A while back I used to keep a list on this site of all the books I bought. I will tell you honestly, I love buying books. Books make me happy. But there can be quite a big difference between the books I buy and the books I read.
I own lots of books that I will never read. They may be collectible editions that I want to keep pristine (so I might have a reading copy and a collectible copy), or they might be reference books that I will read snips and snatches of, but not the whole thing. I also read slowly, so I tend to buy far in advance of my ability to read.
On the other hand, I borrow books from the library and services such as Scribd that I never plan on owning. This is especially true for audiobooks. I know I will never listen to an audiobook twice, so why own it? Even if I do own it, it is a digital file somewhere and the purchase of that honestly doesn’t feel the same as buying a book.
What all this ends up meaning is that the list of books I read is much different from the list of books I buy. So, I decided to start listing out the books I read. Yes, I can and do use services like GoodReads, but I just like the idea of having this all-too-small list here on my own website in simple form.
So, here you have it, in order by when read. The books with an asterisk by them are still in-process.
2020
- Becoming Odyssa Adventures on the Appalachian Trail – Jennifer Pharr Davis
- Down and Out In The Magic Kingdom – Cory Doctorow
- Homeland – Cory Doctorow
- High Performance: When Britain Ruled the Roads by Peter Grimsdale
- Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America – Margot Adler
2019
- Model Railroading With L.G.B. – Robert Schleicher
- * Eleven Minutes Late: A Train Journey to the Soul of Britain – Matthew Engle
- * The Golden Compass : His Dark Materials, Book 1 – Philip Pullman
- * The Appalachian Trail Reader – David Emblidge (editor)
- The Green Man Anthology: Tales of the Mythic Forest – edited by Ellen Datlow
- The Incomplete Book of Running – Peter Sagal
- ChiRunning – Danny Dryer
- Where’s the Next Shelter – Gary Sizer
- Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess – Patrick Wolff
- Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – Mark Manson
- Illustrated Field Guide to Vintage Trailers – Bob Thomason & Carl Jameson
- Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen – Nancy Marie Brown
- A History of Chess: From Chaturanga to the Present Day – Yuri Averbakh
- Life’s to Short to Go So F*cking Slow: Lessons from an Epic Friendship – Susan Lacke
- Serafina and the Black Cloak – Robert Beatty
- Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century – Jessica Bruder
- Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman
- Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom – Ken Ilgunas
- The E-Myth Revisted: Small Business – Michael Gerber
- Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail – Ben Montgomery
2018
- AWOL on the Appalachian Trail – David Miller
- A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf – John Muir
- North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail – Scott Jurek
- On Trails: An Exploration – Robert Moor
- Outliers: The Story of Success – Malcolm Gladwell
- Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire – Neil Gaiman
- Younger Next Year: Guide to Living Like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond – Chris Crowley
- Just Passing’ Thru: A Vintage Store, The Appalachian Trail, and a Cast of Unforgettable Characters – Winton Porter
- Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work – Matthew Crawford
- Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – Cal Newport
- Little Brother – Cory Doctorow
2017
- A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
- Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges – Amy Cuddy
- Encounters with the Archdruid – John McPhee
- Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening – Marjorie Liu
- The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America – Philip Caputo