Reading, This Year and Last

What is the beginning of a new year without some reading goals?

Perfectly adequate. You do you. I don't actually set reading goals, I just happen to have a TBR list in hand.

Today I want to share a few titles I'm excited about from that TBR list, but first I wanted to reflect on my reading from last year and some thoughts about how that reading will inform this year's. Let's go.

In 2020, I read 62 books. I have never counted before, but my brother suggested he and I and his wife all keep a list together, so we did, and wow. I did a lot of reading last year.

Here are two takeaways from my reading life last year, and how they inform how I hope to approach my reading in 2021.

1. I want to slow down. I read more than a book per week, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, there were several weighty or interesting books I wish I had spent more time with. Because of that, I actually bought several books last week that will be rereads from last year to sit with and take notes on.

A Circle of Quiet, by Madeleine L'Engle | L'Engle wrote the novel A Wrinkle in Time, which is just one of five in a favorites series that I grew up with. A Circle of Quiet is a book of memoir and reflection on her life with her family and her writing.

An Altar in the World, by Barbara Brown Taylor | This is the second in a trilogy from BBT about her experiences leaving life as a Sunday minister and finding God outside of the church building and its set ways. Altar in the World in particular describes a series of spiritual practices we can be done in our everyday lives. She reminds us so well that living in our bodies is good and holy work.

Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis | TWHF is a retelling of the Greek myth of Psyche and Cupid, but from the perspective of Psyche's sister. I remember being absolutely floored by this book but not being able to put it into words, which is why I'm rereading it.

The Bhagavad Gita | This Hindu scripture is part of a larger collection called the Mahabharata. The Gita describes a conversation between a prince and his charioteer, who is actually Krishna/Lord Vishnu, or God, before a great battle. It talks about morality and the meaning of life in a way I found fascinating and meaningful.

2. I love a good novel. My absolute favorite reads of the year, as far as pure wholehearted reading enjoyment goes, were solid novels that explore the weight of everyday life, especially relationships: parent/child, friendship, and complicated, honest romance.

The Signature of All Things and City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert | I realized at the end of 2019 that Elizabeth Gilbert was not just the woman from Eat, Pray, Love but actually a full-time novelist. I loved her novels, the characters and relationships she creates.

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr | This is a beautiful book. I listened to the audio version, mostly while day hiking, and I loved it. It's a WWII novel that follows a teenage German radio tech and a blind French girl up until and after their chance meeting and the timeline hops all over the place but is weaved together so expertly and the visual descriptions are so well crafted and the overall effect is amazing. It's heartbreaking and somehow still lovely.

Still Life and A Fatal Grace, by Louise Penny | These are the first two books in Penny's Inspector Gamache series of murder mysteries. The series is set in a small Canadian town called Three Pines and they are the cabin-fireplace-hot cocoa equivalent of a beach read and I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of them now that I have a library card again.

So, my To Be Read list. Besides the four books I am re-reading, here are some titles I am looking forward to finding in the next few weeks:

Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | I'm currently reading this and I don't have adequate words for how good and well-written it is, and also how important it is for me to be reading it right now.

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, by Ann Patchett | I've read Ann Patchett's Commonwealth and I listened to The Dutch House, but this is a collection of essays from Patchett on writing and life. Ann is good real-life friends with Liz Gilbert and their writings are sisters. I read a sample of one essay on writing and I'm buzzing just thinking about getting to read the whole collection.

A Man Called Ove, Beartown, or Us Against You, by Fredrik Backman | I absolutely adored Backman's My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry, and though I recently heard a mixed review of Backman I'm still itching to try something more from him.

Through the Language Glass, by Guy Deutscher | This has been on my TBR for years now but I finally bought a copy so now I have to read it, right? It's about how the particular language we speak affects our perception of the world around us. It sounds incredibly nerdy and I am here for it.

There are about 30 books on my current TBR list. I have been refreshing it every quarter, but I have a mind to leave this one until I finish everything on it - which could, in theory, be six months, but I never stick to my TBR list. These are just a few I am excited about and trying to get to first.

Leave me a comment and let me know: What was the best book you read last year? What did you love about it?