I read 63 books last year, which is a better total than I feared it would be. Some of them were amazing books, some stretched my perspective, some purely entertained. Like many people, I am ashamed to say, 2020 was the first year when I put real effort into my anti-racism education, and I am now determined that will continue in my reading and in the rest of my life.

Of those 63 books, 40 were written by women and 12 were works in translation. A small change this year is that 17 of those books were non-fiction and only three were SF. But the real point of this post is my favourite reads of 2020, so here we go.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Loving Sabotage by Amelie Nothomb

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

We That Are Young by Preti Taneja

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Giant Days Vol 13 by John Allison

The Smallest Lights in the Universe: a Memoir by Sara Seager

Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou

I’m not setting myself any reading goals for 2021, seeing as I’ve failed so badly at meeting goals set every year but especially 2020, and I don’t think the trauma of 2020 is behind us yet.

I am grateful to have books in my life as an escape and an education. I am also so lucky to have Tim, and great friends and family, and the bundle of fluff by my side that is Beckett.

I hope you all the best for 2021.