What I Read: 2020

This piece was originally posted February 18, 2021 on my previous blog.

The last few months of 2020 got a bit hectic. I ended up moving to a new house, somewhat unexpectedly, and have spent the last several months packing, sorting, moving, unpacking, sorting some more, fixing up the old house, and did I mention sorting? I had some lovely plans for writing projects and reading goals that I wanted to finish before the end of year and, well, none of that really happened. But now I’m slowly getting settled in the new house and starting to catch up on the rest of life again.

I read a lot of good books last year. I revisited many favorites, especially among the fiction books, and have started diving back into the classics, such as The Iliad and Beowulf. I also discovered some powerful books that have enriched my faith, most notably Fulton Sheen’s Life of Christ and Frank Sheed’s To Know Christ Jesus. I was also introduced to the delightful detective series by Dorothy L. Sayers, The Lord Peter Whimsey novels that begin with Whose Body? (I actually read Gaudy Night first as part of a book club, and then had to go back to beginning of the series because I loved it so much).

If you are interested in keeping up my reading habits more regularly, you can find me on the website Goodreads. I typically avoid social media beyond my own blog, but Goodreads has been the sanest way for me track what I’m reading for the last few years.

Fiction

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Audio)
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll (Audio)
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Prophesy of Bane by Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Marks of Secret by Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Code of Claw by Suzanne Collins
The Lost World by Michael Crichton
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Audio)
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (Audio)
The Secret of Water by Elizabeth Goudge
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
The Iliad by Homer
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Light Princess by George MacDonald
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (Audio)
The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
The Source by James Michner
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Audio)
Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Paterson
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
Antigone by Sophocles
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Non-Fiction

Aristotle for Everyone by Mortimore J. Adler
The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron
The History of Life: A Very Short Introduction by Michael J. Benton
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Heretics by G.K. Chesterton
Leaving Boyhood Behind by Jason M. Craig
The World Beyond Your Head by Matthew B. Crawford
Defending Boyhood by Anthony Esolen
Indistractable by Nir Eyal
Fat Girl Walking by Brittany Gibbons
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray
The Privilege of Being a Woman by Alice von Hildebrand
The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan
On Writing by Stephen King
The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
Touching by Ashley Montagu
Scientism and Secularism by J.P. Moreland
Dinosaurs: A Very Short Introduction by David Norman
Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile by Joseph Pearce
Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker Percy
Eat, Fast, Feast by Jay W. Richards
The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes
The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz
Beyond Soap by Sandy Skotnicki
Men, Women, and the Mystery of Love by Edward Sri
Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
The Narnia Code by Michael Ward

Faith

The Book of Genesis
The Book of Exodus
The Gospel of Matthew
The Way of Perfection by Teresa of Avila
Consecration to St. Joseph by Dr. Gregory Bottaro and Jen Settle
Our Lady of Kibeho by Immaculee Ilibagiza
Hildegard of Bingen by Fiona Maddock
Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
The Mystery of Joseph by Fr. Marie-Dominique Phillipe, OP
To Know Christ Jesus by Frank Sheed
Treasure in Clay by Fulton J. Sheen
Life of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen