Best of 2020

The Joys I Find in Reading

Guess what? 2020 didn’t go as planned. I know you know that and I would love to hear from you about what kind of reading year 2020 ended up being for you. 

For me, I started the year with a fairly elaborate set of reading goals. I actually met most of those but fell short on two. I had planned to read the 1400 page Robert Caro classic, The Power Broker. I was going to complete the book in April and by mixing reading with listening to the audio version during my morning and afternoon commutes. Then the pandemic hit and my commutes ended. So, 2020 wasn’t the year for that book. It’s okay. I’ll get to it someday. I had also planned to read The Ambassadors by Henry James. I have fond memories of reading The Bostonians in college and thought I might enjoy other James novels. I did start it one day this summer and I just couldn’t “get into it” as happens sometimes. Maybe some other year. 

Despite falling short of those two goals, I managed to find a great deal of meaning and pleasure in my reading life in 2020. As I look back on it, I think my most important learning was being reminded why I love to read and the joys that come from reading. My favorites of the year highlight these loves and joys clearly:

Learning as Reframing

Of course learning is a reason lots of people read, but a few of my favorites this year point to a particular kind of learning that I appreciate more and more as I age — reframing. This year I re-read the The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg which walks Christians through an alternate framework for understanding their faith. The book clearly and simply explores the Western Church’s emphasis on personal salvation and challenges readers to see the larger calling that exists within the faith to love God and neighbor. 

I also really appreciated Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler. Here, the prosperity gospel is challenged through the telling of her very personal story battling a rare form of cancer. In doing so, she shows how strongly the beliefs of the prosperity gospel (we get what we deserve) are knitted into American Christianity and American culture more broadly. 

Learning to Understand Complexities

Something books can do that movies usually cannot is to show lots of complexity in our various social systems and how they interconnect. Science Fiction and Fantasy are especially good at this, but so is Climate Fiction, a new-to-me category. I especially appreciated the challenge, reframing, and exploration of so many interconnected complex systems and how they can and do change over time that was presented in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. Set in the very near future and imagining realistic climate disasters as the push for a host of worldwide efforts to address climate change, the book contains enough factual information combined with narrative story-telling to make for a very compelling and thought-provoking read. 

Getting Better at Relating to Others

When we understand ourselves better and get clearer about our needs, we can actually relate to others better too. I believe that and my reading this year taught me some new things about myself and my relationships. Lori Gottlieb’s Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, a memoir of her therapy practice, is the top of the heap in this category and was as enjoyable as it was chocked full of great lessons. Read it for pleasure and read it for insights. I don’t think you’ll be sorry. 

Mysteries in Histories

At the heart of understanding others better is knowing more about the mysteries that lie in their hearts. In real life, we often don’t get to see these as deeply explored as we do in great stories. And there’s nothing quite like a mystery to explore old hurts and misunderstandings that are finally aired into the light of day and that open the door to forgiveness, reconciliation, or closure. I read four novels in 2020 that did an especially great job of looking at the mysteries in people’s hearts: The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher, and Louise Penny’s latest, All the Devils are Here. 

Personal Transformation (and Romance)

More than any other genre, romances explore very personal transformations. The obstacles to the romance in question is usually held up by one thing - a character defect of some sort. The purpose of a romance novel, then, is to plumb those depths and witness what it takes for a human being to change. Also, you know there will be a happy ending, so what’s not to like. I read many romances in 2020. They became my comfort reads for the summer of the pandemic. Two stand out as favorites: Persuasion by Jane Austen and Writers and Lovers by Lily King. Persuasion brings two people together again after years apart due to a terrible interference that Anne Elliott was not strong enough in her younger years to combat. In Writers and Lovers, we watch the main character learning to love herself by getting out of a bad relationship and ultimately pointing her in a better direction. 

The Joy of Surprise and Delight

No matter how many complex goals I set for my reading life I hope I always have room in my life for whims. I read two books this year on shear impulse after hearing about them from other people and both of them delighted me so much! Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan was laugh-out-loud funny. It’s a novel that is a re-telling of the film version of A Room With a View which is one of my favorite films. This work of fiction also uses footnotes at the end of each chapter that are hilarious. A second dose of delight came from The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. I cannot for the life of me figure out what genre this book belongs to, but it is a wonderful and entertaining story of courage and love. 

To Know I’m Not Alone

Last, I love to read to know that I’m not alone. Untamed by Glennon Doyle was such an affirming book of so many of my ideas and beliefs that sometimes seem out of step with friends or family. It made me feel good that there are others - many others - who share some of these ideas about gender roles, faith, and personal boundaries. In fact, a few other women I knew only a little bit before this year formed a lovely book group over the summer to continue discussing what it means to be “a Goddamn Cheetah.”  

If you’ve read my posts carefully in the past, you know that I struggle with body issues and insecurities. That’s why it was so poignant and lovely to read Kate Stayman-London’s One to Watch this year. The story follows Bea Schumacher, a plus-size fashion blogger, who becomes the central character on a show very much like the Bachelorette. Her inner dialogue is often my inner dialogue and, yet, she is also a fully-formed human being who is much more than her size, just like me. I will not forget this book for a long time. 

Goals for 2021

I have another complex set of reading goals for 2021. The underlying theme of them is that I want to stay focused on the books I know I want to read and not get pulled to and fro too often (exceptions for impulsive whims). To do this, I’m adopting this technique from my favorite book podcaster, Anne Bogel. 

That’s my annual update. What are your goals for the year?

Happy Reading and Stay Safe!