The year is almost over, and so I want to talk to you about books. I had a really great reading year. Not all the books I read were winners, and in fact I became very frustrated with thrillers for a while because I kept choosing such mediocre ones to read, but of the 80 books I've read so far, 20 of them ended up on my favorites shelf on Goodreads. I think that's a record for me and I'm so happy about it.

I love books, which is not a unique feeling and will not come as a surprise to anyone because I talk about them constantly. I've even been considering the idea of turning this newsletter into, not exactly a book blog, but a newsletter where I still write personal things and theme them around what I've been reading, or around a specific book I feel relates to whatever I'm writing about. I think I need a slightly narrower focus than hope, because as much as I want to provide people little weekly glimmers of hope to sustain them through the bleak landscape of, you know, everything else, I feel like it makes it difficult to decide what to write about and it also limits the appeal of the newsletter. This isn't a definite change, just something I'm thinking about.