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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 |  (93) |
| * Partial year | |
[Finished 4 September 2024] I have to confess to a level of disappointment here. it felt like Tretheway chose a lot of “safe” options for this edition of the anthology where I would have expected a higher level of adventurousness.
Sold
by Patricia McCormick
[Finished 30 August 2024] Something I found on a list of frequently banned books much to my consternation. Presumably, a non-graphic scene of the rape of a young girl sold into sexual slavery was the incitement for the banning, and I wonder what level of prudery led to such madness.
frank: sonnets
by Diane Seuss
[Finished 30 August 2024] Seuss pushes the boundaries of the sonnet past the breaking point here, giving a memoir of sorts in batches of 14 lines of verse. At times sublime, at times, it felt more like prose broken into lines.
Outline
by Rachel Cusk
[Finished 27 August 2024] This was the highest ranked book on the New York Times best books of the twenty-first century so far list that I hadn’t read, so I decided to read it. Engaging in how Cusk explored story (such as it is) through a series of conversations.
Best American Poetry 2016
edited by Edward Hirsch
[Finished 26 August 2024] A mixed bag of poems.
Moon of the Crusted Snow
by Waubgeshig Rice
[Finished 25 August 2024] This was mentioned as a NDN take on a post-apocalyptic story and it made for interesting reading. I especially liked that Rice left the whole question of what actually happened alone, focusing instead on how the survivors had to cope in the aftermath.
Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
by Rainer Maria Rilke
[Finished 24 August 2024] A little frustrating in the freedom the translators took in their translations of Rilke, but still close enough to help keep Rilke’s voice alive.
Culture and Imperialism
by Edward W. Said
[Finished 23 August 2024] A brilliant look at how imperialism impacts western culture.
I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times
by Taylor Byas
[Finished 17 August 2024] Great poems about life on the south side of Chicago.
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
by Eric Schlosser
[Finished 17 August 2024] This was apparently a Tim Walz read and I picked it up because another writer I follow on Blueski was reading it. I found the writing to be frustrating with its poorly braided narrative and frequent chronological jumps and random introductions of characters.