2005 reading list, a year end summary

Time for the annual recitation of the books, same as last year, 600+ posts later. Thanks to some handy last-minute coding by Greg, it’s much easier for me to make a list of all the books I read in 2005. Yes I love LibraryThing, no I am not replacing my booklist with it.

number of books read in 2005: 86
number of books read in 2004: 103
number of books read in 2003: 75
number of books read in 2002: 91
number of books read in 2001: 78
average read per month: 7.2
average read per week: 1.7
number read in worst month: 3 (November, December)
number read in best month: 12 (March)
percentage by male authors: 74
percentage by female authors: 26
fiction as percentage of total: 55
non-fiction as percentage of total: 45
percentage of total liked: 84
percentage of total ambivalent: 14
percentage of total disliked: 2

legal: don’t sell library property on eBay

This post could also be titled “why I had to dig 13 volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary out of the dumpster instead of just getting them handed to me by the librarian who tipped me to their location” (it’s true!) In short, you can’t get rid of government property — including library books in some cases — any way you want, the method of disposal has to be approved. This is why some books wind up in the dumpster instead of the book sale. While it’s clear why this law exists, it has some weird side effects when enforced in this way. I’d like to apologize to Adam Romanik, it was a good thing you did, you shouldn’t have been treated this way.

books building bridges

Books Building Bridges is a group of librarians, booksellers, activists and others who use literature and community events as a way of helping bridge the gaps between people in Iraq and the U.S. They create curricula, produce teaching guides and sponsor events among other things. Inspired by the book The Librarian of Basra the self-described “small but intrepid” group is always looking for people to lend a hand, or just to get on board.

Books Building Bridges is a community-building project developed in order to acknowledge and foster a common human desire for learning, authentic connection and a healthy society while transcending political divisions in the United States and the geographic and social distance between the United States and Iraq. Books Building Bridges was inspired by Jeanette Winter’s book, The Librarian of Basra, which chronicles the work of Basra librarian Alia Muhammed Baker who, with her community, saved 30,000 volumes from being destroyed during the current war with Iraq.