Year 2020 Reading Journey

~ nonsensicalwhim

My 2020 Reading Journey was way more productive than I would have ever expected.

I’ve always loved to read for as long as I could remember. I’ve been a Goodreads user since 2013, but only started being active on GR in the year 2016. As for 2020 – ah, the year I don’t have to feel any sort of guilt for reading to my heart’s delight after being told to stay home – somehow cutting down on travel time and having that flexibility to sort out my schedule really enabled me to finish a whole lot of books I’ve been meaning to read and re-read.

It started out with me being aware that books were my form of escaping the reality of the everyday world, to finding that books taught me to love the worlds I was seeing come to life in my imagination, and created an avenue for me to be actually invested in the characters’ lives and journeys.

A reflection on my reading journey for 2020:

Best Books Read in 2020:

  1. The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
  2. Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
  3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
  4. The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
  5. Troubled Blood – Cormoran Strike # 5 by Robert Galbraith
  6. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
  7. Fire and Blood by George RR Martin
  8. Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
  9. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas
  10. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
  11. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

The first four are my favorite fantasy novels of the year. I can’t believe I took this long to read Scott Lynch, whose first book the Lies of Locke Lamora – is one of my favorites. I also loved Patrick Rothfuss’ series – waiting for the last installment next year. Of course, George RR Martin’s Fire and Blood, being a written history of the Targaryens – I got so invested in this one and learning about the Targaryens’ legacy.

The Young Adult books here that I loved were Obsidio and Six of Crows. I’d also consider House of Earth and Blood, but apparently it’s one of SJ Maas’s more adult books? But still pretty YA for me. Obsidio is such a satisfying conclusion to one of the more unique books I’ve read. Six of Crows is my first Grishaverse novel, though I couldn’t help but be invested in Kaz Brekker and his ragtag team of thieves. House of Earth and Blood was a long and sometimes tiring read, but for a suspense thriller, I loved it and wouldn’t hesitate to read the next one.

Surprising Great Reads:

  1. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  2. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
  3. In Five years by Rebecca Serle
  4. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
  5. Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow

Classic Re-reads:

  1. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
  2. The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien
  3. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
  4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
  5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling

What was the worst book you read in 2020?

I’m not the type of reader who does DNF’s, but here were the closest ones to DNF-ing for me:

The Taming of the Queen – thought it would be interesting because it features another of Henry VIII’s many wives, and the one who was least featured in novels (I think I’ve seen a lot of Anne Boleyn / Katherine of Aragon ones out there). I couldn’t stand the repeating tone of the book and how every few chapters it goes back to Katherine pining for a man she can’t have when she is made out to be such an intelligent and self-publishing woman.

Magonia – I liked the premise of this novel at first because it sounded dreamy, but as I went through it, the story got very muddled and the plot didn’t come across as well thought out to me.

What are your reading plans for 2021?

Ahh, 2021! If only I were as certain about my life plans the same way I’m quite certain about my book plans. I think if acquiring books and reading are separate hobbies, I couldn’t tell you the difference. I’ve gained quite a book lust as of this year. I can’t help but want certain books with a passion. Nevertheless, here are my 2021 plans:

  1. My goal is to read 60 books.
  2. I still have a lot of e-books in my pocket reader, so I might get started on a few of those after I’ve finished my physical book stash. There are a lot, but here are some notable ones:
    • All the Light we cannot see – Anthony Doerr
    • A Song of Wraiths and Ruin – Roseanne Brown
    • The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
    • Gods of Jade and Shadow – Silvia Moreno Garcia
    • House of salt and Sorrows – Erin Craig
    • Perdido street Station – China Mieville
    • The Warded Man – Peter Brett
    • The Ballad of songbirds and snakes – Suzanne Collins
    • The Binding – Bridget Collins
    • The Glass hotel – Emily St john Mandel
    • The City in the Middle of the Night – Charlie Jane Anders
    • The Library of the Unwritten – AJ Hackwith
    • The Three Body Problem – Cixin Liu
    • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – VE Schwab
    • The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
    • The Starless Sea – Erin Morgenstern
    • Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
    • If I had your face – Frances Cha
  3. The last book I read for 2020 is The Two Towers of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I’m reading The Return of the King and The Great Dune Trilogy (starting with the first book) this year 2021 to kick things off.
  4. Book acquisitions: I feel like I’m starting to become a book collector. I once never gave a care to the aesthetics of a book edition, and now I’m quite conscious of the book editions I buy for myself – as you can see below. I’ve bought a few Minalima books, a few Barnes and Noble editions, two Rockpoint editions – and I’ve gotten to collecting Tolkien works like the Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion. I’m starting to collect a lot of the famous fantasy novels and the prettiest leatherbound vintage books. Some books I also bought this year but have not yet arrived are:
    1. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (B&N)
    2. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte (B&N)
    3. The Complete Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle (Rockpoint)
    4. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens (B&N)

My 2020 Book Haul:

In 2021, the books I’m eyeing to acquire are the following:

  1. Barnes and Noble edition – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  2. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (hardcover)
  3. Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson (the pretty hardcover UK edition)
  4. Robert Jordan’s A Wheel of Time series
  5. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
  6. A Sky beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir
  7. Grishaverse Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
  8. The World of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin
  9. Empire of Gold by SA Chakraborty
  10. Minalima Beauty and the Beast
  11. Kingkiller Chronicle Book 3
  12. Barnes and Noble – Jules Verne
  13. Barnes and Noble – The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  14. Barnes and Noble – Le Miserables by Victor Hugo

–and knowing me, many more–

At this point, I do want to get into non-fiction books, but I think I’m enjoying myself way too much in the fiction section. There are just so many great writers and books and what is happiness without imagination or creativity?

Published by nonsensicalwhim

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