127 books — 37500 pages — 1 year
Book I would read again: Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
Book I would gift to a friend: Beartown by Frederik Backman
Book I’m surprised I read: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
On reading — Tucked in between my days and nights were moments of another life in distant places: Mango Street, 4 Privet Drive, Mr. Penumbra’s bookstore, and many more. I hopped from place to place, life to life, moment to moment. At fifteen I found myself in a tub reading the Half-Blood Prince in less than 48 hours. I was simultaneously observing, learning, crying, growing, gnawing, yearning, breathing, and transforming word by word. In the summer of 2013: three straight days inside an apartment at the outskirts of Lisbon reading through Uncle Tom’s Cabin. From mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, self-help, memoirs, classics, romance, short stories, and more. Context switching, at its greatest. Transportation, at its easiest. Re-imagination, at its finest.
On counting — As the list of books I read grew, I became fascinated by the numbers behind it all. How many words, pages, sentences, lessons, new words, and chapters was I consuming? Was there a method behind the fervor? Were literary crop circles behind the bookends? All of a sudden reading took on a new dimension. Each page and mot français is a count, a tick towards a goal. Tick, tick, tick.
127 books — 37500 pages — 1 year
Book I would read again: Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
Book I would gift to a friend: Beartown by Frederik Backman
Book I’m surprised I read: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Favorite book: Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs & Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki
Least favorite book: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
Read I would recommend: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
Favorite book: Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Least favorite book: Note to Self by Connor Franta
Read I would recommend: Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
Favorite book: Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall and What I know Forsure by Oprah Winfrey
Least favorite book: Dear Girls by Ali Wong
Read I would recommend: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Favorite book: Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Least favorite book: Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Read I would recommend: The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
Favorite book: Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Least favorite book: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Read I would recommend: Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
Favorite book: Appalachian Reckoning by various authors
Least favorite book: Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Read I would recommend: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Favorite book: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Least favorite book: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Read I would recommend: How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Favorite books: Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, Evicted: Poverty & Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
Least favorite book: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Read I would recommend: Evicted: Poverty & Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
Favorite book: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Least favorite book: The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Read I would recommend: Black Privilege: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Favorite book: Circe by Madeline Miller
Least favorite book: -
Read I would recommend: The Wisdom of Sundays by Oprah Winfrey
Favorite book: Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It by Charlamagne Tha God
Least favorite book: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Read I would recommend: Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It by Charlamagne Tha God
Favorite book: Educated by Tara Westover
Least favorite book: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Read I would recommend: Daring to Drive by Manal Al-Sharif