading books that had nothing to do with tabletop role-playing.

Not reading always bothered me, but I didn’t know how much until I started listening to a wider range of podcasts. At each turn a book would be recommended and I would feel like I was missing out on a entire slice of the world. It was because I was of course, I had in between most recently and then as far as fiction is concerned been reading and re-reading the short story “The Mask” by Robert W. Chambers. That was it. Barely a new thought of someone else’s entered my brain through novels and short stories. I consumed plenty of art, but the lack of words and my feeling of being left behind made me want to read.

With this much time detached from school, reading had started to feel like a chore. So I had to pick something interesting and hunker down then push myself through the first 60 pages so that momentum could carry me within fingertips touch of the inside of the back cover. For this purpose, I eased myself in with interest with the audiobook of Scott Thomas’ “Kill Creek“, an excellent haunted house book that would shred to pieces the best interpretations of the horrid house in Amityville. The book that followed was one that was recommended on either Role-Playing Public Radio or The Mixed Six (two podcasts I enjoy listening to, the first about tabletop gaming and the second about that plus literature, philosophy, and beer). “Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits” by David Wong.

After having put two books into the read pile, I reopened my Goodreads account and started to log books into it as I went. At this moment since I started reading again I have gone through 25 books according to my read list.

That’s the skinny on how we got here, so now that we are– let’s look at what is on the reading table at the moment.

The Bedside Table (boat) of Paperbacks

As said earlier, my bedside table would barely float under the weight of the thick books that it carries on its back. For this list I am calling it a boat because of the first book on it.

1). “The Oxford Book of Sea Stories” selected by Tony Tanner.

I found this book at the used bookstore (Crow Books in Burlington, VT) when I was on the hunt for anthologies to read, but without any themes in mind. This book came into view along with another about war, I ended up purchasing both but this one reminded me of last Christmas. One of the books that moved me the most that holiday was “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway, and so when I saw this book with its ships and maelstroms I knew my book shelf was lacking ocean waves. Between this books covers is 26 short stories.

At this very moment I cannot wait to finish this post and read the next one which is titled “Mocha Dick” (by J.N. Reynolds). I don’t know what the story is about but if it’s a whale made of coffee I will be surprised.

2). “DUNE” by Frank Herbert

For the past few months (or at least as long as I can remember) I have been following an amazing artist named Alex Jay Brady. Alex posts science fiction art on their Twitter that they are commissioned to create for different authors and video game companies. But the reason I mention Alex for this post is because they’ve created very evocative art for Dune.

This art was so good that it finally pushed me over the edge to purchase a paperback copy of the book. I had always heard it was excellent in other circles and from other sci-fi nerds, so I knew I was eventually going to have to read it. But now that I have this excellent imagery in my head, I felt like I could imagine the world of Dune differently and in a way that gels with an aesthetic that I enjoy.

High quality sci-fi art that is weird with giant worms and vibrant red armors? Sign me up and let me imagine this book in vibrant detail.

3). “On Writing” by Stephen King

One of the first books that I read, not the first, but one of the first big books that I ever read was “Skeleton Crew” by Stephen King. I still talk about a few stories from it as being incredible, specifically “The Raft” a story about a lake that bites back, and “Word Processor of the Gods” which is a story about a word processor that grants wishes. “Skeleton Crew” is a banger of a short story collection, and probably one of my favorites.

“The Raft” is the short story (along with “The Mask” by Robert W. Chambers) that made me start to love short stories as a shape. It is the rose tinted memory of what a great monster short story is for me.

That is why I picked up a copy of “On Writing”. Even if you don’t like Stephen King’s writing, you can’t say that he didn’t write a lot of content. And with all of the books that he’s written a memoir by him on writing is worth reading. As I want to write more and more, I want to know as well more and more about how other people write.

Final reason for wanting to read “On Writing”? It has come highly recommended from my friend Owen who is an English teacher that I respect highly. So, that and me being a fan of King’s stuff since I was a young’un.

4). “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson

As I had mentioned before, I have read this book. I have even seen the black and white movie The Haunting (1963) that was based on it. Going further, when I heard there was a The Haunting of Hill House (2018) Netflix series I binge watched the entire thing, and holy cow was that hard to do emotionally.

In the last week, I have also watched We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018) a movie based on Shirley Jacksons’ book of the same name. I know not everyone enjoyed that one, but it was on Netflix and I wanted something spooky and it fit that need just enough. So much so that now I will need to check out that book as well, especially since it has been spoken of as Shirley Jackson’s master work.

But, until then, I am going to reread Hill House. It has been awhile and some of the details have faded from my head enough that I can get lost within its walls once again. Turning page after page to allow the darkness from the corners of each room in that manor to worm through the air till older fears wash over me.

5). “If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino

I originally gained interest in tabletop role-playing games through a podcast titled Role-Playing Public Radio which did a long running podcast of actual plays (recordings of gameplay) that I enjoyed. The horror ones were always very good, and after listening for a while I began engaging with various tabletop gaming groups on Facebook. Once I found that my interests didn’t align with these groups too much, I created a Google+ account and started to engage with the Dungeons and Dragons community there. Specifically the old school D&D groups that created all of this evocative and artsy game content. From strange adventures written like dreams that have gained clarity not found in the most vivid worlds, to the vibrant illustrations of artists such as Andrew Walter.

This space was highly influential to me and taught me how strange games can be. That their worlds can be inspired by not just fantasy, but any genre of fiction. A common thread that came up over and over again was the listing of books that inspired the various hobbyist writers. A favorite of them was always the works of Italo Calvino and Lord Dunsany.

The number one recommendation that would always come up is “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino which had inspired so many adventure settings. It was this book that I read and enjoyed so much that I purchased “If on a winter’s night a traveler”. There is something to the romantic way in which Calvino writes that makes the reader become entranced by his words. And I wanted to read his work again. Then after I read this one, I will go out and get another just as I do with Kurt Vonnegut’s work.

6). “Violet” by Scott Thomas

One of the first books that I read on my road back to reading was Scott Thomas’ first book “Kill Creek”. It was a fantastically terrifying book about a horrendous house haunted by old and wicked spirits. Spirits that could reach across the ether and wield the living by tugging at the blood in their brain until thoughts stick. Until through the pounding red all that could be made out was a bargain that could only be paid in blood.

“Kill Creek” was fantastic and will always be one of my favorite books for horror manors. The way it uses horror authors as characters adds a perspective I could never have thought of. Which is why whenever I learned that Scott Thomas had a new book in the works and soon to be released I knew that I had to check it out.

I ended up being very fortunate that one of my favorite bookstores had a copy in stock at the moment I remembered the book and I had the money to buy it. I am uncertain what occurs in this new book, but Kill Creek alone was more than enough to make me read whatever comes next.

Closing Remarks

This list isn’t held together by a theme or a specific goal. Even the order has no reason, just that these are books that I want to read, with small purposes that are important to me. This is because of books I have read before or because someone else inspired me to pick it up and take a read.

Each title on this list is here because it makes me excited to read for some reason or another.

That is all for this reading list, until next time I hope you have a good time reading this holiday season.

This part says goodbye and until next time that I have books to pull together into a reading list.

What is Reading List?

Reading List is an ongoing series of articles where someone writes about a reading list they have at the moment. These lists could be just what is next to be read or a reading list-ography. Reading list-ographies are sets of readings that have been assembled together with a theme or reason in mind. Either way, every list has a different name and each Reading List article has the titular item in it.