The start of the new year is a perfect time to update my 2020 Reading Challenge
My Goodreads Reading Challenge
Every year over the past few years, I have taken the Goodreads Reading Challenge, a self imposed challenge, and I’ve kept track of all the books I’ve read during the year.
It’s not that difficult to do and it means I can always refer back to books, when I read them, and how I rated them. I don’t know about you but some books blend into each other, as do the years, so I need to keep track!
Are you on Goodreads too? You could always join me 🙂
I also keep a page on my blog with my 2020 books. It lists all my 100+ books read so far this year, and the star rating I’ve given each one, click the link below to read more:
My top rated books of the year – 5 stars
I don’t give 5 star ratings willy-nilly! So it’s no real surprise that out of the 103 books I’ve read, so far this year, only 15 books have made the cut.
Some of these included Children’s Picture Books which I discovered when I did a course on How to Write a Children’s Picture Book – The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, Macca the Alpaca and A Stack of Alpacas by Matt Cosgrove. These were great to read and the bonus is my grandchildren also get to enjoy them!
Another great children’s read was Brody Cody and the Stepmother from Outer Space by Toni Pike.
Joys:
Discovering some great Australian books – Bruny by Heather Rose, Silver and Trust by Chris Hammer, The Survivors by Jane Harper, The Mother Fault by Kate Mildenhall to name a few!
Discovering Joanne Tracey’s books – most I have given 5 stars because they are easy to read, fun and helped me get through some tough times throughout the year. I mention them here in my post: Friday Fiction #8
Graham Norton – I enjoy his TV show but I didn’t realise he was also an author and an OK one at that! I’ve now read all his books and gave 5 stars to Holding.
Trent Dalton – All our Shimmering Skies was a pure delight!
Pip Williams – The Dictionary of Lost Words was a stand out favourite during the year too.
Other 5 star reads:
Marriage Unarranged by Ritu Bhathal
Wasteland by Terry Tyler – this was included in a Friday Fiction post I wrote in May featuring Confronting Reads
Grandmothers: Essays by 21st-century grandmothers by Helen Elliott. I used this as a basis for a series of posts in collaboration with my blogging friend Denyse. Grandmothers These Days and The dearest child is the child of your child
I’ve also enjoyed writing my Friday Fiction posts throughout the year and they can be found here.
Disappointments:
I couldn’t get into Milkman although I was told to try it again. Not many others have disappointed me.
Book clubs
I now find myself in two book clubs – oh happy days!! – one with friends in my home town where we meet once a month and get books from the local library’s book club section and another will be an online bookclub starting early 2021 with some blogging friends. We will meet over Zoom and have set a book to read in an achievable time frame, discussing a certain number of pages every few weeks.
I’m also part of a huge Facebook bookclub page but I usually use it to trawl through for recommendations and reviews!
It was interesting to read in this group recently, how someone was bemoaning the fact that readers were posting about how many books they had read, and this person thought it was totally unnecessary to ‘brag’ about the number of books read. I record the books I read throughout the year for my benefit only, not as competition or for boasting rights – everyone reads at different paces and for a variety of reasons – to me it’s all about challenging myself and escaping the world. What are your thoughts?
So what have been your favourite books from 2020?
I’d love to hear what you’re reading. And as always, any recommendations are welcome.
Happy reading, I now have to think about how many books I’ll set for my 2021 reading challenge!
Deb xx
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Deb is a young-at-heart & active 60+ blogger/retiree, after being made redundant from her 22-year career managing education programs in a men’s correctional centre (jail). She now spends her time reading, blogging, riding her ebike and travelling. Deb was awarded a Bravery Award from the Queen when she was 17 after a tragic accident – a definite life changing moment! She is married with 3 grown-up daughters & has 4 grandchildren. You can read more of Deb’s story here
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The Hearts Invisible Furies has to be in my top reads last year.
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Thanks so much for the recommendation Gemma. Hope you’re doing well.
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Not bad thank you. In lockdown number 3 now, and things seem a bit out of control. But at least there’s reading and blogging!
Hope you’re well.
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Ha ha!! That set of books on the shelf is hilarious. Actually, who needs to find the door…we can’t go anywhere once we open it anyway. Waaaaaa!!!
I keep seeing the Dictionary of Lost Words on lists of favorite books. Need to read it. I love the cover and title.
One of my favorite reads this past year was In Five Years. Very good story.
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Thanks for the recommendation Leslie and I’m glad you enjoyed the books shelf funny!
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I also use Goodreads to track my own reading and absolutely not as a bragging thingie. Heavy sighs. Great round-up and thanks so much for the shout-out.
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My pleasure Jo!
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Wow you get through a fair few books don’t you Deb? We read quite a lot but don’t tend to really choose books, just pick up charity shop and free ones on our travels. Tend to read a whole selection of all sorts but often can’t remember authors or even titles. Hopeless eh?
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Ooh you ploughed through a lot of good reads indeed!
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Hello Debbie. I’m a Goodreads Gal as well. Have set my challenge at 52 ( one a week) this year. Unless something goes wrong I’ll exceed that….. like you I record each one read, I do rate them but never review. Just list them on the blog per year. As well as the number to aim for I’ll have other little challenges – Australian authors, series, A – Z surnames, new releases, new to me authors,….. that sort of thing. Means I hunt out books rather than just pick off the library shelf. Trent Dalton is one whose work I’ve never read so he’s on my list for this year.
Chuckling at you saying books blend into each other – a friend asked me about the Ann Cleeves Shetland series and there was no way I could remember what happened in each book.
Take care and keep on reading……as well as washing those hands 😊
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Hi, Debbie – I love the Lonely Planet titles that you pictured here. I had to look twice!
I am a huge book lingerer, reading passages that I love over and over, and pondering ‘in between the lines’ messages in my head. I never personally set a goal regarding the number of books that I would like to read in one year. But I am currently a member of five book clubs (crazy, I know), so that keeps me accountable! 😀
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This is awesome Debbie! I have so many good choices! I’m reading Seth Godin’s new book The Practice, it’s great for maintaining good practices and motivation! I’m also starting Andrew Sean Greer’s book Less. I’ve seen Marriage Unarranged on several lists. And I might have to order All Our Shimmering Skies! Can’t wait…C
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I used to always have my head in a book. But that was pre-Internet days. I’m desperately trying to re-introduce books to my life, but aren’t finding it an easy battle to win. I have managed to almost get through my second book in three months – and that’s progress. Sa$ isn’t it!
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Good luck with trying to read more books. I enjoy it for the pure escapism!
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Yes I set a goodreads goal as a challenge to myself!
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Exactly Carol, it’s definitely not a competition!
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