2020: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2020, a year where I should have been setting records due to the pandemic and stay at home orders, I managed to read only 23 books, a decrease of 5 books over last year.  Of those 23, 8 were non-fiction and, of the 15 novels, only 2 were tied to a TV show.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer and 15 were e-books.  I read just over 7,800 pages, my seventh highest total of all time.

For the first time in years, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I have read before. The 11 authors that I read for the first this year were:

  • Ken Harrelson
  • Jeff Snook
  • Liz Phair
  • Megan Abbott
  • Greer Hendricks
  • Sarah Pekkanen
  • Cameron Esposito
  • Rich Lindberg
  • Sara Schaefer
  • Alex Trebek
  • Trevor Noah

Tom Perotta, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Karin Slaughter were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2020.

6 of the books I read were released this year, while 5 of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1933.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  My vacation to Hawaii in February and being off in December certainly helped pad its totals a tad bit. Continue reading →

Book 13 (of 52) – Grand

Grand – Sara Schaefer

Comedian Sara Schaefer took a rafting trip into the Grand Canyon with her younger sister to celebrate her 40th birthday.  That trip becomes the framing device for her life story, as she faces her physical fears on the Colorado River and details the emotional fears that have built up over her lifetime, from the announcement from her parents that upended her life as a child, to her mother’s breast cancer battle and eventual death, her failed marriage, and her trials and tribulations in show business.

Of all the comedians I follow on Twitter, Schaefer is the one I’m probably the least familiar with.  I’ve seen her a few times on @Midnight, but, aside from that, there’s not much else.  To be honest, I probably would not have bought this book, but I managed to get an advanced reading copy for free from a Goodreads contest.  When I started the book, I was a little concerned about the framing device of the rafting trip, which alternated chapters with Schaefer’s tales of her younger days.  But, I soon was engrossed by the trip, something I know I would both want to do and never do.

Following up on this experience, I will be looking out for more of her stand-up work.  Maybe even venture out to see her in person, should this pandemic ever make that possible again.