As readers know, I have kept a list of books I have read since 1996. (As of this writing, there are 1,241 books on the list.) Last spring, I tried to estimate how many books I read before I kept my list. I have been thinking about it more and more, and over the last few weeks, have been trying to remember the books I read beginning in kindergarten. As I remembered books, I scribbled them on a few pieces of notebook paper. To make it easier to remember, I divided the list into several sections: grade school, junior high school, high school, college, and 1994-1995.
The result is a list of books I read before 1996, which I have now published online along with my other reading lists. The list is not complete. I’d guess that I was able to recall about half of the books I actually read between 1977 and 1995. Other than being divided into the sections listed above, the books are in order I recalled them when trying to remember what I’d read. A lot of books I read in junior high school and college for classes have faded from my memory. A lot of books I read for fun remained. So while this list is not complete, it is a good representation of my reading in the years before 1996.
As I recall more books, I’ll add them to the list.
Written on 11 March 2023.
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I went through a similar exercise at one point and almost all of those Piers Anthony book stood out in my memory as well. I’m a little afraid to go back to them today as I suspect they might not hold up, but they sure made an impression.
Henry, I re-read the first 9 or so Xanth novels in 1999, something like 15 years after I first read them. At one point, in the mid-90s, I probably had 100+ Piers Anthony books. Eventually, I donated all but my absolute favorites. I think there are 9 or 10 on my bookshelves today. They absolutely made an impression on my in my junior high/high school days, but I did eventually move past them.
Any idea how I can replicate your platform? Great database for tracking reading. Thank you
It’s not a database. It is just a plain text file that I publish to the web.
What application is this to track your reading, fantastic!
It’s just a plain text file that I publish to the web. My master list is actually in a notebook (a Leuctturm1917), but what you see on the web is really just a plain text file in markdown format.