2020 Year in Review

 Some thoughts on the books I read during 2020

Some of my favorites over the year. The list got a bit long, but that's okay. A few of the books I didn't write a review when I finished the book, which now I regret. I'm always trying to balance writing something and just moving onto the next book. Also, what do I say? I used to only write a few things about my own thoughts for future me, then other people read the notes, so I try to have a more typical review. Anyway, I do struggle with it, and being a completionist with everything I read.

Surprises and favorites:

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus - unfortunately didn't write a review for the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It changed my thinking about how many people lived in the Americas before westerners came. There was a lot of detail known about people who lived in the area of Peru. Plus the Amazon area, how it was transformed and made to help support huge numbers of people living there. Great book. 

The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication - by John Steinbeck. Loved the humor.

Greenwood - love the latest few books about trees. (2019 favorite 

The High Divide - Enjoyed this more than I expected

The Lions of Fifth Avenue - actually enjoyed this more than I expected. I know the setting seems like it would be a favorite, but the author's writing I found in earlier books as okay, not great. This one swept me away.

The Book that Matters Most - again, it would seem like I'd enjoy this, but I expected it to be a bit cheesy and sweet. It wasn't that and I found it quite pleasing. Perfect book for the beginning of the pandemic. Another book I should've written a review about. But it was a crazy few weeks!

The Autobiography of Malcolm X - finally read this book. I probably had it for 30 years. Wow it took me a long time to get to it. Glad I finally did. Watched the movie again afterwards. 

Becoming - How could this not be on my list of favorites. I listened to Michelle Obama narrate the book, and perfect. A well told story.

I could go on...

Disappointments:

Hayduke Lives! (Monkey Wrench Gang, #2) - Awful!  His last book and he knew he was dying and it is full of racial slurs and all the characters are driven by sexual desires. I was sorely disappointed. 

My Struggle: Book 4  -  I like this book in the series the least. I still rated the book fairly high, but overall wasn't at the same level as the first three. Still have two books to go. No plans to read the next one right away. Will consider when returning to work building and the pandemic is over. For now, no new library print books for me.

 The Fortress of Solitude - Another book I've had for years and years. I picked it up as the stay at home orders began with the pandemic, seemed like a fitting title. Well, of course, the book had nothing to do with current situation and it ended up being a reference to the Superman comics. Overall the book was a slog, long and somewhat boring really. Maybe would've been best to have not read it. I think I had other ideas of what it was about when I first bought it too. Oh well, it's read and off the bookshelves.

I started the year with a bit of a theme on women, such as the classic Feminine Mystique and the more modern A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s. The plan was to continue with this theme but then the pandemic hit. I was in mid-read with Rebecca Solnit's latest work, Recollections of My Nonexistence. It was too tragic for the time we were entering. I do plan on going back and finishing, perhaps in 2021 even though the pandemic is still raging it has become something we now live with as part of our everyday. We also have hope in sight as the vaccines are being rolled out. 

Another slight theme began with Native Peoples. I will continue with that into this year.