Being outside of the reading loop for a decade (or two…) has been a meandering, single-engine, open-air cockpit flight of blissful ignorance. Coming back down to earth has been an experience, and it was gifted to me by my sister on Christmas morning, 2024. My landing back into reading wasn’t akin to a plane with shocks attempting to touchdown on a poorly maintained tarmac, but rather, through an overgrown jungle. The titillating slaps of poorly exercised trope branches, tr