2020 Reflections and Mindful Reading

[Juli, Moderator]

Hi guys,

Like many others, I have had a weird reading year. My original goals went out the window sometime around March or April. My reading habits changed. I had days, weeks, or even months of no or very little reading and others where I devoured one book after another. Genres shifted from my usual horror to cozy mysteries and romcoms. I fell badly behind on reviewing ARCs (that is a new feeling for me) and I had to be ok with that. Now, we find ourselves in December and I just want to curl up, drink hot coffee, and read all the winter feel-good books. This is truly a time to slow down and be present.

So, I thought we could use this thread to encourage each other to 1) reflect upon the year, 2) chat about the last few books we'd love to finish before New Year's Day, and 3) just sit with each other. I am sure we will actually hold an official holiday readathon, so if you're looking for a true sprint, that's your best bet. This here is meant to be slow and indulgent. Let's end this year with bookish mindfulness.

I'll be listing a few of my goals in the comments.

[Juli, Moderator]

My goals for December are:

1) Finishing one more book for the PopSugar challenge - the first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed - for which I am planning to either blindly select from my Kindle or blindly select from top-reads shelf and do a re-read.

2) Read a few more graphic novels: I have my eye on Lumberjanes, Vol. 3: A Terrible Plan and Ghosts for example.

3) Read Twas the night before Christmas, or account of a visit from St. Nicholas out loud on Christmas Eve.

4) Read at least one more book or novella in German. I am thinking of Amok and Other Stories.

5) Finish at least one more book from my personal 2020 pledges. I have Ninth House, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Lord of the Flies, Parable of the Talents, The Princess Bride, and Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype left to choose from. This goal has suffered the most. I usually put classics or more challenging reads on my yearly pledge list but this year was just not the year for such reads. I tried reading Ninth House earlier this year and couldn't get into it. I am currently listening to the audiobook version. Fingers crossed it can hold my attention.

6) Read Pablo Neruda poetry. He is my favorite poet and his poetry is like comfort food.

7) Hold off on ARCs until the new year. I just don't have the bandwidth right now to write thoughtful reviews.

8) Write at least one more blog post before the end of the year.

BOOKS FINISHED

[Kyle]

You're such an inspiration Juli. I don't know how you read so much books. For a while there in the middle of the year I caught up to you and then whoooosh you just flew past me.

My goals for December are:

1) Make it to 100 books for the year.

2) Finish the last 9 Stephen King books.

[Juli, Moderator]

Kyle wrote: "You're such an inspiration Juli. I don't know how you read so much books. For a while there in the middle of the year I caught up to you and then whoooosh you just flew past me.

My goals for Dece..."

Oh hi, it seems you were able to open it now. Very odd, I hope no one else has this problem.

What SK books do you have left? Are you going in chronological order? I haven't been reading as much SK this year as I normally do.

Also, thank you for the compliment. :)

[Charleen]

This year was definitely not the year for lots of classics or challenging reads. I've DNF'd several books that I probably wouldn't have (or definitely not as quickly as I did) in a normal year.

I'm very thankful that my husband has a job he can do remotely for the most part, and we've kind of settled into a new normal with him working from home and my son not going to school as planned. Overall we've been very lucky.

But.

Everyone is at home. All. The. Time.

And that means I need my reading to be more escapist than ever. I don't have any particular goals for the last three weeks. We'll read The Polar Express as a family on Christmas Eve, and I might do my annual-ish re-read of A Christmas Carol. Other than that, just reading as usual... whatever "usual" means right now.

[Juli, Moderator]

Charleen wrote: "This year was definitely not the year for lots of classics or challenging reads. I've DNF'd several books that I probably wouldn't have (or definitely not as quickly as I did) in a normal year.

I'..."

Oh, reading The Polar Express is such a fun tradition!

[Connie]

Hey there! We've made it this far! Yay!
8 more books to reach my adjusted 2020 goal of 150. I think I can do that. I've set out to catch up with Stephanie Plum and those are fast and fun reads, kind of like veggin out watching Seinfeld reruns and bloopers for hours on end! (who me??). I had wanted to finish Grant by Ron Chernow, but I struggle through reading about battles and their strategic makeup. Fantasy was a new genre for me this year and I found it very enjoyable. I consider myself a Fantasy Lite fan at this time. Maybe 2021 will bring further and deeper exploration.
My husband and I have decided to put up a Little Free Library in the front yard. A lot of walkers go by our place on a daily basis. I am hoping to share my love for reading, some good books and some community spirit. The fun part now is getting the 'library' painted and ready for installation - the holidays are slowing down the process. The anticipation is worth it though.
Happy holidays to everyone; appreciate you!

[Icy-Cobwebs-In-Space]

I am a stay-at-home Grandma and Babysitter of younger grands (specifically the 3.5, 5.5, just turned 9) (and as of Dec. 3, step-great-grandma x 2), so Reading is day-and-night for me [I've never cared much for Real Life]. Starting September 1 and throughout September I participated in SFF180 Presents Space Opera September, and immediately my lifelong but not often enough accessed love of Science Fiction reignited and is a Burning flame; these 4 months I don't want to read anything else!! [particularly emphasising Far Future, gee, I wonder why ;)].

Coronavirus has not directly affected any of my family (our Death Era occurred in '19, my son-in-law lost 3 close family, dad in January, dad's brother in September, mom in October just 6 days before her 68th birthday). So 2020 has been "easy" comparatively: no deaths, and 2 step-great-grands birthed (January and December).
Now, back to the Far Future, away!!

ps: goals: just need to read Home Remedies for "X" author to finish Alphabet Challenge. Finished Mount TBR Challenge Nov. 22, Virtual Mount TBR Nov. 24.
Reading all of Alastair Reynolds (SF) and then Adrian Tchaikovsky (SF and Fantasy) and Peter F. Hamilton, more Greg Bear, plus Feminist and/or Diverse SF. Reading 1 SS a day for Advent Challenge.

pps: I adored Ninth House!!

[Icy-Cobwebs-In-Space]

Connie, I applaud your upcoming Little Free Library! So generous and thoughtful!

[Charleen]

I've actually never visited a Little Free Library. There are a couple around town, but I usually see them while I'm driving, not walking.

[Andrea, Moderator]

Love the idea of chatting with you all to end the year. I have read a significant amount this year. I would love to tell you how much, but that would mean I would have to catch up on my reviews...haha

[Connie]

Thanks; Reading Reindeer; , I’m looking forward to it. I also loved Ninth House.

[Juli, Moderator]

Connie wrote: "Hey there! We've made it this far! Yay!
8 more books to reach my adjusted 2020 goal of 150. I think I can do that. I've set out to catch up with Stephanie Plum and those are fast and fun reads, ki..."

I have been wanting to set up a Little Free Library as well. We have one two streets over but no one really frequents it, so I can't tell if my neighborhood as a whole isn't interested in it or if it is that particular location (it is a bit out of the way, my house, on the other hand, is part of people's regular walking and running routes).

[Juli, Moderator]

Charleen wrote: "I've actually never visited a Little Free Library. There are a couple around town, but I usually see them while I'm driving, not walking."

I highly recommend them. I've found some really cool books in them and I love adding to them!

[Juli, Moderator]

I finished Amok and Other Stories last night and loved it. Highly recommend if you're into classics and weird "love stories".

I am also about 40% through Ninth House and I am starting to get into it. Listening to the audiobook version seems to be working for me.

[Stacie]

This year has just been an all around weird one for me. "Unprecedented" is a word that has been given so much air time over the last few years that it almost feels like it's lost any meaning... but it's absolutely accurate. I've come to realize that I'm not going to reach any of my reading goals this year. I've also come to realize, surprisingly, that I'm truly ok with that. I'm hoping to finish up a couple of books I've got going, but if all I get read are toddler books- that's totally fine! (I got my great-niece a countdown calendar where each day is a different Frozen booklet about the length of a Little Golden Book and we are loving getting a new book every day! If she doesn't develop a love of books it won't be from a lack of exposure, lol)

[Shelby]

This has been a weird year for me. Personally, it’s still the best I’ve had in years, especially compared to last years hen my health really took a turn.

But this is also the year I started treating my writing career as a second job, and while there was a lot of stress from that and I so far have no releases to announce, I’m proud of the work I did do. The downside here is I don’t have as much reading time as I did before.

My other job has been both more and less stressful, but it’s odd to feel like the whole planet is in the same boat as you.

I’ve sorted out my final reads for this year, I think, so my goals for the end of December are:

- finish Midnight Sun
- read Polar Express
- read A Sky Beyond the Storm

My reading goals for next year look different from my usual yearly goals. I had the idea back in January, and decided to save these plans for 2021. I’m looking forward to next years reads.

[Juli, Moderator]

Stacie wrote: "This year has just been an all around weird one for me. "Unprecedented" is a word that has been given so much air time over the last few years that it almost feels like it's lost any meaning... but..."

I love those types of books. I gave my friend's son one like that for Disney princess stories.

[Juli, Moderator]

Shelby wrote: "This has been a weird year for me. Personally, it’s still the best I’ve had in years, especially compared to last years hen my health really took a turn.

But this is also the year I started treat..."

Oh Shelby, that is fantastic! Every year I tell myself, this is the year where I finish my stories. You should be so proud of yourself for taking that step to make writing your second job!

[Juli, Moderator]

Over the weekend I finished Ninth House, Ghosts, and Lord of the Flies. I also read a few pages of Parable of the Talents but this one is a hard read right now. May DNF it.

[Charleen]

I've been making slow progress on a few different things the past week or so, but I'm hoping to finish both my current print novel and audio nonfiction before Christmas, and my current re-read before the end of the year.

I have a digital hold on Ready Player Two, so I may try to squeeze that in... though I haven't been hearing good things so far. I'm hoping for a bit of fluff to wrap up the year, but it may just be another 2020 DNF, we'll see.

[Elyse, Moderator]

Charleen wrote: "I've been making slow progress on a few different things the past week or so, but I'm hoping to finish both my current print novel and audio nonfiction before Christmas, and my current re-read befo..."

RPT was not good. I generously gave it 3 stars but basically a whole star for Wil Wheaton's narration. I didn't even want this book and I was disappointed with it.

[Shelby]

Juli wrote: "Shelby wrote: "This has been a weird year for me. Personally, it’s still the best I’ve had in years, especially compared to last years hen my health really took a turn.

But this is also the year ..."

Thank-you Juli ❤️.

[Juli, Moderator]

Shelby wrote: "Juli wrote: "Shelby wrote: "This has been a weird year for me. Personally, it’s still the best I’ve had in years, especially compared to last years hen my health really took a turn.

But this is a..."

You're very welcome!

[Juli, Moderator]

Since my last update, I finished Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype (original recordings prior to the book), Parable of the Talents (kindle), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (audiobook), A Christmas Carol (audiobook, narrated by Patrick Stewart), and We Met in December (kindle).