2020. This year has been so strange hasn't it? For the last seven months I have pondered and questioned this world we live in. How an invisible microbe could shut down countries, halt travel, and keep families apart. This year is a mess. There is turmoil and division in the world and close to home in our own towns. There is fear in the air. There is anger and strong opinions that do not stop to listen.
Even though I have not traveled at all this year, and it feels so strange, I have been taking advantage of the time at home for organizing and focusing on writing by book. Aside from working at the office, I spend the vast majority of time at home. This has many wonderful benefits. I finished writing my book, edited it, had my dear friend proof it (shout out to Jen!), and it is now available on Amazon. I worked on some home projects buying some new pieces of furniture and decor that I have wanted to do for a long time. I have embraced the home body lifestyle, and I am not mad about it.
My 95-98% introverted self has been okay with being home a lot more than a "normal" year. I have been reading a lot, already beating my 2019 number of books read at this point with 64 books read so far, and we still have two months left in 2020. In my reading, I have been supporting a favourite independent bookshop of mine and buying more new releases than I ever have, to support authors and these tough times when they cannot travel to promote books. This has helped me discover new writers (to me) and enjoy authors' new releases. It has diversified my reading. Some favourite new release (or almost new) books this year have been:
- Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
- The Door on Half-Bald Hill by Helena Sorensen
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
- The Wood, The Glorious Life of the Oak, and The Secret Life of the Owl all by John Lewis-Stempel
- Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard by Clare Carlisle
- Tolkien's Lost Chaucer by John M. Bowers
- The Library of Ice: Readings from a Cold Climate by Nancy Campbell
- Burning The Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack by Richard Ovenden
- Taliesin by Rowan Williams and Gwyneth Lewis (translators)
- The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Clair
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Have you read any of these? I am so grateful for the books I have read and the ability to have them mailed to me - they have kept me sane in these very odd months!
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