What I Read This Year

‘Reading more’ was not one of my goals for 2020, yet it was my best year for reading in a long time. I’m sure the lockdown contributed to this but I am pleased that I maintained my momentum once I returned to a fully open school in September. On top of the 41 books listed below, I also read over 1,500 articles from The Guardian, as well as countless blog posts and articles from across the web. A good year all round, and one that at least from this point of view, I feel much richer for.

1. Adams, Douglas: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (r(((r) Indicates ‘re–reading’.)))
2. Adams, Douglas: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (r)
3. Adams, Douglas: Life, the Universe and Everything (r)
4. Aurelius, Marcus: Meditations (r)
5. Confucius: The Analects
6. Dexter, Colin: Last Bus to Woodstock
7. Dexter, Colin: Last Seen Wearing
8. Dexter, Colin: The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn
9. Dexter, Colin: Service of All the Dead
10. Dickens, Charles: A Christmas Carol (r)
11. Epictetus: Discourses and Selected Writings (r)
12. Gracián, Baltasar: The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence
13. le Carré, John: Call for the Dead
14. le Carré, John: A Murder of Quality
15. le Carré, John: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

16. Le Guin, Ursula K.: Tehanu
17. Le Guin, Ursula K.: Tales from Earthsea
    • The Finder
    • Darkrose and Diamond
    • The Bones of the Earth
    • On the High Marsh
    • Dragonfly
18. Le Guin, Ursula K.: The Other Wind
19. Le Guin, Ursula K.: A Description of Earthsea
20. Le Guin, Ursula K.: The Word of Unbinding
21. Le Guin, Ursula K.: The Rule of Names
22. Le Guin, Ursula K.: The Daughter of Odren
23. Le Guin, Ursula K.: Firelight
24. Le Guin, Ursula K.: Earthsea Revisioned((This completed my first reading of the entire ‘Earthsea Cycle‘. I read the first three novels in 2019 and took a break but I was very happy to rejoin Ged and Tenar; not least due to the revisioning Le Guin undertook returning to Earthsea eighteen years after ’The Farthest Shore.‘ Her exploration of womanhood and female empowerment from ’Tehanu‘; through ’The Finder‘ and ’Dragonfly‘; culminating in ’The Other Wind‘ was deeply gratifying. I admire Le Guin’s bravery in returning to a world she had firmly established and to then completely redefine it.))
25. Mascaro, Juan: The Dhammapada
26. Melville, Herman: Moby Dick
27. Seneca: Letters from a Stoic (r)
28. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: Roseanna
29. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: The Man Who Went Up in Smoke
30. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: The Man on the Balcony
31. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: The Laughing Policeman
32. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: The Fire Engine That Disappeared
33. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: Murder at the Savoy
34. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: The Abominable Man
35. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: The Locked Room
36. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: Cop Killer
37. Sjöwall, Maj; Wahlöö, Per: The Terrorists((It was very satisfying to immerse myself in such a tightly constructed sequence of crime novels; and interesting to read the series that established nordic–noir as a genre.))

38. Tolkien, J. R. R.: Tales from the Perilous Realm (r)
    • Roverandom
    • Farmer Giles of Ham
    • The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
    • Smith of Wooton Major
    • Leaf by Niggle
    • On Fairy Stories
39. Tzu, Lao: Tao Te Ching
40. Walker, Brian Browne: Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu
41. Ward, Benedicta: The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks