Books Saved My 2020

I share this post today in full recognition that there are VERY serious things happening back home in the United States.  This is a time that requires honesty, truth tellers and some serious soul searching.  I have really thought of nothing else for days.  But today is Saturday and movement restrictions remain in place so what's a girl to do?  I'm going to finish up this blog post, which I began writing before the new year.

So, like I said, restrictions continue here in Italy and for well over half of 2020, we were in varying degrees of lockdown.  MVPs of 2020 were certainly our medical professionals but the MVO (Most Valuable Object) has to be BOOKS!  

With months of stay at home orders I delved into books.  That's probably evident when you look at my blog posts in 2020.  They are nearly all about books.  In 2020 I read more books from my personal library than ever before.  38 to be exact.  For comparison, I read a whole whopping seven (7!) last year.  It seems I'd decided to take on The Unread Shelf challenge at the perfect time.  For each month there is a specific challenge (i.e. read a book gifted to you, read a book from a series, read a book from your favorite genre, read the shortest book on your shelf, etc.). 

Back home in southern Arizona we have a couple thousand pounds of household goods in long-term storage.  Among that are hundreds of pounds of books.  When we were preparing to move here I looked through all my books and specifically selected the ones we brought to Italy.  Right now our library includes 228 books.  132 of which are unread.  That's part of the Unread Shelf challenge too.  In order to get after reading the books you actually own, it's important to know how many you actually have. 

Our Read and Unread Collection. Circa January 2021 (Italy).

So my reading in 2020 has two milestones.  I read the most books ever in a single year.  Coming in at 70.  (Last year's number was 64.)  And I read the most books from my personal library in a year - ever.  Thirty-eight, which accounted for 54 percent of my reading.

So to close out the unprecedented and difficult year that was 2020 -- I wanted to do a reading wrap up of sorts.  The majority of the books I read were by women - 74 percent (52).  And nonfiction remains central to my reading.  Coming in at 61 percent (43).    

Most read author of the year: Louise Penny

I read my first Louise Penny book in 2019 as part of the Read Harder Challenge.  I'd picked up 'The Great Reckoning' from the free paperback bin at the library.  Turns out it is book 12 in a series that now includes 16 books.  I have loved this series that is based in Canada and centers around Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, his team of homicide detectives, and residents of the small village called Three Pines.  I read five books from the series this year.  Each one even better than the last.  The standouts so far are The Brutal Telling and Bury Your Dead.  I look forward to getting back into this world in 2021.  I highly recommend the series. 

Most Important Book: Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

I did a blog post about this book last month.  Click here to read it.  It has been said by more important, influential people than I but I think this is the most important book of 2020.  I think every single American should read it.  If we can face the hard truths and realities explained in the book, perhaps we can heal and move forward as a nation.  But in order to do that we must face the truth of our origins.     

Best Companion: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

I heard Liz Gilbert describe her latest book to a 'champagne cocktail.'  This was a quick, easy read.  Light-hearted, frolicsome and full of rich characters and descriptions.  I took this book to Ethiopia in February for a work trip.  This was before the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Europe but China was already locked down.  It was an extremely stressful time to be traveling.  I have never been so concerned with the possibility of getting sick.  City of Girls was the exact right book to take along.  Every evening I would tumble into the pages and escape into the escapades of Vivian Morris.  

In 2020 I did a lot of what I'd describe as professional development reading - exploring the topics of communication and writing.  Some of the books I read were The Political Speechwriter's Companion, Outspoken: 50 Speeches by Incredible Women, Lincoln at Gettysburg, Eats Shoots and Leaves, Talk to the Hand, The Compelling Communicator, and If I Understood You Would I Have this Look on My Face. 

And I read some great nonfiction books including The Boys in the Boat, The Library Book, Savage Beauty, Greek to Me, Radical, Always Home, Rachael Ray 50, Infused, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, The Heart of the Sound, The Perfect Storm, Lab Girl and The Story of More. 

So there are just some of the books I read in 2020.  I'd love to hear what your favorite book of 2020 was so please leave me a comment below.  I'm off to a bit of a slow start in the 2021 reading department.  I have finished one book so far - Andrew Yang's The War on Normal People.  Another book I'd recommend and then I'm reading two other books simultaneous.  Braided in Fire by Solace Wales and All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President by Mary Matalin and James Carville.  

Based on the first full week of 2021 I think books will continue to be an important part of the year ahead.  Happy New Year Everyone and Keep Reading!