
My takeaways
- I read more books last year–120 books–than I’ve read in a number of years.
- I read 60 ebooks of which 30 were Kindle Unlimited (KU) books. I try to read at least two KU books every month.
- I listened to 52 audiobooks this year–a big increase from 2019. Most of them were from the library.
- A little over 50% of the books I read were mysteries.
- About a third of the books were fantasy and science fiction.
- My favorite genres continue to be mysteries, science fiction and fantasy (though I did read seven romance books).
- 2020 was such a stressful year I hibernated (self-quarantined) and read. Most of the books I read were read to escape what was happening in the real world.
- I didn’t write any reviews for my blog though I did write a few short reviews on Goodreads.
- I didn’t participate in any reading challenges.
The three things that stood out to me in 2020
My library
My library was a huge comfort to me. Almost half the books I read in 2020 (55 books) came from my library–almost all of them either ebooks or audiobooks.
The Libby app
I use the Libby app which I love. I can search on my phone by author, subject or name of book to see if my library has electronic copies. I can use tags to put a book on my wish list so I remember to check it out when I have time to read it. (Sometimes I have six or seven books checked out to read at the same time and I don’t have time to read all the books if I only have three weeks.) I can check out a book or place a hold right in the app. I can listen to the audiobook using the app. I can even read the ebook in the app though I usually use my Kindle to read ebooks. Only five of the books I read in 2020 were paper books. Those five books all came from my library.
Library closed
My library was closed most of the year for in-person use although I’ve been able to check out books and a librarian brings the books to our car and places them in the trunk. I mostly did that with cookbooks and other nonfiction which I don’t usually read in Kindle versions. A lot of the nonfiction I skim and read just the sections that interest me so I don’t add them to the books I read.
I checked out fiction books a few times, but often returned them unread when I discovered the library had gotten the digital copy of the book. My library focused on adding more digital items to their library in 2020.
New authors
I read 39 books by new-to-me authors. I usually read about a third of my books by new authors. And that was true again this year. I read most of my new authors either as books from the library or Kindle Unlimited books. The rest of the books I purchased for under $5.00. Especially when an author is new to me I don’t buy books which cost over about $3. (Actually, I don’t buy many books over $5.00 even from authors I love.) I try to wait until their books go on sale.
Books I didn’t finish
The last group of books I want to talk about are the books I didn’t finish this year. There were 16 of those books. I read at least 15% of all the books I designate as “not finished.” I usually decide within the first chapter or two whether I want to read a book or not, but I didn’t add the book to my DNF group if I hadn’t read at least 15%. However, I read over 50% of a few of them before I decided to stop.
- This year I was much more sensitive to the tone of the book–too sad or too depressing and I bailed.
- A number of books that other times I might have enjoyed just didn’t hold my interest.
- A few books that I thought would be calming were just too predictable or silly.
- One thing didn’t change: I will stop reading a book if it’s too violent for me.
- One book I was enjoying totally changed at about 50% and I suddenly felt like I was reading a different book.
The numbers
2019
Reading Challenge -95
Books Read-90
Ebooks — 60
Audiobooks — 27
Hardcover & Paperback — 3
Library — 28 (audio-15; ebooks-10; hardcover-3)
Kindle Unlimited — 9*
New Authors — 34
Did Not Finish — 1
*I only started KU towards end of the year
2020
Reading Challenge-90
Books Read-120
Ebooks — 62
Audiobooks — 53
Hardcover & Paperback — 5
Library — 55 (audio-40; ebooks-10; hardcover-5)
Kindle Unlimited — 30
New Authors — 39
Did Not Finish — 16
What about you? How was your 2020 reading year?