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2018 reading

Tuesday, January 1st, 2019

As usual, here is the list of books I read in 2018 with my favorites in bold.

Kim Stanley Robinson was a real highlight this year. (The first two Mars books were in 2017.)

  1. Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
  2. Tracks by Robyn Davidson
  3. Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez
  4. Mirrors of the Unseen by Jason Elliot
  5. Alburquerque by Rudoldfo Anaya
  6. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
  7. Good News by Edward Abbey
  8. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi
  9. Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
  10. Flat Broke with Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha
  11. Walking Meditation by Nguyen Anh-Huong and Thich Nhat Hanh
  12. Border Walk by Mark Hainds
  13. Zen Under Fire by Marianne Elliott
  14. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  15. Cutting for Sign by  William Langewiesche
  16. Home by Harlan Coben
  17. The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantu
  18. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
  19. Caught by Harlan Coben
  20. Gone for Good by Harlan Coben
  21. The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson
  22.  The Gold Coast by Kim Stanley Robinson
  23. Camino Island by John Grisham
  24. Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson
  25. Sellers in the Kitchen by Betsy Foster Breault
  26. A Land of Hard Edges by Peg Bowden
  27. Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
  28. Seconds Away by Harlan Coben
  29. Living on Wilderness Time by Melissa Walker
  30. The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
  31. Love, Africa by Jeffrey Gettleman
  32. Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan
  33. How to Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen
  34. Quiet Until the Thaw by Alexandra Fuller
  35. New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
  36. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
  37. Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
  38. Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
  39. Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson
  40. Dear America by Jose Antonio Vargas
  41. A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
  42. Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson
  43. Gathering the Desert by Gary Paul Nabhan
  44. Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson
  45. Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson
  46. Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson
  47. Digging to America by Anne Tyler
  48. The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler
  49. Bleachers by John Grisham
  50. The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

Unrelated bonuses: a bobcat that walked by our front door last week…

and a picture from a hike in Portal last week…(there was snow at the top)

 

 

A year of books

Monday, January 4th, 2016

books

A couple years ago I started doing a personal annual review in the style of Chris Guillebeau. Basically, it’s an end of year reflection on what went well and what didn’t over the year, followed up by setting some goals for the upcoming year. I’ve found it a useful process, especially as I’ve diversified the way I spend my time such that the normal professional measures don’t apply as much.

While I don’t publish all of this publicly, I did want to share one part this year.

Last year, I set a goal to read more. I didn’t have any idea how many books it would be reasonable for me to read in a year, but I set a goal of 50. Mid-year, I realized this was a pretty high goal that I most likely wouldn’t get close to. But then as the year went by, my reading rate accelerated, in no small part due to the fact that I was actually keeping track.

In the end, I read 51 books in 2015. The list is below, with those I’d especially recommend in bold. (And most of the books on the list are quite good; really, there are only a couple I wouldn’t recommend.)

Reading was one of several things I turned to this year when things weren’t going well otherwise. Other things included baking bread, gardening, sitting in the sun, walking, and writing letters. So when the depressing world news got to be too much or a conference call that had been difficult to schedule was cancelled at the last minute or someone said something mean or I just otherwise felt bummed, I tried to turn to one of these things. I think my overall health benefited from this.

And I read some great books.

  1. Everybody Matters by Mary Robinson
  2. Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman 
  3. The Importance of a Piece of Paper by Jimmy Santiago Baca
  4. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
  5. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
  6. Border Patrol Nation by Todd Miller
  7. A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
  8. The Professor’s House by Willa Cather
  9. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
  10. Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather
  11. Sycamore Row by John Grisham
  12. Legal Research Explained by Deborah E. Bouchoux
  13. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
  14. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
  15. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
  16. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
  17. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
  18. How to be Both by Ali Smith
  19. To Animas With Love by Carol Smith
  20. Lost and Found by Brooke Davis
  21. The Bestseller by Olivia Goldsmith
  22. Perfect by by Rachel Joyce
  23. A Year and a Day on Just a Few Acres by Peter Larson
  24. The Stranger by Harlan Coben
  25. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler 
  26. The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce
  27. Curriculum Integration: Designing the Core of Democratic Education by James A Beane
  28. The Half Brother by Holly LeCraw
  29. Wit’s End by Karen Joy Fowler
  30. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
  31. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
  32. The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
  33. Reamde by Neal Stephenson
  34. Cherry by Mary Karr
  35. The Fourth Hand by John Irving
  36. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
  37. Junkyard Dreams by Jeanette Boyer
  38. Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capo Crucet
  39. The Last Theorem by Arthur C Clarke and Frederik Pohl
  40. African Air by George Steinmetz
  41. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
  42. Tribes by Seth Godin
  43. The Last Juror by John Grisham
  44. In Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
  45. All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
  46. God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
  47. Kitchens of the Great Midwest by  J. Ryan Stradal
  48. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
  49. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
  50. To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron
  51. Let Me Explain You by Annie Liontas