Reading 90+ books doesn’t really mean one has a lot of free time. Or rather—more accurately, since nobody has free time anymore—it means having a longer attention span. And that, I think, is the biggest roadblock to old-style reading habits in the modern world.
For me, what worked was switching to audio—essentially solving a digital-era problem with a digital-era tool. These days, whenever I hear about a book, the first thing I check is whether it’s available in audio format. I simply don’t have sit-down-and-read time anymore. Most of what I read in print now tends to be poetry, older books, or rare titles—things that have a lower chance of ever appearing as audiobooks.
The biggest achievement this year was reading Proust—and then reading about reading Proust. That second part turned out to be just as fascinating. Understanding the why and how of his writing made me think about his possible influence on writers like Kamala Das, especially in a smaller language like Malayalam, but one that has always had a global outlook. With Proust, nuance is everything: also the way he constantly moves through anecdotes and metaphor. I even started writing a short series exploring these aspects, but it never quite went anywhere—again, time constraints. (lol.)
I also spent a lot of time thinking about whether reading promotes escapism. In some ways, yes. In what was a rather lonely year—working late, living alone in a crowded city—reading became a form of consolation. It helped me stay connected to the world, especially as my social media usage steadily declined over the year. Books may no longer be a social lubricant—my tastes are increasingly disconnected from what I see around me—but they became a quieter, deeper form of engagement. Starting this blog helped a bit too.
At some point, I stopped trying to write in Malayalam because it felt like it required “extra tools,” until I realised I could simply switch keyboards at the OS level. (lol again.) And I call myself a techie.
So, what else besides Proust?
McCarthy – started the year well with him. Solvej Balle—whose third book in the series I’m currently reading (with lesser and lesser returns). Knausgaard (another series with diminishing returns), Camus, James Salter, Kawakami, Gospodinov and Yiyun Li. I reread Cărtărescu, discovered André Alexis. Went through VanderMeer’s series(a sound one). Even McCarthy was a series—so was Alexis. Galbraith’s Strike series too.
There were also a few graphic novels and a handful of other nonfiction titles as well (I’ll write separately about the 4- and 5-star reads).