Lyn Jensen's Blog: Manga, Music, and Politics

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Location: Anaheim, California, United States

Regular contributor for Random Lengths (circulation 56,000) in San Pedro, CA, 2001-present. Columns "Life in Long Beach" and "Life After Mother" pub. in Senior Reporter of Orange County. Manga reviewer: LA Alternative (circulation 150,000), 2005-2006. Some manga reviews also ran in NY Press around this time. Entertainment reporting: Music Connection (circulation 75,000), 1983-1906. Travel writing: Oakland Tribune (1998) and Life After 50 (2006). Other bylines: Goldmine, Star Hits, Los Angeles Reader, Los Angeles Times, Long Beach Press Telegram, Blade, BAM, Daily Breeze, LA Weekly. Specializations include community news reporting, writing reviews (book, theater, concert, film, music), copywriting, resumes, editing, travel writing, publicity, screenwriting, lecturing, and content development. Education: B. A. Theater Arts, UCLA. Post-grad work, Education, Chapman University.

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Reading List 2020

For my reading goals in 2020, I'm returning to the same formula (inspired by Ray Bradbury) that I followed in 2018. I'll be reading 50 books, but they'll be comprised of a combination of ten novels, ten graphic novels, ten non-fiction books, ten collections of poetry and ten more of short stories. I'll attempt to complete one book each from at least four of the five categories every month. Of course the titles listed below are subject to change.

Ten non-fiction books:

1.  Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
2.  Wisdom of the Elders:  Native Traditions on the Northwest Coast by Ruth Kirk
3.  Unlikely Loves by Jennifer S. Holland
4.  A Time it was:  Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties by Bill Eppridge
5.  The Brass Check by Upton Sinclair
6.  Remembering Buddy:  The Definitive Biography of Buddy Holly by John Goldrosen (or Rave On:  the Biography of Buddy Holly by Philip Norman)
7.  Coming of Age in California by Gerald W. Haslam
8.  Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck
9.  The Ultimate Guide to the 2020 Election by Ryan Clancy
10.  TBD


Ten novels:

1.  Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
2.  Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian
3.  A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway
4.  Puddi'nHead Wilson by Mark Twain
5.  Native Son by Richard Wright
6.  Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (or another Baldwin novel)
7.  The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
8.  The Redheaded Outfield by Zane Grey
9.  You Know Me, Al by Ring Lardner
10. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens


Ten books of poetry:

1.  The Great Cat ed. by Emily Fragos
2.  The Best American Poetry 2006 ed. by Billy Collins
3.  The Best American Poetry 2008 ed. by Charles Wright
4.  A Night Without Armor by Jewel
5.  Tales of a Wayside Inn by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
6.  T. S. Elliot, title(s) TBD
7.  Jim Morrison, title(s) TBD
8.  The Women Who Hate Me:  Poetry, 1980-1990 by Dorothy Allison
9.  She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo (and/or one or more other Harjo collections)
10.  Hard Words and Other Poems by Ursula Le Guin
Alternates:  Love Me Like You Mean it by Leslea Newman, look for a Countee Cullen collection


Ten short-story collections:

1. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
2.  Crafty Cat Crimes ed. by Stephan Dziemianowisc, Robert Weinberg, and Martin H. Greenberg
3.  Condor Dreams by Gerald W. Haslam
4.  Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros
5.  Home in Your Hands by Lee Lynch
6. Short Cuts:  Selected Stories by Raymond Carver
7.  The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories
8. The Compass Rose by Ursula Le Guin (and/or her Orsinian Tales)
9.  A Letter to Harvey Milk by Leslea Newman
10.  TBD


Ten graphic novels:

Suki by CLAMP (vols. 1-2)
Wish by CLAMP (vols. 1-4)
Love is Love:  A Comic Book Anthology to Benefit the Survivors of the Orlando Pulse Shooting 
Red Eye, Black Eye by Thor Jensen
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Golden Cain and/or Sensitive Pornograph (re-reads)