At the beginning of 2008, I set myself the goal to read at least one book a week. When the year ended, I was reading three books that would have counted as my 40th book. Not too bad a score, if only because the number of 52 books was as arbitrary as it was ridiculous. The resolution wasn’t even made because of a love for prose; merely, it stemmed from a strong feeling of having to make up. Make up for all those years I spent getting older without growing up, walking fast without getting further and experiencing without becoming more experienced; reading novels, which I never did enough, had become something of a metaphor for those lost years.

My goals for 2009 include to read as many good books as possible, without the number becoming a goal in itself. Other, and slightly more important, goals include growing up, getting further and becoming more experienced. In just about any aspect of life. If continuing to read books will help with that in any kind of way, then that’s only a good thing.

But I do love prose in itself and I might have loved it —and poetry, too— in 2008 more than ever. I was attempting to compile a top 10 of the books I read, but gave up after 15 titles that absolutely had to be included, which shows how many good books I read. Here, however, is an incomplete overview of some books that really mattered.