2020 is almost over and what a year, am I right? Here I will be sharing an overview of the books I have read in 2020, the best, the worst, some stats and more! If you like to see stats, this is the blog for you because I have a ton of them here.
This year I started using The StoryGraph to keep a record of my reading progress. Many of you know of Goodreads but trust me on this, The StoryGraph will change your life! The StoryGraph is a site that is constantly growing and improving all the time. Even thought they still don't have an official app you can add it to you home screen on your phone and it works just like an app. It is really easy to make the transition between Goodreads and StoryGraph, you just have to export your data (it is explained when you first make an account on their site). All the stats you will see on this blog are created on StoryGraph.
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by The StroyGraph, I just genuinely enjoy this site and wish to share this experience with other readers.
My 2020 Reading Goal
This year I had a goal of reading 40 books and I am happy to say that I successfully completed this goal! This reading goal was quite challenging for me but I pushed through and managed to achieve my goal.
2020 vs 2019 Comparisons
NUMBER OF BOOKS AND PAGES
This is still less books than the amount I read in 2019 with a total of 55 books!
But I consider it to be a good amount regardless. As you can see, I was in a bit of a reading slump in the first few months of 2020. Blame it to madness of Covid-19! I started getting out of that slump in August and I just had to push through to finish my goal.
MOODS
This is one of my favorite features of The StoryGraph. It tracks your reading moods! There seems to have been a very big shift in my reading moods. In 2019 I was reading a lot of lighthearted books and in 2020 I read a lot more darker and mysterious moods. It pretty much correlates with the current situations and events of this crazy year.
PACE and PAGE NUMBERS
Not surprisingly, I mostly read fast and medium paced books with less than 500 pages. This is a very standard thing for me, I am not good with big books and that is actually a goal I have for 2021. I will be posting y 2021 reading goals soon.
FICTION vs NON-FICTION
And of course, most of the books I read were fiction books. I do enjoy reading fiction more than non-fiction but I also have plans to try to balance these numbers out.
GENRES
This year I read a lot of fantasy, which is not that common for me since fantasy is not my favorite genre but that might have changed? I did really enjoy most of these books so I am willing to continue reading more fantasy and seeing what works for me or what doesn't work for me.
I do wish I read a larger variety of genres in the future. I am making some reading plans for 2021 that will push me to read more outside of my comfort zone but we will see how that goes.
OVERALL BOOK RATINGS
Finally, let's look at my ratings. I do not intend to go into details as to why I gave each books their ratings since I won't be writing a full review on them but I am just sharing an overview of the best and worst reads of 2020.
5 stars - The best of the best
I only gave 2 books a 5 star rating this year. 5 stars for me means that this book really impacted me and was stuck in my mind for days.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenster
This was a re-read for me.
I have a read this book a total of 3 times and my rating remains the same throughout.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I truly enjoyed the entirety of this book.
I thought the story was extraordinary and very well executed.
4 stars
I gave a lot of books a 4 star rating. 4 stars are still considered, for me, really good books but they are missing a little something that does not let them be pushed into the 5 star rating in my standards. Most of these books are usually a really fun read, something that I enjoy a lot. I have 19 books in this category so I won't go into detail on all of them.
The Worst Rated Books
Did I absolutely hate any particular books?
I don't usually give 1 star ratings unless a book is just outrageous and unreadable, which I don't usually encounter. A 2 star for me is quite a low rating and I did have a couple of those. Usually these are books I DNF (Did Not Finish) for several different reasons or books that I finished but truly did not enjoy.
Sometimes the reasons for this rating is just merely the fact that I did not like the book or it was not the right time for me to read the book (maybe I was not in the mood). As someone who reads for fun, I can say that I am not a professional reviewer and sometimes I cannot give a more detailed reason for my low ratings. And I do not intend to offend the authors or anyone who has liked these books.
And here it is, a quick overview of the books I read in 2020. I am hoping to post more reviews in 2021 and share more of my reading process.
Happy reading everyone!