Since 2005, I’ve kept a reading log each year. The log is simple, just the book title, the author and when I read it. Something strange happened in 2012. I misplaced my notebook containing my reading log, and somehow stopped keeping track of the books I’ve read. When I found the notebook with the reading log for 2012 it simply listed two books:
- Lush Life by Richard Price, January.
- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, February (2nd time reading.)
Earlier this month I found my reading log notebook and entered in the few books I’ve read so far in 2013. But I wondered, if when I’m 80 years old, and showing this book log to younger generations, some completion would be good. So I needed to complete this book log for 2012. I consulted my memory and my goodreads.com profile and this is what I came up with:
READING LOG 2012
- Lush Life by Richard Price, January
- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers, February (2nd reading)
….
- Forever by Pete Hamil, March
- The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt, March-April
- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann-April
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, May-July
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, October
Seven books in a year is not a large amount, and a literary champion like myself can easily aspire to read more in 2013. In 2008, according to my reading log I read the most books with 38 titles. Each year from 2005 to 2011 I read more than 20 titles. I can think of five things happened to make me read less. Early on I lost my reading log, and I think in reality I could add 5 or more titles on this from my participation in the book club at work. Secondly my focus may have shifted to skateboarding and an active lifestyle. So on weekends if I’m skating all day I’m less likely to read a ton. Thirdly, I’m writing more in this blog, and also I perhaps settled in a routine turning on the computer when I get home instead of reading. A fourth reason is that I was going out way too much this year, which took away from the routine of reading regularly. Lastly from work dealing with the devastation of Hurricane Sandy I lost my focus. From November to January I didn’t read much of anything.
In my mind with reading or any type of self-education or discipline there is always a chance to start fresh. I want my 2013 reading log to be over 20 books, and with some adjustments I can do that. Right now I’m not too worried about writing, but when I’m inspired to pick that up again I will. Being able to self evaluate is a good thing, and it’s brilliant when people can improve once they’ve realize and know why a step back was taken.
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