2020 in Books
I set myself a target of 35 books for the year but reading became my main lockdown comfort so I ended up reading 50. That’s 10,953 pages apparently. So much turning!
If we are pals on Goodreads you know I don’t really enjoy rating books but here’s my ‘system’ anyway:
1 and 2 star books I just don’t carry on reading. I don’t finish anything I don’t like, I’m not 22 any more. Time is ticking!
Anything that especially impacts on me gets 5 stars, meaning I think it could not be bettered by that author or any other and I probably loved it.
Everything else you can assume is a 3 or 4 star book, whatever that means, but I liked it and you should read it.
Special mentions:
It’s always a joy to read books by friends so shout outs for new poetry debuts from Afshan D'souza-Lodhi and Konstantinos Tsolakis, plus Okechukwu Nzelu’s debut novel ‘The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney’ which is making big waves and rightly so, and for Dave Haslam’s beautiful Art Decades titles, ‘Searching For Love: Courtney Love in Liverpool’ and ‘Sylvia Plath in Paris, 1956’. And Katie McCabe’s ‘More than a Muse’ which I did a great author Zoom about. I recommend all of these without hesitation. Huge props to the writers, I just think you’re wonderful.
The Constant Companion Award goes to Patti Smith. I read or re-read all her writing this year and she is a talisman of joy and clarity for me. I just glance at a few sentences of hers and feel there is a good true artist still at work in the world.
The Eventually Got Around To It award is jointly held by Isherwood’s ‘Berlin Stories’ and ‘Scoop’, my first Evelyn Waugh. Pristine and camp and shocking, all of it.
The Short Story Genius Award is shared by Alice Munro’s delicate brilliant ‘Dance of the Happy Shades’ and Allen Barnett’s devastating hilarious AIDS cycle ‘The Body and its Dangers’, the latter inexplicably out of print I think. Thank you to Monica for the recommend!
My books of the year were these two:
Hilary Mantel’s ‘The Mirror and the Light’. The wait for it was interminable and I didn’t want the book to end. Every page utterly gripping and the elements of plague and power and fake news have never been more current. She closed the gap in the years for us. One day I will read the whole lot again. Maybe Lockdown 3.0!
Then ‘Are You Somebody?’ by Nuala O’Faolain which has left such an imprint on me. One of the best memoirs I have ever read and the book that got my Mum back into reading. When we arrived in Dublin, by joyful coincidence, there was an exhibition about Nuala’s book at the Literature Museum and I stayed a whole afternoon and cried a little bit when I left. Oh Nuala. I can’t explain why I love it so much you have to read it.
You can find links to all of these books below. Please shop indie or direct from author where you can! For second hand books, Better World Books supports literacy schemes:
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/
Big titles for 2021 will be Tawseef Khan's ‘The Muslim Problem’ and Sarah Schulman’s ‘Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993’. Can’t wait!
www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/...
www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/203...
If we are pals on Goodreads you know I don’t really enjoy rating books but here’s my ‘system’ anyway:
1 and 2 star books I just don’t carry on reading. I don’t finish anything I don’t like, I’m not 22 any more. Time is ticking!
Anything that especially impacts on me gets 5 stars, meaning I think it could not be bettered by that author or any other and I probably loved it.
Everything else you can assume is a 3 or 4 star book, whatever that means, but I liked it and you should read it.
Special mentions:
It’s always a joy to read books by friends so shout outs for new poetry debuts from Afshan D'souza-Lodhi and Konstantinos Tsolakis, plus Okechukwu Nzelu’s debut novel ‘The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney’ which is making big waves and rightly so, and for Dave Haslam’s beautiful Art Decades titles, ‘Searching For Love: Courtney Love in Liverpool’ and ‘Sylvia Plath in Paris, 1956’. And Katie McCabe’s ‘More than a Muse’ which I did a great author Zoom about. I recommend all of these without hesitation. Huge props to the writers, I just think you’re wonderful.
The Constant Companion Award goes to Patti Smith. I read or re-read all her writing this year and she is a talisman of joy and clarity for me. I just glance at a few sentences of hers and feel there is a good true artist still at work in the world.
The Eventually Got Around To It award is jointly held by Isherwood’s ‘Berlin Stories’ and ‘Scoop’, my first Evelyn Waugh. Pristine and camp and shocking, all of it.
The Short Story Genius Award is shared by Alice Munro’s delicate brilliant ‘Dance of the Happy Shades’ and Allen Barnett’s devastating hilarious AIDS cycle ‘The Body and its Dangers’, the latter inexplicably out of print I think. Thank you to Monica for the recommend!
My books of the year were these two:
Hilary Mantel’s ‘The Mirror and the Light’. The wait for it was interminable and I didn’t want the book to end. Every page utterly gripping and the elements of plague and power and fake news have never been more current. She closed the gap in the years for us. One day I will read the whole lot again. Maybe Lockdown 3.0!
Then ‘Are You Somebody?’ by Nuala O’Faolain which has left such an imprint on me. One of the best memoirs I have ever read and the book that got my Mum back into reading. When we arrived in Dublin, by joyful coincidence, there was an exhibition about Nuala’s book at the Literature Museum and I stayed a whole afternoon and cried a little bit when I left. Oh Nuala. I can’t explain why I love it so much you have to read it.
You can find links to all of these books below. Please shop indie or direct from author where you can! For second hand books, Better World Books supports literacy schemes:
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/
Big titles for 2021 will be Tawseef Khan's ‘The Muslim Problem’ and Sarah Schulman’s ‘Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993’. Can’t wait!
www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/...
www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/203...
No comments have been added yet.
