Throughout the year I've been sharing my many reads of 2020 on Instagram stories and goodreads, and a few days ago I shared my five favorite new reads of 2020 on Instagram. However, since Instagram has limited text, I wanted to share a little more about my top five reads and my year in books here.
I managed to read fifty books in 2020, two more than my goal. Of those, twenty books were rereads for me, and since I typically reread favorite books I didn't consider those in the running for my top five of the year. My rereading philosophy for the past few years has been to pick one or two series and one or two stand alone books that I love that I want to revisit in the year, and then if other books I have read before pop up in book club or in Close Reads then I'll read those again as well. I have a goal to read at least one Jane Austen book every year, because I adore her, and typically I read at least one Lewis and one Tolkien book every year, whether as rereads or a new discovery. In 2020 I decided it was time to reread the Series of Unfortunate Events books, which I haven't read since I was in middle school. While I didn't get through all thirteen in the year, I did read through the first nine and have really been enjoying them. I had forgotten quite a lot of the later books, which are some of my favorites, so it's been quite a joy to rediscover them. Lemony Snicket's dry sense of humor is one of the highlights of the series, but I also really love the mystery of VFD, the many literary allusions (many of which went over my head as a child), and the surprisingly big questions that are brought up. The main question that the series seems to wrestle with is how to live within a tragedy, and that is quite a heavy but worthwhile question to ponder in young adult literature. I plan to finish up my reread of the series in the first few months of 2020.
I also reread C S Lewis' Space Trilogy and joined a wonderful free summer class from Wittenberg Academy on the series. This is one of my favorite series, and the Tuesday evening classes on them were quite thought-provoking. I first read these books when I was fairly young, I think I was maybe fifteen years old. I enjoyed the first book, especially the linguistic aspects since languages have been one of my longest loves. However, it was Perelandra that really changed my life. I remember speeding through that book, devouring the story and wrestling with the many deep theological and moral questions that are raised. When I finally got to the end, heel bleeding, to meet the Eldils (I won't spoil it, don't worry) I knew I was hooked on this book for life. It's an adult version of Narnia in that it has so many great biblical allegories and exploration, and it is also strongly reminiscent of Paradise Lost (I think it's better, gasp!) Every time I've read it since then I've been blown away even more, catching motives and lines I didn't notice before. On the other hand, when I first read That Hideous Strength it mostly went over my head. It took me much longer to read than the other two, and I came away from it going "huh?" Since then, though, I've read it twice and it has become almost as impactful to me as Perelandra. As a young teen, I was too young to really understand it, but now I can see so much more of the social commentary, theological questions, and the profound study of male, female, and marriage. In my mind I see it as a counterpoint to many of the famous dystopian novels of the 20th century, like Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451, but with a resistance and a hope that the other two don't have. I found it so profoundly insightful this summer, amidst civil unrest and lockdowns and disease. And as a young married woman, it's given me so much to chew on and reflect on in my own self and marriage. If I could be one person in those books, it would for sure be Mrs. Dimble. I adore her.
Other notable rereads in 2020 were Till We Have Faces (another C S Lewis book that had a profound impact on my worldview), Jane Austen's Emma (only my second read and it is so profoundly wise concerning human character), Bo Giertz's The Hammer of God (chosen as my Lenten read in honor of my dad, and yet another book that is better with every read), Anne of Green Gables, Beowulf and Dante's Inferno. As for some honorable mentions in the new reads category, I read Catcher in the Rye for the first time, expecting to hate it, and was actually really drawn into the story and found myself decidedly liking it. If I had read it as a teenager, I probably would have hated it and Holden, but I found him lovable despite all of his obvious flaws, and it was exactly the kind of melancholy reflection on modernity that I found really fit well with the year. I read the Nibelungenlied for the first time and really loved it. Especially as a Tolkien fanatic and as a musician (looking at you, Wagner), I don't know how I didn't read it earlier, but I am adding it to my rotation of classics that I plan to continue reading throughout my life. Marilynne Robinson's Home lived up to the hype, in my eyes, and I am eager to read the other novels in the series. I enjoyed The Sun Also Rises, The Merchant of Venice, and Hecabe, all classics I had never read before. I continued to read and enjoy Louise Penny and Robert Galbraith mysteries, and I read a few great non-fiction books about reading: A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz and On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior. I also read 30 Poems to Memorize (Before It's Too Late), published by the CiRCE institute, and it was a wonderful anthology of now favorite poems and accompanying essays by such greats as Anthony Esolen. I highly recommend it, especially to people who may be new to reading poetry.
This brings us to my top five new books of the year. First is The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. This is one I read along with Close Reads and I could not get it out of my head. It is definitely a book for adults, (it's about an affair after all) but the affair is really only a small part of what the book is about. It's really about the soul's journey, coming to faith, wrestling with God, and the battle between duty and desire. I was thinking about this book for weeks after reading it, comparing it to both C S Lewis and Augustine in my head. Graham Greene is one of the many mid-century Catholic writers, and while I haven't read much by them, this is by far my favorite so far. Even though I did not fall into the category of reluctant convert, this book spoke to me, especially the struggle of desperately wanting something you haven't been given, or desperately wanting to not have something you have been given.
Next, My Love Affair with Music by Lloyd Alexander. Lloyd Alexander wrote the Chronicles of Prydain, some of my very favorite children's fantasy novels, and some of my father-in-law's favorite novels as well. in 2019 he read through all of Alexander's books, and he gave me this one because he knew I would love it. It is a semi-autobiographical novel about the author's love for music and relationship with it throughout his life. I loved every paragraph. So much of it rang true with my own musical studies, and my own love for music. I found myself saving quotes from almost every page. One small detail that stuck with me is that the bank where Alexander worked had its own amateur choir that met on Tuesday evenings and would then perform once a year at an assisted living. This was not that long ago, probably about 60 or 70 years ago, and yet it seems so profoundly different from today. I've never heard of such a thing being done. It has inspired me to start my own amateur choir in a similar fashion, once the pandemic restrictions allow me to.
As mentioned earlier, I read Dante's Inferno again, as part of my classics book club. We decided we wanted to read through the whole Divine Comedy, and I'm glad we did because Purgatory became a surprise contender for favorite book of the year. I was expecting it to be a drag, expecting a lot of Catholic theology that I wouldn't agree with (surprise- that's what Paradise was). Instead, we got a beautiful picture of repentance and virtue, community and love. I found Esolen's translation easy to read and his lectures, which we watched as part of our discussion, brought forward so many themes that we missed on our own. I cannot believe this book is no longer taught in schools. It deserves to be on the major books list with the Inferno. Coming off of this book, we were so excited to read Paradise, because we figured it could only be better. Unfortunately, we were all disappointed in it, and found it very difficult to read and understand, and very Catholic in it's approach (amusing that Paradise and not Purgatory felt the most Catholic to us.) Purgatory was simply a beautiful book and I can't wait to read it again.
Jane Austen's Persuasion is the only novel of hers that I hadn't read before, and of course it was one of my favorite reads of the year. It had the delight and wit that I associate with Jane Austen, but also a more mature and melancholy feel to it. I quite enjoyed it, quite enjoyed discovering how the story would unfold, and watching two people find each other again after a painful falling out. Jane Austen is so good at characters. My only regret is that I no longer have a new novel of hers to read for the first time.
Finally, Wendell Berry's Hannah Coulter was my end-of-year read and it was incredible. The story of an ordinary woman living a rather ordinary life, it was so incredibly beautiful and moving. It made me want to somehow buy back my grandparent's farm and live and farm there. I took so many things away from this book, thoughts about gratitude, simple living, contentment, grief, and dying, and I know I'm going to read it many times in my life. I have already added all Berry's other books to my to-be-read list.
In case anyone is interested, here is my complete list of 2020 reads.
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