2020 Reading Recap
One of my favorite thing to do at the end of the year is look back on my reading. In 2020, my goal was to read 100 books. As of this blog post, I have completed 171 books! It was pretty fun to see my stats on Goodreads. Don’t be too impressed, as a lot of the books I completed were middle grade. Some of them were pre-reading for Claire, some of them were reading with Claire (yes, I count read alouds in my Goodreads) and some were just for my own enjoyment. I can normally knock out a middle grade novel in a day, so they’re fun palate cleansers in between longer or more heavy books. Other top catergories were classics, young adult and Christian fiction.
One of my goals for 2021 is to branch out of my normal reading habits and stretch myself a bit more. That will likely mean that I read less books for the entire year, but I want to challenge myself a bit. Here are some reading challenges I’m going to try to participate in:
19 in 2021 (from Literary Life Podcast)
The 5×5 Reading Challenge (from the Schole Sisters)
2021 Read Your Bookshelf Challenge (from Intentional Life)
Will I be able to branch out this much in 2021? I’m not really sure, but I blew my 2020 reading goal out of the water, so why not challenge myself? I’ll update how I’m doing in my reading wrap ups throughout the year.
2020 Stats
Books Read: 171
Pages Read: 52,149
Favorite New Author: Brandon Sanderson
Most Read Genre(s): Classic literature and middle grade
Least Read Genre: Sci Fi … and I didn’t enjoy the only sci fi I read.
Shortest Book: Cricket on the Hearth (Charles Dickens) – 66 pages
Longest Book: Martin Chuzzlewit (also Dickens, oddly enough) – 830 pages
Reading Challenges: 2020 Read Your Bookshelf Challenge (from Hey Reader), Hey Readerathon (read my picks here)
Favorite Books of 2020
Here are my top 10 books of 2020! They’re in no particular order, because I can’t narrow that down. It’s like trying to choose between children! Okay, maybe not, but it would be impossible to narrow down which books I absolutely loved the most.
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Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
I read everything Jonathan Auxier has ever written this year and Sweep was my absolute favorite (Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard being a close second). It’s about Nan Sparrow, an eleven year old chimney sweep in Victorian London. Auxier did a lot of research into the time period of this book and it shows. The abuse of young chimney sweeps was so heart breaking. It was a bit Oliver Twist-esqe, but in the best way and with a fantasy twist thrown in. It’s a middle grade book, but one that adults would surely enjoy as well.
All Creatures Great and Small: The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World’s Most Beloved Animal Doctor
2020 was a rough year. A heavy year. And while many of my favorite books this year made me cry, this book was one that completely lifted my spirits. I might be the only person who hadn’t heard of James Herriot, but if you’re in the same boat, he was a country vet in England. His books are about his experiences – both with people and animals. Reading this book (and the sequel) were like a breath of fresh air. If you love animals, you’ll enjoy these books.
Somehow I managed to go my entire adult life without reading this book. In Christian circles, that’s almost unheard of. It’s about Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch clockmaker’s daughter during World War 2. Her family helped to hide Jews from the Nazi invasion. In time, they are discovered and sent to concentration camps. I cried so many times reading this book. Her strength, reliance upon God and forgiveness of those who harmed her and her family were truly inspiring.
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella
This is a short little book (only about 75 pages, if my memory serves me correctly), but it packs a powerful punch. It’s the story of a grandfather, his son and his grandson as he battles dementia. I cried almost the entire time I read this book, but it was so well done. I’ve always thought about how sad dementia is for the family, but this really shows how horrifying it is to be losing your memory, losing yourself, losing your family and being helpless to stop it. It’s the first Backman book I’ve read, but I’m really looking forward to more in 2021 (currently have A Man Called Ove on my shelf).
If you’re looking for a heart warming, uplifting story, this ain’t it. In fact, almost none of Hardy’s books are, but that doesn’t change how beautifully written they are. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is a tragic story about the double standards women faced in the Victorian era. The character development is amazing and the descriptions of the English countryside are gorgeous. Hardy caught a lot of flack for this one when it was written, but he stubbornly insisted that Tess was his favorite female protagonist.
When you think of L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables comes to mind. In some ways Emily is similar to the Anne series. Emily becomes an orphan after her beloved father passes away. Forced to live with her spinister aunts and uncle, ten year old Emily finds solace in nature and writing. Emily definitely has a different personality than Anne, so it wasn’t like reading the Anne series over. These books were so heart warming and enjoyable. I read the entire trilogy in less than a week, because I couldn’t put it down. I love L.M. Montgomery’s writing, particularly her descriptions of nature.
The story of Nell and her grandfather, this is a touching story about love an sacrifice with absolutely unforgettable characters. This was my third reading of this book and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first two times.
I’ve never been a very big fan of high fantasy. Typically authors either drop you into a foreign place and you’re completely lost, or they take so long to develop the world that you’re bored. I had heard a lot of people talking about Brandon Sanderson and how his books (especially the Mistborn trilogy) are so accessible for people who aren’t used to high fantasy. I gave it a try and Sanderson is now one of my favorite authors!
The world in Mistborn is more intricate than I could describe in a quick blurb, but there is an evil ruler who has had dominion over the land for 1,000 years. He is supposedly immortal and untouchable. The oppressed people are tired of his tyranny, but they don’t know how to rise up. A group of thieves decide to band together to plan how to take down the Lord Ruler once and for all. The magical system is understandable and character development was unbelievable. If you’re skeptical about high fantasy like I was, give this series a shot!
I read this book in January and I still think about it pretty often, which is a hallmark of a great book. This is a middle grade story about Melody, a disabled girl who can’t walk or talk. Many people write her off, believing her to be mentally handicapped as well, but she’s brilliant. She struggles to make herself understood, but in middle school is able to get a computer that speaks whatever she types into it. Now that she can talk to other kids, she’s convinced that she’ll finally be able to make friends, but it proves more difficult than she thought. This book is heart-wrenching. I cried so many times. But I feel like it’s an important book for all children and adults to read. The subtle (and not so subtle) ways we treat people who are different than us have lasting impact.
The Hour That Changes the World
I mentioned in my 32 Birthday Goals post that I wanted to begin reading one spiritual book per month. This was the second one I read. It completely changed my prayer life. Praying for an entire hour sounds like a lot, but in a day that has 24 hours, it shouldn’t be too much to set aside for the Lord. But how do you find that much to say to fill an hour? Dick Eastman walks through 12 aspects of prayer (some examples are praise, intercession, waiting, confession and petition). When you spend 5 minutes on each category, you’ve prayed for an entire hour. If I’m being honest, I haven’t prayed for an entire hour yet (mostly because I haven’t managed my time well before Claire wakes up), but I couldn’t even pray for 10 minutes on my own without my mind wandering. Having some structure to my prayer life was so helpful and has completely changed how I pray. I highly recommend this book to all Christians, but especially those who are looking for a deeper prayer life.
Honorable Mentions (Because I Can't Just Leave It At 10)
Adventuring Together: How to Create Connections and Make Lasting Memories with Your Kids
The Princess and the Goblin
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Between Shades of Gray – A historical fiction about a Lithuanian girl in World War 2
A Curse So Dark and Lonely
The Great Alone
As I Lay Dying
The Yearling
Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been
What were some of your favorite books you read this year? I love chatting about books and hearing about ones I haven’t read, so let me know in the comments section!
2 Comments
Chantel
Oh man, I really love a lot of the books that you loved this year! I didn’t add non-fiction books onto my list of favorites but if I had Adventuring Together would have been on there. Now I need to add the books I haven’t read on my list to check out!
admin
We have a lot of similar tastes in reading! I had a hard time paring down my list, but a lot of books I read this year were ones I heard of on your channel 😊