I have never read this much… well maybe I have. When I was a kid and there was nothing to do all summer except go to swim practice, the library, read, swim, read, swim. But I didn’t keep track of how much I read. Back then I was really trying to impress my dad and get a good score in swimming. I never did, I was asthmatic and not allowed to have an inhaler because I “didn’t” have asthma.
This last year has been real hard. For many reasons. Not worth repeating them all. So I spent a lot of free time reading. I did start the year with a goal of reading 50 books. Which has been a goal for two years now. I did not meet that goal but I did read ~50% more than last year’s 26 books.
Which means, once again I have another year with a 50 book year! Here are some of the things I’ve learned about reading 47 books in a year.
I need to read ~4 books a month.
Listening to books and reading helps meet this goal
A lot of books are bad. That’s okay. Some books are hard to read. What matters is that the books feels worth it. Wether that be because the author is someone I want to learn from or learn their perspective or the content is meaningful.
How I Pick My Books…
I make a lot of mistakes. I don’t write off genres, authors, or types. I let myself try it all out and when a book isn’t working for me I put it down. I don’t push myself to read it. I just catalog it as data; this book, this writing style, this subject isn’t doing it for me.
I also cruise through book stores. Strolling the aisles reading covers, seeing what humans have put on their shelves and cataloged together on their different tables. It sounds cheesy but I don’t judge a book by its cover. Some books with great covers are terrible. Some books with non-assuming covers fantastic. I buy no books and instead photograph the covers of every book that seems interesting creating a virtual TBR. I review those covers when looking for my next book.
Novels: I got really into novels this year. I’ve read more novels this year than in my middle school years when I would read exclusively novels. I loved hearing how the author built the world and the emotional undertones of the place. It has helped me a lot in finding languages that speak to the novel I am writing. However, the older I am getting the more I find myself with less and less tolerance for violence. Even though the novels I read did include violence the books I preferred weren’t so details.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Deep River by Shusaku Endo
The Big Door Prize by M.O Walsh
The Baddest Girl On The Planet by Heather Frese
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
Moment In Time by Suzanne Redfern
Nightcrawling by Lelia Mottley
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The Owl Always Hunts At Night by Samuel Bjork
Exit West by Mohisn Hamid
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Alias Grace by Margret Atwood
The Maid by Nita Prose
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins Valdez
Memoirs: I have such a love for memoirs. I’ve always enjoyed them. Although, in the past I was drawn towards the dark and dangerous. This year, the memoirs were painful but not so teenage and dramatic. It makes me feel a bit more grown up but still a baby.
Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham
The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Girlhood by Melissa Febos
Hungry by Jeff Gordinier
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
Intimations by Zadie Smith
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
My Soul Looks Back by Jessica B. Harris
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
The Dollar Rebellion by Billie Jean King
Poetry:
You Better Be Lightening by Andrea Gibson
How To Fly (In Ten-Thousand Lessons) by Barbara Kingsolver
The Gift by Hafiz
Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo
Non-Fiction:
The Breath of a Whale by Leigh Calvez
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Born To Run by Christopher McDougall
Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
Nature and The Human Soul by Bill Plotkin
The Birth Partner by Penny Simpkin
Short Stories:
My Evil Mother by Margret Atwood
Books I finished this year but started years ago:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - OMG! This book… this book is incredible it’s a beautiful weaving of important political ideas, native mythos, biology and personal memoir.
Nature and The Human Soul by Bill Plotkin - This book is so important to understanding where our problems are occurring in our ego-centric world. But this book is difficult to listen to on Audible.
Alias Grace - Margret Atwood
Graphic Novels:
The Hard Tomorrow by Eleanor Davis
Self-Help:
I started a couple but didn’t finish any self-help books. The one book that stands out of the starts and stops was The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck. This book is genius. Even though I haven’t finished it, it is not because I don’t desire to work through it. It’s just hard stuff. Hard work. To be in integrity was a goal, to be better integrity was a goal of mine last year. A resolution of sorts. And the more I attempted to lean into it, the more I realized how our whole Disney-World-American-Consumerist-Privileged bubble rests and exists on our lack of integrity. Our lean towards our own well-being, looking out for ourselves.