Lovely book animation by Type Books in Toronto.

2011 was a great year for reading. It was my second year of tracking what I read (grad school reading not included), and my first year with an e-reader. I’ve talked a bit about reading on the Kindle, but I haven’t talked much about how the device has affected my buying habits. It is a wondrous thing to be able to buy a book as soon as you think of it. My first purchases were large, heavy books, books that would be cumbersome in print. Then I bought whatever struck my fancy, as long as it was available in my region and didn’t cost more than the print version. But there are books that I want to hold, feel, smell, interact with — books that are beautifully designed, both hardcover and paperback, that just beg to be bought. For the most part, I’m content to wait to read them, which brings me to portability.

To me, portability is the greatest strength of the Kindle. We bought it in January after moving boxes upon boxes of books from one storage spot to another, and I only wish we had bought one earlier so I didn’t have to give away nearly all of the books we accumulated while in Japan. It’s hard to give up bookshelves, but I know it’s impractical for the expat/nomadic life. The Kindle fits nicely into that life (and my travel bag). It was one of the few things I packed when we left Fukushima for a bit after the earthquake, and it really helped to be able to escape from reality through the travels of Tolkien’s company of nine. While there are several issues with e-books (editing standards, price points, DRM, etc.), I still find it worthwhile to have a dedicated e-reader.

Now for the numbers. I read 67 books, which is nearly double the number I read in 2010. Of those, 37 (or 55%) were read on my Kindle. I accomplished my reading goals — 50 books, including The Lord of the Rings and the Foundation series — and tracked everything on Goodreads. Here’s the breakdown by month, according to the date finished:

January: 10
February: 6
March: 7
April: 4
May: 6
June: 4
July: 5
August: 5
September: 9
October: 5
November: 0 (Hello, NaNoWriMo!)
December: 6

And here is what I read (note: covers are shown in reverse chronological order, whereas titles are in chronological order):

Books of 2011
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8, Vol. 1-4) by Joss Whedon
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Persuasion by Jane Austen*
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen*
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut
Emma by Jane Austen
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman*
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells*
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien*
The Awakening by Kate Chopin*
Kraken by China Mielville*
The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht*
Confessions of a Yakuza by Junichi Saga
2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake by The quakebook community*
The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami
Batman: Year One by Frank Miller
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation by Isaac Asimov*
Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov*
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov*
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov*
Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov*
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak*
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson*
Write for Tohoku by Write for Tohoku Project*
Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times edited by Kevin Smokler
The Elements of Content Strategy by Erin Kissane*
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender*
The Magicians by Lev Grossman*
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith*
Summer by Edith Wharton
Reality Hunger: A Manifesto by David Shields*
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi*
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern*
Room by Emma Donaghue*
The Reasons I Won’t Be Coming by Elliot Perlman
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris*
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi*
The Last Colony by John Scalzi*
The Magician King by Lev Grossman*
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) by George R.R. Martin*
A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2) by George R.R. Martin*
A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3) by George R.R. Martin*
A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4) by George R.R. Martin*
A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5) by George R.R. Martin*
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami*
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1) by Laini Taylor*
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides*
The Art of the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

* = e-books
Note: List does not include books started, but not yet finished

Potential goals for 2012:
- read x books by Australian authors
- read x nonfiction books
- take notes on each book I read

If it weren’t for National Novel Writing Month, I would likely still be in denial that it is already November. But here we are again, November first, day one of NaNoWriMo madness. This is my fourth time participating, and I went back and forth on whether or not I should. It wasn’t a question of time because I just finished my first semester of grad school in Australia, and the academic schedule means summer and holidays are rolled into one insanely long break. My schedule is, for the first time in a very long time, wide open.

But the thing about grad school is I have to write a dissertation. I spent a large chunk of my first semester doing research and I’m now at the point where I should start writing. So while I love NaNo, my brain told my heart that I should be practical and work on my thesis project because time has this way of getting away from us.

I’m not always the most practical person, however.

That is why I have decided to dedicate this month to writing. Writing, writing, and more writing. I’m doing NaNoWriMo and tweeting about it daily. I also just found out about the first ever Academic Book Writing Month. As I’ve mentioned before, I feed off of the excitement and inspiration from fellow writers. By participating in both events, I hope to stay motivated to write daily, even when I get stuck on dialogue or can’t stand to look at another footnote. As I am writing, whether it be fiction or academic, I’ll be tracking the progress on Twitter using #NaNoWriMo and #AcBoWriMo. Please follow along, or better yet, join me. Let’s all make the clackity noise.

Ecriture Infinie is a fascinating art project by Bili Bidjocka.

I thought it would be interesting to design a project around an authorless book, in which everyone would have written something. Its purpose is the process. Writing is interesting because it is a process.

Described as an interactive installation that celebrates and ritualizes the passage from handwriting to digital writing, Bidjocka’s oversize notebooks have been traveling the world, inviting people to write on the blank pages “as if theirs were the last words to be written by hand”.

Read more about the project on www.ecritureinfinie.org.

Just added this book about fonts by Simon Garfield to my wishlist. If I had a bookcase that didn’t travel so much, I’d be tempted to order both the UK and US versions for the lovely cover designs.

Back to Basics, a collection from Zim and Zou, is where paper sculptures meet bright colors and retro meets traditional. The design duo has put nearly a year’s work into crafting these paper electronics using sustainable paper—including all the scraps.

See more of the handmade process here, along with more of their work on Behance.

via Colossal

Last week, J.K. Rowling had big news for Harry Potter fans—and the publishing world—with the launch of Pottermore. My favorite part of the announcement was this lovely paper animation put together by adam&eve and Andersen M Studios.

Harry Potter, paper cuts, and owls? Magic.

Do you ever find yourself wondering where the time has gone? Whether you’re engrossed in something and lose track of the hours, or you look up and realize it’s no longer spring, the moments have a way of slipping by. I find that the older I get, the faster time seems to move. Perhaps that’s why I’m so drawn to this knitted calendar by Patrick Frey.

Watching the weeks separate from the year…I am captivated. I imagine it would be oddly reassuring to feel the time pass through your fingers into a pile that can be gathered and made something of.

As I try to get back on track with daily writing (after failing to complete 100 Days), I am inspired by the words of other writers whose work I admire.

Write all the time, hone your voice, and make sure that you have a way of saying something that is yours and yours alone. Find a way to stand out. Be funny and be different. Live a life that gives you lots of stories. Love and laugh and make friends and get your heart broken and have stuff be messy and weird and sometimes too extreme. But make sure you write about it. Figure out how you feel about it. Write constantly, and be brave with your words.

— Pamela Ribon, Your Parents Will Never Wish You This Life

I think there is this fear of writing badly, something primal about it, like: “This bad stuff is coming out of me…” Forget it! Let it float away and the good stuff follows. For me, the bad beginning is just something to build on. It’s no big deal. You have to give yourself permission to do that because you can’t expect to write regularly and always write well. That’s when people get into the habit of waiting for the good moments, and that is where I think writer’s block comes from. Like: It’s not happening. Well, maybe good writing isn’t happening, but let some bad writing happen. Let it happen!

— Jennifer Egan, The Days of Yore interview

Writers are thieves. We steal moments and memories and now we steal minutes, too. We scramble for extra seconds and shove them in our pockets when no one is looking. If you want to write, you make it work. You make time. There’s really no other way.

— Tahereh Mafi, Stealing Time to Make a Schedule

Finding your voice, finding courage, finding time…these are common struggles for me. Where do you find inspiration for writing?

On mornings like this, when I struggle to shake off sleep, it helps to take a moment to just sit, slowly sip that first cup of hot coffee, and look at something beautiful. These lovely stop-motion videos by Ching-Wen Wu are a perfect start to the day.

Every cup of coffee contains its own soul, extracted from your feeling today. Every cup of coffee is like a magic show containing different journey and bringing the unending imagination and surprises. With a sip of coffee, you not only taste your own story, but also change your perspective of the world.

h/t @swissmiss