Since 2012, I have been taking part in Goodreads Reading Challenge and in that time I’ve only complete the challenge twice (2016 & 2020). This is far better than my attempts to write 50,000 words in a month and complete National Novel Writing Month each year. (Hint: I haven’t finished once.)

The goal for this upcoming year is to read or re-read 60 books. Two of the books, I have on my to be read pile were given to by Ed from his collection of writing books. Ed encouraged me as a reader and a writer so including this books is a continuation of his presence in my life. The rest of the books on my to-read pile (TRP) are a mix of books for pleasure, research and curiosity.

The following are the books I’m currently reading or have been added to my to-read pile for the coming year:

1. Marseille Tarot Revealed by Yoav Ben-Dov
2. The Old Guard: Tales Through Time – Book One
3. The History of the Occult of Tarot by Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett
4. Octavia’s Brood edited by Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha
5. The Tarot: History of Symbolism and Divination by Robert M. Place
6. Aftermath by LeVar Burton
7. I am C-3PO by Anthony Daniels
8. Monstress Volume Five – Warchild
9. Sandman – House of Whispers Volume 1
10. Sandman – House of Whispers Volume 2
11. Monstress Volume Six – The Vow
12. The is Ear Hustle
13. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
14. SwordFighting by Guy Windsor
15. Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? Stories by Kathleen Gollins
16. Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster
17. Hostage to the Devil by Malachi Martin
18. The Invention of Murder by Judith Flanders
19. How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
20. The Explorer’s Handbook by Marilyn Tolhurst
21. Writing Horror edited by Mort Castle
22. The Sandman Preludes & Nocturnes Volume 1
23. The Sandman Dream County Volume 3
24. Write Characters Your Readers Won’t Forget
25. We Should Have Killed the King by Eccarius
26. Kaleidoscope by Darryl Wimberly
27. A mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science
28. Disease: The Extraordinary Stories behind History’s Deadliest Killers by Mary Dobson
29. 13: The Story of the World’s Most Notorious Superstition by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
30. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
31. The Blazing World and Other Writing by Margaret Cavendish
32. The Black Dossier by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
33. Demonic Foes by Richard Gallagher, M.D.
34. A Cultural History of Tarot by Helen Farley
35. The Art of the Occult by S. Elizabeth
36. Bad Behaviors by Mary Gaitskill
37. Mad Madge by Katie Whitaker
38. Blogging for Writers: How authors & Writer’s Build Successful Blogs
39. Haunted Roanoke by L.B. Taylor JR.
40. Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell
41. Spellbinder by Melanie Rawn
42. What Every American Should Know About American History by Alan Alexrod & Charles Phillips
43. Morbid Curiosities: Collections of the Uncommon and the Bizarre by Paul Gambino
44. Daily Doses of History by West Side Publishing
45. The Mummy Congress by Heather Pringle
46. The Little Book of Whiskey by Lynda Dalslev
47. 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die by Loren Rhoads
48. Mummies of the World by Alfried Wieczoriek & Wilfried Rosendahl, EDS.
49. Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic by Lisa Lister
50. The Mythology of the Grimm: The Fairy Tale and Folklore Roots of the Popular TV Show by Nathan Robert Brown
51. The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad
52. Sixty-One Nails by Mike Shevdon
53. Oye What I’m Gonna Tell You by Cecilia Rodriquez Milanes
54. The Chanseyville Incident by David Bradley
55. Justinian’s Flea by William Rosen
56. Ghosts of Vesuvius by Charles Pellegrino
57. Notorious RBG – The Life and Time of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik
58. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
59. Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia by David Day
60. Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery by John O. Peters

As you can see the list is quite long and I don’t keep the TBR pile by my bed anymore. It is stacked in various places around the house. This year to keep myself on budget, I’ve decided to read books in my own house or that I can get from the library.

Yes, I own all of books on this list. And no, I don’t know how many books I own. One day, I may count them but that day isn’t today. Maybe the next time that I move, I will count them before I put them in boxes.