2020: Books in Review + Reading Goals

Today, I am finally kicking off my annual year in review posts for 2020! Every year, I do three year in review posts: one about life, one about the blog, and one about books! I went with the books first because it’s always the most straight forward to put together (but nevertheless, still took me several days). Without further ado, here is what my reading life looked like in 2020.

Statistics

Total books read: 28

Genres read (only including my “biggest” categories):

• Fiction: 20
• Nonfiction: 8
• Mystery / suspense: 7
• YA: 6
• Memoir / bio: 5
• True crime: 3
• Romance / chick lit: 3
• Christmas: 2

Formats + Sources:

• Print books (11): Library (9) ◦ Own (2)
• eBooks (17): Library (Hoopla/Overdrive) 11 ◦ Netgalley (3) ◦ Kindle (3)

Thoughts

• My total number of 28 books is pretty pitiful, seeing as I set a yearly goal of 50. However, I attribute this to starting my Pink Zebra business this year, which takes up a lot of time, and also the whole pandemic. It’s put me in a funk (like the rest of the world), and worsened my depression. Sometimes when my depression gets bad, I turn to TV a little more than reading, just because it’s easier to zone out.
• My mystery and suspense number is quite high because my colleague and I launched a virtual mystery book club at work during the pandemic (if you’re new around here, I’m a librarian). Even though we returned to the library in May, we are still running this virtual club because all of our programming is still being done online. We don’t know when in-person programming will resume.
• My YA number has been high for the last few years because I run a Forever YA book club chapter at the library. It would normally have been 12 (because we meet monthly), but obviously we had to stop meeting due to the pandemic. I really, really miss my Forever YA girls. We still chat in our Facebook group, but it’s not the same as seeing each other regularly.
• I have always loved memoirs about interesting people, and that was pretty obvious this year.
• I’ve NEVER read more eBooks than print books in a year, but when we had to shut down my library for the pandemic, we started up our virtual Facebook book clubs, and chose ONLY books that were available to our patrons on Hoopla since they / we couldn’t get into the building. I enjoy reading a few eBooks a year, but don’t ever foresee myself reading more eBooks than print books ever again like I did this year though.
• I love my true crime, but I’m hoping to read even more of it this year.
• This year, I’d like to increase my chick lit / romance, true crime, horror (only read 1 in 2020!), and Christmas reading. I’m happy with the numbers I read in all other categories though!

Favorite Books of the Year

Even though my total number of books this year was low, I was still able to come up with a large list of favorites! I’ve got eight listed below, and I even debated adding a few others that I really enjoyed. However, I wanted to keep it to books that I absolutely loved, so I kept it shorter. Please note, these are just books that I read in 2020, and were not necessarily published in 2020 (in fact, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder was released in 2000!). These are listed in the order of when I read them, not in order of preference.

• The Weight of the Stars by K.A. Ancrum: A YA book about space travel, friendship, and unbreakable bonds. Two broken girls (one with an astronaut mom who took a one way trip to outer space), find solace, friendship, and love in one another. This will go down as one of the most unique, memorable, and jarring books I have ever read. This book was one of a kind both in writing style and plot. I cannot rave enough about it. My full review is here.

• Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: New Adult romance about the the First Son of the United States and a European Prince. Funny, charming, modern, this is an enemies to lovers romance done right. It is completely worth the hype! The chemistry was real, the love felt genuine, and the one-liners and humor kept me tearing through the pages. Also worth noting that both this one AND The Weight of the Stars are both LGBT friendly! My full review is here.

• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson: A historical novel based on factual elements about a pack horse librarian in the hills of Kentucky. Cussy is a “blue” person – the last of her kind – suffering from a rare disorder that tints her skin blue. Because of her color, she’s basically a pariah. Being a pack horse librarian is the only thing that brings her great joy and purpose, despite all the other difficulties and hardships of her life. This book was exceptionally researched, detailed, and just plain incredible. Cussy is one my very favorite characters of all time, and this is a book that I never stopped thinking about. My full review is here.

• Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han: The third and final book in the beloved YA To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series, and my favorite of the bunch! The entire series, and Lara Jean herself, is just so charming and delightful. I wish I could read them all over again for the first time. If you need a quick lift of the spirits, read this series! You will fall in love. My full review is here.

• Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter: An absolute wild ride, Karin Slaughter writes some of the best and most riveting suspense books out there, and this one was no exception! Pretty Girls follows a torn apart family, a 20 year unsolved disappearance, a present day murder, and how they are all intertwined. My jaw dropped repeatedly, and I didn’t see ANY of the twists coming. Not only were there so many intriguing surprises, but all of the characters were very well developed too. Slaughter is now my go to author when I want shocking suspense. My full review is here.

• High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins: This memoir from a recovering drug addict was phenomenal! Tiffany Jenkins is hilarious on social media, and that’s what led me to her book. She lived a double life as an opioid addict for years, and found herself in many crazy situations, until the day her world came crashing down and she was finally arrested. This was a fascinating look at the life an addict, and life inside of prison. It was crazy and felt like a movie at times, but also managed to be funny and endearing. I grew to love and admire Tiffany, despite all of her shortcomings (hey, we all got ’em!). Absolutely captivating! My full review is here.

• This Is All I Got by Lauren Sandler: An exceptional piece of nonfiction written by a journalist who followed a young, homeless single mother – Camilla – in New York City for an entire year. It was meticulously written, researched, and detailed, and I truly felt like I knew Camila and was there with her through all of her struggles and triumphs. It completely opened my eyes and  changed my mind, thoughts, and opinions on SO MUCH. It was riveting, emotional, raw, and almost lifechanging. I don’t care who you are or what you think you know… read this book. Everybody. Read it. I picked it up on a complete whim, because this is not my usual type of read, and man am I glad that I did. My full review is here.

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke: The first book in a very beloved and well known cozy mystery series about a small town baker. As you might expect with cozy mysteries, this one was full of funny, quirky characters, and that amazing small town feel that I love so, so much. I absolutely fell in love with the characters and town, and found it to be such a comforting read (even if it was about murder). I was sad to finish it, and was really eager to jump back into Lake Eden. It was just one of those books that felt like it was wrapping you in a hug, ya know? I’m glad this is a long running series, because I can’t wait to dive back in! My full review is here.

Recap of 2020 Reading Goals

• ❌ Read 55 books: FAIL!!! This was one of my worst reading years ever! I blame the pandemic, my mental health, and launching my PZ business.
• ❌ Re-read Harry Potter: Sort of! I re-read the first one, and it was so much fun. However, I'm counting this as a fail.
• ❌ Read 10 Netgalley books: FAIL. I read 3.
• ❌ Read 30 library books: FAIL. I read 9 print library books, and 11 eBook library books.
• ❌ Read 10 books from my own damn shelves: FAIL. I read 2!
• ✅ Read 2 cozy mysteries: DONE! Finally, one I accomplished! I read 2!
• ❌ Read 10 nonfiction titles: FAIL! So close, with 8.
• ❌ Read 3 horror books: FAIL. Only 1.
• ❌ Read 5 Christmas books: FAIL. Only 2.
• ✅ Read 2 true crime books: DONE.I read 3!
• ❌ Read 5 romance / chick lit books: FAIL. I read 3.
• ✅ Read 5 suspense / mystery books: DONE! I read 7, thanks to our new virtual mystery book club.

Total: 3/12. Very lame, for a very lame year.

2021 Reading Goals

2020 was a hard and weird year, and 2021 is already shaping up to be the same way. I have always turned to reading for comfort, and I want to do that again this year. I didn’t do that enough in 2020. With all that said, I want to just read what I want, when I want. Sometimes it’s hard to do that considering I’m in book clubs, but the rest of the time, I just plan on going with the flow. I am going to set very few goals, and they’re going to be simple this year.

• Read 50 books
• Read 5 books from my own shelves
• Re-read more Harry Potter: I FINALLY re-read the first one in 2020! Hoping to re-read at least a couple more this year!
• Read more from the Hannah Swensen series: the first of which is Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder which I talked about above!

That’s it. No particular genre goals this year, because I read a HUGE number of genres, and I want to be flexible with myself and my reading.

I basically want to read what I want whenever I feel like it. It’s always generally a given that I read horror in October and Christmas in December, so that’s pretty much planned out already. Outside of those times though, it’s anyone’s guess as to what I’ll be reading and when! I usually read a lot of YA because of my Forever YA book club, but that’s still on hiatus at the library, and I read a lot of mystery for my mystery club, but outside of that, who knows what I’ll be reading?! It’s a mystery!

Essentially, I’m just really taking things back to the basics this year. I want NEED to pull myself out of my little reading funk and turn back to my books for comfort again… at least moreso than I did in 2020.

I hope you and me both have a fantastic reading year in 2021.