Blogocentric Formulations

2019 Reading List

It's the end of 2019, which means it's time to review all the reading and listening I've done over the past calendar year. Overall, it was a mixed bag... similar to last year, I listened to a lot of podcasts (though not nearly as many as last year), hit my book reading goal (just barely), and didn't get into too many screenplays or comics this year. Here's how 2019 breaks down:


= favorite
= also really enjoyed


Books (click to expand full list) ▼

FICTION: SCI-FI/FANTASY
         The 28th Gate by Christopher C. Diamond
         Age of Heroes by C.C. Ekeke
         Apocalypticon by Clayton Smith
         Camp Red Moon by R.L. Stine
         Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
         Dan Deadman: Dial D for Deadman by Barry J. Hutchison
         Dan Deadman: Dead Inside by Barry J. Hutchison
         The Dark Lord Bert by Chris Fox
         Dropship by Jonathan Yanez
         Earth - Last Sanctuary by Christian Kallias
         The Event by Nathan Hystad
         Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
          Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman
         Godswar by Chris Fox
         John Tosh Will Save Us by Jason Anspach
         Junk by Les Bohem
         Nefarius by Chris Fox
         Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
         Prominence by A.C. Hadfield
         Renegades by Marissa Meyer
         Rip-Off by John Scalzi, et al
         Shadow Corps by Justin Sloane
         Soul Jacker by Michael John Grist
         Sovereign by Jeff Hirsch
          Space Team by Barry J. Hutchison
          Space Team: The Wrath of Vajazzle by Barry J. Hutchison
          Space Team: The Search for Splurt by Barry J. Hutchison
          Space Team: Song of the Space Siren by Barry J. Hutchison
          Space Team: The Guns of Nana Joan by Barry J. Hutchison
          Space Team: Return of the Dead Guy by Barry J. Hutchison
          Space Team: Planet of the Japes by Barry J. Hutchison
          Space Team: The Time Titan of Tomorrow by Barry J. Hutchison
          Space Team: The King of Space Must Die by Barry J. Hutchison
         Space Team: A Lot of Weird Space Shizz by Barry J. Hutchison
         Supers - Ex-Gods by Jamie Hawke
         Time Salvager by Wesley Chu
          We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
         The Wraith by Jeffery Haskell

FICTION: MYSTERY/THRILLER
         Ballistic by Mark Greaney
          Bluff by Michael Kardos
         Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block
          Daemon by Daniel Suarez
          Dead Eye by Mark Greaney
         Demon Next Door by Bryan Burrough
         Don't Believe It by Charlie Donlea
         The Dragon and The Ghost by Mark Dawson
         The Driver by Mark Dawson
         Front Page Fatality by LynDee Walker
         I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells
         Iron Orchid by Stuart Woods
         Inauguration Day by Claude Salhani
         Killer By Nature by Jan Smith
          The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler
         A Litter of Bones by JD Kirk
         The Mystery of Alice by Lee Bacon
         Next Exit, Three Miles by CW Browning
         The Olympus Project by Ted Tayler
          Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz
         Path of the Assassin by Brad Thor
         The President is Missing by James Patterson & Bill Clinton
         Protocol by Robert J. Kennedy
         Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard
         The Serpent's Fang by Ryan Mullaney
         The Spies That Bind by Ally Carter
          The Tower by Gregg Hurwitz
         Whiskey & Roses by Bradley Wright
         Wired In by Toby Neal
         The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

FICTION: OTHER
         Ghost of a Girl by Carol Alwood
         Joyland by Stephen King
         Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews
         We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

NONFICTION
         The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib
         5-Minute Book Marketing for Authors by Penny Sansevieri
         27 Fiction Writing Blunders And How Not To Make Them by James Scott Bell
         The Author Blog by Anne R. Allen
         Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods by Gill Rapley
          The Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Peterssn
          Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
          The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
         Focused Backstory by Carol Alwood
          The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
         The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
         How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit by A.W. Tozer
         The INFJ Writer: Cracking the Creative Genius of the World's Rarest Type by Lauren Sapala
          Kiss My Asterisk by Jenny Baranick
         Let's Write A Short Story by Joe Bunting
          Love Worth Making by Stephen Snyder
         Mythology by Edith Hamilton
         Power Moves: Lessons from Davos by Adam Grant
         Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins
         The Sacred Enneagram by Christopher L. Heuertz
         Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King
         Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Nicolas Taleb
         Storyworld First by Jill Williamson
         Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland
          Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell
          That's Not The Way It Works: A No-Nonsense Guide to the Craft and Business of Screenwriting by Bob Saenz
          Tidy the F*ck Up: The American Art of Organizing Your Sh*t by Messie Condo
         The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
         The Write Novel by Carol Alwood
          Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump by Dan Pfeiffer

I just barely managed to surpass my goal of reading 100 books this year after starting the year strong and on pace for a record-setting reading year, then having my reading habits decrease dramatically in the second half of the year. Apparently having kids in the house really cuts into your personal reading time!

I had a lot of favorites this year in both fiction and nonfiction... overall, it was a really good reading year in terms of finding books that I really liked. There were some standout standalone works (Daemon, Bluff, Catch and Kill), some exciting new authors that I discovered (Barry Eisler, Brene Brown), and quite a few familiar authors and series had new installments that didn't disappoint (Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, Gregg Hurwitz, Mark Greaney).

However, I think Barry J. Hutchison wins top honors on my reading list this year for being a new author I discovered and whose backlist I voraciously devoured. His Space Team serious is hysterical (and I highly recommend the audiobooks which include narrator outtakes starting about halfway through the series). Who would have known that humorous sci-fi would be such a hit? (Answer: pretty much anybody who knows me )

Podcasts (click to expand full list) ▼

         The Adventure Zone - 12 episodes
         Androids & Aliens - 27 episodes
         The Creative Penn Podcast - 57 episodes
         Dead Pilots Society - 11 episodes
         The Dungeoncast - 54 episodes
         The Ezra Klein Show - 52 episodes
         Freakonomics - 32 episodes
         The Glass Cannon Podcast - 19 episodes
         How Did This Get Made? - 3 episodes
         How I Built This - 5 episodes
         Imaginary Worlds - 17 episodes
         The Impact - 1 episode
         Impeachment Explained - 9 episodes
         Lovett or Leave It - 44 episodes
          Pod Save America - 132 episodes
         Pod Save the World - 50 episodes
         The Q&A - 5 episodes
          The Rewatchables - 30 episodes
         Rubicon - 9 episodes
         Sci-Fi & Fantasy Marketing Podcast - 10 episodes
         Scriptnotes - 54 episodes
         The Sell More Books Show - 32 episodes
         The Self-Publishing Formula / The Self-Publishing Show - 52 episodes
         Self-Publishing Podcast - episodes
         Six Figure Authors - 18 episodes
          Slate Political Gabfest - 59 episodes
         The Story Studio Podcast - 30 episodes
         Story Works Roundtable - 33 episodes
         TED Radio Hour - 12 episodes
         That Sounds Like Fun - 1 episode
         The Way - 1 episode
          Weeds, The - 92 episodes
         What A Day - 39 episodes
         Writer's Panel - 8 episodes
         Writing Excuses - 51 episodes

I cut out a lot of podcasts from last year, especially the daily news podcasts (and the actual play tabletop RPG podcasts after getting tired of them a few months into the year), and started skipping individual episodes of a lot of podcasts that I wasn't particular into. I'm a bit of a completionist so that was difficult for me, but I really tried to value my time more this year and not spend it listening to a podcast episode on a topic that didn't particularly interest me. Mostly, my favorites from last year are still my favorites this year, although a few of them are growing a little tedious. I'll probably listen to fewer podcasts next year, or at least look for some new ones to keep things interesting.

Comics (click to expand full list) ▼

         NONE

I didn't read a single comic book or graphic novel this year.

Scripts (click to expand full list) ▼

PRODUCED
         Spider-Man: Far From Home

UNPRODUCED
         Birthright
         Dogsbody
         Lenny's Doing Great And His Family's Terrific
         The Manger Thief
         Pearl
         Powder Blues
         The Recent Calls of Annabelle Phipps
         The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud
         Sexy Justice
         Small Town Love
         Sterling
         Victoria Woodhull, Presidentess
         Whatever Happened to Gigi's Pants?
         Yogurt World

I'm not putting any favorites or highly recommended on the script section of my reading list because a lot of the writers on this list are my friends and/or colleagues and I don't want to play favorites with my friends and business associates.

TOTALS: 102 books, 1,061 podcasts, 0 comics, 15 scripts


According to Goodreads, my book reading resulted in the following stats (based on the 98 books found on Goodreads):

         Total Pages Read: 27,964
         Average Pages Per Book: 285
         Shortest Book: 82 pages
         Longest Book: 864 pages


That's it for my 2019 reading... time to see what 2020 has in store!