{{lists: year end & new year}}
If I were to disappear, and a detective looked at all of the little lists I make for myself, he or she would have a complete picture of my life and habits. The food I buy, books I read, chores I do, my goals, hopes, gratitudes, even my daily routine are all there, on paper, in my planner or one of the myriad notebooks I keep. Lists are my brain in black and white.
This year especially, before our social calendar suddenly cleared, I was dependent upon my lists to move myself through the day. When we were isolated in our house for weeks on end, the lists became a way of restoring order into the empty days. It became quite clear this past year that my weekly planner could no longer contain all of the daily lists I make, so I upgraded to the 1-page, 1-day iteration. (It looks like everything's currently sold out in the A5 size. Pre-ordering in the autumn has been my surefire way of getting a copy.). I have been so pleased with my Midori planners over the past few years; I've probably shared them here before. They are very minimalistic, but they have everything I need. I made the cover for my new planner out of some fabric I had on hand. On January first, I wrote my verse and word of the year (and also a giant list for vacation cleaning, which I may have to scrap for reasons I'll share in another post). There are still a few resolutions I have to record for 2021, too.
One of my favorite things to do at the close of a year is to look back over my records to see the books I have finished and the projects I have completed. I usually don't share that here, but thought it would be fun to do that this year. Many of these books were on the To-Read list I made in December 2019, but there's a smattering of impulse reads in there, too.
2020 Reads
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc +
Creed and Culture: A Touchstone Reader
The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way +^
The Death of Christian Culture
Discrimination and Disparities +
The Dove in the Eagle's Nest +
Passing +
William Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre
Michael Strogoff Or, The Courier of the Czar+
The Explorations of Pere Marquette
Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power+
Kristin Lavransdatter (the trilogy)*
Perelandra *+^
* audiobook + highly recommended ^ this was a re-read
I hope all those links work! There's something to say about each of the books, like how embarrassed I am to have fallen down a Robert Galbraith audiobook rabbit hole, thanks to the library, but our house was the cleanest it's ever been because I would invent chores to do so I could listen longer. Or how profoundly Kristin Lavransdatter affected me this summer; how the Arthur Ransome series get better with every book, my favorite so far being We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea; how loudly I laughed at Louder and Funnier and Mr. Midshipman Easy. I have a whole new page of book goals for 2021.
What did you read this year? What did you like? What made you think or grow or change?
Comments
Post a Comment