I have a problem. It’s books.

I acquire them armloads at a time. Many go unread for years. They are insulating the house, I think. To this and other rationalizations, my wife, Amy, rolls her eyes, but she’s got a bad case of bibliopathy herself. She just hides it with e-books and library checkouts.

We moved from Oregon to Iowa a couple months ago. Prior to the move, I had books stacked up on every conceivable flat surface in our home, and this was only after filling our numerous bookshelves. It was like a scene from UP, only the skyscrapers rising around Carl were towers of books, and I was damn sure glad for their presence.

Our old bookshelves were afflicted with bibliophilic scurvy, so we junked them before hitting the road. The result: we have dozens of boxes of books in our storage area, awaiting next month’s shelf-making project. For now, I’m digging out a few titles at a time and increasing my quota of audio books.

Lest the cardboard barriers promote memory loss of the worlds held within, here’s a list of every book I read in 2020:

  1. The Guardians, John Grisham, 12/25/19 – 1/3/20
  2. Agincourt, Bernard Cornwell, 12/10/19 – 1/18/20
  3. Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman, 1/18/20 – 1/31/20
  4. Bloody Genius, John Sandford, 2/2/20 – 2/21/20
  5. Under the Dome, Stephen King, 1/3/20 – 2/21/20
  6. Coronado, Dennis LeHane, 1/26/20 – 2/22/20
  7. Nothing to See Here, Kevin Wilson, 2/22/20 – 2/28/20
  8. Lean Turnaround, Art Byrne, 2/4/20 – 3/2/20
  9. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles, 3/2/20 – 3/28/20
  10. The 100, Kass Morgan, 3/7/20 – 3/29/20
  11. Successful Aging, Daniel Levitin, 2/16/20 – 3/31/20
  12. New Iberia Blues, James Lee Burke, 4/1/20 – 4/11/20
  13. A Long Walk Up the Waterslide, Don Winslow, 4/13/20 – 4/23/20
  14. Narrative Economics, Robert Shiller, 3/15/20 – 4/24/20
  15. While Drowning in the Desert, Don Winslow, 4/23/20 – 4/26/20
  16. Miracle on the 17th Green, James Patterson-Peter De Jonge, 4/24/20 – 4/28/20
  17. American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins, 4/24/20 – 5/1/20
  18. Time and Again, Jack Finney, 5/5/20 – 5/19/20
  19. Run for Your Life, James Patterson-Michael Ledwidge, 5/21/20 – 5/25/20
  20.  Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson, 2/16/20 – 5/25/20 
  21. Worst Case, James Patterson-Michael Ledwidge, 5/25/20 – 5/29/20
  22. Miracle at Augusta, James Patterson-Peter De Jonge, 5/30/20 – 6/1/20
  23. Zoo, James Patterson, 6/2/20 – 6/10/20
  24. Camino Winds, John Grisham, 5/18/20 – 6/13/20
  25. The Son, Phillip Meyer, 6/12/20 – 6/30/20
  26. Masked Prey, John Sandford, 5/18/20 – 7/6/20
  27. The Jesus Cow, Michael Perry, 6/30/20 – 7/10/20 
  28. Warriors of the Storm, Bernard Cornwell, 7/10/20 – 7/23/20
  29. Countdown 1945, Chris Wallace, 7/6/20 – 7/29/20
  30. Fair Warning, Michael Connelly, 7/24/20 – 7/30/20
  31. The Late Show, Michael Connelly, 7/31/20 – 8/6/20
  32. Dark Sacred Night, Michael Connelly, 8/7/20 – 8/21/20
  33. Misery, Stephen King, 7/6/20 – 8/23/20
  34. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn, 8/22/20 – 9/7/20
  35. The Night Fire, Michel Connelly, 9/8/20 – 9/16/20
  36. Mexican White Boy, Matt de la Pena, 8/25/20 – 9/21/20
  37. The Good Detective, John McMahon, 9/21/20 – 9/27/20
  38. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, 9/16/20 – 10/28/20
  39. David & Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, 10/29/20 – 10/31/20
  40. The Coward’s Guide to Conflict, Timothy Ursiny, 10/31/20 – 10/31/20
  41. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson, 10/31/20 – 11/3/20
  42. My Lovely Wife, Samantha Downing, 9/27/20 – 11/5/20
  43. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, 11/3/20 – 11/15/20
  44. Unfuck Your Brain, Faith G Harper, 11/15/20 – 11/18/20
  45. Population: 485, Michael Perry, 11/18/20 – 11/29/20
  46. The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides, 11/5/20 – 12/1/20
  47. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hr Bookstore, Robin Sloan, 11/25/20 – 12/6/20
  48. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair, 12/6/20 – 12/18/20
  49. Teamwork 101, John C Maxwell, 12/18/20 – 12/21/20
  50. Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith, 12/21/20 – 12/27/20
  51. Perfect Little World, Kevin Wilson, 12/24/20 – 12/31/20
  52. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner, 12/27/20 – 12/31/20

I’m approaching 40-years-old. If I’m as lucky as the protagonist in The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared, and I keep up a book-a-week pace, I’ve got a little over 3,000 titles left to read.

My bibliopathy is chronic, it appears.

I can live with that.