My Year of Reading

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 havent 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.

Ive 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 didnt pay attention to the news, didnt read newspapers or periodicals, I would have read many more books this year. But, if I did that, I wouldnt 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.

Ive found Goodreads to be such a terrific resource. It helps me monitor my book-reading throughout the year, and, crucially, Im able to keep track of everything Ive read over the years. Its nice to be organized and compare one reading year to another, or even to review what books Ive read more than once.

On to 2018.