2020. Wow. It really was something else. But for all of the pain and uncertainty this year has brought for me and for the world, 2020 was the year that I fell back in love with reading. I should preface this with saying that I’ve never exactly fallen out of reading. Even in my lowest reading years (we don’t talk about 2018) I’ve consistently read more than the average person. But in 2020 I fell back in love with reading. I was excited about books, both personally and in the classroom; I was thrilled to be writing and to be reviewing; I started really participating in bookstagram and following new creators. And 2020 was the year that I officially became a bookseller at The Novel Neighbor. It’s been such a blast to feel connected to the various parts of the book community again.
I read 69 books in 2020, the majority of which was fiction. I read more audiobooks in 2020 than I ever have before. I read more classics in 2020 that had previously been the sort to intimidate me; this was in part because of my literature classes this fall (Literature of Romance and Reading Women’s Writing). Here is my monthly breakdown and then my cumulative favorites.
January: I completed no books. This was a first for me.
February: Two books, neither of which were particularly memorable but I did enjoy reading The Unredeemed Captive by John Putnam Demos for my Gender in Early American class last spring.
March: Eight books; favorite of which was The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver. Such a tender read.
April: Seven books; favorite of which was probably The Sea Captain’s Wife by Martha Hodes.
May: Eight Books; favorite of which was either In Five Years by Rebecca Serle or The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh or The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
June: Twelve books; favorite of which was either The Light We Lost by Jill Santpolo or All Along You Were Blooming by Morgan Harper Nichols or Jane Anonymous by Laurie Faria Stolarz.
July: Three books; favorite of which was The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister.
August: Six books; favorite of which was The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
September: Nine books; favorite of which was either The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell or Parzival by Wolfrom von Echenbach
October: Three books; favorite of which was Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs or The Arabian Nights (in some translations 1001 Arabian Nights)
November: Eight books; favorite of which was either The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet, Sula by Toni Morrison, or The Divines by Ellie Eaton (coming Jan. 2021)
December: Three books; favorite of which was Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (coming May 2021)
I’m so excited for everything 2021 has to offer in terms of books. I’m really excited to announce that I’m moving permanently from Goodreads over to The Storygraph starting this year*. It’s important to me to avoid supporting A*azon when possible (and sadly Goodreads is owned by them). I’m also thrilled to be supporting a Black female owned business. My username is booksinerhead so add me and we can bask in all of the 2021 bookish possibility.
*I’ll still be posting reviews but won’t be actively participating in the community aspects of Goodreads.
