Maybe it was simply a love of fresh notebooks? And, then, spreadsheets? Over the years, my book tally, mounting since 1990, became data. Which, it turns out, is another way to demonstrate my love of books. The figures reflect intense reading. But between the lines? It never feels like enough.

Although I’ve always read a lot, my reading habit intensified both when I worked in a bookshop and, later, when I discovered Madison Smartt Bell’s Narrative Design, which revealed just how much one can learn about writing, simply by virtue of reading. Close reading. Because I wanted to be a better writer, I began by being a better reader. It became an act of devotion. Also, I didn’t have many friends.

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These statistics are pulled from 2010 through 2020, a period of 3,015 days. That’s like reading a book a day for more than eight of those years.

In my last year’s reading, I visited 31 countries on the page. Of the books read, 30% of them were penned by writers of colour, including 15 books by indigenous authors. Of the authors in my stacks, 67% identify as female, which goes toward addressing the imbalance of reading in my school years.  In 2020, there were also 28 collections of stories and 27 collections of poetry, along with 37 translated works. This year, I’ll continue to read diversely and voraciously. For more about 2019? Here. And 2020? Here. As for 2021’s plans, here.