Updated reading list (Patreon)

Full title list at the end of this post plus a show and movie list for a bonus! I've been gifted some books in the past year and thought I'd share what I want to read!!

Why a reading list? I loved reading for so long but haven't had the time and presence with my own self to do it consistently in recent years, so I'm really making an effort to shift back to slower consumption of media. I see it as part of a process of returning to who I was before so many toxic forces, being a bit too online being just one of them, derailed me from the center of who I am. I'm very tired of scrolling and the awful stuff I see on a daily basis that affects my mental health as an artist (people being mean-spirited towards artists, LGBTQ+, and alt people, people championing and defending AI, more information than I can healthily absorb about how different platforms are changing for the worse for artists and small businesses, petty/mean/catty stories about friendships and relationships gone wrong. Who wants to mentally ingest that when they reach for their phone in the morning?) I get a dose of this content that spikes my anxiety and self-criticism even when I've tried to curate my feed to be full of weird, fun art and people doing cool, worthwhile things. Even interesting informative short-form videos about nature or art don't bring much value to my life because it is so easy to see so many in a single day that it becomes hard to process any of the disjointed information collected while scrolling.

You might notice that there is a good bit of nonfiction here!! I've historically read a lot of somewhat gothic fiction and modern fantasy, but in the past several years I've taken such an interest in nature, hence the books about trees, wasps, plants, and ocean life. I also really love to crochet and want to finish a project in the pattern book I listed, Crochet Crush. You'll notice I've listed a couple Umbrella Academy books as well - I've been meaning to re-read and finish the comic series because it has had such an impact on my visual art and songwriting themes.

I picked a fiction book called Gone To The Wolves off the shelf at a secondhand bookshop in the past year. I have not touched it yet and don't know much about it but from the back cover it seems to be about the dramatically shifting social lives of people within the 1980s LA metal scene. This concept spoke to me as someone who has gone through so much drastic change and upheaval over the many years that I've been a part of the NJ music scene. I've been saving it for a time when I feel able to absorb the theme with less emotion attached.

I will report back about this list specifically once I knock one off the list!! I may start with the comics to ease back into the sacred practice of reading.

Reading list:

1. Re-read Umbrella Academy books, finish comic series (Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá)

2. Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion

3. You Look Like Death (Umbrella Academy spin-off) - Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, I.N.J. Culbard, Nate Piekos)

4. Crochet Crush (pattern book) - Molla Mills

5. Sing Like Fish - Amorina Kingdon

6. The Hidden Life of Trees - Peter Wohlleben

7. Wasps: The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect - Eric R. Eaton

8. Gone to the Wolves - John Wray

A movie/show list:

1. All things Frankenstein - rewatching the original movie, seeing the newest remake, Young Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein)

2. Rewatching the original Moomin cartoon as well as the 3D-animated Moominvalley series!

3. Isle of Dogs - saw a short trailer for this and went with a friend to the movies around the time it came out but they wanted to see a horror movie (horror movie was also good but goddangit I still want to see Isle of Dogs) I love stop motion so much.

4. Animal Math by Robbie C. Ward - painstakingly hand-drawn colored pencil stop motion film that I found on Instagram while it was still in the process of being drawn!! I have not seen this yet but as a fan of Fantastic Planet I think I will appreciate it a lot.

5. I really, really want to muster the patience to finish Twin Peaks and also watch Fire Walk With Me. And to watch more David Lynch in general! I stumbled across Eraserhead while on tour once, was enamored, and could not look away.

Thanks for reading my media lists/post! I will post updates when I read or watch these things.