I read 80 books in 2017. Some of my favorites included: “Mindfulness” by Ellen J. Langer, “Spoils” by Brian Van Reet, “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi and “Submission” by Michel Houellebecq.
In case you haven’t already figured it out, I love reading books, especially novels. And I consistently enjoy newspapers (like The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and The New York Times), magazines (like The Economist and Foreign Policy) and other periodicals too. Nowadays, I read most of this newsy stuff online – with The Economist being the most prominent exception.
I’ve always felt a tension between pursuing my love of good journalism, opinion writing and current events and pursuing my love of books in general and novels in particular. If I didn’t pay attention to the news, didn’t read newspapers or periodicals, I would have read many more books this year. But, if I did that, I wouldn’t feel quite right. Even though I have to read some things pertaining to current events or international politics for work, reading news also feeds an important part of me. So, the search for balance in my reading is ongoing.
I’ve found Goodreads to be such a terrific resource. It helps me monitor my book-reading throughout the year, and, crucially, I’m able to keep track of everything I’ve read over the years. It’s nice to be organized and compare one reading year to another, or even to review what books I’ve read more than once.
On to 2018.
