As the year of 2020 is behind us, I actually read less than usual, completing 79 books and over 24,000 pages. I have broken the books into categories to see if there was any “trend” to my reading (the answer is “NO) – which I share at the end of the December books. I read 9 books in December.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE by Lewis Carroll – This was the book that I ended the year with – good choice because I haven’t read it in years. This is kind of a symbolic bookend as I read Alice in Wonderland earlier in the year!
SECRET LIVES OF GREAT ARTISTS – WHAT YOUR TEACHERS NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT MASTER PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS by Elizabeth Lunday – I’ve read this before and very entertaining . My one complaint -. with little stories and vignettes highlighting 35 artists – only TWO of them are women!!!!!!
READER’S DIGEST BIOGRAPHIES – BEETHOVEN by Allan Pryce Jones – I actually found this on the bookshelf while cleaning out my books. I’ve read many biographies on Beethoven, but this made me want to pick up a very thorough one in 2021. In fact, in 2020, I learned several pieces of Beethoven on the piano – including on Sonata!
JAZZ BABY – by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Gregory Christie – I got this for my grand-niece and couldn’t resist reading it myself. It is delightful – and the illustrator is a friend of mine – and he did the cutest inscription for me (actually for Lilly).
UNSEEN by Karin Slaughter – I picked this up book written by an Atlantan author from a Little Free Library. This particular one is set in Macon. a fun, but somewhat confusing read.
COP TOWN by Karin Slaughter – This is set in Atlanta in the early 1970’s, so it was a fun read. Wow – Atlanta has changed alot since then!
DAILY RITUALS – HOW ARTISTS WORK by Mason Curry – Another reread and one I revisit. Some of the rituals are bazaar, but the most common ritual is daily walks!!!! The author has another one now devoted entirely to women!
NAKED by David Sedaris – As always – Sedaris is hysterical. It is worth it to read through the entire book to get to the last story about his adventure in a Nudist Colony.
HOLIDAYS ON ICE – by David Sedaris – I should read this every year, because I had a tradition of seeing The Santaland Diaries play every year!!!!
WHAT DID I DISCOVER WHEN I LOOKED BACK:
Most of the books I read were actual rereads – 10 in all!
I read 6 classics, including a Hardee’s boy mystery. I read the complete Aesops Fables this year for the first time.
I read five books about animals; a pig, an octopus, a parrot, and if you count fables – walking and talking animals!
I read 5 children’s books
I only read three biographies in 2020 – Alice Roosevelt, Harriett Tubman and Beethoven.
AND – I started re-reading my favorite book in the world at the beginning of 2021 – THE SHADOWS OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – which is the first book of the Cemetery of Forgotten books series. Doesn’t it sound like a magical place??
What are you reading?