Briefly, some highlights from my 2005 reading: Baudolino by Umberto Eco, A Burnt Out Case by Graham Greene, Things That Fall from the Sky by Kevin Brockmeier, On Board Noah’s Ark by Ludwig Bemelmans.

As for business, it’s been a difficult and sometimes rewarding year. The hardest lessons continue to be about what doesn’t sell. My current project is weeding some of those lessons out of inventory to make room for new books.

I haven’t handled multiple copies of many titles. Of the few that I have, the bestsellers were The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater. I came into a pile of assorted editions of The Conscience of a Conservative as its profile was being lifted by two recent books that referenced it in their titles — David Brock’s Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative and Zell Miller’s A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat. Goldwater’s book was also noticed by BookFinder, which ranked it as the second most searched for out of print book in the Society and Culture category. The Four Agreements, a self help book based on Native American philosophy, sells steadily at a modest price.

By volume, my bestselling categories were Fiction, Biography, History, and Religion. Based on percentages (the number of books sold weighted against the number of books stocked in that category), Fiction was one of the worst performing categories, and the bestsellers were Audiobooks, Folklore & Mythology, and Self Help.

I’m looking forward to 2006 (and am hoping to get more reading in than I did this year). It’s going to be a big year for me and for Using Books.

Have a happy New Year.