Oh how I love this (and what a treat to run into my own book in this great list of encounters). Wolf Hall was the first “real” book I got through after the birth of my daughter in 2008, so it’s special to me, too — I’m planning to start 2025 with a “slow reread” of the trilogy in preparation for the return of the TV adaptation in the spring. And I just picked up a copy of A Place of Greater Safety because I couldn’t resist the book jacket description of the main character as “hugely but erotically ugly”! Happy new year of reading to you, Rebecca.
Beloved Beasts is such a gem! I might reread it this year, in fact. It's on my little list of books I've wanted to do an informal book club around, but haven't yet found the time to get that together... someday, I hope. Wolf Hall is really such a marvel. I know you will have a fantastic time with your WH reread. And are you joining Haisell's group for A Place of Greater Safety? I can't wait to meet this hugely but erotically ugly person within its pages. Happy new year of reading to you, too!
Thank you for this, Rebecca. When I retired from my psychiatry, practice in 2012, I had to downsize my 23,000 volume mostly non-fiction home library, which went out the door for $0.50 a volume, although I'd paid $500k for the lot over 20yrs. I loved haunting used book stores in numerous US cities and Abebooks dealers online. They were my best friends and totally dependable, so unlike the two legged fellows. Sorry I didn't see my "Stress R Us" in any of your lists. A free e-book PDF is out at Stanford. I read everything on evolution and even had a 1st ed of "The Origin...", Am. of course. A favorite haunt was "Scientia" in a Boston suburb, although I always found time for a stint at the oldest continuously operating shop, The "Brattle Bookshop". Now, I'm a huge fan of substack writers, like yourself, and much appreciate the fine writing and investigative journalism. My very best wishes for you and your husband and HAVE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR, as well as all those new books to discover. Gregg Miklashek, MD
Dr. Miklashek, thanks so much for directing me to your book. I've just downloaded it and look forward to exploring it in the new year. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to downsize your library so severely. A body blow, for certain. Do you still find time to haunt used bookstores? Best wishes for a wonderful 2025 for you and yours.
Loved this so much! I’m about to significantly downgrade my social media usage this year to finish writing my book(s) and read a lot more. I ended up reading about 40 books this year and hope to make it more/better reading next year. I did do a write up on my blog with favorites: http://oceanicwilderness.com/2024/12/28/best-books-music-of-2024/
Misti, I didn't realize you had another blog. Looking through your sidelight list, I see you are up to all sorts of good work. I have a couple of the books on your 2024 list for my 2025 list. And just might add a couple more based on your writeup. Thanks for linking it! Happy new year!
Yes, been blogging since 2002 in some form. At that site since maybe 2007 or 2008. Took to Substack to write more targeted essays and for the audience, too. Just like everyone else, trying to share where I can!
So cool!!!! You've reminded me of my old passion for reading.
I don't do social media other than Tumblr and Substack; I don't have any subscriptions to Netflix or Disney etc etc; I DO read, but it's predominantly online.
I recently discovered audiobooks (The Anthropocene reviewed by John Green and now onto a couple of Australian biographies) and I have a feeling that they are pushing open the door that you are flinging open here.
I try to be In the Moment (Be Here Now) as much as possible which is why I gave up daydreaming and never took up generic social media or TV subscriptions. I'd rather be Doing as much as possible. But Reading is Important. That variety is essential to ensure that we're interpreting life around us as truthfully as possible.
I loved the Anthropocene Reviewed! John Green is fantastic in general, isn't he? So glad this post reminded you of your old passion. Mine was dormant for so many years, but has been so rewarding these past couple of years now that it's reignited. So grateful you are here and for your support!
Rebecca, this is so so SO inspiring to me, and I thank you. I had already earmarked 2025 as my year to get serious about reading and now you've given me a template for how to do that. I will think on this, and adapt your system to what seems do-able for me. But I know I will be referrig back to this post as I go. Your detailed account of your process is so helpful, and much appreciated.
Yay, Jeanne! I'm so glad there is something here that helps. It's funny how something inside of you just tells you when it's the right time to try to grow in a new direction ... we're just like plants in that way, I guess. I am excited for your 2025 of reading. Who knows what kind of wonders you will encounter??
R, i smiled through every sentence. Yes. Amen. Yes.
Thank you for many ideas. This week is my favorite of all weeks— the time before the new year to sit with a new paper planner.
My big challenge is my hurricane move from 900 sq ft to 235. Which books stay and which find new homes? I feel a grave responsibility to share so that will make it easier to kiss some books goodbye. Sigh. And smile.🌱🌿💚
Yes, so glad to hear this, Katharine. You deserve as many smiles as possible. Good luck with the downsizing, and my wish for you is that it brings a lightness and freedom to your life, as a silver lining! 💚
Yay! Sam Matey at Weekly Anthropocene has reviewed some good nature books; also Nature's Bookstack if you need any more inspiration! Have a fabulous 2025 wherever your reading journey takes you!
This is so interesting and I'm saving it to come back to it again and again. I think there's lots here that might benefit me as someone who literally had to learn to read again - in 2020 I completely lost the ability to read following a medical trauma that triggered C-PTSD, paired with what was very likely Long Covid. At my worst, I was unable to read something as simple as a newspaper headline. It's like my brain has shut down.
The trouble was, before this happened I used intense reading as my coping mechanism. I'm AuDHD, and since the moment I learned to read as a child I was heavily hyperlexic. My entire childhood I read books far beyond my age and my adult life was filled with academic reading. Yet suddenly, this activity my brain depended on so much was set on fire and left my life with a pile of ashes. I'm still in recovery, I'd say, and my decision to come back to writing in Autumn 2023 changed everything. Writing brought me back to reading and helped me train my brain.
So, thank you, I think you referenced approaches and techniques that could really help me. Onwards and forwards to being a better reader in 2025!
Ramona, this is great to hear. Onwards and forwards! (I loved your latest post, btw ... I have started reading longer pieces on my Kindle so I am less able to comment, but I wanted to let you know it really moved me and the message was so important. Thank you for that.)
This is so inspiring, Rebecca. Thanks for sharing your journey here—your description of your past reading experiences, where characters and plot lines disappear as soon as the book is done mirrors my current experience. I love the idea of setting the goal of reading a set number of pages a day, and taking notes. I read mostly audiobooks now because I’m trying to multitask reading and drawing or painting, but that definitely compounds the idea retention issue. I’m excited to try some of these techniques out and see what happens. Thank you!
Yay, thanks Kelly! And enjoy! I'd be curious to hear what you end up doing. I love audiobooks, but I also have a terrible time retaining info with them...
what I’ve been doing in the last week is to read an actual book while brewing and enjoying my first cup of tea. I’ve been underlining passages (😱) that seem interesting or important and then taking notes later. And listening to easy fiction when painting. So far so good! Thanks again for the inspiration!
I find that Ryan Holiday (multi-time author, Stoic nerd, and bookstore owner) intriduces me to new books with his monthly book round up email. Yours is filled so many, too! Thanks for sharing your journey.
I love Ryan Holiday's reading emails! The only problem with them is that he describes his favorites in such a compelling way that I buy more than I have time to read.
I recognize a lot in this post. I recently started taking notes with the books I read as well because I have had such bad retention over the years. It’s really quite mind blowing how much of a difference it makes. Enjoy it!
Interesting! I certainly am curious about other people's reading lives (and their bullet journals). Your journey is a great example of our brains often being more flexible than we think!
I sometimes struggle with that balance between reading for entertainment and for education that you also touch upon. I need to stuff facts into my brain for work, so in my free time I often feel like my brain is "full" and it wouldn't be healthy to force myself to read dense non-fiction. I think that's one reason I love memoirs - they often allow me to learn new things, but at a slower pace and connected to some entertaining story.
I feel this. I agree that it is so important to keep reading enjoyable or else we (I) might be tempted to zone out on Netflix or social media. I have been loving memoirs this winter, too!
Just holy sh** how do you do this? I suppose I am a bit like this with music so I get it. It’s so cool that you have a log of what you read. 😊
“I guess this is what great books do to you. They inhabit your days.” Yes!
And when I recommend a book that did this to me, now I’m conscious that it is the 20, 30, 40 year old me speaking from the time I read them. For example ~
Thanks, Ben. My reading log has been one of my favorite habits in terms of how much I learned about myself ... I think a music log would do the same! Sometimes I make a little note in my journal if I've been listening to particular artist or song a lot, and when I go back to read old journals, it really takes me back to that time to see what was in my ears then.
I’ve kept a simple reading log for years, but notice that since I moved it to my phone, where I also do a lot of my reading these days, I’m less likely to look back at the list or reflect on reading choices made or to see new goals or to be intentional. I’m not even sure why I keep the list anymore. It has the same appearance as a grocery list or a to do list. I will be trying out some of your strategies, including a return to paper for the reading log and — for more books. Thank you for the inspiring read!
Oh how I love this (and what a treat to run into my own book in this great list of encounters). Wolf Hall was the first “real” book I got through after the birth of my daughter in 2008, so it’s special to me, too — I’m planning to start 2025 with a “slow reread” of the trilogy in preparation for the return of the TV adaptation in the spring. And I just picked up a copy of A Place of Greater Safety because I couldn’t resist the book jacket description of the main character as “hugely but erotically ugly”! Happy new year of reading to you, Rebecca.
Beloved Beasts is such a gem! I might reread it this year, in fact. It's on my little list of books I've wanted to do an informal book club around, but haven't yet found the time to get that together... someday, I hope. Wolf Hall is really such a marvel. I know you will have a fantastic time with your WH reread. And are you joining Haisell's group for A Place of Greater Safety? I can't wait to meet this hugely but erotically ugly person within its pages. Happy new year of reading to you, too!
Thank you for this, Rebecca. When I retired from my psychiatry, practice in 2012, I had to downsize my 23,000 volume mostly non-fiction home library, which went out the door for $0.50 a volume, although I'd paid $500k for the lot over 20yrs. I loved haunting used book stores in numerous US cities and Abebooks dealers online. They were my best friends and totally dependable, so unlike the two legged fellows. Sorry I didn't see my "Stress R Us" in any of your lists. A free e-book PDF is out at Stanford. I read everything on evolution and even had a 1st ed of "The Origin...", Am. of course. A favorite haunt was "Scientia" in a Boston suburb, although I always found time for a stint at the oldest continuously operating shop, The "Brattle Bookshop". Now, I'm a huge fan of substack writers, like yourself, and much appreciate the fine writing and investigative journalism. My very best wishes for you and your husband and HAVE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR, as well as all those new books to discover. Gregg Miklashek, MD
Dr. Miklashek, thanks so much for directing me to your book. I've just downloaded it and look forward to exploring it in the new year. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to downsize your library so severely. A body blow, for certain. Do you still find time to haunt used bookstores? Best wishes for a wonderful 2025 for you and yours.
VERSO BOOKS End of Year Sale
Save up to 40% on all print books and 80% on all ebooks until January 1st.
https://www.versobooks.com/
I can't stop myself and put one book after the other into the shopping cart. What a treasure trove!
That's a dangerous link, sir. (I went to it anyway ... and added a few to my cart.) Happy new year!
Loved this so much! I’m about to significantly downgrade my social media usage this year to finish writing my book(s) and read a lot more. I ended up reading about 40 books this year and hope to make it more/better reading next year. I did do a write up on my blog with favorites: http://oceanicwilderness.com/2024/12/28/best-books-music-of-2024/
Misti, I didn't realize you had another blog. Looking through your sidelight list, I see you are up to all sorts of good work. I have a couple of the books on your 2024 list for my 2025 list. And just might add a couple more based on your writeup. Thanks for linking it! Happy new year!
Yes, been blogging since 2002 in some form. At that site since maybe 2007 or 2008. Took to Substack to write more targeted essays and for the audience, too. Just like everyone else, trying to share where I can!
So cool!!!! You've reminded me of my old passion for reading.
I don't do social media other than Tumblr and Substack; I don't have any subscriptions to Netflix or Disney etc etc; I DO read, but it's predominantly online.
I recently discovered audiobooks (The Anthropocene reviewed by John Green and now onto a couple of Australian biographies) and I have a feeling that they are pushing open the door that you are flinging open here.
I try to be In the Moment (Be Here Now) as much as possible which is why I gave up daydreaming and never took up generic social media or TV subscriptions. I'd rather be Doing as much as possible. But Reading is Important. That variety is essential to ensure that we're interpreting life around us as truthfully as possible.
Anyway, great post. Thanks SO much.
I loved the Anthropocene Reviewed! John Green is fantastic in general, isn't he? So glad this post reminded you of your old passion. Mine was dormant for so many years, but has been so rewarding these past couple of years now that it's reignited. So grateful you are here and for your support!
Rebecca, this is so so SO inspiring to me, and I thank you. I had already earmarked 2025 as my year to get serious about reading and now you've given me a template for how to do that. I will think on this, and adapt your system to what seems do-able for me. But I know I will be referrig back to this post as I go. Your detailed account of your process is so helpful, and much appreciated.
Yay, Jeanne! I'm so glad there is something here that helps. It's funny how something inside of you just tells you when it's the right time to try to grow in a new direction ... we're just like plants in that way, I guess. I am excited for your 2025 of reading. Who knows what kind of wonders you will encounter??
R, i smiled through every sentence. Yes. Amen. Yes.
Thank you for many ideas. This week is my favorite of all weeks— the time before the new year to sit with a new paper planner.
My big challenge is my hurricane move from 900 sq ft to 235. Which books stay and which find new homes? I feel a grave responsibility to share so that will make it easier to kiss some books goodbye. Sigh. And smile.🌱🌿💚
Yes, so glad to hear this, Katharine. You deserve as many smiles as possible. Good luck with the downsizing, and my wish for you is that it brings a lightness and freedom to your life, as a silver lining! 💚
Loved this. It’s the inspiration I need to get back to a bit more reading. Non fiction/nature books definitely the focus.
Yay! Sam Matey at Weekly Anthropocene has reviewed some good nature books; also Nature's Bookstack if you need any more inspiration! Have a fabulous 2025 wherever your reading journey takes you!
https://ourhome.substack.com/p/natures-bookstack-under-construction
This is so interesting and I'm saving it to come back to it again and again. I think there's lots here that might benefit me as someone who literally had to learn to read again - in 2020 I completely lost the ability to read following a medical trauma that triggered C-PTSD, paired with what was very likely Long Covid. At my worst, I was unable to read something as simple as a newspaper headline. It's like my brain has shut down.
The trouble was, before this happened I used intense reading as my coping mechanism. I'm AuDHD, and since the moment I learned to read as a child I was heavily hyperlexic. My entire childhood I read books far beyond my age and my adult life was filled with academic reading. Yet suddenly, this activity my brain depended on so much was set on fire and left my life with a pile of ashes. I'm still in recovery, I'd say, and my decision to come back to writing in Autumn 2023 changed everything. Writing brought me back to reading and helped me train my brain.
So, thank you, I think you referenced approaches and techniques that could really help me. Onwards and forwards to being a better reader in 2025!
Ramona, this is great to hear. Onwards and forwards! (I loved your latest post, btw ... I have started reading longer pieces on my Kindle so I am less able to comment, but I wanted to let you know it really moved me and the message was so important. Thank you for that.)
This is yet another reason you're my hero.
No. It's the other way around. Happy new year, Bryan!
This is so inspiring, Rebecca. Thanks for sharing your journey here—your description of your past reading experiences, where characters and plot lines disappear as soon as the book is done mirrors my current experience. I love the idea of setting the goal of reading a set number of pages a day, and taking notes. I read mostly audiobooks now because I’m trying to multitask reading and drawing or painting, but that definitely compounds the idea retention issue. I’m excited to try some of these techniques out and see what happens. Thank you!
Yay, thanks Kelly! And enjoy! I'd be curious to hear what you end up doing. I love audiobooks, but I also have a terrible time retaining info with them...
what I’ve been doing in the last week is to read an actual book while brewing and enjoying my first cup of tea. I’ve been underlining passages (😱) that seem interesting or important and then taking notes later. And listening to easy fiction when painting. So far so good! Thanks again for the inspiration!
I find that Ryan Holiday (multi-time author, Stoic nerd, and bookstore owner) intriduces me to new books with his monthly book round up email. Yours is filled so many, too! Thanks for sharing your journey.
I love Ryan Holiday's reading emails! The only problem with them is that he describes his favorites in such a compelling way that I buy more than I have time to read.
Yes, that IS a huge problem for me, too.
I recognize a lot in this post. I recently started taking notes with the books I read as well because I have had such bad retention over the years. It’s really quite mind blowing how much of a difference it makes. Enjoy it!
Note-taking makes a huge difference to retention, right? I would never have believed how much, if I hadn't tried it myself. Thank you!
Interesting! I certainly am curious about other people's reading lives (and their bullet journals). Your journey is a great example of our brains often being more flexible than we think!
I sometimes struggle with that balance between reading for entertainment and for education that you also touch upon. I need to stuff facts into my brain for work, so in my free time I often feel like my brain is "full" and it wouldn't be healthy to force myself to read dense non-fiction. I think that's one reason I love memoirs - they often allow me to learn new things, but at a slower pace and connected to some entertaining story.
I feel this. I agree that it is so important to keep reading enjoyable or else we (I) might be tempted to zone out on Netflix or social media. I have been loving memoirs this winter, too!
Just holy sh** how do you do this? I suppose I am a bit like this with music so I get it. It’s so cool that you have a log of what you read. 😊
“I guess this is what great books do to you. They inhabit your days.” Yes!
And when I recommend a book that did this to me, now I’m conscious that it is the 20, 30, 40 year old me speaking from the time I read them. For example ~
A Disaffection James Kelman
Suttree Cormac McCarty
Vineland Thomas Pynchon
Thanks, Ben. My reading log has been one of my favorite habits in terms of how much I learned about myself ... I think a music log would do the same! Sometimes I make a little note in my journal if I've been listening to particular artist or song a lot, and when I go back to read old journals, it really takes me back to that time to see what was in my ears then.
https://substack.com/@thomaswinward/note/c-84864720
I’ve kept a simple reading log for years, but notice that since I moved it to my phone, where I also do a lot of my reading these days, I’m less likely to look back at the list or reflect on reading choices made or to see new goals or to be intentional. I’m not even sure why I keep the list anymore. It has the same appearance as a grocery list or a to do list. I will be trying out some of your strategies, including a return to paper for the reading log and — for more books. Thank you for the inspiring read!