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Reading List - 2020
Jan. 1st, 2020 05:50 pmLast year I matched my 2018 total with 25 books under my belt. It wasn't a good year in terms of selections in 2019 though. I got some great books for Christmas and bought another 4 in the Kindle sale though so I am optimistic I'm already half way to a better year of reading.
2020 is my 11th year of making this post (updated as the year progresses) and I've found it very enjoyable to have this record - especially without the added pressure/structure, and gameification of reading, which GoodReads tends towards.
January
1. Star Trek Discovery: The Way to the Stars by Uma McCormack This is only the second or third time I've read a tie-in novel for anything, and my first Star Trek one. I bloody love Tilly and my friend told me about the existence of this for Tilly backstory. It's not necessarily the backstory I wanted for her, and I would have liked less angst and Mallory Towers-esq drama and more time with her on her adventure. I was frustrated and a bit confused by her persistent naming of her father "Daddy" which seemed out of character for a 16 year old. Overall, it was pretty reasonable for YA and rattled along well. I liked some of the topics and themes covered and was very, very amused by the characterisation of academics - and a bit horrified that even in the Federation academics didn't get proper holidays (but omg, imagine being on a social sciences Starship! Dream!)
2. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy A friend sent me this with a really moving short note after, I assume, she saw my blog earlier that week about struggling with my mood. It is in many ways, really not my thing but it comes from a place of kindness and hopefullness and the art is beautiful and I read it and sobbed all the way through in quite a cleansing way. I like the mole.
February
3. Munch by Steffen Kverneland Bit variable. I appreciated the insertion of the author/illustrator, given what an enormous project it was, it's understandable. I wanted a different narrative of Munch, I think, it was definitely at odds with what they said about him at the British Museum exhibition I went to last year and that was disappointing. But maybe it was also less sentimental and more accurate?
March
Nothing. Not a sausage. Was too mad and then too stressed to concentrate. I was pleased with myself for listening to a four part Radio 4 play of Dostovesky's The Idiot. But it didn't quite hang together so I read the wiki entry and discovered they'd ommitted and elided things in ways that changed meaning. So that was a disappointment. Escatic epilepsy is fascinating though isn't it.
April
4. Hostage by Guy Delisle I read this in an afternoon on the balcony in the sun. It was an astonishing book and my heart was in my mouth all the way through. Beautifully understated, very carefully told. Sort of useful to read during lockdown? "I can't do it. I want to die. Stay positive. Just one day at a time" type thinking is familiar - although obviously not the same.
May
5. The New Bottoming Book (2nd edition) by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy Lockdown prompted me to start exploring online repositories of books liberated from copyright and actually embrace PDFs for the first time. I've intended to read this forever. It's nice, very affirmative. I didn't really care for the section on spirituality, although I strongly agreed with one of the opening lines in that chapter: "Every orgasm is a spiritual experience". I liked the reflection prompted by another line as well: "greed makes you generous"
6. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado I loved this. I haven't read a short story collection in ages and I adored how distinct the voice in each story was, the story 'Inventory' was especially on the nose for reading during a Pandemic. 'Especially Heinous' is the weakest for me. Lots of parts of it stayed with me and I suspect will continue to stay. The prose is sparkling and the confidence of the storytelling really is surprising for a debut. It reminds me of Angela Carter, but only in broad strokes rather than being in any way derivative.
June- July
Nothing. I have spent lots of this year really struggling with concentration. I can graze across internet writings, articles, blogs, for hours and hours. But sitting down to something which requires sustained attention has been to daunting. This also goes for any tv over 40 mins an episode (sometimes that's still too much) and all film.
August
7. To Be Taught, If Fortunate - Becky Chambers Becky Chambers always makes me cry. Always. This one took me entirely by surprise though; it got right inside my head, moved from me just being delighted by and enjoying the topic and style of writing, to having itchy brain and then being utterly broken, sobbing through the end of a chapter. It was a perfectly balanced novella. I still wish it was 1000 pages longer.
8. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman I didn't enjoy this. The 'twist' was blindingly obvious from the outset, for me. The 'resolution' was entirely too neat and Eleanor's journey was entirely too convenient and directly travelled. And in many ways, I just didn't care. It read quickly and was easy to get through, so that's something.
September
9. Spring - Ali Smith Technically, I didn't read this, I heard it, because Teddy read it (and you can listen to them read it too, if you want/are on their access list). I know of Ali Smith, of course, but I didn't have any sense of who she was as a writer, or that I would enjoy her writing. Which it turns out is deeply wrong headed because she's exactly the kind of writer I adore and this was a tremendous book which caught me off guard more than once and made me angry and sad and perhaps even hopeful.
October
10. Murder in Mesopotami - Agatha Christie An indication of just how slowly I'm going with books this year. I have had a tradition of asking for Christie's for Christmas each year - this is 2019s gift I slogged through it as well, hated narration style and, exceptionally, guessed the murdered really early on. It was ladden with racist descriptions and all in all just felt like I shouldn't have bothered. Not unlike 2020 as a whole.
November and December
Nothing finished
2020 is my 11th year of making this post (updated as the year progresses) and I've found it very enjoyable to have this record - especially without the added pressure/structure, and gameification of reading, which GoodReads tends towards.
January
1. Star Trek Discovery: The Way to the Stars by Uma McCormack This is only the second or third time I've read a tie-in novel for anything, and my first Star Trek one. I bloody love Tilly and my friend told me about the existence of this for Tilly backstory. It's not necessarily the backstory I wanted for her, and I would have liked less angst and Mallory Towers-esq drama and more time with her on her adventure. I was frustrated and a bit confused by her persistent naming of her father "Daddy" which seemed out of character for a 16 year old. Overall, it was pretty reasonable for YA and rattled along well. I liked some of the topics and themes covered and was very, very amused by the characterisation of academics - and a bit horrified that even in the Federation academics didn't get proper holidays (but omg, imagine being on a social sciences Starship! Dream!)
2. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy A friend sent me this with a really moving short note after, I assume, she saw my blog earlier that week about struggling with my mood. It is in many ways, really not my thing but it comes from a place of kindness and hopefullness and the art is beautiful and I read it and sobbed all the way through in quite a cleansing way. I like the mole.
February
3. Munch by Steffen Kverneland Bit variable. I appreciated the insertion of the author/illustrator, given what an enormous project it was, it's understandable. I wanted a different narrative of Munch, I think, it was definitely at odds with what they said about him at the British Museum exhibition I went to last year and that was disappointing. But maybe it was also less sentimental and more accurate?
March
Nothing. Not a sausage. Was too mad and then too stressed to concentrate. I was pleased with myself for listening to a four part Radio 4 play of Dostovesky's The Idiot. But it didn't quite hang together so I read the wiki entry and discovered they'd ommitted and elided things in ways that changed meaning. So that was a disappointment. Escatic epilepsy is fascinating though isn't it.
April
4. Hostage by Guy Delisle I read this in an afternoon on the balcony in the sun. It was an astonishing book and my heart was in my mouth all the way through. Beautifully understated, very carefully told. Sort of useful to read during lockdown? "I can't do it. I want to die. Stay positive. Just one day at a time" type thinking is familiar - although obviously not the same.
May
5. The New Bottoming Book (2nd edition) by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy Lockdown prompted me to start exploring online repositories of books liberated from copyright and actually embrace PDFs for the first time. I've intended to read this forever. It's nice, very affirmative. I didn't really care for the section on spirituality, although I strongly agreed with one of the opening lines in that chapter: "Every orgasm is a spiritual experience". I liked the reflection prompted by another line as well: "greed makes you generous"
6. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado I loved this. I haven't read a short story collection in ages and I adored how distinct the voice in each story was, the story 'Inventory' was especially on the nose for reading during a Pandemic. 'Especially Heinous' is the weakest for me. Lots of parts of it stayed with me and I suspect will continue to stay. The prose is sparkling and the confidence of the storytelling really is surprising for a debut. It reminds me of Angela Carter, but only in broad strokes rather than being in any way derivative.
June- July
Nothing. I have spent lots of this year really struggling with concentration. I can graze across internet writings, articles, blogs, for hours and hours. But sitting down to something which requires sustained attention has been to daunting. This also goes for any tv over 40 mins an episode (sometimes that's still too much) and all film.
August
7. To Be Taught, If Fortunate - Becky Chambers Becky Chambers always makes me cry. Always. This one took me entirely by surprise though; it got right inside my head, moved from me just being delighted by and enjoying the topic and style of writing, to having itchy brain and then being utterly broken, sobbing through the end of a chapter. It was a perfectly balanced novella. I still wish it was 1000 pages longer.
8. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman I didn't enjoy this. The 'twist' was blindingly obvious from the outset, for me. The 'resolution' was entirely too neat and Eleanor's journey was entirely too convenient and directly travelled. And in many ways, I just didn't care. It read quickly and was easy to get through, so that's something.
September
9. Spring - Ali Smith Technically, I didn't read this, I heard it, because Teddy read it (and you can listen to them read it too, if you want/are on their access list). I know of Ali Smith, of course, but I didn't have any sense of who she was as a writer, or that I would enjoy her writing. Which it turns out is deeply wrong headed because she's exactly the kind of writer I adore and this was a tremendous book which caught me off guard more than once and made me angry and sad and perhaps even hopeful.
October
10. Murder in Mesopotami - Agatha Christie An indication of just how slowly I'm going with books this year. I have had a tradition of asking for Christie's for Christmas each year - this is 2019s gift I slogged through it as well, hated narration style and, exceptionally, guessed the murdered really early on. It was ladden with racist descriptions and all in all just felt like I shouldn't have bothered. Not unlike 2020 as a whole.
November and December
Nothing finished