My Year in Books

If I read as much as it feels like I didn’t, I suspect I would have surpassed my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal. I’m not really as far off as I thought…numerically, anyhow. According to my Goodreads 2021 report, I’ve read 35 books this year, 70% of my goal of 50 books.

But truth be told, my practice of reading is off by more than 70%. My attention span feels pulled thin by this pandemic; my sit-still tolerance more often taken up by Netflix binges instead of novels.

Still, when I did sink into a novel, I sunk deep. So deep I didn’t want to come up — and didn’t, for weeks. Think The Starless Sea and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, or The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley. I would gladly spend weeks again within their pages.

On my nightstand now, The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, author of one of my all-time favorite books A Tale for the Time Being. A good way to step into a new year I think — good book in hand, yes?

In my mind’s eye reading looks and feels like the yummy painting, The Moonlight Bed (above), by Jacek Yerka. A comfy spot, good lighting, creature comforts, and a big stack of books. May YOUR new year be filled with the same! Happy reading!