2020 Reading

I read a lot more in 2020 than I have of late. At first it was definitely a coping mechanism — any time I spent reading a book was time not spent doom-scrolling. That worked out surprisingly well for a while, especially when the weather was nice and I could do it outside. Unfortunately reading for the pure sake of keeping my mind off the myriad ways the world was collapsing did not to wonders for retention. So I might need to revisit some of these. Still, lots better than a lot of other strategies I could have pursued.

TL/DR #

I finished 36 books in 2020 (not counting graphic novels): 23 fiction, and 13 non-fiction (including biographies and memoirs). Five were audiobooks. On average I rated books 3.8 out of 5 stars.

The Left Hand of Darkness #

By Ursula K. Le Guin Finished: 2020-03-08 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read a lot of fantasy and sci-Fi in high school but never got around to reading any of Ursula K. Le Guin’s work. This was clearly an oversight. I had a lot of difficulty with the protagonist, but the writing was solid and the concept was brilliant.

The Secret Commonwealth #

By Philip Pullman Finished: 2020-04-04 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

I started reading this in a hotel room in Detroit where I was mostly stuck for what was supposed to be a vacation while the city began to shutdown for the pandemic. This is the second in the Book of Dust trilogy. After being disappointed in The Amber Spyglass I wasn’t sure about another trilogy from Philip Pullman, but this has been compelling so far. I really hope he sticks the landing with the third (as yet untitled) book.

The Library at Mount Char #

By Scott Hawkins Finished: 2020-04-28 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I listened to this as an audiobook. I don’t really do audiobooks, but I needed something to keep my brain occupied while I was sewing facemasks. I forget who recommended this, but I’m glad I wrote it down. It was enjoyable, and I think lent itself well to the audio format.

Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life #

By Lulu Miller Finished: 2020-05-02 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I bought this as soon as I could, being a fan of Lulu Miller’s work on Radiolab, and then I polished it off in a single day (That doesn’t happen often). Looking for meaning and order also appealed as the pandemic continued. I enjoy taxonomy and quirky history and this had both of those things. Lulu also managed to weave her own story into the one she was telling about Robert Star Jordan in a way that worked really well.

The Girl Who Lived Twice: A Lisbeth Salander Novel #

By David Lagercrantz Finished: 2020-05-02 Rated: ⭐️⭐️½

I really need to stop reading these. I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and every successive Lisbeth Salandar book is less enjoyable than the last. I keep holding out hope for some reason that they’ll get better though.

Khaled, a Tale of Arabia #

By F. Marion Crawford Finished: 2020-05-10 Rated: ⭐️⭐️½

I started this years ago, and mostly finished it out of spite.

Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities #

By Rebecca Solnit Finished: 2020-05-12 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

This had been on my reading list for a long time, I don’t recall why. I started it towards the beginning of lock-down because things looked bleak and I needed some encouragement. It turned out to have more to do with social movements than personal hope. Even though we tend to focus on our failures rather than celebrating our gains, we’ve made tremendous, if slow, progress advancing a progressive agenda. It wasn’t the hope I’d been looking for at the time, but George Floyd was murdered two weeks after I finished reading it, and then it seemed like a prescient choice.

On the Move: A Life #

By Oliver Sacks Finished: 2020-05-14 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ve enjoyed listening to interviews with Oliver Sacks, and reading occasional articles, but hadn’t read any of his books. I’m not a big biography fan, but he led a fascinating life. I plan to read more of his work (which continued to be produced until recently despite his death in 2015).

Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church #

By Megan Phelps-Roper Finished: 2020-05-16 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I know I said I’m not one for biographies, and here’s two in a row. I’ve paid some attention to Megan Phelps-Roper since she left the church, and was interested in learning more about how her disentanglement came to be. The book offered an interesting view into the community life within Westboro Baptist Church, as well as a short history of how it started. It also offers a view of how social media can be a tool for building connections and support in a time when it seems like it does anything but.

The Mother of All Questions #

By Rebecca Solnit Finished: 2020-05-17 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another Rebecca Solnit book that wasn’t quite what I expected. For some reason I was expecting more focus on the question/choice of whether to have children or not. It was a much broader exploration of gender roles, power dynamics, feminist perspectives, and society. Well worth reading, but less quotable(?) than Hope In the Dark.

Ender’s Game #

By Orson Scott Card Finished: 2020-05-19 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’d never read this before and it seemed like maybe I should. I did have a pretty good idea going in what the twist was going to be so it wasn’t much of a surprise. The writing was good, but something about it left a sour taste in my mouth.

God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World — and Why Their Differences Matter #

By Stephen R. Prothero Finished: 2020-05-21 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Another book that had been partially read for months or years that I finally decided to finish. I’m not sure I got a ton of new information out of it, other than the chapter on Yoruba, which I was completely ignorant of before.

The Overstory #

By Richard Powers Finished: 2020-05-25 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The most interesting novel about trees I’ve come across. I enjoyed it, but I almost wish I’d stopped after the first chapter. That would have made a fantastic stand-alone short story.

Reamde: A Novel #

By Neal Stephenson Finished: 2020-05-31 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

I liked it better than Seven Eves, but it was no Anatham.

The Autobiography of Malcom X #

By Alex Hailey (and Malcom X) Finished: 2020-06-16 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I didn’t know as much about Malcom X as other figures from the Civil Rights Movement. The summer was heating up in a few different ways, and it seemed like a good time to correct the oversight.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing #

By Hank Green Finished: 2020-06-18 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m a big fan of Hank’s video work (both solo and projects with his brother John), so I was always going to get to this eventually. One night I couldn’t sleep and the audiobook was available for download. I figured I would start it and fall asleep after a chapter or two, but I made it over halfway through. I finished it the next night, then went and pre-ordered the sequel.

Between the World and Me #

By Ta-Nehasi Coates Finished: 2020-06-20 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A quick and poignant audiobook while driving across Illinois (and a little of Iowa). I’ll be revisiting this again in print, as well as watching the HBO adaptation.

Born a Crime #

By Trevor Noah Finished: 2020-06-25 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Audiobook across Utah and back. I’m amazed that Trevor has made it where he has today after learning about his childhood. I really don’t like his mom.

Ready Player One #

By Ernest Cline Finished 2020-06-25 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Audiobook across Colorado, Nebraska, and a little Iowa. A fun story with an interesting concept for tying as much 1980’s nostalgia as possible. I have no desire to see the movie after listening to the book.

The Dispossessed #

By Ursula K. Le Guin Finished: 2020-06-27 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

I enjoyed this one a lot more than The Left Hand of Darkness, a think due to the protagonist being likable. I will have to read more in the series.

Parable of the Sower #

By Octavia E. Butler Finished: 2020-06-30 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love dystopian fiction, but this one was starting to look a little too plausible in late June. I’m interested in reading the sequel, but not right away.

A Wizard of Earthsea #

By Ursula K. Le Guin Finished: 2020-07-03 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Someone mentioned this as having a lot of the same broad-concepts as Harry Potter (notably wizard schools), but was older and “better.” J.K. Rowling has gone insane, so I needed something else to fill her spot in my brain and this served nicely. The wait list at the library was long, and I hate all the American edition covers so I ordered a copy from England. Now I need to order the rest of the series so they’ll match.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark #

By Carl Sagan Finished: 2020-07-18 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love Carl Sagan, but this felt off. Maybe it’s just that it’s full of ideas of his that I’ve found elsewhere so it wasn’t as compellingly fresh as I’d hoped? The opening chapter is great, and the final two or three are solid; the middle drags though. Can’t bring myself to lower the rating though.

By Ken Liu Finished: 2020-07-19 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was familiar with Ken Liu as the translator of The Three Body Problem and his short story The Paper Menagerie, both of which I enjoyed. I’m becoming more appreciative of short stories in general (maybe my attention span is just shrinking), so this collection really appealed to me. It was very singularity focused, and I’m OK with that.

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor #

By Hank Green Finished: 2020-07-22 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

The sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It managed to take things off in an unexpected direction, and bring all the characters into a more complex world than they thought they inhabited in the first book. A really quick and enjoyable read, and I’m glad I pre-ordered it to get a signed copy too.

Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right #

By Arlie Russell Hochschild Finished: 2020-08-02 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Interesting, but not as compelling as I expected. My big takeaway is that Louisiana is frightfully corrupt. Also, I have difficulty empathizing with people who act against their own interests because they refuse to believe in reality.

The Library Book #

By Susan Orlean Finished: 2020-08-12 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was expecting more focus on the Los Angeles Library fire (don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of material about is in here). I did not expect the attention to libraries in general, and was pleasantly surprised.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind #

By Yuval Noah Harari Finished: 2020-09-05 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I started this as an eBook from the library, then purchased a physical copy when I ran out of renewals. The content was interesting, and compelling. The physical book was the most unpleasant reading experience I think I’ve ever had. I ended up going back to the eBook.

The Grace of Kings #

By Ken Liu Finished: 2020-10-19 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Having enjoyed books translated by Ken Liu, and his short stories, a full-length novel seemed like a good move. It was enjoyable, some nice fantasy elements without a big reliance on magic (not counting subtle divine interventions). It’s probably worth reading the other books in the series.

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century #

By Timothy Snyder Finished: 2020-10-22 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Not the most feel-good of books, but going in to the election season it seemed… important. It’s quick, but the biggest value probably comes from the suggestions for further reading, which will keep me busy for a long time.

The Dark Forest #

By Cixin Liu Finished 2020-10-31 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½

I’m not sure if Cixin Liu created Dark Forest Theory, but it’s the first I’ve heard of it. And now I’m terrified. As if we didn’t have enough problems just from our own planet.

Death’s End #

By Cixin Liu Finished 2020-11-12 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It looks like the problems introduced in The Dark Forest aren’t easily solved, so let’s just run out the clock until the heat death of the universe. Not the most satisfactory of resolutions, but it was a way to continue increasing the scope of the story while confining it to a manageable number of characters. I think The Three Body Problem was the best book in the trilogy, but enjoyed them all and look forward to the Netflix adaptation.

The Calculating Stars #

By Mary Robinette Kowal Finished: 2020-11-27 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pretty sure I actually meant to start reading a different series, but this was fun. I enjoy alternative histories, and semi-plausible sci-fi about the space program, and this was both. Also, it was just nice to read about a world where climate change gets taken (mostly) seriously by the government. Shame it took a meteor wiping out the eastern seaboard to do it.

The Fated Sky #

By Mary Robinette Kowal Finished: 2020-11-30 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

OK, we’ve got that moon thing figured out, lets go to Mars.

The Lady Astronaut of Mars #

By Mary Robinette Kowal Finished: 2020-12-01 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A short story from the Lady Astronaut universe. Pretty sure this was written first, and caused the books to be written, despite coming last chronologically.

The Relentless Moon #

By Mary Robinette Kowal Finished: 2020-12-15 Rated: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Espionage and intrigue on the moon! A nice wrap up of the trilogy by switching the focus to some of the minor characters from the first two books. Takes place concurrently with The Fated Sky. As a whole the optimism of this series about what we could have done if we had the ambition and stopped fighting each other is delightful. It’s also the least believable part to me, which I think is why I liked it so much.