August 3, 2018
Five Stars
I finished reading a novel last night, and thought what a wonderful thing it was to have no need at all to consider out of five how many stars this book deserved. What a relief it was just to read, and not to rate, or even go online at all (and it is certainly also a bonus also not to stumble across reviews of my own book that begin with, “Wow, this was a painful read. How boring was this, am I right?” (Not that I’ve ever sought out Goodreads reviews of my book. I am far too cool and assured for that, as you no doubt realize.) Instead, I just open up my Book of Books which lives on my bedside, inspired by Vicki Ziegler and Pamela Paul. And another book is entered, with whatever writing device I happen to have on hand. (I really need to go shopping for pens.) Last month, I read twenty books, which I think might be an all-time record for me. It’s been a glorious summer for reading so far, and there is still so much of August left, and I’ve been able to even reread, and make a little dint in the pile of books on the stairs, though you might not know that to see it. You see my Book of Books though, and you’ll realize I’ve been going places, bookwise. Halfway through the first year tracking books with this method, I just want to check in and say it’s wonderful, analogue, good for the soul. Five stars all the way.
I started keeping a simple analog list of books I’d read in 2007, kept it up into 2008, and then just lost the habit. I think it’s partly because that’s right around when I started writing more detailed posts at my blog, so the list seemed redundant. Browsing through it now, though, there’s something alluring in its simplicity — no comments, no ratings, certainly no stars! And yet at the same time I regret not having more information about what I thought about the books, some of which I now hardly remember at all. You and I both do so much with books, in so many ways:something like this book is probably just restful for us!