Mark Llobrera

Reading Log, 2019

Published in #books, #reading-log

This year I added comic books/graphic novels to the log (here’s links to 2018 and 2017). I probably missed a few things, like books that I read aloud with my kids, but on the whole I tried to make a note of everything I finished this year. Here’s the list, roughly in order of when I started reading them:

Last year I wrote this:

What’s next? For 2019 I’m less fixated on the volume of books. There were times where I felt good about tearing through my reading stack, but at times it felt a little bit like racing through a meal without really savoring it. This year my goal is to dig a little bit deeper and gather a bit more data about my reading, like the date I started a book and finished (or abandoned) it. I also want to record my notes and impressions instead of just logging titles.

Well.

It turns out that I pretty much ignored my modest goals — I did gather a bit more data (date started, date finished) but on the whole it’s clear that I did not slow down and savor what I was reading. I realize that reading is a comfort thing for me, and sometimes I just need to gulp down large quantities of text. The world is terrible right now, and even when I’m reading non-fiction about difficult subjects it’s reassuring to feel that the horrors within are bound by the constraints of the book.

I’m hesitant to set goals for 2020, but I do want to figure out how to best update my reading log during the year, similar to how Winston Hearn and Mandy Brown treat books on their sites. I’m loathe to use Goodreads, and it feels like giving this list a home on my site is the right move.