Several years ago, I decided to buy fewer physical books. My bookshelves had no more room, and I didn’t have any more space to put new bookshelves. Over the years, I have repeatedly culled books to make space for new ones, but I couldn’t do that anymore. I was down to books I couldn’t part with for one reason or another.

I started buying e-books & reading them on my iPad. That gave me eye strain, so I bought a dedicated e-ink tablet. That reduced eye strain and allowed me to engage with the text, but the device was slow and I didn’t enjoy the reading experience that much. I got a new iPad with a better screen. After spending some time figuring out what settings worked for me—screen brightness, typeface choice, and font size—I was able to read more or less without straining my eyes.

But I noticed that I wasn’t absorbing what I read as well as I wanted to. There’s a ton of data out there about how reading from a screen is not as good as reading a physical book. Like so many people, I thought, “Yeah, but I’m different.”

Yeah, I’m not.

I decided to buy a physical copy for my first fiction read of the year, The House in the Pines. I didn’t care for the book (I might write a review, but don’t hold your breath waiting for it), but I enjoyed the act of reading it. The feel of the pages, the smell of them, the sound of turning them, all enhance the reading experience. Also, I found it easier to go back when I wanted to confirm a detail I thought I’d read. My fingers knew roughly where to turn to. That doesn’t happen with e-books—and the search feature isn’t as useful.

I intend to read more closely this year and to keep more careful track of what I read. I might write about what I’m reading. That means I’ll probably read fewer books this year than last. But I’ll remember them more. I’ll enjoy reading more.

Meanwhile, I’m going to have to solve the problem of where to put them all. In this case, I have a book I know I’ll never read again. What should I do with it? And it won’t be the last one, either. Even books I like rarely get a second read.

I’ve found a website that buys used books I guess when I pile up half a dozen or so books that I’m ready to get rid of, I’ll sell them… and use the money to buy more books.

Every now and then I get a wild hair to use Goodreads to keep track of what I’m reading, but it never lasts. I hate the feel of the site. When did I start it? When did I finish it? Where should I shelve it? Did I like it? Do I want to write a review? Do I want to discuss it with others? Would I like to link to my Amazon account and import all the books I’ve bought?

Ugh. I don’t want a second job. All I want to do is enjoy reading. And maybe keep a list of what I’ve read this year, just for shits and grins. That’s why I created a Reading Log page on my site. No frills, metadata. Title and author. That’s it.

Currently, I have two books in progress. The first is A New History of Western Philosophy, by Anthony Kenny. I’m only reading Part 4: “Philosophy in the Western World.” I’ve read a lot of ancient philosophers and have a good-enough understanding of medieval and Renaissance philosophy. I don’t really know much about the moderns, so rather than start at the Dawn of Western Civ, only to get bored before I get to within a couple hundred years of the present, I decided to skip it all. I expect this one to go slowly, because I’m trying to absorb what I’m learning and connect it to other disciplines, like science, politics, and history.

My other current read is The House in the Pines, by Ana Reyes, released today. I discovered it on the “Crime Writers of Color” website. The description sounded interesting, so I pre-ordered it. I’ve only read the prologue so far, so I can’t begin to judge it yet.

What are you reading? What are you looking forward to reading this year?