Books on deck for me in 2016

According to my Goodreads account, I read 260 books this past year (that comprised a total of 81.203 pages).  And sixteen of those were books I specifically set out to read in last year’s Books on Deck post.

Overall, I think it worked out great to make a list of books I meant to get around to, even if I missed six of the ones I put on my list.  It helped give some urgency to the books I kept meaning to read, in general, but never picking up — I finally had a reason to let them (sometimes) preempt library books.

Plus, as I was making the list, it helped me notice that I owned some books I really didn’t intend to read, since I noticed I definitely didn’t want to put them on the list — for fear I’d feel obligated to read them!  So those can sit around my house, in case I later develop an interest, but I’m free to ignore them without guilt.

So, playing by the same rules as last year (books I currently own, not ones I might purchase), here’s the list of books I intend to read in 2016!

• (√) Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard – Laura Bates
• Collected Fictions – Jorge Luis Borges
• (√) Alexander Hamilton – Rod Chernow
• Furrow – Josemaria Escriva
• (√) Natural Goodness – Philippa Foot (only carryover from last year)
• (√) Meditation and Contemplation: An Ignatian Guide to Praying with Scripture -Fr. Timothy Gallagher (I talk about how much I loved his book on the Examen in Arriving at Amen)
• (√) The Journey to Truth is an Experience – Luigi Giussani
• (√) A Grief Observed – CS Lewis
• (√) Mind and Cosmos – Thomas Nagel
• (√) The Complete Stories – Flannery O’Connor
• (√) The Mind of the Maker – Dorothy Sayers (ordered while making the list, so it could qualify)
• The Intellectual Life – A.G. Sertillanges, O.P.
• (√)  Three to Get Married – Fulton Sheen
• (√) Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas – Natasha Dow Schüll
• (√) Laurus – Eugene Vodolazkin

I’m pretty sure I bought fewer books than ever this year, thanks to the chrome plugin Books for DC, which tells me if any book I’m looking at on Amazon is in the public library system, and prompts me to place a hold. It’s a great project of Code for DC, and I recommend it, if you’re in my city, and, if not, I recommend finding one for your library/building one yourself.

So, what do you all have on deck for this year?