Good-bye 2020, Hello 2021

I’m going to be honest. This is the time of year that I usually take a while to sit and ponder the previous year of books, pick out favorites and make a “best of” list, maybe discuss a publishing trend I loved or hated, etc. Then, I usually look forward to the coming year and set goals and intentions.

But after the way 2020 has beaten us all down, plus some of the personal distractions I have in my life at the moment, I just don’t have the energy for it. I’ve written an end-of-year/beginning-of -year post every year for the seven years I’ve kept this blog. But this year, I think all I can manage is a place holder and some simple, representative graphics. Maybe I’ll feel up to coming back to it at some future point.

Here’s what I can pull together. Goodreads—my main reading challenge of the year—tells me I read 214 books this year. I’d set my goal at 200. I’ll admit a lot of these were on the shorter side, but they were books and I read them. So, this is a success. (Lord, I need a success.)

I used to really love keeping tabs on the number of pages I’ve read. It’s just the sort of collective thing I enjoy. But this year I’ve listened to more audiobooks than ever and Goodreads doesn’t count audiobook pages, so the page count isn’t accurate. (Insert sad face here.)

I’ve found that the more stressed I become (between Covid, money, house projects we started before everything went into free-fall and we’re trying to finish, etc) the harder it is to sit and read a book. I think the amount of time I’ve spent on Audible sums it up in a clear, visual representation.

Looking forward into the coming year, I’ve set my Goodread’s challenge at 200 again. That is well below my highest year, which was a goal of 300 and 364 books actually read in 2016, but still a respectable number.

I’ll be honest though. Unless 2021 truly does ameliorate some of 2020’s drama, I’ll only hit 200 books read if 150 of those books are in audio. Seriously! Not to disparage audiobooks. I consider listening to them reading, just as truly as a paper book. But I don’t really want all my books to be on audio. That’s not where my love is.

You can obviously expect things to run as always here on the blog. I’ll read books and post reviews, some thoughtful and academic, but most emotional responses to my time spent in an imaginary world. They run the gamut, depending on how I’m feeling when I finish a book.

I have joined a few book tours, which is relatively new. I’ve always excepted book review request, but tours are a new thing for me. I’m still deciding how I feel about them. I like the access to books, the chance to help authors gather reviews and a little online visibility, and the graphics. I’m not loving being given a specific date to post that review. I rather like finishing a book and immediately writing and posting a review. We’ll see how it goes.

“We’ll see how it goes” should probably just be my slogan for 2021, maybe even a mantra.

We’ll see how it goes.
We’ll see how it goes.
We’ll see how it goes.
We’ll see how it goes.

Anyhow, as I said, hopefully I’ll feel up to addressing 2020 and developing and diving into some goals for 2021 at a future time. As it is, I’m impressed I got as much as I did down ‘on paper.’ If nothing else I am soooo happy to see the back-end of 2020.

While I might be feeling stressed, such that my concentration is too shot to condense a year of reading 214 books into one more detailed post, I do feel hopeful for the future and wish everyone the best of the coming year and lots and lots and lots of good books.