Learning About My Reading Habits

When I was in college I took a class on literature from the 1920s (which was totally rad) and we read a book called This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald. To be honest, I barely remember the plot of this book. It was probably one of the more boring ones we read that semester. But there was one important thing I took from it - the main character kept a log of books he had read. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald would give us the list of books the guy had been reading during that time of his life and, if we knew what those books were (which mostly we didn't because they were popular books then, but apparently didn't stand the test of time), we would gain insight into what was going on in our protagonist's head.

I loved this idea. Being able to look back at any given time and see what I was reading sounded really cool to me. And yes, "cool" is definitely a subjective term. So I have this little book where I've written down the titles of everything I've read since the summer of 2004. Initially I organized the lists by semester, but in the last few years I've been listing books by month. When I finish a book, I write it down and include a letter grade next to it so I can remember how much I liked it. I also note if I read the book for one of my book clubs or if it was a re-read.

At the end of 2009, I counted up the total from the list and found that I'd read 51 books that year. I decided that wasn't enough and that I needed to average at least one book per week, if not more. At the end of 2010, I'd read 53 books with a total of 17,880 pages. Today, I did my count for 2011 and got a little depressed. I only read 38 books last year, though the page count total was 16,062. I didn't drop too much page-wise, but total number of books read - that's a major drop. And I think I know the reason why.

2011 was also the year I got an iPhone. When my friend Jen got Phoebe, she asked me if I read less since I got my iPhone. I hadn't really thought about it before, but I realized the answer was probably yes. All those times when I'd be in a waiting room and would usually pull my book out of my purse for a couple minutes, I usually checked twitter and email on my phone first. Laying in bed at night when I would usually read until I fell asleep, I would often check my phone one last time and play people back on Words with Friends and then just go to sleep without reading anything. This just won't do. There are too many books in this world that I want to read, and new ones being published every week, so iPhone, I still love you, but 2012 is going to be a year of a little more distance between us. I need to spend some quality time with my books.

If anyone's interested, here's the list of books I read in 2011 (R=re-read):
The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Lost World (R), Praise Habit, True Grit, Outlander (R), Dragonfly in Amber (R), Voyager (R), Little Bee, Drums of Autumn (R), Born in the Big Rains, Be Victorious, Room, Fuel and the Flame, The Exile, The Book Thief, Girl's Guide to Homelessness, A Visit from the Goon Squad, Never Let Me Go, The Help, Drood, Dance with Dragons, One of Our Thursdays is Missing, Thank You Notes, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, In the Woods, Bossypants, Flight, Maniac Magee (R), From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (R), Before You Go, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Keep a Quiet Heart, Scars and Stilettos, The Invention of Hugo Cabret (R), Doctrine: What Every Christian Should Believe, Her Fearful Symmetry (R), Girls Like Us, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (R)

In a year where I read some excellent non-fiction (Hello, Mark Driscoll and Elisabeth Elliot!), I'd probably have to say my favorite one was Girls Like Us by Rachel Lloyd. It's written by a former prostitute who now helps young girls who are forced into prostitution get out of the life. It was really eye-opening and I highly recommend it. For more on a similar topic, also check out Scars and Stilettos by Harmony Dust.

The best fiction book I read in 2011 also came out in 2011 - Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin. I read a lot of wonderful books this past year, but none was more highly anticipated than this one. I waited a long time for book 5 in his Song of Ice and Fire series and I wasn't disappointed. Another favorite from 2011 was also a new entry in one of my favorite series - One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde. The series has everything I want - humor, fantasy, literature references galore, and time travel. Check it out. And another book I loved that's in a totally different genre and much older was True Grit. Not my usual style, but excellent writing, a great narrator, and surprisingly solid theology!

What did you read in 2011?