Keeping Lists

At the beginning of 2005, I decided to start keeping a list of every book that I read over the course of a year. I started this because a friend of mine had done it for 2004, and I found it really interesting to look at her list, to see what books seemed connected thematically, as well as the scope of different types of books she had read.

As it is 2008, I am now in my fourth year of doing so, and still enjoying it. It does lead me to consider applying the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal to reading (I try to apply the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal to almost everything, observing and being observed are powerful forces in our society). Does the fact that I am keeping a precise record of what books I read, and further, sharing these lists with others, change the way I decide what to read?

I believe it does. I have always had a fairly sizable list of books that I feel I should have read, but have not gotten around to yet, and since I began tracking what I read, I've gotten to more of them than I think I would have otherwise. This has been a real positive, I have really enjoyed a number of these, particularly, Dante, both the Inferno and Purgatorio (I confess it, I still haven't gotten to the Paradisio) and also Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.

I think that most people have a list, either written out, or existing vaguely in their heads, of books that they feel they should read, and as we read, even as we check off those books, more are added, it's a bit like Sisyphus, but more enjoyable. Every book you read just makes your mountain a little taller.