Okay, it's time for the end-of-the-year humblebrag: here is every book I read this year (and Moby Dick, which I'm actively working on). I am absurdly proud of it!
For the past couple of years (basically since leaving college), I've only managed to listen to audiobooks, and including that, I've been averaging like 2-4 books per year. If you take audiobooks out of the equation, I've been reading... none. It was really important to me that I actually started reading books in print again, because I realized late last year that I had begun to really, genuinely struggle with actually reading. I could follow an audiobook, but I lost focus and got bored reading printed words. I still think audiobooks are great, but I wanted to shift away from them for a while, train myself to focus more.
Reading more was the only New Years Resolution I made in January that I managed to stick to. With only a couple of exceptions, I tried to read for at least ten minutes a day, and to aim for reading thirty to forty minutes a day. And throughout the year, I felt it get easier and easier.
To people who have been reading habitually for ages, this probably doesn't seem like a lot of books to tackle in a year. And I would agree that averaging one (1) book per month is probably not particularly rapid. But this was really difficult for me, and I didn't give up, and I'm very proud of myself! And I have a big to-read list for next year, which I'm excited to dive into.
More on the books, below the cut:
Don Quixote - this book has been an ambition of mine since high school, and it was the first book I tried to read in the year. It's one of the only books I really felt was Not Worth It; I don't know if it was the translation I was reading, or if I just don't jive with Cervantes, but it felt like a real slog. Happy that I read it, and happy that I never have to read it again.
What You are Getting Wrong about Appalachia - this book was not what I thought it was going to be, but it was a fascinating read. It was a gift, and not something I had intentionally sought out, so I went into it blind. An essay on the way Appalachia, and the people who live there, have been used for political points by politicians to abandon them as soon as the race is over... for literally hundreds of years.
Annihilation - Nothing I can say that more erudite people haven't said a hundred times over. I was so late to the party on this book. Shocking, new, fascinating. Love, love, love.
Worn - the first nonfiction book of the year that I really devoured. A history of textiles, and a history of worker's rights, of unions, of union-busting. Not sure it stuck the landing, in the end, but well-researched and contexualized. Very much a "leaving wonderland" kind of book, as I can no longer look at clothes (or purchase them) without thinking about the lives that go into something like a garment.
The Fifth Elephant - I genuinely don't know how I've missed reading this book. I could have sworn up and down that I'd read every one of the Discworld Watch books, and yet! I found this one in my basement, purchased years ago, clearly read by the rest of my family and somehow missed by me. Werewolves. What else is there to say?
All Quiet on the Western Front - another ambition, and a much better experience than Don Quixote was. Beautiful language, and deeply moving. One of the greats.
Hurting Your Characters - a reference book on writing pain and injuries. Not very interesting to talk about (or to read, honestly), but informative and helpful, even for amateurs like myself.
Authority - genuinely didn't realize this book existed. Made me feel properly insane. The first book that made me blorbo-brained in the year. What the fuck is wrong with Control. How are you so cringe, and so baby, and so mommy issued. This book is about the horrors of sci-fi stuff, but the real horror is the way white women treat their non-white kids.
Equal Rites - mostly read for completionist reasons. Not my favorite Pterry book. I like a lot of the ideas, but found the execution of them pretty poor, and the novel poorly paced in general. You get that with a lot of the early Discworld books, though, so I didn't take it too hard.
Something From the Oven - a history of processed foods in the United States in the wake of WWII, and the way they affected working women's lives. An enjoyable read, and well-researched, but in retrospect I think it's pretty unfocused and untidy as a work of nonfiction. Salient points are made, but they seem to pop up randomly, rather than as the culmination of an idea.
Giovanni's Room - yet another ambition, and another book where I am at a loss for words. What is there to say? Beautiful, devastating, lingering.
Moby Dick, or: The Whale - CALL ME ISHMAEL!!! SOME YEARS AGO, NEVER MIND HOW MANY--
drove to the city for a rare (and incredibly uncomfortable) IRL visit with my psychologist, took a long walk, went to a restaurant (by MYSELF) and went into a music store and had a good time.
today was a lot, but I did it. patting myself on the back before passing the fuck out.
