I decided to call 2025 finished with 71 books read. I set my goal at a book per week and exceeded it. Yay!
Goodreads is great for me because it provides satisfaction when I finish each book and rate it. Likewise, I refer to the historical information often. The above chart came via email last week and tells a story about which I hadn’t thought. June through August is the busiest time in the garden. Likewise September through November are taken up with kitchen work processing the harvest. Seems natural I would read fewer books during those six months. The seasonality just never occurred to me.
I post each book I finish on Goodreads and at the Read Recently page of this blog if interested. I also keep a spreadsheet.
Book reading appears to be a lost art in American society. I understand people are busy taking in information from the large number of sources that exploded after Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. The web was popularized through the adaptation of web browsers in the mid-1990s. We bought our first home computer and logged in via dial-up on April 21, 1996. After that, it was Katie bar the gate with many more words than could be read by a single human. I think even artificial intelligence machines have trouble getting through all of it. All that said, I sort of understand it, yet believe individuals reading books is an important kind of experience that rewards us in tangible ways.
Online apps are not for everyone, yet if you are on Goodreads, I’d love to see what you are reading. Find me here and join my community!
Packinghouse Daughter: A Memoir by Cheri Register is a book I wouldn’t have found except for patronizing an excellent local used bookstore. They have a deal where you set an amount of money to spend, tell them your interests, and they locate books that match. I have yet to be disappointed by their choices. One of the interests I presented was in memoirs written by female authors. They likely didn’t know the story of Wilson & Company was connected to me in multiple ways.
My father worked in a hog processing facility with a kill floor and everything else mentioned in this book through to the fertilizer processing tanks. He died in a plant accident in 1969. I worked there too, for two summers while at university. I even crawled into one of the large processing tanks to help a millwright fix it, learning about lockout/tagout for the first time. The first part of the book resonates completely with my experience, even though Register was older than I am. It is useful to know this history of Wilson & Company in Albert Lea, Minnesota exists.
Register claims hesitancy about writing the memoir about Albert Lea because it was her father who worked at Wilson’s and experienced many of the issues she mentions. I don’t know who can better tell this story than such a daughter whose father worked there and was invested in the job and packing plant employee community. She did the research and the narrative is better for it. She could have gone easier on herself. Register died March 7, 2018.
I was struck by the description of people moving from farms to the city to work in meat packing. This was true of my family where my maternal great grandparents left central Illinois to live in Davenport in retirement. Four or five of their daughters worked in a defense plant making coats during World War II. My maternal grandmother did, and also worked a stint at the Oscar Mayer hog processing plant where Father and I worked. That cohort is now buried in local cemeteries. This part of the book also resonates with my experience.
An exodus from farming and rural areas continues today as agriculture has grown larger and requires fewer workers because of computer automation and changes in operations. Those who relocate, for lack of a better term, are not choosing meatpacking as a profession — or even as a job. With consolidation in the meatpacking industry and increased automation, there are simply fewer positions available. It is hard, dirty work as well. As a result, the job-driven movement from rural areas to cities no longer exists in the same way it did in Albert Lea during the period covered by this book.
I found Register’s narrative deeply resonated with my experiences. It is must reading for anyone interested in the specific history of Wilson & Company or in meat packing culture. With changes in the industry happening post-WWII era, that culture would disappear without books like this.
Calling this project done for now. I went through all remaining boxes in the two stacks and prepped two more boxes for the library used book sale. There are five empty boxes and a good amount of new stuff placed in old boxes. This was the first major sort of my books since they arrived in 1993 and I built the shelves. I’m satisfied I have a better idea of what is available, which was the point.
Notes:
I found the rest of my books related to slavery and African-American studies. The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois is important to the literary discussion of the United States. If a 21st Century canon was relevant or possible, he would be in it. I don’t expect to reread the book, yet it earned a place on the shelf. I studied Stanley Elkins’ book Slavery in graduate school. I would be curious to reread it, and also read the criticisms of it. Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington moves from box to shelf as well. On my to-do list is rearranging my African-American studies books.
I had more than a hundred business books. It was a really complete set as my work at the transportation and logistics company ended in 2009. The only ones I am keeping are Dale Carnegie’s books, which include one owned by my father, and an autographed copy of Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming. I picked Deming up for a buck at a used bookstore in Sweetwater, Texas during the rattlesnake roundup.
I intentionally left political books alone. I have all the presidential memoirs I know about, beginning with Truman. The next reading here is if Barack Obama ever finishes the second volume of his presidential memoir. I’m not a fan of Trump and to my knowledge, he hasn’t written a memoir from his first term. Like with Nixon, I’ll likely wait until he is dead before considering purchasing any memoir. I bought a copy of Mike Pence’s 2022 vice presidential memoir So Help Me God for a buck at the library used book sale. It is occupying the spot where Obama’s book will go when published. Pence seems to have tried to tell a normal story of that period. Will know more if I get around to reading it. Life is short. So many books with limited time.
As I approach a new year of writing, I feel refreshed by The Great Sort. I feel better aware of my stuff and know where to find things again. Highly recommend it if you have a wall of boxes hanging about your home.
For years, my books about North American indigenous culture were tucked away in a box. I decided I was wrong about them and with newly opened space because of The Great Sort, I put them on a shelf. These are in addition to the works by and about Black Hawk which I always kept out, and those of Hyemeyohsts Storm which I kept out, yet now boxed away. I wrote about Chuck Storm as we called him here. The next step is to incorporate this literature into a reading plan.
Of these books, the author that might best fit into a canon of American Literature (if such a thing existed or was possible) is N. Scott Momaday, whose House Made of Dawn won the Pulitzer Prize in 1969. There are others here that remain quite good. I read what I read of these beginning in 1970 while at university. I don’t know where this is going, yet they are out and available in a prominent space. I won’t miss seeing them daily and expect to read some of them.
I mentioned the Time magazine purge. I came across a dozen copies of Harpers Magazine dated 1938 and 1942. I bought them at either an auction or a yard sale for a buck. They used to be property of the Mount Carroll, Illinois public library, yet now find themselves in The Big Sort. There are familiar authors inside: John Dos Passos, E.B. White, Peter Drucker, Margaret Bourke-White, Glenway Wescott, Eudora Welty, T.S. Eliot, Franz Werfel, and probably others I should recognize. At the stop on my desk, enroute to the recycling bin, I notice how many pages of book advertisements there are. The December 1938 issue has 44 pages by most of the major publishers. That says something about the role Harpers played in popular culture. If that didn’t give it away, the advertisement for New York department store Hammacher Schlemmer did.
There are four mover’s boxes of vinyl records which I will attempt to sell locally. I asked our child about them and there was only a single record of interest: Beethoven’s Fidelio. The ones I will keep are a small, undetermined number. I will keep the Red Gallagher album because he autographed it for me and grew up a block away from our home. I spent a good part of my life listening to these hundreds of records. While I still have a turntable, I need a new amplifier and don’t want to spend the money. Probably should sell the turntable as well.
I’m writing on Christmas Day and noticed how many empty boxes there are. The purge of books and magazines is having the desired effect. There are more boxes than things on the sorting tables. At this point, I will find something to fill most of the boxes, although I am weeding out different styles of boxes because I need them for book shipments to the public library. While I just began The Big Sort, it feels like it has been going on for a much longer time. In a way, it has.
When handling hundreds of books long packed away, a few will stand out. Not only do I want to keep those in this photo, I want to read or re-read them next year. It’s part of the process of the Great Sort.
While living in Mainz, Germany, I had a stamp made with my military address and Social Security number on it. Back then, we viewed the Social Security number as unique to us and if we got separated from any possession, the rightful owner could be found. It was embossed into our dog tags. We put it on clothing, imprinted it inside field boots, in books, on everything that would take ink. That was short-term thinking from a perspective of how many people today would like to get hold of that number and use it for theft and other evil purposes. Wasn’t the best idea.
A substantial part of the Great Sort has been spent searching for these stamped locators and either blacking them out or cutting them off.
It has been hard to persist more than a few hours without getting impatient and stuffing books back into another box and into the new stacks I am building. At that point I must resist the urge, turn off the lights, and find something else to do. I want this to be a final sort. I’m labeling and dating the outside of the boxes so I know what’s in them and when I last touched the books. I doubt I will return to many of the boxes.
In the display area of my writing space I have about 3,000 books. I pulled out and boxed all the books of music. The vinyl long playing records will get boxed, reunited with the others I have, and then finally disposed of. This creates more space for active books and some of it will fill with the three-ring binders I am making as I write my autobiography. It should be a more useful (to a writer) library.
I want the Great Sort to be finished by Spring. I think that is doable even as I enter seedling planting time next month, especially if I stick with it a couple hours per day. The purpose of the work is to improve how I store research materials and become a better writer. I’m hopeful at this point. all of that will be the Great Sort’s outcome.
Mailing label from the first apartment where I wrote after university.
I spent two hours rearranging poetry books in my stacks. I decided eight 23-inch shelves was enough poetry and some had to go. Now there is an eight-inch stack of poetry books awaiting disposition. Poetry measured in inches.
I rearranged the poetry so more in which I have interest rest at eye level. On top are the smaller-sized books and below that is the canon. You know, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, Donne, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Swift, Browning, and Blake. The exception is Chaucer and Shakespeare’s plays are across the room because the poetry shelves weren’t tall enough.
The other exception, or rather objection to the canon, is where are the women? You know, Charlotte Smith, Felicia Hemens, Mary Robinson, Anna Laeticia Barbauld, and maybe others. They were largely erased by the male authors of the canon. I don’t own any of them or I’d fit them in.
Don’t get me started on an American canon. Somewhere in the 20th Century that broke down and can never be repaired.
This is my current life when I am not writing. Opening about 100 boxes of books and deciding which to keep and which to donate. Already I’ve taken a dozen boxes to the library’s used book sale. There will be more.
I used to stamp my name and address in every book I bought. My hands have been on books from every place I lived this month. Some of the fifty year old paper has changed. Books from the 19th century crumble in my hands. I took one old book to a used bookshop to consult about the damage. This is a practical task that should involve logic. It’s more emotional than expected.
There is material for multiple posts in this project. I have to wait and see what I get into before knowing what their subject will be. I hope you are along for the ride.
By late Sunday night, I was ready for the deathly weekend to end. An acquaintance my age, with whom I worked at a transportation and logistics firm, died unexpectedly of a heart attack. His obituary was in the Sunday newspaper. There were the shootings in the news: Brown University in Rhode Island, and Bondi Beach in Australia. Then came the apparent murders of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer in California. It was public death overload.
It didn’t help the bitter cold kept me inside most of the weekend. I cleared snow from the driveway, but that’s about all the time I was outdoors. The saving grace was the visit of our child beginning Friday. They couldn’t make it home on Saturday because of the blizzard. They left Saturday morning, then turned the vehicle around, and headed back when the Interstate proved to be impassible. The extra night was a blessing for parents.
Despite the deaths, things weren’t all bad this weekend.
The bean soup and cornbread tasted good and was well-received Friday night.
I finished reading The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. It’s the kind of novel I enjoy reading, set in a time before electronic devices dominate society.
I read Adrienne Rich’s 1991 book of poetry, An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991. I found it hard to access yet there was at least one relatable poem.
Preparing enchilada sauce began a process of re-thinking how I make it. I tried substituting a slurry of all purpose flour, vegetable oil, and spices for arrowroot as a thickener. This approach has potential. More to come.
Used an aging can of pumpkin puree to make pumpkin bread. The results were so-so. Next time, I’ll use pumpkin I preserved myself.
I drafted another chapter in my autobiography.
Boxed up a donation of books for the public library used book sale.
Ambient temperatures warmed to the upper-20s on Monday, which meant a break from bitter cold. I’ll work to make this week better than the bitter weekend just past. Hard to keep a positive outlook sometimes, yet we must.
In late November I’ve read 63 books this year. Not all of them were good, yet many of them were exceptional. This post is about books I am glad to have read this year.
The Politics of Resentment by Katherine Cramer
Cramer’s examination of rural political consciousness — and the resentment often directed toward “liberal elites” — is essential reading for any Iowan trying to understand where our politics may be heading. I remember the mass demonstrations in Madison during Scott Walker’s tenure, and Cramer uses his administration as a springboard for a broader exploration of government’s place in everyday life. Her account is grounded in the many conversations she held with rural Wisconsinites while conducting her research, giving the book both texture and credibility.
Queen Esther by John Irving
Beginning during my university days I had a small number of authors whose work I read with great anticipation shortly after a new book was released. First it was Saul Bellow, and then Joan Didion. When they died, that author became John Irving. Queen Esther is what I expect from an Irving novel.
The reason I enjoy reading Irving is when he writes about his time in Iowa City, it is the place I came to know. The Water Method Man was set there and he specifically mentioned 918 Iowa Avenue, with which I am very familiar. That feeling, along with other common experiences, gives me entree into the world he describes in his latest book.
There are some naysayers about Queen Esther, yet it is familiar fare which I am glad to access. Having traveled there myself, I particularly enjoyed the chapters about Vienna and Amsterdam. He describes the same Vienna I came to know and that draws me into the book. My review is here.
The Siren’s Call by Chris Hayes
There are other books about the attention economy, but Chris Hayes The Siren’s Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource comes at a time when we need to hear his message. I hear the word “distraction” multiple times each day from friends and family. There is more there and Hayes gets to the heart of it. My review is here.
Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates
Source Code: My Beginnings is a straight up autobiography of Bill Gates’ early years through development of Microsoft. The early coding he wrote was impactful in my life and in the broader society. To hear it directly from the source was a quick, informative read.
This is for Everyone by Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee is credited as being the inventor of the World Wide Web in 1989. His autobiography explains what happened. It is something that affects most people and worthy of reading.
Apple in China by Patrick McGee
The relationship between Apple and China is part of the news each day whether mentioned explicitly or not. I remember Iowa firms establishing a business relationship in China when I was in my 50s and found it curious that China would not let them own a majority stake in businesses they managed there. Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company explains the risk and what happened to the company because of it.
Breakneck by David Wang
While China is an engineering state, relentlessly pursuing mega-projects, the U.S. has stalled. America has transformed into a lawyerly society, reflexively blocking everything, good and bad. This book makes the case why China is so far ahead of the United States in manufacturing and in other areas of the economy. When we consider the United States, the concept of “lawyering up” is a negative for the betterment of society. Just look at our president and the number of lawsuits in which he is engaged.
The Devil Reached Toward the Sky by Garrett M. Graff
I previously read many of the stories in this oral history of the making and use of the atomic bomb. What sets Graff’s book apart is collecting first person accounts of that history. It brings a form of immediacy to a topic modern people tend to forget when discussing nuclear weapons and disarmament.
Nomadland by Jessica Bruder
I know many people looking for work without much success. Jessica Bruder wrote an autobiography about her experiences in a workforce unhinged from a predictable, daily schedule of work. She worked all over the country in seasonal or part-time positions, the most recognizable of which is the Amazon CamperForce program. Amazon leverages people displaced from regular work and have taken to living in recreational vehicles. They have a formal program to hire them in their warehouses during peak sales activity. This is just one example. This one is well worth your time for its window into a world most of us didn’t know existed. My review is here.
Eleven Days by Donald Harstad
The county sheriff recommended this book about a crime in the area where I live. I don’t read many crime novels, yet the local setting drew me in, and the tightly written narrative had me turning every page as quickly as I could.
2025 was a good year for reading. In retrospect, I should have read more poetry, so I’m making that a goal for 2026. To conserve resources, I expect to read more books from the public library and my own collection. I maintain my daily reading target of 25 pages, although that creeps up when I find a compelling book.
I’d be interested in what readers are reading in the comments.
Like every progressive activist, I want news from reliable sources — newspapers, newsletters, blogs, and social media. The question is always, “Who is active and can tell me something I haven’t heard elsewhere?” Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American is the top Substack, with more than 1.3 million subscribers. It’s a must-read. There are others, less well known and on different platforms. Here are five to consider. Hopefully, this provides some value as we trek across the internet wasteland.
Olena Halushka is a Ukrainian politician and activist. Her daily posts on BlueSky keep the terrorist acts of Russia in Ukraine in front of me. She was a member of the Kyiv City Council and a contributor to Ukrainska Pravda, the Atlantic Council, EUobserver, The Washington Post, and Foreign Policy. Find her on BlueSky here: @halushka.bsky.social
Nina Elkadi is an Investigative Reporter at Sentient, and freelance writer from Iowa who reports on agriculture, water, and the environment. Her work also explores the manipulation of science and how corporate negligence affects consumers and workers. I had the pleasure of meeting Elkadi in Iowa City. She posts on BlueSky at @ninaelkadi.com
Alice Miranda Ollstein is a senior health care reporter for POLITICO, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health. She is often first to market with major stories on her beat. She also monitors social media and reposts articles I find valuable and leading edge. Subscribe to her posts at the POLITICO website or follow on BlueSky at @alicemiranda.bsky.social .
Hannah Ritchie is a Scottish data scientist, senior researcher at the University of Oxford, and deputy editor at Our World in Data. Her work focuses on sustainability, in relation to climate change, energy, food and agriculture, biodiversity, air pollution, deforestation, and public health. I read Ritchie because she brings a fresh voice to the subject of coping with the climate crisis. Her first book, Not the End of the World, was published in 2024. Find her on BlueSky at @hannahritchie.bsky.social
Ana Marie Cox I’m likely dating myself here. Cox is a frequent critic of the Substack culture and simply a very interesting person. I have been following her since the Wonkette days and yes that was a thing. In addition to media criticism, she posts frequently about her trials and tribulations in the gig economy. She is contributing editor at @newrepublic.com; co-host of Space the Nation (sci-fi meets politics); plus @pastduepodcast.com. Follow her on Buttondown at https://newsletter.anamariecox.com/ or on BlueSky at @anamariecox.bsky.social. Her BlueSky account is mostly reposts of stories that track her eclectic interests.
What are your favorite reads on the World Wide Web? Feel free to leave a comment.
Last night I spent time reading in a Discord group. That means about seven members of the community got together on the platform, set a timer for 45 minutes of quiet reading, then had a discussion after we finished. A couple of things stood out.
The host provided the platform and played music to read by.
The online chat was turned on but not many commented after saying hello. We each went about our business: various permutations of reading.
The point of the gathering was to have one more thing to do together in the established online community. Reading is good.
We didn’t all share what we were reading. My book was A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties by Suze Rotolo. Rotolo was an artist widely known as Bob Dylan’s girlfriend from 1961-1964, according to Wikipedia. Dylan acknowledged her influence on his music.
I was the oldest person, by far.
We had a voice discussion about public libraries. The group likes libraries. I mentioned they are easy on the pocketbook. In particular, we discussed process: visiting in person, using online tools, the value of checking a book out vs. buying, and placing reserves. The others were not that different from me in terms of process. I wrote about that here.
The time went quickly, and it was fun to know others were reading while I was. The after reading discussion was positive. A community event in a life where we need more of those.
Journey Home 
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