Continuing an annual tradition, this is my fourth year listing all of the books I’ve read from the previous twelve months (the old lists: 2003, 2004, 2005). The totals during the first three years remained pretty constant (41, 42, and 45 books, respectively), and my goal this year was to read at least that many, if not more. I knew there was a very good chance that I’d be able to do that, since I was in college from ’03-’05 and I didn’t have time to read as many books on my own time as I would have liked. I’m happy to say that I (drastically) surpassed my goal this year.
This is an extensive list: I read 110 books, which is more than double what I read in 2005. Even though I knew there were a lot, I didn’t know exactly how many I’d read until yesterday because I don’t count the total until the end of the year.
There were several factors this year that enabled me to finish so many books. The biggest one was the long commute I had for the first six months of 2006, when I was living in California and taking a commuter bus to work. I had 2-3 hours a day of uninterrupted reading time. Then, beginning this summer when I drove back to Virginia, I started listening to audiobooks. Now I always keep one in my car and I listen to it almost every time I drive somewhere, as long as I’m in the car by myself (which is most of the time). My drive to work takes 25-35 minutes each way, so I finish a new audiobook roughly once a week.
A few additional notes:
- I end up organizing these lists a little bit differently every year. This year I tried to group similar books together within the categories I assigned, and whenever I read multiple books by the same author I kept those together as well. The audiobooks are also clearly denoted.
- If anyone ends up reading something because of a recommendation found here, or if you’ve read something on this list already, I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment on this post or use the email address on my About page.
- Most of my favorite books from the Travel Memoir category were previously mentioned in this post.
- The books that I liked best, and highly recommend, have a double-asterisk after the authors name (**).
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I’m about to share something that not many people have seen. I’m about to show you a photo of my back.
Some people will be surprised to read this. “Zan, what’s up?” you might be asking. “Isn’t this something you’re always trying to hide? And now you’re coming out into the open with it?” Truthfully, I’m kind of surprised myself. I’ve thought about it in the past — I wanted to illustrate what my back looks like after I wrote about having corrective surgery for scoliosis, and my long scar — but I just couldn’t. I don’t like how it looks; I’m very self-conscious about it.
I actually have a fear that people might look at it and feel disgusted, or think, “Wow, I’m glad that’s not me.” That may be unfair, but maybe not. I will admit that it was very difficult for me to take this photo. I’ve never attempted to take a picture of my back before. I’ve looked at it in the mirror, of course, but I knew that I wouldn’t like to see the display on a camera screen — not to mention sharply magnified on the computer.
I took about fifteen shots. I would take one, and look at it…no. I would try again…no. I was getting frustrated. I didn’t cry, but I felt like it. Finally I just stopped and decided to pick one of the ones that I’d already taken. After all, it wasn’t going to get any better. I either had to do it, or just forget about it completely and pretend that I never had the idea in the first place.
So if that’s the case…why am I doing this? I’ve said before that my back is better than it was before I had surgery, but it doesn’t look “normal.” I’ve also said that I’m self-conscious about wearing form-fitting shirts, and I’ve posted photos like this. The truth is, there have been many times where I’ve been impressed and influenced by the candidness of other bloggers, and the things that they decide to reveal about themselves. So for me, this is about not covering up. This is about me not hiding.
If you look close, you will notice how the scar itself — my spine — is straight. But during the corrective process, a rib on my right side was pushed out. I can’t believe I’m doing this…
I managed to accomplish the only resolution that I made last January—to read more books in 2005 than I did in 2004. Given my love of reading and how much of it that I do, the number wasn’t as high as I expected it to be: I read a grand total of 45 books. In 2003 the total was 41, and in 2004 it was 42.
I could easily have read double that number if it weren’t for other factors: a busy semester at college, moving, and then job-searching for the past four months (I would feel like a slacker if I read during the day when there were more important things to tend to). To tell the truth, I wouldn’t have reached my reading goal if it weren’t for all the books I read in December, which had the largest total all year—10! (Thanks to the fact that the job-hunt is done for now, and I subsequently spend less time online. Reading for at least an hour every morning and evening during the commute to/from work is also playing a big part.)
The number is also deceptive because I read newspapers, magazines, and tons of online articles—not to mention portions of multiple books and journals while doing research this past spring semester. Whenever I come across an interesting book (on TV, in a magazine, on the internet, or through another person’s recommendation), I always make a note of it right away because I know I’m likely to forget about it otherwise. Since I like reading nonfiction, most of the time it’s easy for me to tell that I’ll like something just by reading the title.
I worked hard on the following list—like last year, I decided to arrange the books by category rather than the order in which they were read. The ones that I liked best either have a short description, or I starred (**) them. This means that they come highly recommended; please feel free to follow the book’s link for more information.
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