I often joke that I need an entire second salary to support my reading habit. “Joke.” I’ve spent more money on books the last two pay cycles than I have on groceries. RIP to my bank account.
Most of the reading I’ve done this year has been for research, which I love. I’m happy to be reading more for leisure these days, which I also love.
Yesterday morning I finished A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Fleming (hard recommend), just in time for Perfectly Reasonable Deviations: From the Beaten Path (The Letters of Richard P. Feynman) to be delivered in the afternoon, and The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion in the evening.
A fuller picture of my recent, current, and upcoming reading follows.
Recently read, in reverse chronological order by date finished:
- A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Fleming (extremely my shit, hard recommend)
- Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Megan Rosenbloom (was really excited for this one but ultimately disappointed by it)
- A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis by David M. Friedman (liked it, recommend it)
- A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister (liked it, recommend it; exceptional design and production quality)
- New Erotica for Feminists: Satirical Fantasies of Love, Lust, and Equal Pay by Caitlin Kunkel, Brooke Preston, Fiona Taylor, Carrie Wittmer (tried way too hard, hated, hard pass)
- Thrust: A Spasmodic Pictorial History of the Codpiece in Art by Michael Glover (quick and fun but absolutely no depth)
Currently reading, in reverse chronological order by date started:
- Perfectly Reasonable Deviations: From the Beaten Track (The Letters of Richard P. Feynman) edited by Michelle Feynman (really loving so far)
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk (good but difficult, taking lots of breaks)
- The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual v. the United States of America by Eric Cervini (started strong but faded fast; the writing is great and it’s so thoroughly researched and reported but it’s just not grabbing me the way I hoped it would; slowly making my way through; 13/10 for the cover tho)
On deck, in alphabetical order by title:
- Everyday Sexism: The Project that Inspired a Worldwide Movement by Laura Bates
- Modern Nature by Derek Jarman
- Red: The History of a Color by Michel Pastoureau
- Studying Early Printed Books, 1450-1800: A Practical Guide by Sarah Werner (very excited to read this)
- Technologies of the Human Corpse by John Troyer
- The Devil’s Cloth: A History of Stripes by Michel Pastoureau
Saving for later, in alphabetical order by title:
- The Reformation of the Image by Joseph Leo Koerner
- The Rarest Blue: The Remarkable Story of an Ancient Color Lost to History and Rediscovered by Baruch Sterman
- The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion by Leo Steinberg