Well, here we are. The end of 2020. I don’t need to comment on just what a year it has been, or reminisce. Time lost all meaning and it feels both the shortest and longest year I have known.
At the beginning of this year, I posted my 2020 reading challenge. I’d intended to post here as I worked my way through it, but, well, best laid plans and all that. So here it is, all in one go.
A Book Published This Year – The Betrayals by Bridget Collins
I came across Bridget Collins earlier this year when I couldn’t stop looking at the beautiful cover of The Binding every time I went into Waterstones. Eventually I picked it up and fell very much in love with it, so I was very excited to pre-order The Betrayals. A friend and I had initially pre-ordered it together, and planned to spend the weekend reading and eating takeout together, but of course 2020 had other plans. We did, at least, manage to meet up for coffee and read together briefly.
With inspiration drawn from Hermann Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game, frustrating and flawed characters, and a setting of a beautiful old school set in some unspecified European mountains, this book really got in my head, and I enjoyed every moment I spent with it.
A Loved One’s Favourite Book – The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
This is one of my sister’s favourites, and she has been telling me to read it for an awful long time. I did buy it in hardback last year, but it had sat around my house unread for a long time (as many books do, sadly) due to its sheer size! Whilst I love a big book, I do tend to carry my current read around with me, for lunch breaks etc, and I didn’t want to be lugging such a large book about. Enter Lockdown.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who loves strong female characters, queer romances, fantasy and, of course, dragons. It’s also one of the few fantasy novels I’ve read, featuring many wonderful and strong women, where there is no looming threat of sexual assault, and no character development derived from rape. That shouldn’t be an accomplishment, but it is.
A Book By An Author Most Well Known In Another Field – Bonfire by Krysten Ritter
I have had something of a crush/girl crush on Krysten Ritter since The Gilmore Girls days, through Breaking Bad, Jessica Jones and of course Don’t Trust The B- In Apt 23 (one of THE most underrated sitcoms). I’d bought this book pretty much as soon as it came out but it also sat on my bookshelf for an awfully long time. I’m so glad I finally read it. It was a really fun mystery with a small town setting, and right up my street. I really hope to read more from her soon. (and can we please talk more about the movie Vamps?! The funnest)
A Banned Book – Beloved by Toni Morrison
At the beginning of 2020, I finally read my first Toni Morrison novel, The Bluest Eye. I really enjoyed that and was thrilled to receive Beloved in one of this years Books That Matter boxes. Beloved has been banned in several schools across the US due to its graphic nature.
Morrison’s writing is as beautiful, haunting, and poetic as everyone had promised. I really enjoyed both of these books, and look forward to reading more of Morrison’s work in 2021.
A Book You Studied In School – Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
I had to think about this one and went back to my earlier school years. I remember reading this in my Year 7 English class, right at the back of the South Block, with our teacher Mr Lewis (a legend). It’s an enjoyable read in some ways, and I adored some of the nature descriptions, but after a while it does get boring. I can definitely see the merit of it being used in younger English classes, though. There’s a lot of basic stuff to deconstruct, and a lot of obvious examples of the technical writing techniques taught at that age.
A Translation Of A Book Not Originally Written In Your First Language – A Cat, A Man, And Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki
This part of the challenge had been weighing on my mind a little, I’d thought a lot about different books not originally written in English. After a while I knew I wanted to read a Japanese novel, as I have engaged very little with Japanese literature. This book sold me by the title – cat lover, duh – but also the idea that this novel is about a love triangle where the most loved character is the cat. Was it because it tickled somewhere in the vague vicinity of home in my semi-recent past? Perhaps. This is a lovely and funny short novel, and I would definitely recommend to anyone who loves cats anywhere near as much as Tanizaki clearly does.
There ya have it! That is all to be said for this year’s reading challenge. These are but six of the 53 books I have read this year (thanks for helping my keep track, Goodreads) so if you want any suggestions, hit me up.
Stay tuned for my 2021 reading challenge, coming tomorrow! But for now I’ll say HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Have a great evening, whatever you are doing! See y’all on the flip side xoxo
The Thoughtful Ferret 