After exceeding a book-per-week pace in 2018, I set 48 books as my 2019 goal knowing I’d be tackling larger works, such as James Joyce’s Ulysses. The new goal looks to already be an underestimation, as I read the following 10 books in January:
- The Game, by Ken Dryden
- The Flame, by Leonard Cohen
- Virgil Wander, by Leif Enger
- Educated, by Tara Westover
- Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan
- Heavy: An American Memoir, by Kiese Laymon
- There There, by Tommy Orange
- The Odyssey, by Homer (a W.H.D. Rouse edition)
- Shyness & Dignity, by Dag Solstad
- Senses Sleep, by Wayne Miller
My favorite of the bunch was Solstad’s Shyness & Dignity. The novel is the second I’ve read written by the Norwegian author. A darker tale potentially not best-recommended for the middle of dark and frigid winter, the story nevertheless fit my mood. I found Solstad captured well what must be the common angst of 50-year-olds lamenting the failure to impact the community or country as hoped as an idealist college youth. The book also explores why none of us really want to complete life as just a secondary character.
Erik Eckel 
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