Welcome to 2021!  The start of a new year means time to look back at my reading from 2020.  It was a very strange year…but at least my reading went well!  My overarching goal was to read more, aiming for 125 books.  I passed that goal, with a total 134 books.  I guess staying home for most of the year was at least good for reading!

Here are my monthly totals:

January: 14 books
February: 11 books
March: 7 books
April: 12 books
May: 9 books
June: 9 books
July: 11 books
August: 14 books
September: 10 books
October: 15 books
November: 10 books
December: 12 books

Now onto the specific challenges…

The Phantom of the Opera Reading & Viewing Challenge
Host: Tales of the Marvelous
Goal: Lon Chaney Level

I posted the update for this challenge yesterday (share your updates if you have them!)  I met my goal, reading one book, watching one filmed play, and watching one movie.

Diversity  Reading Challenge
Host: Celebrity Readers
Goal: 18 Books

I’m happy to have hit my goal on this one!  I haven’t always in past years, so I’m glad to have hit the 18…while also feeling like that was a low bar.  Something to continue thinking about, of course.

1. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (Jewish community)
2. In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (bisexual hero)
3. Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell (dark-skinned fantasy-world hero)
4. Shatter City by Scott Westerfeld (Latino hero)
5. Clover by Dori Sanders (African-American heroine)
6. The Wayward Children Series (ensemble diverse cast)
7. Time Pieces by Virginia Hamilton (African-American heroine)
8. Heroine’s Journey by Sarah Kuhn (Asian-American heroine)
9. The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion (non-neurotypical hero)
10. The Way to Bea (Asian-American heroine)
11. Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia (African-American hero)
12. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (non-fiction, exploring the Black experience in America)
13. The Pharaoh’s Daughter by Mesu Andrews (Egyptian heroine)
14. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (name a marginalized group, they’re probably here!)
15. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (see above)
16. Witchmark by C. L. Polk (gay hero)
17. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo (Chinese heroine)
18. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (Native American heroine)
19. Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer (African-American hero)

Tackle My TBR Reading Challenge
Host: Kimberly Faye Reads
Goal: 34 books

As it has all year, this challenge has involved shifting numbers.  I started the year with 68 books on my list, and wound up with 61…definitely progress, but since I read 39 off the list, that should tell you a lot about how many books got added!  Technically I did meet my goal of books read, though I was hoping to bring the number down further.

More importantly, I read a lot of really good books as a result of finally going through (part of) my list.  There were reasons these books ended up here, so many were excellent – and even though some were actually terrible, there was at least something interesting about them that drew me to put them on the list to begin with.  Plus I read a few that have been on here for years!

1. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
2. The Librarian by Christy Sloat
3. Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown
4. The Heroines by Eileen Favorite
5. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
6. The Fledgling by Elizabeth Cadell
7. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
8. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
9. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
10. In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
11. Your One & Only by Adrianne Finlay
12. You Just Don’t Understand by Deborah Tannen
13. Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell
14. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
15. The Bully at Work by Gary Namie
16. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
17. The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
18. Shatter City by Scott Westerfeld
19. The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
20. The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy
21. The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion
22. Landscape with Invisible Hand by M. T. Anderson
23. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
24. Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
25. The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl by Theodora Goss
26. The Way to Bea by Kat Yeh
27. Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pesel
28. The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn
29. Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mballa
30. Oz Reimagined edited by Douglas Cohen and John Joseph Adams
31. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Klein
32. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
33. Dance Upon the Air by Nora Roberts
34. The Pharaoh’s Daughter by Mesu Andrews
35. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
36. Witchmark by C. L. Polk
37. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
38. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
39. The Relationship Cure by John M. Gottman

Did you have reading goals for the year?  How are you feeling about them as we start a new year and say good-bye to 2020?