Book Lists From the Past

Inspired by a post by Kat about journals and book lists on mirabile dictu the other day, I pulled out a reading journal that I had kept for the years 2000 through 2005. Actually, I was surprised I had kept track of my reading for that length of time.

Looking over the titles, I see that 2000 (68 books) was the year I discovered Beverley Nichols (Merry Hall) and Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient, Running in the Family). In 2001 (98), I was enjoying Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad and many, many mysteries by Robert Barnard. The year 2002 (53) introduced me to Middlemarch by George Eliot and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham. 

P.G. Wodehouse played a big part of my reading life in 2003 (66). In 2004 (53), I spent a lot of time reading decorating books but also found time for E.M. Forster and Louisa May Alcott. James Thurber and Donald Westlake tickled my funny bone in 2005 (46),  when I wasn't trolling through books on how to declutter and simplify my life, that is.

I also found index cards with goals of five titles to read for each year: some are checked as read and some still languish. (I wonder if I will ever read The Pickwick Papers?)

Almost all of the books I read during those six years came from the library. I don't know what I was reading during the years between 2006 and 2009. Perhaps there are lists that I kept in the back of a calendar. Since April 2009, though, my library has tracked my reading history and I see the likes of Alexander McCall Smith, Daniel Pink, and E.L. Doctorow. 

Then in 2011 and 2012 I began keeping a list again.

Why am I blathering on about all this? Well, I see quite a few titles that I would like to re-read. I don't think of myself as a person who revisits books, but in 2012 I enjoyed reading ten books I owned that I had already read before. 

It was nice to recall some of the books on these lists of yore; others drew a complete blank. I was thinking I could actually just re-read books from these lists in 2013 with an occasional foray into new ones on my TBR list and I would probably be perfectly happy.

What about you? Where do you keep lists of the books you have read? Any plans for re-reading in 2013?

Anna Quindlen's Book Lists



I finished up Anna Quindlen's How Reading Changed My Life. It is a book one can read in a minute; it is only 70 pages long. Although it is short, don't be fooled - it is not lightweight.

I especially enjoyed looking over her book lists at the end. I love lists. These are not your typical ones, either. Here are examples and a pick from each list:

10 Books I Just Love to Read, and Always Will
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

10 Modern Novels That Made Me Proud to Be a Writer
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen

10 Good Book-Club Selections
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett

10 Books Recommended by a Really Good Elementary School Librarian
No Flying in the House by Betty Brock

10 Mystery Novels I'd Most Like to Find in a Summer Rental
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie P. King.

10 Books for a Girl Who Is Full of Beans (or Ought to Be)
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

10 Book I Would Save in a Fire (If I Could Save Only 10)
Bleak House by Charles Dickens

10 Nonfiction Books That Help Us Understand the World
The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

There are a couple other lists but you get the idea. Here are over 100 books just in case you are looking for some suggestions. What I liked is that there are books on these lists I have not heard of much less read. But, from the examples above, I have read two: The Phantom Tollbooth and Catherine, Called Birdy. I loved them both and both are listed as 'children's books'.

There I go trying to make up for my childhood lapses in literary adventures.