Reading, Inspiration, Games — 2024

My roundup and my record of what fed the imagination, with a lot to look forward to

Here are the books I read, the things that fed me, the games I’ve been trying and playing, many of the things that fed me. Lots of good stuff here, lots of bad stuff here.

As with last year, I didn’t provide commentary. If you have any questions about anything on this list, feel free to hop into the comments and say whatever you’d like.

Reading

This Book Is Full of Spiders — Jason Pargin

Artificial Condition — Martha Wells
All Systems Red — Martha Wells

The Obstacle Is the Way — Ryan Holiday

Pirate Enlightenment — David Graeber

Surprised by Joy — C. S. Lewis

Carmilla — Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

The Mountain in the Sea — Ray Nayler

Norse Mythology — Neil Gaiman

Shards of the Earth — Adrian Tchaikovsky
Eyes of the Void — Adrian Tchaikovsky
Lords of Uncreation — Adrian Tchaikovsky

Lets Go Play at the Adams — Mendal W. Johnson

Doppelganger — Naomi Klein

Tender Is the Flesh — Agustina Bazterrica

Nickel and Dimed — Barbara Ehrenreich

Gilead — Marilynne Robinson

The Name of the Rose — Umberto Eco

The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe — M. Gabriele, D.M. Perry

Bullshit Jobs — David Graeber

The Library at Mount Char — Scott Hawkins

Home — Marilynne Robinson

Oryx and Crake — Margaret Atwood

The Magic Christian — Terry Southern

The Soul of Shame — Curt Thompson

Only Yesterday — Frederick Lewis Allen

The Horned God: Weird Tales of the Great God Pan — Anthology

Frankenstein — Mary Shelley

New World Coming — Nathan Miller

The Undocumented Americans — Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Meditations — Marcus Aurelius

Building a Second Brain — Tiago Forte

So Good They Can't Ignore You — Cal Newport

Murder of Roger Ackeroyd — Agatha Christie

A Sunlit Absence — Martin Laird

After the Quake — Haruki Murakami

The Palliative Society — Byung-Chul Han

Save the Cat! — Blake Snyder

The Colossus of New York — Colson Whitehead

The PARA Method — Tiago Forte

Never Split the Difference — Chris Voss

The Daughters' War — Christopher Buehlman

Genesis — The Bible

Reading Genesis — Marilynne Robinson

Deep Work — Cal Newport

Exhalation — Ted Chiang

The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien

The Drowned World — J. G. Ballard

The Word for World Is Forest — Ursula K Le Guin

The Extended Mind — Annie Murphy Paul

Getting Things Done — David Allen

Wintering — Katherine May

Ship of Magic — Robin Hobb

Steal Like an Artist — Austin Kleon

Orbital — Samantha Harvey

The Blade Itself — Joe Abercrombie did not finish

The City We Became — N.K. Jemisin did not finish

Playing

Monster of the Week — Michael Sands

Brindlewood Bay — Jason Cordova

In This World — Ben Collins

Follow — Ben Collins

Ironsworn: Starforged — Shawn Tomkin

Worldwizard — Jason Lutes

Freebooters on the Frontier: 2nd Edition — Jason Lutes

Blades in the Dark — John Harper

Scum & Villainy — Stras Acimovic & John LeBoeuf-Little

Slugblaster* — Mikey Hamm

CBR+PNK* — Emanoel Melo

Pirate Borg* — Luke Stratton, aka Limithron

Cairn — Yochai Gal

The Roaring Age — Jack Edward

Trophy Gold — Jesse Ross

Mausritter — Isaac Williams

Triangle Agency* — Caleb Zane Huett & Sean Ireland

*played in a convention one-shot or similar semi-public setting