What I read in 2020

Let’s start honestly, I really didn’t read that much this year. I barely made my 20 books, and only because I went through some comics I had in my queue. I think this happened because I relied too much on audiobooks and when I stopped commuting to work this year, I stopped listening too. Unlike other people that adapted very quickly to this, I never got the habit to listen while doing everyday things. I need to change that. Time for some short summary of my year in books.

I told myself last year that I would read more Atwood, and so I read The Testaments. It wasn’t as good as I expected, but it wasn’t bad either. I also did introduce some classics into my daily life when I read The Three Musketeers. It was a bit hard to get used to the style, but once I was invested, it was a nice ride. It was also the longest book I read this year, while the shortest one was Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. I have two whole books by Fredrik Backman in my list, A Man Called Ove and Things My Son Needs to Know about the World. Both very sweet and a pleasure to read.

At some point, I decided to go back to Bulgarian literature and I went with Немили-недраги, one of my favourite novels by Ivan Vazov. A re-read, I rarely do those.

I mentioned comics above. Four, in fact. Two of them were the graphic novels of the Coward series by Ed Brubaker. They have been in my read list for quite some time. What a depressing read those were. I used to like Sin City and the like, and I have forgotten how it felt. Later in the year, I did quick research what interesting graphics novels have been floating around as of late, and I read On a Sunbeam. A bit later I bought Strange Planet because I am actually a fan.

I wanted to learn a new programming language to write my first game in, so I went with Programming in Lua. And most of all, I read quite a lot non-fiction it seems, mostly informational about sleeping (Why We Sleep) and eating (Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ), as well as good habits (Atomic Habits) and good storytelling (The Anatomy of Story).

I got as a gift for my birthday Journey Through Wine: An Atlas. I learned some interesting bits of information while reading it and it is for sure a book you would like to have on your shelf if you like a conversation about wine.

I just checked the top 5 from last year. The books were better then. But still, I got some really good ones:

1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

You can call that book cheesy, I guess. I found the main hero very sympathetic, a man of order in a world of chaos. A man with principles that make him look very grumpy. I loved all of the side characters that help us see how big-hearted Ove is. The cat was also adorable. This book was one of the books I read at the beginning of the year and it takes first place because nothing felt as good as it did.

2. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker

After I finally finished this one I kept on remembering things from it. I was always telling people about what I have learned, and some of those things are downright scary. It changed my way of thinking about sleep. It is a book we all need to read.

3. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Last time I learned a lot about a country while reading a family saga was when I read The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. It was about Australia, while this is about Korea. And while family sagas are not exactly high literature, just as the previous one, I found this very fascinating and effective. I also cried a little.

4. Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle

If you follow Nathan on his Instagram, you know what I mean. I encounter his comics on a different platform every now and then and I love them. The book is just a reason to read those comics on paper.

5. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I got a couple of good laughs from this one and this is enough for the fifth place. I remember when my friends were reading this back in the days and I was thinking that the premise sounds ridiculous and I didn’t find it funny at all. I guess I grew a similar sense of humour with the years.

Here is the list of the 20 books I read in 2020:

1. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
2. Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear
4. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
5. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
6. The Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau
7. Criminal, Vol. 1: Coward by Ed Brubaker
8. Criminal, Vol. 2: Lawless by Ed Brubaker
9. The Anatomy of Story by John Truby
10. Things My Son Needs to Know about the World by Fredrik Backman
11. Programming in Lua, Fourth Edition by Roberto Ierusalimschy
12. Немили-недраги by Иван Вазов
13. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
14. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
15. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
16. On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
17. Journey Through Wine: An Atlas by Adrien Grant Smith Bianchi and Jules Gaubert-Turpin
18. Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle
19. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
20. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

I am currently reading Troy (actually listening to Stephen Fry reading it to me). As you might know, it is the third one after Mythos and Heroes in his Greek mythology series. I don’t know how he does it, they are so entertaining. I am so glad he wrote those books, I will be coming back to them in the years to come.

Let’s have a great 2021 everyone! Full of amazing books that make our time worthwhile.