Well, we made it through this mess of a year. And by mess, I mean, mess. I don’t know about everyone else, but this year was definitely a very difficult one for me. I got a lot less done than I intended, thanks to things completely outside my control.
But you know what? We made it. That is something to be grateful for, most definitely.
Last year, I read, I think, some 300 – 305 books or so, which apparently is quite a lot. (I didn’t know I was a speed reader until someone pointed it out to me. So, there we are, I suppose.) According to my logs, this year I read slightly less, at 286. Given all that went on this year, I am still sufficiently pleased with the effort.
Now, I’m putting together my list of books that I really liked this year. Do note that a good portion of these books were NOT published in 2020. I read whatever comes across my desk, either for review or for simple enjoyment. That means that not all of them were published in 2020, just because that’s how things work out. So this list is just a list of books that I quite enjoyed reading this year, regardless of their publication date. I am also not including traditionally published books on this list, because that’s a whole different kettle of fish.
Anyways. In no particular order, here are a bunch of books that I really enjoyed this year:
- Dragon’s Trail by Joseph Malik
- The Atomic Sea by Jack Conner
- Fate of Wizardoms: Eye of Obscurance by Jeffrey Kohanek
- Devouring Dark by Alan Baxter
- Blood of the Lunacorn by Alexzander Christion
- Shattered Dreams by Ulff Lehmann
- Someday I’ll be Redeemed by Kelly Blanchard
- The Wakeful Wanderer’s Guide to New England and Beyond by Jim Infantino
- Spider in the Laurel by Michael Pogach
- The Wolf Lords by F.T. McKinstry
- Vile by Keith Crawford
- Tides of Mana by Matt Larkin
- Night Latch by Anela Deen
- Dusk Mountain Blues by Deston J Munden
- The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson
- The Alehouse Rebellion by Michael Evan and JMD Reid
- Stranded by Rosalind Tate
- Riley Thorne and the Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score
A goodly number of these books are in the fantasy and sci-fi genres, simply because I was asked to review a lot of them this year. That didn’t stop me from enjoying the books; I am always happy to read anything.
Next year, I hope to not be bogged down quite so much by the pandemic, and by my own health issues, which really threw me for a loop and took a whole lot of time that I had hoped to devote to other things. I also hope to read a lot more books in a wider range of genres. So, yes, I’m quite pleased with how the reading for this year turned out.
I have many plans for next year regarding my own writing and marketing and such, but I also hope to enjoy just as many great books.
Happy New Year, everyone. May this next year be better than your last.