Decided to find some better outlets for my time this past year, likely in part to distract from how things are going in the US. The big 3 this year: reading, baking, and learning woodworking.

Reading

Reading (mostly audiobooks and physical books with an occasional ebook here and there) has continued to bring me some joy. Horror continues to be my genre of choice with some sci-fi, fantasy, and other fiction mixed in.

Highlights:

• “Crafting for Sinners” by Jenny Kiefer
• “The Devils” by Joe Abercrombie
• “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” by Clay McLeod Chapman
• “Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones
• “From a Buick 8” by Stephen King
• “Christine” by Stephen King
• “Carrie” by Stephen King
• “Cold Eternity” by S.A. Barnes
• “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” by Grady Hendrix
• “The Long Low Whistle” by Laurel Hightower
• “D7” by Philip Fracassi

I’ve tried to work more nonfiction into my TBR as well, often to either better understand people’s life experience that’s different from mine or to better understand how the US got to its currrent state.

Nonfiction of note:

• “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” by James W. Loewen
• “How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America” by Heather Cox Richardson
• “Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America” by Clay Risen
• “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation” by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
• “Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America” by Talia Lavin
• “How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future” by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
• “The Echo Machine: How Right-Wing Extremism Created a Post-Truth America” by David Pakman
• “The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again” by Robert D. Putnam, Shaylyn Romney Garrett

Baking

Time is, as always, fuzzy for me, but I think I’d only gotten started regularly baking some time last year (?). Predominantly cookies, but I’ve mixed in some other fun things like brownies, carrot cake banana bread, and pumpkin dump cake. Most made from scratch. I didn’t keep particularly good track of what all I made, but some of the cookie favorites include Mexican hot chocolate, red velvet chocolate chip, smores, malted milk chocolate chip, gooey butter (inspired by the cake), and big soft ginger.

Woodworking

I helped out a little bit in the scene shop for Fantasy Playhouse’s production of “A Wrinkle in Time” this past spring, which was seemingly the nudge I needed to take an interest in learning about woodworking. I’ve always found it difficult to try to learn a new skill that doesn’t immediately “click” for me. My brain has a hard time resisting the urge to nitpick every detail that is less than perfect. It’s been somewhat refreshing to tell that part of my brain to be quiet and embrace the charming imperfections of a handmade object that I made. To this end, I picked up Steve Ramsey’s Weekend Woodworker course and have been slowly working my way through those projects, combined with watching various Youtube videos and reading a variety of books ranging from an old Jr. High shop class textbook to some of the books from Lost Art Press. I’m very much still a beginner, but it’s been enjoyable to build something with my hands that might even be useful.