Since 2009, I've logged every book I read. I'm not sure why.
It's been useful though. I now have a memory jogger in lieu of a proper diary, since I can usually remember what was going on in my life around the book I was reading at the time.
As well as recording books in a list, I'll use this site to store notes and quotations from my reading (as of 2024). I'm against platform capitalism and in favour of rewilding the Web, so this is preferable to, say, GoodReads.
What's With the Garfunkel?
Open Culture explains:
The lanky, curly-haired number two guy for the seminal folk-rock band Simon & Garfunkel has been keeping track of every single thing he has read from June 1968 [...] and he's posted all of them — 1,195 texts — on his website.
Garfunkel's list, or "library" as his website calls it, creates an expectantly intimate portrait of the artist.
By putting my reading record online, I am the same as Art Garfunkel. Why not start your own Garfunkel Library?
Methods
A book only makes the year list when it's finished. If I ditch a book after a few pages, it does not make the list. If I read most of a book, it gets an honorary mention under "books read in substantial part but ultimately abandoned."
Some years, I recorded comics and graphic novels separately to other books. In other years, they're all mixed in. Sometimes it feels that the experience of reading a comic is so substantially different to other kinds of books, it should be a separate list. Other times, I doubt this. Whatever.
You might notice asterisk* and dagger†symbols after certain titles. An asterisk indicates a book read out loud, usually to or with my partner at home. Dagger indicates a re-read.