Books Read in 2020

My goal for 2020 was to read 20 books. I ended up reading 37. It was a good year.

2020 List: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/19665805

I’ve never been a big reader. When I was growing up I didn’t read for pleasure. Maybe a book or two in a year. I’ve read probably less than 200 books in my life so far. In the last few years I’ve been ramping up. I read about 10 books in 2019 and 37 in 2020. My goal for 2021 is to read 50 books, so around 1 book a week.

With COVID lock downs, I stopped spending time on a lot of things that I typically would’ve frittered away with and instead read. Some of the books were so interesting, captivating, pleasurable and mind-expanding that I started reading more and more and now it has become my default activity. I read at least 2 hours every day now and sometimes even more, especially on the weekends.

I started using Overdrive’s Libby app to borrow books for free from my local library which has an inexhaustible collection. Whatever book I need, I either put on library hold and get it in couple weeks, or borrow it right away. I send the books from Libby app to my Kindle and it has become my most treasured device in my home. I use my phone barely for anything nowadays and I’m only using my computer when I want to do programming, blogging or reading technical literature.

In 2020, there are few books that affected me deeply which are listed below. Most of the other books were very enjoyable and/or informative as well which bootstrapped me into a cycle of reading in 2020 and has continue to propel me in 2021.

Best of 2020:

• Educated - Tara Westover
• To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
• Factfullness - Hans Rosling
• The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
• Remembrance of the Earth’s Past Series (a.k.a The Three Body Problem Trilogy) - Liu Cixin

There are so many books that I haven’t read that I’m very excited to continue this new found passion.