I Keep a Handwritten List of Every Book I’ve Read Since 2000

That’s 21 years and counting!

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Why do I keep a list of every book I’ve read?

Honestly, I can’t even remember why I started this when I was 9 years old. I must have been going through a phase of obsessively wanting to document things.

In addition to a list of books I’ve read, I’ve also found lists documenting the movies that I watched, the restaurants that I ate at, and which friends’ houses I went to. I also found duplicate handwritten phone books, all filled out with the same handful of phone numbers that a 9-year-old kid thinks are of utmost importance.

I haven’t kept any of those other lists up through the years (I’m not crazy), but I have been loyal to the list of books I’ve read. Whatever my original reasons for starting, I do know that I won’t be stopping this list anytime soon.

I love flipping through this list from time to time. It’s like a time capsule, a yearbook, and a secret diary all wrapped up into one. I have an opportunity to go back in time and peer into the mind of a younger version of me through the books that I chose to read.

My list of books that I’ve read is actually comprised of three different parts. This has been a very long relationship and we have had some up and down moments through the years. But it is a steadfast relationship that only gets better with time.

Care to take a walk down memory lane with me? I’m sure many other bookworms out there will relate and think back fondly on some of these books.

Part I: April 18, 2000 — September 7, 2001

The numbers:

Books read: 447
Duration: 1 year, 4 months, 20 days

The bookends:

The first book on this list? Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
The last book on this list? Leomon’s Challenge (Digimon Digital Monsters) by John Whitman

Notable highlights:

Harry Potter — It was cool back then and it still is cool today! I don’t think I can think of another series that I “grew up” more than this one. One time, my entire fourth grade wrote letters to J.K. Rowling. Unsurprisingly, not one of us heard back …
Animorphs — To this day, I still sprout random animal facts to my husband, and he looks at me bewildered with a, “How do you know that?” look across his face. He also doesn’t understand my excitement over peregrine falcons.
Nancy Drew — I recently discovered a bunch of “books” that I wrote at the age of nine, and a large majority of them suspiciously contain a posse of girls named Nancy, Bess, and George …
Sweet Valley Kids — How could I forget how desperately I wished I had an identical twin? This was not helped by the popularity of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen either.
Pokemon — The Pokemon craze took my elementary school by storm but my parents wouldn’t buy me Pokemon cards and we didn’t have cable so I never had a chance to watch the TV show either. But once again, books were there for me.
Encyclopedia Brown — You would think that for a girl who liked Nancy Drew so much, I would have also liked the Hardy Boys too. But actually, I gravitated to Encyclopedia Brown far more, always wishing I could be that smart.

What do I see of the person reading these books? A kid with a sense of adventure and spunk who wishes she were just as smart and brave as the kids she reads about.

Part II: September 4, 2002 — August 6, 2005

The numbers:

Books read: 460
Duration: 2 years, 11 months, 2 days

The bookends:

The first book on this list? Around the World in 80 Days (Cracked Classics) by Tony Abbott
The last book on this list? Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

Notable highlights:

More Harry Potter— As I said, I feel like I grew up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione!
Star Wars— It was love, at first sight, the moment my parents took me to see Star Wars Episode I. The mere four movies that were out at that time were nowhere near enough to satisfy my urge to submerge myself into the Star Wars universe. And again, I found my refuge in books.
Goosebumps — Nowadays, I fully admit I’m a huge chicken and refuse to watch horror movies. Back then, I guess I was still trying to brave …
Artemis Fowl — Looks like I traded up from Encylopedia Brown’s boy-next-door detective genius to boy-genius meets rich-criminal-mastermind!
Alex Rider— Artemis Fowl might not have been kick-butt in the physical prowess department so I paired him with teenage spy Alex Rider. Imagine what a duo these two would be?!
School reading assignments — To this day, I have never been put through reading assignments as vigorous as what AP English classes put me through. It’s also by this curriculum's grace that I’ve read as many classics as I have, which thankfully keeps me looking half-intelligent in “the adult world.”

What do I see of the person reading these books? A teen who’s fallen in love with the world of fantasy and science fiction. Someone who wishes that magic was real and who believes that the good guys always win.

Part III: June 2, 2006 — Present Day

The numbers:

Books read: 476
Duration: 14 years, 10 months, 15days

The bookends:

The first book on this list? The Frankenstein Factory (Spy High) by A.J. Butcher
The last book on this list? The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Notable highlights:

Fantasy — Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire (a long before Game of Thrones became popular), Gentleman Bastard, The Witcher, Sword of Truth, Twilight
Science Fiction — Michael Crichton, John Scalzi, Douglas Adams, Orson Scott Card
Classics — Jane Austen, George Orwell, Shakespeare, Alexandre Dumas, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bram Stoker, Jules Verne
Fiction — Jodi Picoult, Nicolas Sparks, Margaret Atwood, Kristin Hannah, Philippa Gregory, Khaled Hosseini
Mystery — Jeffrey Deaver, Agatha Christie, John Grisham, Dan Brown, Tami Hoag
Non-Fiction — Mitch Albom, Malcolm Gladwell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Aziz Ansari, Michelle Obama, Ali Wong, Tara Westover
Self-help books — Rich Dad Poor Dad, Dale Carnegie, Rachel Hollis, Jen Sincero, Gary Chapman

I know I’m not doing anywhere near enough justice to the books on Part III of my list but how do I do notable highlights for 14 years of reading?

What do I see of the person reading these books? Many things.

A young adult who still wants to believe in magic but thinks reading the classics will help her appear more mature. A new grad who’s trying to better herself as she transitions into the “adult world”. An adult who’s trying to make new friends through book clubs and along the way discovers all sorts of books she never would have picked up in the first place.

Epilogue

The numbers:

Books read in total: 1383
Duration: 20 years, 11 months, 30 days

Notable highlights (aka books that I think are underrated):

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls — This is the only book that I’ve read and re-read on all three parts of my list. It even inspired nine-year-old me to write a story (ie. plagiarize with abundant spelling and grammar errors) called “Old Dan and Little Ann.” Each time I read this book, I cry.
Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind — This was the first of my “adult” fantasy series and it taught me that I didn’t have to outgrow my love of fantasy. It also gave me my first solid dose of philosophy and an abundant number of dangerous but beautiful women to look up to as role models. Personally, I’ve always liked this series more than A Song of Ice and Fire but thanks to HBO, I think I’m on the losing end of that argument.
Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs — Most people have heard of Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages. I see Love and Respect as level 2 of that conversation. The book was a gift from our wedding photographer and I feel like every couple needs to read this book to better understand “blue glasses” and “pink glasses”.

Through the years, I’ve picked up many books across a wide variety of subjects and genres. I’d like to believe that I take a little bit of each book and carry it with me along this journey that we call life.

While it’s important for us to look forward to the future horizon, it’s also nice to be able to take the occasional walk down memory lane through the lens of books.

Thanks for taking this walk with me.

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