As we embark on a new year starting today, it’s fun to look back on what we accomplished over the last year. In this case, I want to reflect on my reading in 2020 and see how many books I got through and what kind I gravitated to the most.
Here’s the books I read in 2020 (smiley face=good, heart=great):
- Little Men by Louisa May Alcott 🙂
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë ♥
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 🙂
- The Pale-Faced Lie by David Crow ♥
- Middlemarch by George Eliot 🙂
- The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel 🙂
- The Green Mile by Stephen King ♥
- The Shining by Stephen King ♥
- Gay Conversations with God by James Alexander Langteaux ♥
- Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence 🙂
- The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon ♥
- Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy 🙂
- What This Cruel War Was Over by Chandra Manning ♥
- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo 🙂
- Precious by Sapphire 🙂
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck ♥
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas ♥
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (started in 2019, finished in 2020) ♥
- America’s Original Sin by Jim Wallis ♥
- Practicing Resurrection by Janet Wolf 🙂
DNF (Did Not Finish): Sick Girl Speaks! by Tiffany Christiansen (lost interest b/c she mostly talks about navigating doctors and hospital visits–can’t relate at this point in time–may revisit someday), Third World America by Ariana Huffington (informative, but b/c it’s ten years old, info needs updating), 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson (unbearably tedious)
Current Reads (end of 2020, going into 2021): Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Your perspective on the size of my list will vary depending on your own reading habits; those who don’t read often may be impressed, while fellow Bookstagrammers might wince with judgement. Considering the (mostly, though not totally, self-imposed) responsibilities I juggle–editing worship and Sunday School videos weekly, writing/reading blog posts, Bible study and prayer, writing/recording/editing my own videos, reading books, writing SS lessons, making the UMW newsletter, my job with the newspaper, exercising, not to mention time spent with my fiance or relaxing/having fun–I think it’s pretty commendable!
But these Bookstagrammers and real life serial readers don’t play around. It amazes me that some people can read 5-10 books a month. How?! Do y’all even eat or sleep?! Ah, well. I squeeze in my books around the rest of my life.
This year, I read several books on current social issues, like the phenomenon of women objectifying themselves (Female Chauvinist Pigs) and racial justice (America’s Original Sin). What This Cruel War Was Over was my only historical book; it delved into the American Civil War. 2020 was the year I was first exposed to Stephen King through The Green Mile and The Shining, and perhaps needless to say, I’m hooked. I read several classics this year because I’ll always be an English major at heart, but I branched out and read a few modern fiction novels, too.
As far as Bible reading, I got through all the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and most of the minor ones in the OT. I think 2021 is the year I can start over again at Genesis! Yay! IDK how people read the entire thing in one year; it’s taken me about three years to wade through the OT. Since the NT is so short, I just lap it repeatedly.
I don’t particularly have any 2021 reading goals except to keep knocking out unread books on my shelves. It would be nice to squeeze in a Shakespeare play and read more historical books and Stephen King novels.
Did you read any books in 2020, or down you plan to in 2021? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading!
Retrospective Lily 
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