Reading Projects

One reading project that I have developed lately is to explore the world of graphic novels. I have pretty much neglected this realm. Hard to say why but I guess I often just felt I had bigger fish to fry. When I was a kid I read the Dark Phoenix Saga which was an X-men graphic novel that I borrowed from a kid called Yakumi Hooker in the 6th grade. Then maybe some Spider Man or Super Man reprints of the original stories. I was also exposed to the work of R. Crumb when I found one of his comics in my Grandpa's house. But other than that it was pretty much nothing until in my 30's when I read the Hikaru No Go manga, and then the Watchmen. Some of my friends in the 90's were into Sandman so I decided that is where I would start in this most recent adventure. On the recommendation of the clerk at the Great Escape here in Louisville I also decided to try Saga.

Lately I was reflecting that Platonism is the philosophy that I feel most at home with. So I have decided I want to read the collected dialogues of Plato. I read a number of these in college. Some of them more than once. But there are many that I haven't read. So I have started at the beginning with the Euthyphro and the Apology. And will work my way through.

Lately I have also realized I have an interest in weird fiction. I basically knew this already but in some ways the realization is that there is a name for this genre and a thread to follow. I had read The City and the City by China Mieville before and really liked that. Through wikipedia I learned about the anthology by the Vandermeers called The New Weird that helped to bring attention to Mieville and some other writers. Then when I was searching for that at Half Price Books I lucked into finding their anthology just called The Weird. This is more of a historical introduction. It is limited in time and starts at 1900 even though there is plenty of weird writing before then.This has helped me to kind of connect the dots on some other stuff that I had read and liked like Borges, Lovecraft, Murakami, and others. So I did manage track down a copy of The New Weird also. So I have been working my way through The Weird and enjoying it and will read The New Weird when I finish that. I have also gotten some more works by Mieville that I intend to read. Actually the Sandman from the above project fits in pretty well with this project as well.

Another project I have identified is the idea of rereading some of the stuff from the past that meant something to me. In the past I usually wasn't interested in rereading stuff (or rewatching movies) but that has started to change and I feel like I am at an age where it would be valuable to go back and reread stuff that meant something to me along the way. Basically I guess in some ways the constellations are kind of already set and there is really value in developing some things from the past more fully. Of course this in no way means that I won't read new stuff etc but just that I am coming around on the idea of re-examining some of this old stuff.

I also started reading science fiction again last year and read some good ones like Solaris by Lem and Stories of Your Life by Chiang. I was into science fiction as a teenager but kind of left it behind but lately I have been interested again. I have collected some various works and will get into those

I have a deep and abiding interest in games and like to read about them. This ranges from philosophy of games, to fiction about games, to memoirs. I am always on the lookout for interesting books in this genre.