Staying Home To Read Was A Good Thing About 2020

It can be a bit of a stretch to find something positive from 2020, but I did read some great books. In my case, they were all historical novels, but that’s no great surprise.

As I was looking back over my Goodreads list of books I read in 2020, I realized that I didn’t read as much as I usually do. I think it had something to do with the craziness of the year and my inability to concentrate. Of the books I did read, here are the ones that stood out.

Marilla of Green Gables

By Sarah McCoy

Of all the books I read in 2020, this one may well be my favorite. I’ve loved the Anne of Green Gables books for as long as I can remember, and I still reread them occasionally. In 2020, I reread the first two Anne books and watched a couple of TV adaptations. There is something about Anne’s quaint life on Prince Edward Island that appeals to me.

Fans of the Green Gables series also know that there is darkness underlying Anne’s life, and maybe that appealed to me too. Sarah McCoy’s Marilla of Green Gables is Marilla’s story, and I found it captivating. I believed every word of it, that this was Marilla’s life before Anne, and I think it is the perfect prequel to the Anne stories.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes

By Diana Gabaldon

I’ve loved Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books for a few years now. While I can’t say that A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Book 6 in the series) is my favorite of the Outlander novels I’ve read so far, Gabaldon’s books continue to be great escapist reading, which I definitely needed in 2020.

I enjoyed reading about life in Colonial America at the outset of the American Revolution, a time I’m fascinated with but haven’t read much about.

The Physician

By Noah Gordon

The Physician is the first book I read by Noah Gordon and I already have Gordon’s The Rabbi downloaded onto my Kindle. The Physician has everything I love about historical fiction–compelling characters, a fascinating historical setting–really, it’s a complete world in itself.

The story of an 11th-century English orphan traveling to Persia is brought to life in a way that pulled me back in time. There are two other books in this series, and I’m looking forward to reading those as well. I discovered that there’s a movie version, with Ben Kingsley no less, and I’ll watch that soon.

The Mirror and the Light

By Hilary Mantel

I waited years for this final installment of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy and I wasn’t disappointed. While the conclusion is not a surprise to anyone familiar with Thomas Cromwell’s story, the way Mantel weaves the pieces together is a masterwork of historical fiction. In fact, I reread the first two books in the trilogy, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, prior to reading The Mirror and the Light. I’m glad I did because you can see how Mantel connects the dots through all three books.

Hamnet

By Maggie O’Farrell

I began reading O’Farrell’s novel around Christmas, so it counts as a book I read in 2020. I’m only halfway through as I’m writing this, but I can already tell this is historical fiction on par with Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell Trilogy.

Hamnet is an imagined look at what Shakespeare’s family’s life might have been like when he was in London. The focus here is Shakespeare’s family, his wife and children. The novel examines the “What ifs?” surrounding the life and death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet, who is believed to be the namesake of one of Shakespeare’s most popular yet enigmatic plays, Hamlet.

Dealing With the Present By Reading About the Past

One way I dealt with the craziness of 2020 was by escaping to the past.

Sickness and disease–the plague to be exact–play an important role in the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy and Hamnet. The Physician is about a man learning to become a healer. Claire Fraser is a healer in the Outlander books.

We continue to worry about those we love and we mourn them when they are gone. Still, even in the midst of tragedies, we find moments of gratitude, even joy if we’re lucky. Historical fiction can be the best of all worlds since we can escape the time we’re in while seeing how things have changed, or not, and enjoy a compelling story in the process.

Read For the Love Of It

I’ve never been one to start reading challenges since I don’t like to put pressure on myself when I read for enjoyment. I hope that my concentration is headed to a more normal state, and I hope to read more in 2021. I haven’t decided what I’m going to read since I already have more books than I can read in a year downloaded onto my Kindle. Like most book lovers, I buy books faster than I read them.

Whatever you enjoy reading, I hope you find some wonderful books that take you away to wherever you wish to go.