A goal of mine for 2025 is to read 26 books throughout the year. That’s one book every two weeks or just 26 books in 365 days. The schedule will be what it will be.
Pre-covid, that would have been no problem. But something during that era–probably the endless doom scrolling and isolation–made me extremely restless. Nothing but anxiety for two solid years, and then mostly caution and skepticism in the few years that followed. That doesn’t make me special, many had it far worse, and I’m lucky to be here in good health but, dammit, I used to love reading books and the pandemic ruined that. I’m allowed to have feelings about it.
All is not lost, however. During a week of daily train commutes to work in Fall 2024, I started using my library membership to download books and resumed the hobby where I’d left off. I guess being forced to sit still on the train did some rewiring in my head. Thank goodness.
That brings me to book #1 on my 2025 schedule which I acknowledge, after writing the above paragraphs, has a fitting title:
Just Because it Happened to You, Doesn’t Make it Interesting
David Thorne, of 27b/6 is either a graphic designer, a writer, or an internet personality. Possibly all three but I don’t think anyone will ever know the truth.
If the name seems familiar, you might recall his viral essays in the late 2000s about trying to pay an invoice with a picture of a spider, or creating a missing cat poster for a coworker. You could Google to find copies, but I think he just wants you to buy the books. The earliest works can be found in The Internet is a Playground. I’m not an affiliate. Just a supporter.
I’ve purchased and read most of his essay collections. They’re self-published and, as a result, full of typos. Despite that, I haven’t read a bad one yet. He’s a great storyteller, with the ability to write with a tone that’s equally hilarious and poignant.
But I’m not doing book reviews and I remind myself that this site is basically a journal and I’m just here to log that I have successfully read one book, from start to finish, in the first week of January.
This is not a book review.
W.
Photo: some ducks. circa 2012. Completely unrelated to this post, but they’re cute!
