2020 Year in Review: Summation and Statistics - facts and details

2020 Year in Review post will be about the numbers.

Books read: 105

including 6 partial read books.

This is slightly down from last year.  This year brought such great changes. I always thought more time at home would mean more reading time, well the pandemic and working from home proved that thought as incorrect. I lost my commuting time, which was spent reading books, print or eBooks if I was on the train, and audiobooks if I was driving. My commute is roughly 3 hours per day (1.5 hrs each way) and this is a large amount of time that was mostly spent with books. While working at home there was more television time, and at times I just couldn't ignore the noise and succumbed.  I also changed jobs, slightly, and this new job meant more learning time, more time reading for work, and less time with audio books while working. All in all I'm surprised I ended up with 99 books completed.  

My goodreads account shows a lower number completed as 97. The difference is with the two books I did not want to add to my public account. Gotta keep some things as mystery. Why, what is it? Well, such as one was a reference book about growing plants. See it's boring.

I listened to 48 audio books. Some of these are not included in the number above since a few were more like podcasts, or short stories, things free from Audible. This year they added a huge catalog of books that could be listened to for free without purchasing, but I have yet to take advantage of listening to any of these. 

All in all a good amount of reading and listening did get done, despite the less time spent doing it. One thing I did do more consistently with audio books was turn up the speed. I'm usually now listening at 1.25 times the regular rate. Even with the upped speed I believe I read faster than the time it takes for an audio books.

I had 3 goals for 2020, and all I did achieve.  

1 - net gain of books to zero

2 - listen to all audio books bought in 2019

3 - read at least 48 books from my owned TBR (to be read)

With no in person library conference my gain of new print books was very low. I did acquire a few pre-pub books through the mail, but not like the haul I get at library conferences. I did buy some books, as usual, most being audio books, but also some print and eBooks.  For what I took off my owned and to read list to newly acquired books I had a net LOSS of 2 books.  I believe this is the first time ever, at least as long as I've been tracking things, which is ten years or more, depending on how you want to count it.  I've been actively on Goodreads since 2011, so this will be my tenth year. I joined in 2009, but hardly had any activity for the first two years.  I also used to keep a spreadsheet of my books, which was never completely done, and prior to that I had my own card file, which also was never done. Still using these methods I didn't fully track what read to what I bought. I more closely tracked what I read starting around 1996. But back then I wasn't tracking what I bought...anyway.....

2021 goals: 

1 - net gain of books to zero

2 - read all the NetGalley books acquired in 2020 (35 books)

3 - read at least 48 books from my owned TBR (to be read)

4 - read at least 5 books checked out from library

Some of the books on the to read pile I'd like to read:

• 1492: The Year the World Began
• 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
• Yale Needs Women
• People of the Longhouse
• Uncommon Carriers
• Fire & Blood 

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.

Review 186: The Arctic Fury

The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is told in alternating time points as well as alternating viewpoints, yet it remains focused on Virginia Reeve. Virginia was asked to lead an unusual expedition, of all women to the Arctic, in order to see if they could find out what happened to the British Navy men led by John Franklin.

Most of the book is taken by the court proceedings that happen just after Virginia returns to Boston. She is charged with murder of one of the women, Caprice Collins, during the expedition. The prosecution also states she did this on her own, without the funding by Lady Franklin.

The set up for the expedition was mysterious and a bit odd, but in those times women weren’t seen as capable, so perhaps that part could be explained by the unusual nature of the undertaking, only women and led by a woman.

The alternate time lines are mostly between the court and the expedition, with a few exceptions going into Virginia’s past as well. She previously had been a guide leading people on the wagon trail from the east to west.

Personally I found the trial portion a bit tedious in the beginning. I wanted to hear the story of the women exploring, going out on their own. That seemed to be slow in the development of the book. Also, I was under the impression that the different women would have more of a voice as characters in the book, but instead it was focused mainly on Virginia. Somewhere along the way, I gave up my expectations and enjoyed the book more.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 185: The Road

The Road by Jack London
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a series of essays about Jack London’s time of hoboing and tramping along riding the rails. He was young, about 15 to nearly 19. There are two essays that cover his getting arrested, just as London entered the town near Niagara Falls and the sham trial that happened so quick it was obviously a sham. The next essay was of the thirty days he spent in jail from walking into town too early and without being registered at a hotel. Serving time in jail was part of the life, but this was London’s first time in prison, and he learned many lessons.

London writes with the slang in quotations and often explains the meanings. He talks about how he got into living on the road, names or monicas that people use or are given, and different types, such as road-kid, gay-cat, and “profesh”. There are of course the bulls, the police and all the railroad men that try to keep these free loaders off their trains.

Despite the writing being of a different era it is very readable. The first essay of London explaining how to beg for food at people’s houses reminds us of a different time, although maybe people weren’t happy to see strangers they weren’t nearly as leery as they are today.

I live near enough to a train station that during times while reading the book I could hear the freight trains passing and the engine whistle blow. It was the perfect back drop to this book.

Note: The version of the book I read isn't displayed. There are many editions in goodreads, and yet still missing many, particularly the older versions, and the edition I read wasn't there. The one I read was published in 1970 with an introduction by King Hendricks. The cover is an appropriate a man riding a train on the outside, hanging onto a "ladder" with the wind blowing his coat, all in blue. Love the cover of the book I read, and had to mention it here.

2nd Note: This book came to by from my Grandparents on March.11.2006

They were clearing out their books, I chose from their selections, and got a small box of books, mostly classics.

Brief Review 184: Ready Player Two

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The first book was much better (Ready Player One). That book was original and surprising, and for a sequel it just can't be unique. Felt like this one was more focused on a few key "referenced works" and not as broad as the first book. Overall it was a good adventure, just not spectacular. Definitely enjoyed Wil Wheaton as the narrator.

Previous book:

• Ready Player One - 5 stars  
• Print book read December 15- 17, 2011
• Audio book read July 6-16, 2015