Earlier this year, when The New York Times featured a man who had recorded every book he’d read over many years, I thought about my friend Linda Lightfoot, who’s kept a similar list for two decades.
The Times’ story about Dan Pelzer, a resident of Columbus, Ohio, who died in July at 92, got lots of attention. Pelzer had kept a list of his reading since 1962, logging 3,599 titles before his eyesight gave out two years ago. Pelzer’s family has created a website to share his list at what-dan-read.com.
Lightfoot, a retired newspaper editor and my former boss, started her list in 2005.
“That was a period of time when I discovered books on tape,” she recalled. “I was fascinated by this new ability to listen to books while doing laundry, putting on makeup or cooking.”
Whether she was listening to a book or reading a printed copy, Lightfoot decided it might be wise to keep a record: “It occurred to me that I was reading a lot of books and listening to a lot of books I didn’t want to start reading again.”
Lightfoot, an avid reader since childhood, had more time for books after she retired as executive editor of The Baton Rouge Advocate in 2007. She loves detective fiction and history, especially Louisiana history.
“The most important thing to me in fiction is good dialogue,” she told me.
Among her favorite novelists are John Grisham and Michael Connelly.
“I enjoy detective fiction from other countries,” she added. “I like the South African author Deon Meyer, Icelandic authors and British authors.”
Lightfoot was an early fan of the late British mystery writer Dick Francis, whose books drew on equestrian themes.
“I learned a lot about horses that I didn’t know about from him,” she said.
Local history is an abiding passion for Lightfoot.
“I’m almost obsessed with the history of New Orleans,” she mentioned.
Among her choice volumes on Louisiana history are “Peapatch Politics,” William J. Dodd’s account of the Earl Long era, and “Kingfish,” Richard D. White’s biography of Huey Long.
Lightfoot logs her reading list on her computer so she can easily search titles and remind herself, for example, what she’s already read about Stonewall Jackson. Along with her computer file, she also lists books in three printed notebooks: one for fiction, one for nonfiction and one for her monthly tallies.
“I prefer to look at it on paper,” she said of her reading journal.
Lightfoot, 84, shies away from discussing how many books she’s recorded on her reading list since 2005. She worries that it might be misread as a boast, reducing her reading to a competition.
Other readers have found that tracking what they read over time teaches them something. Has Lightfoot learned anything from her exercise?
“I think the thing that strikes me,” she said, “is that even though I’m old, I still like to learn.”
Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com.