2020 Book Report
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
― Charlie Tremendous Jones
For many years now I've written down the titles of the books I've read or listened to in the back of my current journal. For me reading has always been one of those things that I mean to do more of, I truly do! But, the reality is I'd much rather be read to - which is why audiobooks are so great. The following is a list of books I listened to or read this year.
My criteria for what makes a good audiobook is that it be engaging, something I can't wait to listen to. My favorite genre is historical fiction. I love a good story that shows me a new facet of history and the human experience. Since it takes me awhile usually to get through a physical book, I don't often read for pleasure. My reading is usually something that I believe will be good for me. Which, granted is probably why I don't read more in that the books I choose are often meaty spiritual volumes, or some form of self-help / educational content - not a riveting story. I remember being addicted to Nancy Drew as a young girl, with every chapter ending with another cliff hanger. These days though, I prefer to listen to a good story so that I can multi-task and work on a project while enjoying a book.
Without further ado, here is my 2020 list.
Family Friendly:
By Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
This audiobook is absolutely delightful. I listened to it as a child, and then shared it with my husband this year. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. Mr Gilbreth was an amazing man. He instilled so much knowledge and fun into his 12 children. If you’ve ever seen the 2003 movie, it’s nothing like that. There are so many great lines from the story that my mom and I still love to quote to one another from time to time such as, "What did you say, Jackie-boy?" "Did you see the birdie, daddy?" and "That is eskimo."
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
By E. L. Konigsburg
Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
Also a wonderful listen. The character sketches of Claudia and Jaime are so well done. This is another one I introduced my husband to this year and we both loved listening to it together. Sheer enjoyment. It follows a sister and brother on their runaway trip to live in a museum. During their stay they encounter a mystery that captivates them.
Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World
By Scott McCormick
Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
This was one that audible offered up free this year. I love history and found it interesting, but the humor was too much. It felt like a lot of junior high boy jokes throughout that distracted from the interesting historical accounts. The tale I found the most riveting was the backstory of how the shoe companies Adidas and Puma came about - originating from a German company owned by brothers. The name Adidas comes from a blending of the company owner's own name: Adi (a nickname for Adolf) and the first part of his last name, Das(sler).
By Markus Zusak
Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
A WWII story, The Book Thief follows the childhood of a little German girl during the war. Making “death” the narrator of the story, brilliant. It’s one of those rare books that captures you, carrying you spell-bound through it’s pages and lingers with you long after the story is over. I think one of the things that sticks with me is that it wasn’t just the Jews, or those living in occupied countries that suffered, the German people suffered too.
By William Pene du Bois
Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
Growing up we had a cassette recording of this book that must have been an abridged version. I found it fascinating as a kid. Listening to this version, I found the story prosaic and dull. Too much excess detail, and too fantastical to really engage the imagination. It’s a story about a man who went up in a balloon and landed on an island with a diamond mine, inhabited by families who wanted to live apart from the modern world. I would recommend the cassette version, but not this audiobook.
By Christopher Morley
Length: 3 hrs and 29 mins
This one was new to me this year. My husband and I listened to this one together. A middle age woman purchases a book wagon and sets off on an adventure. It’s delightful. Full of humor, and good old fashioned charm. Also, anything narrated by Nadia May is worth listening to. Morley's descriptions throughout the book are beautifully poetic. I'm sure I'll be listening to this one again in the future.
** The Invention of Hugo Cabret
By Brian Selznick
Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
My husband read this to me. It’s a neat book in that it’s super thick, but has very little text. There are lots of pictures that remind me of those flip books that show lots of movement. It’s a fun story full of mystery and adventure. It makes you appreciate how much went into making those first films. After we finished the book we watched the 2011 movie.
Mysteries:
I’ve listened to all of the Sherlock Holmes stories and really enjoy them. I think Doyle did a good job in not dwelling on the horror or grotesqueness of murder. While murder is always wrong, I find that often the stories are in line with the Biblical principles of truth and justice. I’m not sure how to put my finger on it, but I feel as though Christie’s stories come from a different slant. It seems her premises is that there is no profile for a murderer, it could be anyone. In Doyle’s stories the motive is always clearly demonstrated. In Christie’s stories you end up feeling like the murderer is a pathetic psycho. We listened to several of these this year because we’d gotten them from audible. But, I can’t say as I would really recommend them. The first two were pretty good, but the second two were rather disturbing.
Death on the Nile, A Hercule Poirot Mystery
By Agatha Christie
Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
A trademark of Christie’s writing is that she paints her characters in such a way that the murderer could literally be any character in the story… and then at the very end it’s all revealed. There are so many characters in her books that it can be hard to follow at times, but I still enjoyed the listen overall. This one is about a murder that takes place on a boat in Egypt.
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, A Hercule Poirot Mystery
By: Agatha Christie
Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
I’m having a harder time remembering this one, but I think I enjoyed it.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, A Hercule Poirot Mystery
By: Agatha Christie
Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
This ending was so shocking! You totally don’t see it coming. This one bothered me because you just feel that the murder didn’t have to happen and the motive was so shallow.
By Agatha Christie
Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
This one I found disturbing. One in which the murder comes from a disturbed, psycho. I’d not recommend this one.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
By Alexander McCall Smith
Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
The premise of this one was interesting. And set in Africa it’s a storyline you don’t often hear, or really know much about. I enjoyed it overall, but I felt like it was very heavy. Unnecessarily so. It made it hard to figure out what audience the writer was aiming at. It followed the rather sad, tragic life of an African woman who had an abusive husband. Later in life she sets up a detective agency and helps people solve cases. I know that sometimes we need to hear the tragic stories, but I felt like this one could have stayed more lighthearted.
Novels, and other Various Genres:
By Charles Martin
Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
Are we ever going to get out of the snow! This was a book my husband had listened to and recommended to me. It is really good, but just feels long and hard to get through. I felt so relieved when the characters finally make it out of the frozen wasteland and to a cabin. It’s one of those stories that strips away everything you know of the world and distills life down to the strength of character you come to the table with. Both characters were well written, raw and real. Overall it was a good listen.
Finding Selah, The Simple Practice of Peace When You Need It Most
By Kristen Kill
Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
This was gifted to me by a friend. It was enjoyable. Sort of a devotional / memoir. It felt meditative and invoked calm and stillness. As the author shared her story and life reflections, it inspired my own introspection.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
One of my all-time favorite books. I’m always sad to leave the world of Guernsey when the story is over. Yes, I’ve listened to this audiobook several times, and probably will continue at least an annual listen. It’s a rare gem. Through a series of letters Juliet gets to know members of a book club on the island of Guernsey. Through the letters she learns about their lives during the German occupation.
By Sophie Judah
This was one of the few physical books I read this year. I picked it up at a thrift store several years ago. The writing feels very amateur. The accounts are roughly told and often shocking. Many of the stories are tragic and filled with the pain. Again, reading about the human suffering in the world is needed and has its place. But this book felt like too great a mix of genres. The vignettes are disjointed. The “Jewishness” all feel like tradition. There is nothing there of the true Bible-based faith. It was a disappointing read that I wouldn’t recommend.
By Sarah Clarkson, Kate Mulligan - foreword
Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
Another book I’ve listened to several times. I enjoy this memoir of the reading life because I can relate in many ways to the way Sarah’s life has been shaped by reading. Many of the books she talks about I’ve read or listened to. I find that rather than feeling overwhelmed by how many good books there are out there that I should be reading, Sarah's book helps me to recognize that I need to be selective. I can hone in on the genres, authors and types of reading that I enjoy and stick to that narrow channel. There are so many books in the world, one can never read them all. But there are many good stories to aspire to read and enjoy.
By J. R. R. Tolkien
Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
I listened to this just to understand what all the hype is about. Didn’t enjoy it at all.
By Madeleine L'Engle
Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
Joy Clarkson did a book club this summer on her podcast on this book. I found it bizarre, weird and wholly uninteresting. It reminded me in part of The Giver books by Lois Lowry, or CS Lewis’ science fiction series, only much less developed. The mixing of Biblical truth and Greek mythology felt very Omnistic.
By George Eliot
Length: 20 hrs and 37 mins
This is the type of victorian literature that period dramas are made of. It's slow going, and admittedly rather dull. Written in 1860, it's characters and their everyday cares are hard to relate to much less sympathize with. But, all that said, once the heroine grows to womanhood the book's plot becomes more interesting. While there are other victorian authors I enjoy more, overall it was still decent.
By Natasha Boyd
Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
This was another one that I listened to free on Audible this summer. Eliza Lucas, the heroine of this historical fiction book, was an amazing woman. This narrative gives the account of how she managed her father’s plantations and began indigo production in America. Overall it was good, but it was also heavy. You felt like any moment there was going to be another horrible thing done to one of the slaves, or one of the women. I think it could have been just as effective without all the focus on everyone who wanted to marry her, or how awful the slave overseer was.
** Ina May's Guide to Childbirth "Updated With New Material"
By Ina May Gaskin
This book was given to me by my midwife to read. It was very helpful in shaping my thinking and aiding me in my pregnancy journey. It was empowering and thought provoking. It was written very much from the standpoint that home births are good and hospital births are bad. While I don’t think it’s as simple as that, it did help in presenting different things that you need to consider as you decide how and where you want to give birth. While I do think home birth is the ideal, I believe God can provide the right people for you wherever you choose to have your baby.
** The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother
By Heng Ou
This was also a recommendation by my midwife. I really enjoyed this book and loved having this guide for what to eat and how to be well nourished during those critical weeks following the birth of our son.
Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops
By Shaun Bythell
Length: 2 hrs
The stereotypes in this book were so thick that even if you did fall into one of the categories, you wouldn’t recognize it. It was lighthearted and amusing. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It reminded me of listening to Guernsey where Juliet talks about working in a bookshop.
Issue 38 : : FORAGE
This was the issue that made me want to subscribe to Taproot magazine. I really enjoyed reading through each of the articles. The magazines are well put together and rich with great content. Over the last few years I've developed a growing interest in foraging and it was soul warming and affirming to read articles written by people who share that passion.
Issue 39 : : TIDES
While I didn’t enjoy this ocean / conservation focused issue as much, it was still good. I like that each issue is a combination of articles, recipes and patterns. It's a neat, unique concept.
In summary, in 2020 I listened to...
20 audio books. I read...
4 physical books. (Though, one was read to me). **These four indicated above by the double asterisks. And read...
2 magazines
Everyone is different. For some that may seem like a lot, and for others nothing at all. I know personally I'll always be more of an audiobook person. I love the ability to have my mind engaged in something meaningful while having the freedom to craft. This is a deeply rooted habit from my childhood. My mom loved to read and spent hours reading to my sister and me. Additionally we loved listening to stories on tape.
In 2021 I know I'll listen to lots of audiobooks. I've no set book goals for this year. I just know that I want to read more. I want to pick up physical books and be captivated by real stories, and be continually less interested in my phone.
Do Good
Make Glad
Live Well