- I like lists, and I especially like going back over lists because it jogs my memory and helps me relive experiences I might otherwise forget.
- A friend of mine had a list like this, and I wanted to copy him.
- The first book that I finished in 2008 was Les Miserables, and let's face it: after you've read over 1200 pages of a book, only 700 or so of which were worth your while, you want to make sure to record that accomplishment for posterity.
- Abby had by this point been commenting on how many unused composition notebooks I had purchased, and I had better start filling them to mask my shame.
I'm not sure which of these explanations is the primary one, but I'm sure there's some truth in each. Whatever the reason, I began this practice in 2008, and I have enjoyed going over the list at year's end (or mid-year, or several years after the year, as the case may be) and setting goals for the next year. (One year, for example, I set out to read spiritual autobiographies--but I still failed to get through The Seven-Storey Mountain.) Usually I enjoy this practice by myself, as posting all the books you've read on a blog can be seen as self-serving or pretentious. But since one of my college professors has done this (and I don't think he is either of those things), and since I've been recording most of my reads on Good Reads anyway, and since this year's list is nothing to shame anybody, I decided to indulge in the public practice.
