Keep Calm and Read On. Unless You Can't. That's Okay, Too.

 In 2013, I read 142 books. At one point, I joked that it was because I was at my unhappiest point of my life, and was trying to escape. 

In 2016, the number of books I read plummeted to 76; I joked that it was because I had returned to Indiana, and was at the happiest point of my life.

And then, in 2020... I read 41 books.

That's an astonishingly low number, given how much of the year I spent shut indoors, isolated from everyone. But upon further consideration, I don't think it's so shocking. I know that in March, April, and May of 2020 especially, my concentration was shot. I simply couldn't focus. Many of my friends and colleagues agreed that they were having the same issues. Now, of course, I understand that we all were (and still are) enduring a traumatic situation in real-time, and naturally there will be some impact on us and our minds. 

Fortunately, as the year went on, I was able to shake off some of my mental torpor, and I buckled down to the arduous task of literary escapism, resulting in the aforementioned 41 books read. I logged them all in my Goodreads account, which is rather fortunate--my dear friend Anna recently asked for a rundown on my "pandemic reads", and in reviewing my 2020 Booklist on Goodreads, I am absolutely floored by how many of them I simply do not remember reading. Like, I know I read them. But damned if I remember much about them at all. Trauma, amirite?

So, without further ado, here are the highlights of my "Pandemic Reads"

No one can do narrative nonfiction like Erik Larson. Whether he's recounting the Titanic's last hours, a serial killer in Chicago, or a selfish socialite in Hiter's Berlin, this man can sure as shit tell a story that makes you want to read just one more chapter. Last spring, as the weather grew warmer and the world fell down around us, I made my way through Larson's latest, an account of Winston Churchill and his inner circle during some of the worst days of the London Blitz. Vaguely, I felt as though perhaps there were some parallels between their struggles then and our struggles now, which perhaps accounts for why on occasion I lapse into some war metaphors at work, much to the bemusement and consternation of my colleagues. Anyway! Good book! And spoiler alert: Britain got its ass kicked yet didn't lose. 

Ah, the good ol' days, back when kids killed each other for entertainment...wait, that's still happening? Anyway, remember The Hunger Games? The author released a prequel in the first half of 2020 (I think? why do we bother measuring time anymore, anyway?) and Vox.com promptly called it "your apocalyptic escape from our current apocalypse." They...aren't wrong, really. This is a perfect example of my headspace at that time: I remember the basic plot of the book, but none of the details. But I didn't forget how deliciously escapist it was. 

So this last book that I'm going to mention is not technically one that I read in 2020, but it is one that I read during the apocalypse. I actually picked up this book last month, after galloping my way through the Amazon Prime show, The Expanse, which might be the single best show I've binged during the pandemic. And is based on an entire series of novels! George R.R. Martin calls the first one, Leviathan Wakes, a "kickass space epic", and while generally I think Martin is a useless lout who should fuck off into the sun...he's not exactly wrong. This series is set a few (or several; it's really not important) hundred years in the future; Earth is grossly overcrowded and has long since colonized Mars and various asteroid belts; and there is all sorts of conflicts and internecine strife and warmongering and faction building and class warfare, so...everything is basically same as it ever was. And that's before you introduce the element of extraterrestrial life, which is about to fuck everything to the sun and back, perhaps literally. 

So, there you go. A small overview of some of the books I read during a rather lackluster period of bookwhoring in my life. Feel free to pop over to my GoodReads account and see what else I've read in past, happier days and years!