I tend to be a voracious reader, and I read widely. This list has its origins in an old signature file which I would update periodically with the current book that I was reading. That gradually transmogrified itself into the current massive archive with brief reviews.
What I've been reading lately |
Number of books read and reviewed each year | |
---|---|
1995* | (28) |
1996 | (47) |
1997 | (74) |
1998 | (61) |
1999 | (62) |
2000 | (27) |
2001 | (51) |
2002 | (60) |
2003 | (37) |
2004 | (36) |
2005 | (32) |
2006 | (46) |
2007 | (109) |
2008 | (78) |
2009 | (65) |
2010 | (68) |
2011 | (98) |
2012 | (129) |
2013 | (114) |
2014 | (101) |
2015 | (88) |
2016 | (82) |
2017 | (76) |
2018 | (67) |
2019 | (95) |
2020 | (90) |
2021 | (85) |
2022 | (101) |
2023 | (124) |
2024 | (107) |
* Partial year |
[Finished 1 October 2024] When I bought this book, I thought it was about the failure of the Baldwin Hills Dam, not realizing that the Los Angeles area had hosted not one but two catastrophic dam failures. So I ended up reading about a different disaster. This was a weird mix of engineering and history, but interesting enough.
A California Paisano: the Life of William McPherson
by Don Meadows
[Finished 29 September 2024] I bought this book largely because it was published by the library of the Claremont Colleges where I went to work. It’s a slender volume looking at the life of a relatively unimportant man who lived most of his life in Orange County, California and whose personal library was bequeathed to Pomona College. That said, there’s something to be said for a look at the lives of ordinary people.
Spilt Milk: Memoirs
by Courtney Zoffness
[Finished 27 September 2024] A collection of memoiresque essays. This made for some interesting reading along the way.
You Will Never Be Forgotten: Stories
by Mary South
[Finished 26 September 2024] I’ve changed my approach to my books from the library list which currently lists 1,264 titles. Rather than taking books from the top of the list exclusively, I’m instead asking my computer for a random number corresponding to the book list and going to that book instead which means I get to dig into some books I’ve long forgotten I even wanted to read. This was one of these. I don’t know what sparked my interest, but South’s collection verges on sci-fi with its look at how technology and modern life intersect and it made for great reading.
The Best American Poetry 2019
edited by Major Jackson
[Finished 24 September 2024] This edition was a bit controversial in that, against custom, Jackson included one of his own poems in the volume (as well as one by series editor David Lehman), but I have to admit that both of those poems were good and the overall selection was also excellent so I guess I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
A Primer of Medieval Latin: An Anthology of Prose and Verse
edited by Charles H. Beeson
[Finished 24 September 2024] This book has been occupying my non-English reading slot for most of the year. It’s been fascinating to see my Latin reading skills advance from puzzling over sentence by sentence to a modest level of fluency. There’s one poem here that I’m doing a translation of if only to build my own skills as a poet.
Stephen Florida
by Gabe Hadash
[Finished 23 September 2024] I started reading this and I briefly felt a bit crestfallen at the first chapter. Oh dear, this is a sports book? Ugh. And then Hadash did such a great job of building his characters that I became invested in the story and, yes, it’s a great read.
The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou
by Maya Angelou
[Finished 20 September 2024] Back around 2000ish, I went into the (now-defunct) Borders on Michigan Avenue and Angelou was sitting at a table to sign books with nobody around her. I still regret not stopping to talk with her (and likely by her book while I was at it). Reading this collection was a bit of a make-up for that and she is a wonderful poet.
If I Survive You
by Jonathan Escoffery
[Finished 16 September 2024] I’d encountered Escoffery before in isolation but this was my first time reading his fiction in a collection, and I found these linked stories to be delightful.
Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art
by Nicholson Baker
[Finished 14 September 2024] A somewhat inspiring book about Baker’s time spent working on his visual artistic skills. It was a bit surprising to learn how tracing improved his skills as an artist which makes me feel better about my daughter’s use of something similar with an app on her iPad.