{"id":1708,"date":"2018-12-30T19:33:46","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T02:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708"},"modified":"2018-12-30T19:38:53","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T02:38:53","slug":"ghosts-from-dreams-of-a-hard-fast-future-books-read-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;ghosts from dreams of a hard, fast future&#8221;: Books Read in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Untitled\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/anterobot\/46479750352\/in\/dateposted\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4823\/46479750352_953d85568e.jpg\" alt=\"Untitled\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I just finished the A-side of Jeff Jackson&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Destroy-All-Monsters-Last-Novel\/dp\/0374537666\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Destroy All Monsters<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and it will probably be the first book I finish in 2019. And so, I think it&#8217;s time to round-up my reading from the past year:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><strong>Books read in 2018: 196<\/strong><br \/>\n<\/b>Comics and graphic novels included in reading total: 57<br \/>\nBooks of poetry included in reading total: 1<br \/>\nBooks reread included in reading total: 2<br \/>\nAcademic &amp; Education related books included in reading total: 23<br \/>\nYA and Junior Fiction books included in reading total: 30<br \/>\nRoleplaying Game-related books (rules, modules, settings \u2013 related to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.naeducation.org\/NAED_166282.htm#Garcia\">this<\/a>\u00a0research): 6<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Some thoughts (As usual, here are my posts on books read in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1660\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2017<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1612\"><span class=\"s3\">2016<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1573\"><span class=\"s3\">2015<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1483\"><span class=\"s3\">2014<\/span><\/a>, \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1317\"><span class=\"s3\">2013<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1141\"><span class=\"s3\">2012<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=971\"><span class=\"s3\">2011<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=616\"><span class=\"s3\">2010<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=450\"><span class=\"s3\">2009<\/span><\/a>):<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The easiest recommendation I can make is for everyone to read my friend Nicole Mirra\u2019s book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Educating-Empathy-Literacy-Learning-Engagement\/dp\/0807759147\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Educating for Empathy<\/i><\/a>. I\u2019ve gotten to work with and learn from Nicole for more than a decade at this point (how is that possible?!) and this book is a great, accessible synthesis of many of her key pushes on civics, empathy, and literacy. Everyone should read it and it looks like this:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone \" src=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41qxCxdIENL._SX338_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\" width=\"186\" height=\"273\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The best novels I read this year were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/There-novel-Tommy-Orange\/dp\/0525520376\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>There There<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(where the quote in this post&#8217;s title comes from) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/American-Marriage-Novel-Oprahs-Selection\/dp\/1616208775\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>An American Marriage<\/em><\/a>. These are critically acclaimed works and show up on everyone\u2019s year end lists for good reason (I see you, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/barackobama\/posts\/10156393283416749\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Barry<\/a>!). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The sci-fi novel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Player-Games-Culture-Iain-Banks\/dp\/0316005401\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>The Player of Games<\/i><\/a> was the exact mixture of ethnographer-studies-games-of-foreign-cultures-but-also-in-outer-space that made it the Antero-equivalent of catnip. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I read a bunch of comic books this year and that included digging into the 9 volume collection of Naoki Urasawa&#8217;s\u00a0<i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/bookseries\/B00YS2L2TY\/ref=dp_st_142156906X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monster<\/a>; <\/i>it was one of my more sustained engagements with manga and I really enjoyed the entire run. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Sabrina-Nick-Drnaso-ebook\/dp\/B07FYQQ2KH\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Sabrina<\/em><\/a> is the highbrow graphic novel that I\u2019m not sure if I <i>liked<\/i> but is a good conversation starter. Mark Russell &amp; Mike Feehan&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Exit-Stage-Left-Snagglepuss-Chronicles\/dp\/1401275214\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The\u00a0<\/em><\/a><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Exit-Stage-Left-Snagglepuss-Chronicles\/dp\/1401275214\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Snagglepuss Chronicles<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(yes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=snagglepuss&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that pink cat<\/a>) is amazing. Snagglepuss is a playwright frequenting the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stonewall_riots\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stonewall Inn<\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>and facing MaCarthyism head-on. It is timely, poignant, and tragic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Moxie-Novel-Jennifer-Mathieu\/dp\/1626726353\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Moxie<\/i><\/a> is the YA novel that made me listen to a bunch of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Riot_grrrl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">riot grrrl<\/a> records for the first time in ages and if it introduces younger readers to the likes of Kathleen Hanna, 3rd wave Feminism, and the Sharpie-and-glue-and-scissors world of zine making, then that is awesome. The reality TV junkie in me also really liked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Nice-Jane-Sinner-Lianne-Oelke\/dp\/0544867858\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Nice Try,\u00a0<\/em><i>Jane Sinner<\/i><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Virginia Eubanks\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Automating-Inequality-High-Tech-Profile-Police\/dp\/1250074312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Automating Inequality<\/em><\/a> and Christopher A. Paul&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Toxic-Meritocracy-Video-Games-Culture\/dp\/1517900417\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games<\/em><\/a><i>\u00a0<\/i>are both books I read for different research projects that I think could be of interest to general readers (the titles are pretty self-explanatory). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In terms of music, Janelle Monae\u2019s <i>Dirty Computer<\/i> was my favorite album of this year and an incredible, moving live show.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jdH2Sy-BlNE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> I also really liked the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eZXS8Jpkiac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Parquet Courts<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lBpL1t8IK0E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dirty Projectors<\/a> albums. However, most of my time was spent listening to female-led singer-songwriter-y stuff: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OS48Lp34Zic\">boygenius<\/a> (including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=teLyoKBxbCU\">all<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0WDZdT04ls4\">three<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xV1dMqeb4_U\">members<\/a>\u2019 recent-ish albums), the<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K3kNe3uM0ys\">Crutchfeld<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X57MFDr3NC8\">sisters<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LXsfiYigeg4\">Black Belt Eagle Scout<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=s7tnTucP1UM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Snail Mail<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ouem6cFXJvA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soccer Mommy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KsPj51alaQ0\">Molly Nilsson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qooWnw5rEcI\">Mitski<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Mru9GG3ur9U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robyn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_I46mszI4dE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Miya Folick<\/a>, etc. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">YouTube informs me I listened to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=msgimk3mV6g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this cover<\/a> of Kendrick Lamar&#8217;s &#8220;LOVE&#8221; an embarrassing number of times. Ditto the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QrR_gm6RqCo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mac Miller Tiny Desk Concert<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Finally, I\u2019ve been listening to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Live-Jonathan-Richman\/dp\/B0001WPSFO\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this<\/a> old Modern Lovers live album a lot while writing at night. \u201cMorning Of Our Lives\u201d feels like the kind of optimistic psalm to usher in the new year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AbUYJfbZ-Qc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1708\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1708\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span>Print<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1708\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\"><span>Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\"><span>Tumblr<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span>Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1708\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pocket\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-pocket sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=pocket\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pocket\"><span>Pocket<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just finished the A-side of Jeff Jackson&#8217;s Destroy All Monsters\u00a0and it will probably be the first book I finish in 2019. And so, I think it&#8217;s time to round-up my reading from the past year: Books read in 2018: 196 Comics and graphic novels included in reading total: 57 Books of poetry included in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1708\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1708&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on 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