2020 in Review: Reading
Jan. 14th, 2021 09:47 amBooks Read: 74
Nonfiction: 12
Oldest book: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, published 1996 (A reread)
Most recent book: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
Books by non-white authors: 24 (32%)
Graphic stories: 22
Novellas: 13
This year I read many fewer books than I have since I started keeping track almost ten years ago. There’s a bunch of factors that go into this, the biggest two being the pandemic making it hard for me to focus, and all the fanfic I read but didn’t track. Also relevant was that the library was closed from March to June due to the pandemic. A final factor was that ever since the library did a catalogue update in June 2019 it’s been impossible to use the online holds system for manga, so I have not been reading much manga. This especially noticeable in how much lower precent of the books read in 2020 are by non-white writers vs books read in 2019.(Writing this out inspired me to go investigate this problem again -- and I may have found a work around.)
I do feel a bit glum about these numbers. However I need to remind myself that reading is something I do for fun, it's not a competition, not even with myself. I did read a lot of great books!
Another notable trend this year is that I got back to reading academic non-fiction. There were two factors here. One I was laid off in January 2020 and with everything going on, I’ve been unemployed since. That gave me back some brain space for reading. The other factor of course is fandom. Due to my interests in Chinese dramas I’ve read a bunch of academic history about China.
In 2020 I decided to try not setting any reading goals for the year. And that worked out pretty well, especially with what a difficult year it turned out to be. For 2021 I’m going to start out with no reading goals as well. I will check in midyear and see if I want to add some goals. For me reading goals have mostly been to encourage myself to read more books by non-white authors and more non-fiction, and I am doing ok in those areas, so I feel ok continuing on with goal anarchy
Nonfiction: 12
Oldest book: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, published 1996 (A reread)
Most recent book: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
Books by non-white authors: 24 (32%)
Graphic stories: 22
Novellas: 13
This year I read many fewer books than I have since I started keeping track almost ten years ago. There’s a bunch of factors that go into this, the biggest two being the pandemic making it hard for me to focus, and all the fanfic I read but didn’t track. Also relevant was that the library was closed from March to June due to the pandemic. A final factor was that ever since the library did a catalogue update in June 2019 it’s been impossible to use the online holds system for manga, so I have not been reading much manga. This especially noticeable in how much lower precent of the books read in 2020 are by non-white writers vs books read in 2019.(Writing this out inspired me to go investigate this problem again -- and I may have found a work around.)
I do feel a bit glum about these numbers. However I need to remind myself that reading is something I do for fun, it's not a competition, not even with myself. I did read a lot of great books!
Another notable trend this year is that I got back to reading academic non-fiction. There were two factors here. One I was laid off in January 2020 and with everything going on, I’ve been unemployed since. That gave me back some brain space for reading. The other factor of course is fandom. Due to my interests in Chinese dramas I’ve read a bunch of academic history about China.
In 2020 I decided to try not setting any reading goals for the year. And that worked out pretty well, especially with what a difficult year it turned out to be. For 2021 I’m going to start out with no reading goals as well. I will check in midyear and see if I want to add some goals. For me reading goals have mostly been to encourage myself to read more books by non-white authors and more non-fiction, and I am doing ok in those areas, so I feel ok continuing on with goal anarchy
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