Reading the 20th Century discussion

It's that time of year when many of us take a backwards glance at the year that was, so with that in mind here's a little questionnaire designed to share what we have each enjoyed about 2020 here at RTTC and what we are looking forward to in 2021....


What was the best book you read in 2020?

What was the worst book you read in 2020?

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?

What are your reading plans for 2021?

Which author(s) or book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in 2021?

What else do you want to say about what you read in 2020?

I think the best author I have discovered this year has been Celia Fremlin, and am grateful to Elizabeth for bringing her to my attention.

I would agree, Jill. Celia Fremlin has been my find of the year too.

Top Ten Fiction:
Apeirogon
The Mirror & the Light
Uncle Paul
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Moonflower Murders
The Postscript Murders
Gorky Park
The Stranger Times
Slough House
The Death of the Heart

Top Ten Non-Fiction
Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class
Young Stalin
Nothing Can Hurt You
Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn
Life Among the Savages
Hitler and Stalin: The Tyrants and the Second World War
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Hitler's Horses: The Incredible True Story of the Detective who Infiltrated the Nazi Underworld
Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books

I think my favourite book of 2020 was Mr Beethoven by Paul Griffiths. It was up for the Goldsmiths prize (didn’t win, unfortunately.)

The most disappointing was Shuggie Bain. So many people loved it that I thought I would too, but I found it too similar to a misery memoir. It isn't the worst book I read, just the one that I had much higher expectations for.

I don't have any particular reading plans for 2021 other than some of the group reads here will draw me in. It's nice to read some older fiction again and share with others so thank you for the group.

I agree with you about reading older fiction, Ang. There are so many new books out that, sometimes, you forget about all the older books to still discover. Certainly, Bowen's The Death of the Heart, was a highlight for me this year, as was - as Jill said - the discovery of Celia Fremlin. I am also grateful to the group for introducing me to Ottessa Moshfegh and for finally prompting me to read Gorky Park!

Ang wrote: "The most disappointing was Shuggie Bain."

I was underwhelmed with Shuggie too - though liked the premise. And hated Hamnet and Sisters for their overwrought writing.

But, more positively, I share some of Susan's bests (Apeirogon, The Mirror and the Light - doesn't it feel like years since they came out?)
- and there was the controversial but I thought brilliantly exhilarating and troubling Who They Was...

Will cast an eye back and do this properly, maybe tomorrow.

The Mirror & the Light is still top of my list, and like Apeirogon and Love and Other Thought Experiments it was an unforgivable exclusion from the Booker shortlist.

I was expecting to be disappointed by Shuggie Bain but loved it, though my review did mention its similarity to a misery memoir. After the cull it was by far the best book remaining on the Booker list, so I was relieved when it won.

Favourite rereads were both for this group - Blindness and of course Milkman.

A few more I have not mentioned but loved: Abigail, Summer, Handiwork, Animalia, This Thing of Darkness and The Liar's Dictionary.

Bottom of the list is trickier as I haven't read anything terrible. I do keep an ordered list, and Who They Was is bottom of that, largely because I was uncomfortable with contributing to a middle class troublemaker's ill gotten gains. Another book I strongly disliked because of its author's choice of subject matter was The Collector, sadly my face to face book club discussion of that one was an early victim of Covid-19.

Not many new discoveries that have led to reading several books, though Jon Fosse might qualify, and I is Another: Septology III-V is if anything even better than The Other Name: Septology I-II. I hope some of his earlier work gets reissued as some of them are currently rather expensive. The only other new writer who reached 3 books was Tsitsi Dangarembga, because I eventually read the whole trilogy which the Booker shortlisted This Mournable Body completes.

Plans for next year - nothing much yet beyond finishing the last 3 Iris Murdoch novels (I have just started my 23rd), more rereading and fewer expensive hardbacks. I do have a copy of The Gulag Archipelago ready for January.

Nigeyb wrote: "here's a little questionnaire designed to share what we have each enjoyed about 2020 here a..."

Interesting and thought provoking questions that need some reflection. Just looking at the first responses here its amazing (and great) how we can differ so much.

Apeirogon Extraordinary, and the most disappointing and surprising omission from a Booker shortlist in years

Who They WasExtraordinary (that this achieved notoriety). The most surprising inclusion on a Booker longlist in years (ever). Dubious accuracy, online niche short story masquerading as a novel.

Hamnet Agree RC. Hated, overwrought (not many readers share this view, its evident)

There are two weeks more in December. I am still hoping for another exceptional book. I've had some winners and some losers, but I will return and list them when the year is over.

What was the best book you read in 2020?


Fiction: Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze

Non fiction: I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke


Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?

Walter Tevis
Anita Brookner


What are your reading plans for 2021?

More Anita Brookner
More Walter Tevis


What else do you want to say about what you read in 2020?

I've thoroughly enjoyed our online discussions during group reads, buddy reads, mod reads and just general chit chat. I occasionally go and look at discussions in other groups about books that I/we are reading and, hand on heart, our discussions are a cut above most of them. Looking forward to more of the same in 2021 - and hopefully a more normal year as C-19 recedes in the rear view mirror.

Hello group! Thought I might stop merely lurking here and share about my 2020 year before hopefully joining in on some of your 20th Century Women challenges in 2021.

I had so much good reading that I’ll make it easier on myself and limit this to the best 20th century stuff.

What was the best book you read in 2020?
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Perfection.

What was the worst book you read in 2020?
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett.I was looking for noir, and only found rich people drinking too much.

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?
I fell in love with Rabindranath Tagore. I read the short story Kabuliwala and felt this author I had somehow missed was destined to be a favorite. Can’t wait to read more!

What are your reading plans for 2021?
I have a huge list, but two I’m considering, that may be challenging, are Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence and The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann.

Which author(s) or book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in 2021?
A couple I’m looking forward to getting to early in the year are The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt and the last book in the Kristin Lavransdatter series by Sigrid Undset, that I’ve spread out now over too many years, The Cross.

What else do you want to say about what you read in 2020?
Ever since Hilary Mantel single-handedly got me through the beginning of the pandemic with Wolf Hall, I’ve enjoyed escaping to books like never before!

Kathleen wrote: "Hello group! Thought I might stop merely lurking here and share about my 2020 year before hopefully joining in on some of your 20th Century Women challenges in 2021"

Thanks Kathleen - welcome aboard

I thoroughly enjoyed your replies and am very happy that you will be participating in some of our 20th Century Women selections

See you soon

Great thoughts, Kathleen. So pleased you enjoyed Wolf Hall - are you planning to read the next in the trilogy?

The Magic Mountain is one of my favourite novels and we read it as a buddy read a while back, so feel free to add your comments if you do get to it. Let us know if you can't find the thread and we can post a link - I won't do so now, as I know the best intentions can take a while to get to :)

Thank you Nigeyb and Susan. Yes, I'm hoping to read the next two in the trilogy this year. I'm so excited. And I found the Magic Mountain thread--thanks! Also saw the Mantel threads there will have to check those out too.

Lots to look forward to - look forward to hearing your thoughts on Mann and Mantel next year, Kathleen :)

Kathleen wrote:


"I'm hoping to read the next two in the trilogy this year"

I'm jealous of you still having two thirds of the trilogy left to read - those discussion threads are basically everyone gushing about their love for the books, along with the usual piercing insight

Yes, I will admit to gushing. Not many books make me cry, but I will admit to sobbing through two this year. The last in the Wolf Hall trilogy and also A Thousand Splendid Suns

I didn't list it as one of my books of the year, as it was one I read with my son, who is studying it for A Level and likes to read his course books with me, but, my goodness, what a novel! I am thoroughly traumatised by it still and the characters will stay with me forever.

Judy, you might like to know he is also doing Tess, so I will be reading my first Thomas Hardy (who I know you love) in a long time this Christmas...

Nigeyb wrote: "Kathleen wrote:


"I'm hoping to read the next two in the trilogy this year"

I'm jealous of you still having two thirds of the trilogy left to read - those discussion threads are basically everyo..."

Yes! I'm weighing the joy of knowing I have two to look forward to against the longing to read them, but the longing to read is winning. :-)

I read my first Hardy last year (Jude) and count myself a fan now too. Planning to read The Woodlanders this year.

I haven't read any Hardy for over 25 years, but I do remember liking The Woodlanders.

I think English Lit A Level contains a lot of tragedy. I will recover from A Thousand Splendid Suns and then we'll embark on Tess. My son likes a reading buddy and I think, as there is a lack of volunteers, it's me...

Hugh wrote: "I haven't read any Hardy for over 25 years, but I do remember liking The Woodlanders."

Glad to hear it, Hugh! I'm looking forward to it.

What was the best book you read in 2020?

The Rector's Daughter by F.M. Mayor. I still think of Mary Jocelyn, beautiful book.

What was the worst book you read in 2020?

Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb, it was a group read. Not a win.

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?

I did enjoy rereading Gerald Durrell and hope to finish off the 'Corfu Trilogy' this year with The Garden of the Gods.

What are your reading plans for 2021?

I'm going to try read from my shelves more, (I say this every year); I'm thinking of limiting myself to only buying 12 books. I know I can't handle a complete ban, I've tried. Besides, most of what I read is out of print, so if I do see something I probably won't see again, I have to be able to buy it, right?

Which author(s) or book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in 2021?

I have the Beverley Nichols Allways trilogy which starts with Down the Garden Path which I'm looking forward to.

So interesting to read everyone's answers - here are my thoughts:

What was the best book you read in 2020?
Fiction: Beloved by Toni Morrison - a gut-punch of a book and also masterful in its art.

Non-fiction: Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga - I've gushed unendingly on the thread!

What was the worst book you read in 2020?
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam, my 1-star review of which, ironically, has 285 likes. It contains the immortal line 'his penis jerked itself towards the sun, a yoga salutation, bouncing, then stiff at the house's allure' leading to it now being known chez nous as the 'Penis Yoga Manual' - and there's plenty more purple prose where that came from.

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?
Rediscovered loves were Jean Rhys and Sylvia Plath - though the fascination of the latter never really goes away.

What are your reading plans for 2021?
To continue to be restrained with NetGalley. More José Saramago, Vladimir Nabokov, and Javier Marías. I've also bought everything written by Jean Rhys.

Which author(s) or book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in 2021?
Irmgard Keun's The Artificial Silk Girl from our 20th Century Women Challenge; also Bosnian Chronicle, my first book by Ivo Andrić.

What else do you want to say about what you read in 2020?
I found reading comforting and a refuge in this strange year and managed to get through Proust at last. I also found our group discussions enhanced my enjoyment of, for example, The Rings of Saturn, various Elizabeth Bowens, and the marvellous Wolf Hall trilogy, so thanks to everyone for your usual wit, insights and enthusiasm.

Kathleen wrote: "Nigeyb wrote: "I read my first Hardy last year (Jude) and count myself a fan now too. Planning to read The Woodlanders this year."

The Woodlanders is one of my favourite Hardys - even though it's not one of his best novels, something about it just gets me :)

What was the best book you read in 2020?

I would say Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and its two sequels - for me the second book is probably the greatest, but the whole trilogy is wonderful. I also loved the Russian epic Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, although I made the mistake of reading it rather too slowly, compared to the prequel Stalingrad, which I read in a great rush in 2019.

My best non-fiction read was Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga, which was a real eye-opener in so many ways. I have been very bad about writing reviews in 2020 and mostly just done ratings, but I must get a review of this one written before it fades in my memory.

I also liked Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII by Gareth Russell for its whole portrayal of Henry VIII's court and his rule of terror, although I didn't think I found out very much about Catherine.

What was the worst book you read in 2020?

Can't really think of anything terrible that I finished - I tend to give up on books I dislike these days.

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?

As above, Hilary Mantel and Vasily Grossman - also many others.

What are your reading plans for 2021?

To read more widely than I have done in 2020, where I realise looking back that I have read a great deal of escapist detective fiction - I do enjoy this, but, as I've said in the Reading the Detectives group today, hope to be a bit more balanced in 2021. I am also hoping to read more non-fiction and history, including more about the Tudor and Victorian periods.

Which author(s) or book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in 2021?

I'm looking forward to all of it. :)

What else do you want to say about what you read in 2020?

I've picked up a lot of books that I want to read but haven't got round to yet, so hope to put that right in 2021.

I'm slow in responding to the Thomas Hardy mentions in this thread, but I hope you and your son enjoy Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Susan, and hope you enjoy The Woodlanders, Kathleen - both wonderful books.

It's been quite a long time since I read any Hardy although he is one of my all-time favourite authors - I have been meaning to read his massive poetic drama The Dynasts, a major work of his that I've never read, but keep waiting for someone to publish an edition with footnotes! I think I'll have to take the plunge and read it without notes though.

What was the best book you read in 2020?

This year was terrible because of the pandemic but from the point of view of my reading it was excellent. After a long deliberation, I chose the following novels as my top 5. Links are to my reviews.


1. Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
2. Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
3. Milkman by Anna Burns Read with the group
4. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
5. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

What was the worst book you read in 2020?
I decided not to lose my time with books that I do not like so I started to abandon more. I did not finish any book that I did not like this year.

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?
It's not an author but I discovered the pleasure of reading French classics such as Flaubert or Laclos

What are your reading plans for 2021?
My biggest plan for next year (and 2022 ) is to organize a bookish virtual road trip through Europe starting from my country, Romania and going through almost all the countries in Europe. I will try to read at least one book written be an author from that territory.
My 2nd plan is to read more books published by small presses and I will start with the Republic Of Consciousness longlist.
Finally, I will continue with trying to read more classics, non-fiction and books that I’ve had for a long time.

Adina wrote: "My biggest plan for next year (and 2022 ) is to organize a bookish virtual road trip through Europe starting from my country, Romania and going through almost all the countries in Europe."

Love this idea, Adina! Do keep us posted on your travels :)

Adina, I will be very interested to hear about how you get on with your bookish virtual road trip. tried to do my own reading journey through Europe in 2016/17, but must confess I haven't completed it although I keep meaning to get back to it and do occasionally add another title to my list!

This is a thread I created in another group (Reading the Detectives) where I have marked off all the countries that I've covered in my challenge - I have included books set in a country as well as by authors from that country, though. I originally set out to read all crime books but later changed my mind and made it broader.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also have you seen this group? It is very useful for lists of books set in countries:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Adina wrote: "My biggest plan for next year (and 2022 ) is to organize a bookish virtual road trip through Europe starting from my country, Romania and going through almost all the countries in Europe. I will try to read at least one book written be an author from that territory"

Very exciting - what books have you chosen? Or are you considering?

Judy, I'm very happy to hear praise of The Woodlanders, and also that you think Bring Up the Bodies might be the best in the Wolf Hall series--I have that coming up soon and can't wait.

I'm also tempted by Stalingrad, but may be some time before I'm able to tackle it.

And Adina, I too would love to hear your book-travel plans--what a great idea!

Roman- I will keep you posted. I hope to hang here more next year.

Judy- Thanks for the links, I might get some inspiration from your challenge. I am part of that group but I do not visit it very often.

Kathleen - Thank you. I would also like to read Stalingrad but War and Peace comes first.

Nigeyb. Here is what I planned so far. I don't think I'll get further than this in 2021.

1. Start: Romania
Mircea Eliade- Domnisoara Cristina
Andrei Ruse- Zaraza
Doina Rusti Paturi oculte
2. 1st stop: Bulgaria The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov (Open letter)
3. 2nd stop: Turkey Bastarda Istanbulului Shafak, Elif
4. 3rd stop: Armenia Three Apples Fell from the Sky Abgaryan, Narine
5. 4th stop: Azerbaidjan Ali and Nino by Kurban Said
6. 5th stop: Russia, Tolstoi, Death Ilici
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
7. 6th stop Ukraine – Gogol, Stories
8. 7th stop Moldova The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov
9. 8th stop Romania – Tranquility by Attila Bartis
10. 9th stop Hungary – Satantango by László Krasznahorkai
The Door by Magda Szabó
11. 10th stop Czech Republic- War with the Newts by Karel Čapek
12. 11th stop Poland- Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
The Last Wish (The Witcher 0.5) -Sapkowski, Andrzej
13. 12th stop Belarus - Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets Alexievich, Svetlana
14. 13th stop Lithuania: White Shroud by Antanas Škėma
15. 14th stop Latvia: Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena
16. 15th stop Estonia: The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk
The Willow King by Meelis Friedenthal
17. 16th stop Finland The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
18. 17th stop Sweden Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö
19. 18th stop Norway Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
White Shadow by Roy Jacobsen
20. 19th stop Iceland The Blue Fox by Sjón
21. 20th stop Denmark We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen

Thanks Adina - that's an interesting selection. Keep us posted with how you get on

A fascinating mix of books there, Adina - I also have a few of those on my TBR (especially Flights, We, the Drowned) so we might meet up in Poland or Denmark :))

Susan wrote: "I think English Lit A Level contains a lot of tragedy. I will recover from A Thousand Splendid Suns and then we'll embark on Tess. My son likes a reading buddy and I think, as there is a lack of vo..." I want to read Tess but it would be hard to discuss it with your son :)) But we can suffer together, if you like :))

p.s. I also cried a river over A Thousand Splendid Suns (and left unimpressed by the Kites one)

Roman Clodia wrote: What are your reading plans for 2021?
To continue to be restrained with NetGalley. More José Saramago, Vladimir Nabokov, and Javier Marías. I've also bought everything written by Jean Rhys. Saramago and my cohices for Spain and Portugal if I get there next year. And Ivo Andric for Bosnia. What Saramago are you planning to read?

Some of Tokarczuk's other books (all of the other three that have been translated into English) have much more of a Polish character.

Hugh wrote: "Some of Tokarczuk's other books (all of the other three that have been translated into English) have much more of a Polish character." They might have but I have Flights at home so that's the one I am going to read. I am trying to read as many of the books that I already own. There is also a chance that Fitzcarraldo will publish her new one so I will have a choice then (I am subscribed).

Adina wrote: "What Saramago are you planning to read?"

After reading Blindness and Seeing this year, I fancy Baltasar and Blimunda next and maybe The History of the Siege of Lisbon.

What was the best book you read in 2020?

Agency by William Gibson. [[book:Agency|40179612]author:William Gibson|9226]

I read Neuromancer a few years back and the world of Cambridge Analytica and Artifical Intelligence now invades our whole lives. When advisor to the British government, Dominic Cummings, pronounced : "We need some true wild cards, artists, people who never went to university and fought their way out of an appalling hell hole, weirdos from William Gibson novels " , I thought I should revisit. (William Gibson was aghast at the appropriation by Cummings!)

What was the worst book you read in 2020?

Real Life by Brandon Taylor Real LifeBrandon Taylor
This was one of eight debut novels on the 2020 Booker long list. Way too many in my opinion. Taylor claimed it took him five weeks from start to finish to write Real Life. My puzzle is why it took him so long.

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?

Evelyn Waugh. Graham Greene.

What are your reading plans for 2021?

To reduce my quota of newly released novels, and pick a more considered selection from the vast library of material published in the last 100 years (or more)

Which author(s) or book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in 2021?

Kazuo Ishiguro has a new release in the Spring. Klara and the Sun

What else do you want to say about what you read in 2020?

This was the year that my devotion to the Booker prize as my go-to source of fiction was challenged. I'm tempted to say that the global Coronavirus pandemic affected that awareness. What had been most recently written, dealing with contemporary matters seemed less pertinent. Older fiction provided me with a better life perspective.
My volume of reading was down in 2020 due to the much curtailed commute to work in London. That uninterrupted time on a train each day is hard to replicate at home.

Adina wrote: "Here is what I planned so far. I don't think I'll get further than this in 2021..."

Adina. Yours has to be the most ordered and fully planned reading itinerary for the year ahead that I've seen across Goodreads. Those adventurers who travel the globe in a physical sense have their literary equivalent in you!

Jonathan wrote: "Kazuo Ishiguro has a new release in the Spring. Klara and the Sun"

Hurrah! The blurb sounds a bit like McEwan's Machines Like Me but I'd expect Ishiguro's treatment to be quite different - something to look forward to, for sure.

Exciting to hear of this new novel by Ishiguro - thank you for mentioning it, Jonathan.

Jonathan wrote: "Adina wrote: "Here is what I planned so far. I don't think I'll get further than this in 2021..."

Adina. Yours has to be the most ordered and fully planned reading itinerary for the year ahead tha..." Haha, yes. I love travel but I enjoy probably even more planning my trips. I even do spreadsheets for my longer ones, control freak, I know. As I need to scratch my itch I had to plan something so this is the result.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Kazuo Ishiguro has a new release in the Spring. Klara and the Sun"

Hurrah! The blurb sounds a bit like McEwan's Machines Like Me but I'd expect Ishiguro's treatmen..." That is exactly why I am in no rush to read the Ishiguro version. I read McEwan not long ago and I am not sure I want to read the same thing all over again. I will follow reviews and decide later if it is worth it.

What was the best book you read in 2020?

My favorite three are:
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

What was the worst book you read in 2020?

I don't normally give books 1 star but I strongly disliked Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?

I had never before ready anything by Jose Saramago or Kazuo Ishiguro, and have now found 2 new favorite authors.

What are your reading plans for 2021?

My goal is to read a total of 200 books next year. I have 16 specific books I have committed to read. Increase the mix of settings in countries around the world, and/or written by authors from around the world.

Which author(s) or book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in 2021?

More of the Saramago's & Ishiguro's catalogue, and I was approved for an arc of Aminatta Forna's new one, The Window Seat.

What else do you want to say about what you read in 2020?

I read more books in 2020 than I ever have before, partly due to being home and not able to travel due to the pandemic and partly due to a team challenge I participated in, which was loads of fun and a great distraction. I also found I could read multiple books at a time and not lose track of the plots, which I had never tried in the past. I am now reading around 12 books at once.

What was the best book you read in 2020?
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers. I loved the characters in this book, which is the first Lord Peter Wimsey novel I've read. I liked the discussions about women's academic or intellectual life and how that compares to a family life, and whether it's possible to have both. The various rather vicious activities were suitably dark and sinister but not too gory. I'm not sure I'll read any more of this series but I did enjoy this one.

What was the worst book you read in 2020?
The Clock Winder by Anne Tyler. There were some aspects of this book I really liked. The writing was very good and some of the characters were interesting, but I lost patience with the lack of any plot! I gave up on it.

Which author(s) did you fall in love with, or rediscover, in 2020?
We Bought an Island by Evelyn Atkins. I love this woman! A slightly eccentric middle-aged lady who decides to buy an island off the Cornish coast, with her sister. She was a civil servant and her sister was a teacher, so not the most obvious candidates for living alone on an island which is cut off for weeks at a time in the winter weather. Their enthusiasm, and their sheer energy, was really inspiring. This is their story of finding the island and trying to buy it. (Bit of a spoiler in the title as to how that went...!)

What are your reading plans for 2021?
This month I found an old (paper) list of books I'd intended to read. I decided on a whim to order them all from the library there and then. All eighteen of them! Well it was either that or just add them to a GR shelf to sit and moulder until I have my next digital tidy up, at which point I'd probably just delete them. So many great books, so little time. So in the first part of 2021 I'll take a look at all those. Quite an eclectic mix of fiction and non-fiction. I enjoy political diaries so this could be good: The Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries, 1939 - 1955. And this one is about walking round London with a specific focus on women's lives. Women's London: A Tour Guide to Great Lives It's the only walking round London I'm likely to do in the next few months so I hope to enjoy it. Less risk of sore feet too I guess!

Also I've had a clear out this weekend of all the ebooks I will probably never read. Dozens of them, all free. I now have just 90 unread books in total (print, ebook or audiobook). I know some people love having a sizeable selection to choose from but I prefer to read them as I get them. So my goal for 2021 is to read all of these. I did something similar a year or two ago with just the hundred or so unread print books I had at that time, and it felt great when I'd finished them all, so I'm looking forward to achieving this goal too.

Which author(s) or book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in 2021?
I'd like to read S. by JJ Abrams. I've had this for a couple of years but am daunted because I don't know how to read it. That might sound odd, but the idea behind its design is that it's a book which someone finds in a library. They notice annotations in the margins and they comment on some of them, and then put the book back. The first person comments on those and this leads to a “conversation” between these two people, although they never meet up. There are also extra items like lists and post cards which are included between some of the pages, and they form part of the narrative too. The whole story is a mystery which these two people are trying to solve between them.

At first I was really interested in such an unusual layout for a book. But do I read the “book within the book” itself first and then go back to the comments? And do I read the comments in order, or follow one person and then the other? I made the mistake of searching online to see how other people approached it but of course for every ten commenters there are ten ways of doing it.

Anyway, I'm determined to tackle it soon!

What else do you want to say about what you read in 2020?
I've done a lot of re-reading in 2020. I went through all my 4* and 5* books from previous years and chose several to revisit. I also read a lot of children's books. It was easier than trying to tackle new authors or titles. I also ruthlessly ditched books that didn't appeal to me in the first few chapters. Like many people, I've found it difficult to concentrate this year so these methods worked for me.

I decided this month to review the groups I was in too, and I cancelled several. Not this one of course! This and Reading the Detectives, which I always think of as a companion group to RT20C, are my favourite groups on GR and the ones I've been in the longest. Even though I haven't been very active this year, I catch up on reading the forums every few days. I've appreciated the companionship of everyone here, so thanks for keeping me (virtually and socially-distanced) company this year.

Nigeyb wrote: "hand on heart, our discussions are a cut above most of them..."

I totally agree Nigeyb! I wonder if it's partly because this is a relatively small group. We get a chance to have a proper discussion. In bigger groups there are sometimes so many comments that there is no time to take them all in and come up with a thought out response.

Well. It's either that or we are all just terribly articulate and erudite readers...
;-)

Thanks Sue - a most enjoyable review

Some great thoughts, Sue. I think our groups have a core of active members, which helps. I have joined, and dropped out of, other groups that have either been too big or virtually inactive. You need regular members, plus -dare I say - fairly committed mods who do the housekeeping on time. I remember dropping out of one group because threads were not set up on time and it's frustrating when it is the third of the month and the next book discussion doesn't appear...