2020 reading

[white_hart]

I read much, much less this year than I have done in recent years; only 43 books, compared to 70-odd for the last couple of years. Maybe it's the pandemic; I know lots of people have commented that they've been struggling to focus on reading, and that's definitely affected what I read (much more fluff and lots of romance). I do wonder, though, if it's at least partly due to being back on antidepressants. I went through a long period a few years ago where I hardly read at all, and rediscovered reading once I came off ADs. And it's noticeable that the real drop-off was in the latter part of the year, after I'd gone back on them in July. I read 36 books up to the end of July, and only seven after than, and have only finished two books since the middle of September. (I'm currently reading Ursula Le Guin's No Time to Spare and the Silk and Steel anthology in very small chunks, and am nowhere near finished with either.)

The ADs have done me a lot of good, but I do miss reading.

Of the 43 books I read, only 6 were by men (and one other was co-authored by a man and a woman). Only 5 were by people of colour (I meant to do better, and have been deliberately buying books by POC, but a lot of that buying happened after the slowdown in reading so I haven't got to them yet). 11 (as far as I can tell) are by LGBTQ+ authors.

Full list:

The Found and the Lost - Ursula K Le Guin
In the Vanishers’ Palace - Aliette de Bodard
The Duchess War - Courtney Milan
The Return of the Incredible Exploding Man - Dave Hutchinson
This Golden Fleece - Esther Rutter
Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide - Kate Charlesworth
Madam, Will You Talk? - Mary Stewart
Bloodlust and Bonnets - Emily McGovern
Alice Payne Rides - Kate Heartfield
Widow’s Welcome - DK Fields
Silver in the Wood - Emily Tesh
Wintering - Katherine May
Nimona - Noelle Stevenson
Tombland - C.J. Sansom
Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
The Case of the Drowned Pearl - Robin Stevens
Favours Exchanged - L.A. Hall
The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
Rivers of London: Action at a Distance - Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel
False Value - Ben Aaronovitch
Empire of Sand - Tasha Suri
Deep Secret - Diana Wynne Jones
Rain - Melissa Harrison
Spellswept - Stephanie Burgis
Hav - Jan Morris
Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes - Jeremy Hardy
Network Effect - Martha Wells
To Say Nothing Of The Dog - Connie Willis
Witchmark - C.L. Polk
Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
Once and Future - Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy
Wild Dress - Kate Fletcher
Fine Deceptions - Stephanie Burgis
Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher
Consolation Songs - ed. Iona Datt Sharma
Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
Thornbound - Stephanie Burgis
Tea and Sympathetic Magic - Tansy Rayner Roberts
Death Sets Sail - Robin Stevens
Spoiler Alert - Olivia Dade
Walking Home - Clare Balding