Well, that was a year.
It’s weird, because as terrible as 2020 was for most of the world, I’ve been trying to focus on the things that went well for me, and the things I enjoyed. So while a global pandemic caused serious illness, death, economic havoc, isolation and mental health consequences worldwide, my introvert self was looking hard at the silver lining of having a job that sent us all to work from home in March.
Not at all to discount the grief and loss and pain and illness and anger and chaos that this year represented for so many of us – even for some that are close to me – I fully recognize that I am privileged and I am blessed. My life is, all things considered, pretty damn good. As much as I have lost, I have more than most, and I am grateful.
For those who are friends and family who have not heard much from me, and the random internet strangers who are curious (but hopefully not stalkers, because no thank you), here’s a rundown of my year – including the year end wrap up for the 2020 Reading Challenge. If you’re just here for the wrap up, you can jump to it here.
JANUARY 2020
It started out with such promise… LOL. Reading-wise, I flew into the challenge by finishing up a binge read of Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles. I’d read all but the last two in… 2015? I dunno, I’ve slept since then, and I had a terrible memory of the events of the books and wanted to refresh my memory before I dove into the newest ones. A romance novel (by one of our specific challenge authors), a book of short stories (the first in the Witcher series), and a cozy mystery rounded out my reading list for the month. After reading The Last WIsh, I binge-watched The Witcher on Netflix, which was a lot of fun to watch. Or maybe that was just Henry Cavill being gorgeous as always. And predictably, “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” got stuck in my head. That song is catchier than it has any right to be.
Work was… stressful and trying, with mandatory overtime and a mandate to work on the MLK holiday (on top of the required overtime) that had been explained well after I had already made plans to visit my best friend over the 3 day weekend. To be frank, I had a bit of a meltdown, and my supervisor kindly allowed me to use sick time to take the day off as planned. I spent the weekend learning to play Villainous (super fun!), along with getting to see Spies in Disguise at the theater – I needed that laugh.
FEBRUARY 2020
My reading pace slowed considerably in February, although I suppose the books I read were longer – I also started two books that I didn’t finish during the month. I’d decided to hop to the top of the challenge list and read my “title starting with W” prompt selection, which was an Amazon First Reads offering from 2019 that had great reviews. Thoroughly enjoyed. And then I jumped into another series that I’d previously started – The Expanse by James S.A. Corey. I adored the first book when I read it in 2019, and I’d binged the TV adaptation with my sister-in-law later that year, so I’d found every category on the challenge list where I could put one of the Expanse books. It worked out rather well, if I do say so myself.
In non-reading news, work finally slowed down and removed the mandatory overtime requirement, and I took a Friday off so I could spend another 3-day weekend with the bestie and her kids. We ended up watching movies on Blu-Ray (Frozen II, which had some quite good music, and Doctor Sleep), and spent a good amount of time putting together a pretty gorgeous puzzle. Other favorite things of the month included listening to the Hamilton soundtrack over and over (because that also is extremely catchy, but it has a right to be, Lin-Manuel Miranda is a genius) and a 4-week class at our church’s associated Bible college on understanding the Bible from the original Hebrew, by a Messianic rabbi who has to be one of the most entertaining speakers I’ve ever met.
MARCH 2020
Ahh, yes, here is where things started to go off the rails. Reading-wise, not so much – I completed 9 books in the month of March, including the rest of The Expanse series, a gorgeous YA novel that made me cry harder than any book ever, another cozy mystery, a fairy tale and its associated retelling, one of my sister-in-law’s recommendations that I loved (and should have expected to, she has good taste), and the second in the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness.
Other than reading, I still had the Hamilton soundtrack on repeat, and while obsessing about it, found a YouTube channel that did a series of videos analyzing the music theory behind the songs which kinda blew my mind. A bunch of my teammates at work found new jobs, which honestly wasn’t surprising – our position is stressful at the best of times. Aaaaaaand then things got crazy. My company frantically put together a plan to send hundreds of people to work from home in a very short time, the state issued a “stay at home” order, church went to online-only, and toilet paper was ridiculously hard to find. And the highlight of my spring – JordanCon (sci-fi/fantasy literature convention), held every April in Atlanta – was announced to be cancelled. Heavy sigh.
APRIL 2020
Here is where my reading slowed down to the point that I eventually couldn’t make my stated goal to finish the challenge. I also fell off of my intention to do a monthly challenge wrap-up post, because there just wasn’t much to talk about. I completed two books in April – for prompt #2 (A book you got for under $3), I picked a Kindle First Reads book from the previous fall, which was… good? It wasn’t particularly memorable, but I didn’t dislike it in any way, so there’s that. And then I read my book with “star” in the title (#33), which was definitely more memorable and has great reviews, but didn’t really grab me.
The stay-at-home order remained in place… Working from home was amazing – especially since the volume of work in my particular job function had dropped to the point where there wasn’t enough to keep everyone busy, and most of my team was cross-trained in other areas. They settled me in one particular job on loan for most of 4 months, which suited me very well and made me actually enjoy what I was doing at work, which hadn’t happened in some time. I kept my vacation days for my originally planned trip to Atlanta, and enjoyed the first ever online version of JordanCon. What really defined my month of April, though, was my discovery of the YouTube genre of television reaction videos. My two favorite TV shows – Buffy the Vampire Slayer (with the spinoff Angel) and Agents of SHIELD – provided me hours of enjoyment, watching a handful of YouTubers‘ first experience with each episode. It was almost as good as watching them for the first time myself – maybe even better, because some of them provided insightful reviews and commentary along with the highlight reel of the episode reactions. I don’t often spend much time analyzing my thoughts about why I enjoy the things I enjoy – which I really should. In fact, that’s one of my goals for 2021, but we’ll get into that another day.
MAY 2020
My reading pace remained slow – I completed three books, but one of them was one I’d started in February and had been enjoying in small bites every day. The Imperfect Disciple by Jared C. Wilson would have to go down as my favorite book of the year – and the only one I’ve ever written a review for. I followed that up with a book by my favorite author (Brandon Sanderson’s Starsight), and a mystery that checked off #47 on the challenge list.
In non-reading news, I continued my YouTube reaction video obsession, finished up watching the latest season of Outlander, and started the final season of Agents of SHIELD. Our state’s stay-at-home order was lifted, the church started having in-person services again, and my usual Memorial Day week trip to visit my mom was tentatively rescheduled until July, when we could see how well the various state lockdowns had worked to keep the pandemic under control. I kept the week off work, though, and made another trip to see my best friend and the kiddos – where I watched Knives Out (loved it). Oh, and I finally decided to try the extremely viral “Dalgona Coffee” trend, which was wholeheartedly worth it.
JUNE 2020
Pouring molasses has nothing on how slow I read in June. Most of the month was taken up by one very large novel that felt like 3 or 4 stories in one. Just when it seemed to be wrapping up, something else crazy happened, and it went on for another few hundred pages. Finally I was able to check off #59 with Reamde by Neal Stephenson – it was good, but man, that was a lot. I went for a smaller book after that – one of the other specific authors for the year, John Creasey, wrote under several pseudonyms, so I found a series starter under the pen name J.J. Marric on Paperback Swap to check off #51. The book was first published in the 50’s, with all its attendant casual sexism and racism, and that took me out of the story a bit, but it was short and overall pretty interesting.
Aside from reading, I continued binge-watching YouTube reaction videos, and actually started re-watching Buffy on Hulu because the reaction videos could only include 10 minutes of actual show footage per video per copyright laws, and I was nostalgic for the full experience. Agents of SHIELD’s final season continued, and continued to be one of my favorite shows of all time. And I discovered dark chocolate Oreo thins, which… man. Those are fantastic.
JULY 2020
Halfway through the year now – and my reading pace was still dragging. I checked off #42 (a graphic novel) by reading Watchmen, which I’d picked up for the 2019 challenge since it was on Time’s All-Time Top 100 Book list. One of my favorite authors, Jim Butcher, finally released the long awaited 16th book in his Dresden Files series, so Peace Talks made it to #16 on the challenge list. And I finished off the month with one of my sister-in-law’s long time recommendations, The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K Chesterton, which is available through Project Gutenberg (#7).
Lured by the promise of the filmed original Broadway cast production of Hamilton, I subscribed to Disney Plus, and watched the movie twice during the July 4th holiday weekend. Man. That was impressive. Also impressive, one of the stars of Agents of SHIELD made her directorial debut for the 9th episode of the final season, and it was fantastic. And I realized that I had, completely unexpectedly, paid off my second mortgage on my condo. Fifteen years just flies by, doesn’t it? I had a birthday in there, and had planned to spend that whole week with my mom in place of our usual Memorial Day week visit, but the pandemic ruined that plan yet again, as the case numbers in my state were spiking and actually had made the national news. Yikes.
AUGUST 2020
Another month, another two books finished. At this point I’m pretty sure I’d ruined any chanced of meeting my reading goal for the year, but I kept chipping away. I made a good attempt at catching up by picking a quick read for #44 (a book with exactly 4 words in the title) – Big Bunny Bump Off by Kathi Daley is the fifth in a cute cozy mystery series that I’d started a few years prior. My next choice slowed me down considerably, although it was very good – my reading challenge partner in crime and fellow Hamilton fan, Linzthebookworm, had gifted me a historical fiction novel called My Dear Hamilton for my birthday, which was perfect for #34.
Speaking of Hamilton, Linz and I, along with one of our Aussie friends who’s had the soundtrack album among her favorites since she visited the States in 2017, decided to defeat the time zone barriers and schedule a “Hamildate” – a watch party of the Hamilton film with running commentary and geeking out via instant messenger. I got up before 8 AM on a Saturday for this gathering, so it would work for Linz in the Central time zone before her afternoon plans, and our Aussie pal stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to watch with us. It was probably the most fun I had all summer. Other than that, Agents of SHIELD’s final season wrapped up with a very satisfying finale (*clears throat and glares at Game of Thrones*), and I got my first haircut since December (aside from trimming my own bangs at home).
SEPTEMBER 2020
My reading time picked up a bit in September, though I only managed to finish three books. For #54 on the challenge I picked a book I’m sure I’d read previously, but it had been well over a decade (maybe more than two, for all I remember) – Banker by Dick Francis. I’m not a huge horse racing fan and honestly don’t remember how I found this author – probably browsing the library in my post-college reading binges – but I love the way he crafts mysteries with the business of horse racing as the background of the plot, but with another industry or element as a significant feature. This book had investment banking at the forefront, and it was as intriguing as I remember. After that I rounded out our author-specific prompts with #32, Isaac Asimov and I, Robot. Somehow I’d never managed to read this earlier in life. My final book of the month was for #52 (published in 1980) – I decided to pick up one of the books a friend had been recommending as a favorite for ages, The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel. It didn’t resonate with me quite as much as it did her – probably since the vast majority of the book dealt with the main character’s early childhood. I’m guessing if I went further in the series it would be more enjoyable in retrospect.
On other fronts, my work pulled me off of my highly enjoyable temporary assignment in September and I began the process of relearning my actual job. Alas. I spent Labor Day weekend visiting my best friend, which definitely was the bright spot of the month (at least up until her dad’s Shih Tzu mauled my leg – the dog has a strong dislike for me for some reason, and I still have a scar on my left thigh from his “greeting”). Along with the YouTube reaction videos that had been my summer obsession, Elizabeth Henstridge from Agents of SHIELD started a weekly live watch-along starting back at the very first episode, including special invited guests like other cast and crew members from the show, who she would interview during the rewatch. This is still one of my favorite things on YouTube these days.
OCTOBER 2020
In October, my reading pace picked up considerably – I finished 7 books, and almost got back to a pace where I could have finished the entire challenge list… except that a rather large number of the books I had designated for the remaining challenge categories were too fat to burn through quickly. For prompt #30 I picked up one that I had originally slated for 2019’s book with the letter “Z” in the title – A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin. Jim Butcher had made up for the long draught between books 15 and 16 of the Dresden Files by releasing book 17, Battle Ground, at the end of September, so I devoured that one next. Loved it. For #40 (a book from NPR’s favorite books of 2019), I read Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey – I enjoyed that one more than I expected to. For #10 and #43, i got a couple more fat paperbacks off my unread shelf, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning, from the Dragonlance Chronicles. For #17 (a suspense or horror book), I finished yet another Amazon First Reads selection I’d had sitting on my Kindle for ages, Silent Victim by Caroline Mitchell. I tend to pick the suspense and thriller options more often than not for First Reads – one of the few ways that Linzthebookworm and I are not actually the same person, because she’s more likely to pick the Historical Fiction option. And finally, I finished the month with a recommendation from a friend at church who’s also a big reader (Hi Jackie, if you’re reading this) – The Last Time Traveler by Aaron J. Etheridge. I have no idea what I expected from this, but the tone was hilarious – it was closer to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy than I had any reason to expect. The reviews aren’t great, but this is one of those fun reads that if you’re in the mood for, you’ll find entertaining.
Other than reading, I continued watching reaction videos because now that I’ve started, I can’t just NOT watch these people I’ve subscribed to as they continue to experience my favorite TV shows week by week. And I finally finished watching Season 2 of Jessica Jones on Netflix, which I started in 2019 but got distracted from. Someday I’ll get around to the rest of the Marvel TV shows on my bullet journal tracker, hopefully before they disappear from Netflix and Hulu. Speaking of my bullet journal, after barely touching it most of the year I suddenly had the urge to start planning again at the tail end of October, despite still not having all that much to plan. And my wonderful kitty boy, Bagheera Q. Boycat, passed away at the ripe old age of 17 (which is quite impressive for an indoor/outdoor cat). As of today, this is the longest I’ve been without a cat since college, and it feels strange. Mostly I’m waiting for one of the usual springtime offers of a free kitten when all the neighborhood strays start producing litters. I haven’t had a baby kitten since 2002, when hubby-head and I adopted Katie.
NOVEMBER 2020
November started out with a bang, reading-wise, but one of the disadvantages of primarily picking out my reading list by what’s unread on my Kindle bit me in the rear end, figuratively. (Of course figuratively, weirdo. Ouch.) You see, unless you specifically look it up, you really have no concept of how long a book is on Kindle until you open it and it automatically marks itself as “currently reading”. The first part of the month I flew through Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (for #35 on the list) – I don’t read a lot of YA, and I’ve heard mixed things about this author, but I honestly did enjoy the book so I’m sure I’ll be reading onward in the series before too long. Next up I picked another recommendation from my sister-in-law’s list, A Light So Lovely by Sarah Arthur. It’s a book about the life and legacy of one of our favorite authors, Madeleine L’Engle, so no surprise that she suggested it, and I enjoyed it. Plus it fit nicely as #5 on the challenge. For #9, a book I’ve had on my TBR shelf for more than a year, I finally got around to reading Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. Man, that was inspring. I took notes – and of course that also made it to my 2021 goals list. And then that “bitten in the butt” situation occurred when I went to start my “published in the year 2000” selection, The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy. I know I’ve read this one before – I have read most of Clancy’s Jack Ryan books in paperback or hardback form over the years, but it has to have been at least a decade, and I was fuzzy on the details of this one. And honestly, I should have remembered how thick most of his books are in physical form, but it took me by surprise seeing that it was over 1,000 pages when I opened it on my Kindle. Oh well.
Outside of the reading thing, everything else was business as usual, except for work. For work, I was assigned as a subject matter expert for a new hire training class, and remembered the fact that I do love explaining things to people. I don’t so much love trying to explain things to people who aren’t paying attention or who take forever to grasp new computer systems or processes, but…. the vast majority of my new hire group was made up of quick learners with at least some relevant experience that they could parlay into the necessary skills for our job. I also ended up having to burn a bunch of leftover vacation days to be used before the end of the year, so that made the work month a lot less stressful than the last two.
DECEMBER 2020
And finally, it draws to a close. December saw me finish 7 books, happily completing 4 of the challenge tiers. First up was my WWII historical fiction option, another of my sister-in-law’s excellent recommendations (and one she’d given me as a gift on my last visit), A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. From there I used another of her gifts as #18 – The Small Rain by Madeleine L’Engle. Have I mentioned she’s one of our favorites? I used another unread book from my Kindle for #29 (an author’s debut novel), The Book of James by Ellen J. Green. One of the hardest challenges to find something for this year – #46, a book with a title that rhymes – proved to be one of my sleeper favorites. Linz and I struggled to figure out something other than a children’s book that would fit this, and we both ended up settling on The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde – which was a surprisingly fun read, and I’m glad I squeezed it in. I ended the year – literally, 2 minutes before midnight – finishing up a trilogy for prompts #37, 38 and 39. I think I had picked up the first book in C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, ages ago. I don’t even have a guess at how long ago it was, and had very little memory of it besides the title. I had even less memory of the second book, Perelandra, and by the time I started the final book, That Hideous Strength, I doubted that I had ever read it at all. I might have forgotten some of the slow parts early in the story, where the tension was slowly building, but the chaotic ending (and the bear, who could forget the bear) was a total surprise.
Aside from planning the 2021 challenge, my December was pretty slow. My Christmas trip to visit my mother was cancelled a few days prior when we had a frank talk about the pandemic and the amount of risk we’d be putting her in by having me (even with a negative test in hand) get on an airplane with a bunch of strangers, many of whom have NOT been all that conscientious about reducing their risk, and some of who may even be flying while sick, and then spend a week with her high-risk self. I ended up cooking a full replacement Christmas dinner with basically the same menu as she’d been planning, and eating it all by my hermit self. As a treat, I bought her a couple of subscription boxes (one with single serving coffee pods, and one with a monthly seasonal candle) to give her a little surprise every month until safer travel is feasible. And I picked up a candle subscription for myself, because why not.
2020 READING CHALLENGE – FINAL RESULTS
Level 1: Book of the Month Club – completed!
1. Read a book with a title that starts with a “W” – Where the Forest Meets the Stars – Glendy Vanderah
2. A book you got for under $3 – Your Perfect Year – Charlotte Lucas
3. A book with a blue cover – Letters to the Lost – Brigid Kemmerer
4. Read a book by your favorite author – Starsight – Brandon Sanderson
5. A book with the word “Light” in the title – A Light so Lovely – Sarah Arthur
6. A book that is set in the future – Abaddon’s Gate – James S.A. Corey
7. A book from Project Gutenberg – The Innocence of Father Brown – G.K. Chesterton
8. Read a book of short stories or a novella – The Last Wish – Andrzej Sapkowski
9. Read a book you’ve had on your “to be read” shelf for more than a year – Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey
10. Read a book that takes place in winter – Dragons of Winter Night – Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
11. Reread a book you have recommended to a friend – Trapped – Kevin Hearne
12. Free Space- Pick any book! – Hunted – Kevin Hearne
Level 2: Casual Reader Club – completed!
13. A book under 400 pages – Tricked – Kevin Hearne
14. Read a book by Julie Garwood – The Secret – Julie Garwood
15. Read a classic fairy tale – The Beauty and the Beast – Mme. de Villeneuve
16. Read a retelling of the same fairy tale – A Curse so Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer
17. Read a suspense or horror book – Silent Victim – Caroline Mitchell
18. A book you got for free (gift, found or book exchange) – The Small Rain – Madeleine L’Engle
19. Read a book with a building on the cover – Murder is Binding – Lorna Barrett
20. Read a historical fiction from the World War 2 era – A Thread of Grace – Mary Doria Russell
21. Read a book that was turned into a movie or tv show – Cibola Burn – James S.A. Corey
22. A book by an author named James/Jim or a variant – Peace Talks – Jim Butcher
23. Read a book recommended on your local library’s website – Battle Ground – Jim Butcher
24. Free Space- Pick any book! – Shattered – Kevin Hearne
Level 3: Dedicated Reader Club – completed!
25. A book with the word “Book” in the title – The Little Paris Bookshop – Nina George
26. Read an urban fantasy novel – Hammered – Kevin Hearne
27. A book published in 2000 – The Bear and the Dragon (reread) – Tom Clancy
28. A book recommended to you by a friend – The Last Time Traveler – Aaron J. Etheridge
29. Read an author’s debut novel – The Book of James – Ellen J. Green
30. Read a book from the BBC’s list of Top 100 Books You Must Read Before You Die – A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula K. LeGuin
31. Read a book that is over 600 pages – Shadow of Night – Deborah Harkness
32. Read a book by Isaac Asimov – I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
33. Read a book with the word “Star” in the title – The Calculating Stars – Mary Robinette Kowal
34. Read a book about a historical figure (fiction or non-fiction) – My Dear Hamilton – Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie
35. Read a book about an assassin – Throne of Glass – Sarah J. Maas
36. Free Space- Pick any book! – Staked – Kevin Hearne
Level 4: Speed Reader Club – completed!
37. Book 1 of a trilogy – Out of the Silent Planet – C.S. Lewis
38. Book 2 of the same trilogy – Perelandra – C.S. Lewis
39. Book 3 of the same trilogy – That Hideous Strength – C.S. Lewis
40. Read a book from NPR’s favorite books of 2019 – Magic for Liars – Sarah Gailey
41. Read a novel by an author using a pseudonym – Nemesis Games – James S.A. Corey
42. Read a graphic novel – Watchmen – Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
43. A book with a season in the title – Dragons of Spring Dawning – Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
44. Read a book with exactly four words in the title – Big Bunny Bump Off – Kathi Daley
45. Read a book about a writer (real or fictional) –Last Writes – Laura Levine
46. Read a book with a title that rhymes – The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde
47. A book by an author named Elizabeth/Beth or a variant – The Murders of Richard III – Elizabeth Peters
48. Free Space- Pick any book! – Scourged – Kevin Hearne
Level 5: Overachiever Club – 8/12
49. Read a motivational/inspirational book – The Imperfect Disciple – Jared C. Wilson
50. Read a book with two or more authors – Babylon’s Ashes – James S.A. Corey
51. Read a book by John Creasey – Gideon’s Day – J.J. Marric (pseudonym for John Creasey)
52. Read a book published in 1980 – The Clan of the Cave Bear – Jean Auel
53. Read a “rags to riches” story
54. Read a book with an occupation in the title – Banker – Dick Francis
55. Read a book about travel or that involves travel
56. A book that takes place in outer space/another planet – Persepolis Rising – James S.A. Corey
57. Read a book that starts with the letter J
58. Read a book that takes place in the Middle East or is inspired by Middle Eastern culture
59. Read a book about a video game or virtual reality – Reamde – Neal Stephenson
60. Free Space- Pick any book! – Tiamat’s Wrath – James S.A. Corey
So that was my year – reading-wise and otherwise. Stay tuned for 2021’s reading adventures (challenge link here), and possibly more posts. I hesitate to make promises I’m clearly not great at keeping, but you never know. Come back often, I’ll try to make it worthwhile… and while you’re at it, leave me a comment or two. What was your favorite book of 2020? Do you identify with my Buffy obsession? How awesome is Hamilton anyway? I’d love to chat with you more!
The Logophile 