Dracula

The Books of 2021

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 7 Comments

I’m following the same format from last year with some tweaks, because was 2021 really that different from 2020?  It’s all been just one continuous “year” hell state so let’s talk about books once more!

Favorite Book

Cover of House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City)

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City #1)

This book hit every single one of my buttons: fallen angel/general turned slave/assassin with a half-human, half-fae lady is just the jumping (falling?) off point.  It really made me wonder if there was just a satchel of tropes that come with fallen/dark angel characters because I’m noticing patterns between this, Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series, FFVII, my own writing, Constantine (the film), and a slew of other narratives with them.  Like wtf is going on?  It’s something I definitely want to research down the line.

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The State of the Reader: 9/9/20

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<–The State of the Reader: 8/26/20         The State of the Reader: 9/23/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 2

Finished: 2

Title: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
Date Added: May 16, 2015
Date Started: February 13, 2020
Date Finished: August 30, 2020
Reading Duration: 199 Days

Cover of DraculaMedia: eBook/Kindle

Definitely see how this could’ve inspired/influenced GRRM’s Night King along with other malicious hive-minded entities that could have your friends spying for the enemy.  This novel was wild from start to finish in all the best ways possible, and its cultural influence cannot be understated.

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The State of the Reader: 8/26/20

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<–The State of the Reader: 8/12/20         The State of the Reader: 9/9/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 1

Currently Reading

Title: The Luster of Lost of Things
Author: Sophie Chen Keller
Date Added: September 12, 2017
Date Started: July 22, 2020

Cover of The Luster of Lost Things by Sophie Chen KellerMedia: Paperback
Progress: 27%

I can see where this story is going with the landlord, and I love how Lucy called him out when he played the victim of the people he’s threatening to evict.

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The State of the Reader: 8/12/20

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 11 Comments

<–The State of the Reader: 7/29/20         The State of the Reader: 8/26/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 1

Currently Reading

Title: The Luster of Lost of Things
Author: Sophie Chen Keller
Date Added: September 12, 2017
Date Started: July 22, 2020

Cover of The Luster of Lost Things by Sophie Chen KellerMedia: Paperback
Progress: 20%

This is one of those story’s you’ll enjoy if you love winding, whimsical writing with a heavy heaping of eloquence.  If that’s not your bag, you’d probably consider this too purple for your tastes, which is fine.  I don’t like how “purple prose” is used as a pejorative since it’s really just a stylistic taste.  If you like it, you like it; if you don’t, you don’t.

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The State of the Reader: 7/29/20

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<–The State of the Reader: 7/15/20         The State of the Reader: 8/12/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 3

Finished: 1

Title: Keturah and Lord Death
Author: Martine Leavitt
Date Added: August 16, 2016
Date Started: June 6, 2020
Date Finished: July 18, 2020

Cover of Keturah and Lord Death by Martine LeavittMedia: Hardback

This book hardcore reminds me I need to read Theodora Goss’s Heroine’s Journey essay.  It’s in my “to read” for research already, but it’s vital for essay references.  I’ve been trying to decide whether or not Death and the Maiden motifs are under the umbrella of Beauty and the Beast ones or vice versa.  I guess it’s sort of a literary “what came first?”  I want to say Death and the Maiden was first because motifs about Death are older than dirt, but I still wonder what fits as the better umbrella.  Is Death a “beast” type or is (being paired with) a beast a type of death?

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The State of the Reader: 7/15/20

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 8 Comments

<–The State of the Reader: 7/1/20         The State of the Reader: 7/29/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 3

Finished: 1

Title: The Last Thing You See
Series: Rachel Dixon
Author: Marie Batiste
Date Added: March 26, 2020
Date Started: June 23, 2020
Date Finished: July 9, 2020

Cover of The Last Thing You See by Marie BatisteMedia: eBook/Kindle

This ended a bit more abruptly than I was expecting, but then I remembered that it’s a series.  The author does a fantastic job making you absolutely loathe the killer and his “associates.”  You know I love my sympathetic villains, but there’s something about having one that you just absolutely hate and want to see tortured just like their victims.  It’s something I’ve done before myself.  There’s a dark catharsis in having a character do despicable things so that you don’t feel terrible when your hero skins them alive.  I don’t know if that’s the route this is going to go, but I’ll be rooting for Rachel if it does.

Currently Reading

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The State of the Reader: 7/1/20

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Reader: 6/17/20         The State of the Reader: 7/15/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 3

Finished: 1

Title: Supernice: Smile. Or Else.
Author: Petra Jacob
Date Added: June 11, 2020
Date Started: May 20, 2020

Cover of Supernice by Petra JacobMedia: eBook

Every single book I read by this author just gets better, and the first one I read, Riddled With Senses, was already excellent.  It’s like her take on current culture becomes more acerbic and accurate, because what occurs by the end of Supernice is exactly what would happen.  The mindset of people would absolutely lead them down heinous paths, and there would most definitely be others who’d oppose it.

Like I do with other books by self/indie published authors, I’ll be reviewing this next (or after the one I already have in draft) since reviews are way more important to get out for them.

Currently Reading

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The State of the Reader: 6/17/20

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<–The State of the Reader: 6/3/20         The State of the Reader: 7/1/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 4

Currently Reading

Title: Keturah and Lord Death
Author: Martine Leavitt
Date Added: August 16, 2016
Date Added: June 6, 2020

Cover of Keturah and Lord Death by Martine LeavittMedia: Hardback
Progress: 26%

I love Death and the Maiden stories.  Shocking, I know considering everything I’ve written has been one.  This is no different.   Keturah literally meets Death after chasing a hart into the forest and wandering for days.  She manages to strike a bargain with him: if she can find someone to love her in the next 24 hours then she can keep her life, otherwise Death will marry her instead.  I already know how it’s going to end, but I can’t wait to see how it gets there.

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The State of the Reader: 6/3/20

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 6 Comments

<–The State of the Reader: 5/20/20         The State of the Reader: 6/17/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased: 2

Finished: 1

Title: The Valley of Amazement
Author: Amy Tan
Date Added: April 24, 2014
Date Started: March 1, 2020
Date Finished: June 3, 2020

Cover of The Valley of Amazement by Amy TanMedia: Hardback – Library

Amy Tan never fails to deliver.  I wound up finishing this due to extenuating circumstances I’ll get to later.  What amazes me most (besides the Valley, which tbh wasn’t that amazing…) is how seamlessly the author ties threads together with coincidences that don’t seem remotely contrived.  Because we see the present result the past laid foundation comes with a chill and not a shrug.

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The State of the Reader: 5/20/20

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Reader: 5/6/20         The State of the Reader: 6/3/20–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Purchased

Yeah, I spent a lot of money on research materials over the past month.  I actually should’ve included the top two last week, but I guess I forgot?  The film studies book has been on my radar ever since I heard about it in a video I watched a few months ago.  That literally screams FFVII at me, and I knew I’d need it for critical analysis of that.  It’s not an uncommon paradigm, and I guess I’m just surprised I haven’t really seen anyone else talking about since it’s such a major influence in that narrative, but video games are a bastard medium *shrug*.  The Jung alchemy book was a must buy after watching Reinstall Paul’s Silent Hill analysis, because (of course) I thought about FFVII and the alchemical influences in that.  I only have/had a passing knowledge of alchemy e.g. lead into gold, but had no clue it was so universally prominent.  Now that I know a little more, I’m picking it up everywhere, so I need to learn more about it.

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