2020 Reads
Last January I wrote a bookworm where I shared all the books I read in 2019. I am doing that again, but just a tad early. In 2019 I read 39 books, I am down to 38 this year, but I guess you can call me consistent. I had big goals for 2020, but I guess we can all appreciate that this year didn’t care at all about what we wanted.
The one goal I had was to read more “real” books, you know the kind made of paper, and that I did achieve. It probably helped that one of the books I read compelled me to step away from social media, that book was, The Bright Side of Going Dark by Kelly Harms. 20 of my books were of the paper variety, with 9 of them being read since the Harms book that I read in October, putting the cellphone down can really free up some time.
I read 32 different authors, 35 fiction books, 11 of which were Young Adult, and 3 non-fiction books, up from 0 in 2019. I read 2 complete series and the second novel released in what I hope will only be a two-part production of the Ready Player novels from Ernest Cline. I enjoyed both books, but I am ready for him to go on to something new, or return to his Armada world, he is far too creative to limit himself.
Our monthly book club brought some heavy reads to my list, 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult, Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham, If We Must Die by Pat Carr, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, and When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. I loved each of this books! I might be a glutton for punishment, but I enjoy a book that is thought provoking. If that is your thing, I would recommend that you add them to your list.
As I am writing this, I keep looking over my list trying to decide what my favorite book is for the 2020 year. I love that it hasn’t jumped out to me yet. Last year I bashed my James Patterson read, this year I really have no one to throw under the bus, that might be because I get better and better about not forcing myself to read something I don’t like.
I really enjoyed the Themis Files series by Sylvain Neuvel. It is a sci-fi series and has a unique delivery. I read the much raved about Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, it was a book club pick and my favorite part was discovering that this was the author’s first novel at age 70. I read both novels by Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing and Transcendent Kingdom. I love, love, love this author!
My 3 non-fiction books were in my top reads for the year. Very, Very, Very Dreadful by Albert Marrin is a great read about the influenza pandemic of 1918 and is eerily too much like the world we are living in. The 2 biographies I read, When Breath Becomes Air by Kalanithi and Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey are both wonderful reads in very different ways. Again, I cannot stress enough how beneficial it is for us to read about others, novel or biography.
I guess it is time to pick.
My favorite read for 2020 would be The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I have mentioned this book and this author in other bookworms. It was just such a magical read and Morgenstern is just a magician when it comes to words. Similar to why I loved Jeff Zenter’s books last year; great reads and words written in such a magical way that it must be savored. She is in no way a quick read, but so worth it. The audio for Night Circus drew me in, I am wondering if I need to try the audio for The Starless Sea, a book I started but have yet to finish. Sometimes books are so great you want to hold them longer, you wish you had a week with no interruptions to just enjoy each sentence.
2020 might not have met any of my expectations or allowed me to achieve my goals, but it did give me some reads, so thanks 2020… I guess.
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