I love "lookback" posts, and have always loved New Years'. This year, that feeling is probably magnified and shared by a lot more people.
Is anyone else sick of the word "unprecedented"? Because seriously...
But anyway, it is with hopeful optimism that I look back on a year that was in itself a historical event, and look forward to 2021.
And so, it's time for this year's wrap-up!
The First Book I Read This Year
Ah, January. Simpler times.
If you aren't new here, you know that I choose the first read of a new year carefully. For the last couple of years, I have picked the book gifted to me during our (now) annual book exchange. This year it was postponed originally...
But in January it was a different time, and I'd just received Where the Crawdads Sing. A very strong start to the year! And yes, I really loved it. Read my review, here.
My Most Anticipated Book of the Year
I love Margaret Atwood. Like, a lot. And The Handmaid's Tale is one of my top five favourite books of all time. So it was with a whole lot of nervous anticipation that I awaited the arrival of the sequel, The Testaments.
And it was with relief that I read it. You can read my full review here.
My Favourite "Different Type" of Book This Year
I love cookbooks, and with my cancelled Disneyland trip this year, and with my husband and I starting our podcast (you can check out Disney, Eh? on all podcast platforms), I loved delving into the imaginative world and food of the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Cookbook.
And I'm going to give an extra "shout-out" here to a graphic-novel memoir that really stuck with me and which I highly recommend. This fall I read Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, and can I just say, wow. If you haven't picked this one up yet, do so.
My Favourite Classic Read This Year
Last year I started reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I put it down and forgot about it. This year, I started it again and was confused about how I was ever able to put it down.
The Series I Finally Finished! Also, My Guilty Pleasure Book
It took me a while, but I finally finished the Lily Baird series. They were all light, fun reads, and while I didn't like them all the same, and I didn't like the series as much as the "True Blood" series (same author), I still enjoyed them, and that escapism, especially this year, was fun.
The Book That Broke Me Out of My Covid-Slump
Yes, Covid-slump is a real thing. At first, people thought we book nerds would be thrilled. For the first time in, well, forever, I had time to read! I could have read hundreds of books this year.
But my brain just wasn't in it. Teaching online was exhausting. The news was exhausting. And my brain got a little sluggish.
But then in the summer, as I was just starting to get reading again, I picked up a nonfiction book of all things, a memoir on my never-ending TBR list. I picked it up for the title - Girl Walks Into a Book - but ended up loving it. I loved it for the absolute love of literature the author expressed. And, while it wasn't my favourite book of the year (actually probably not even in my top three), I really enjoyed it, and am so thankful I read it, as it changed everything around for me and really helped me feel like myself again.
The Obligatory Covid Post
I tend to try to look at the positive side of things, but sometimes Covid really gets to me. I talk about guilt and giving myself grace and not romanticizing those "before" times quite so much in this post. And I wish for kindness and patience. Seems that is needed more and more every day, now.
The Round-Ups
I decided to do a few "round ups" this year of previous blog posts and book reviews. I started with Halloween, wrote one for Christmas, and even came up with one for New Years'.
(Do you want me to continue with this for the next few seasons and holidays? Let me know!)
The Book Challenges
I love reading challenges. Yes, I am setting some goals for myself for 2021, and yes, some of those goals involve reading challenges. Here is my post for the 2020 book challenges I set up at the beginning of January.
You know, in "the before times".
So how did I do?
Actually, sci-fi / dystopian / fantasy went well, as I read 6 / 6 for my goal. Classics, really not so much. Four of twelve. Yikes. (And no, I am not counting The Man Who Invented Christmas as a classic, since it is about a classic, but is not a classic itself.)
I wanted to read 35 books overall this year, and I made it by the skin of my teeth, to borrow the cliche. And a fair number of those were from my TBR stacks. Of course, I added many more to those lists and stacks, and didn't read nearly as much during at-home Covid time as I wanted, but that's okay. (Back to that grace thing.)
Looking Back at Last Year's Wrap-Up and my 2020 Goals
My goals for this year are to finish the first draft of my third book. Maybe even start editing. And then I want to finish my reading goals from last year. This time around, my goal is to read 35 books. Not the 50 I used to, but with the teaching load, and my involvement in a play with a community theatre group in the first part of the year, and some more travel planned, hopefully it is somewhat realistic.
I want to read 12 new-to-me classics, and, again, 6 sci fi or dystopian books.
And, finally, I want to read some of the many, many books on my TBR (to be read) book case. (That's right, I said case). I probably have hundreds of books lent to me by my mother-in-law. If I can read a solid handful of them, and return them, I'd feel pretty good about it.
Yeah, so....
And also, yet, more complicated times.
So, let's review.
First of all, no, I did not finish the first draft of my third book. And I certainly did not finish editing it as well.
35 books, check. Sci-fi, check. Classics, not check. TBR books, kind of check.
Not bad, actually, especially all things considered.
And that brings us to our final category...
The Best of the Best
What were my favourite reads of the year? These are the ones that "stuck with me" the most.
In no particular order...
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (review coming in the new year)
And my number one favourite read of the year is...
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
The review for this one is coming out December 31. (New Years' Eve just happens to fall on book review day!) So stay tuned!
So, there we have it. A look back, and now onto looking ahead to 2021. Did you struggle with reading during the crazy events of the year, or did you tear through books like crazy? Or somewhere in between?
And what was your favourite read of 2020?
I'd love to read your comments below, or via my contact page, here. And don't forget to subscribe to my occasional newsletter while you're there!
And a happy new year, everyone!