My Year In Books, 2020

As i'm sure i've mentioned, before i bought my first personal computer (it ran Windows 95 and had an incredible 2 GB of storage) i would read at least a book a week. How things have changed: now i'm lucky if i read a book every three weeks. I like to re-visit old favourites, too, but there wasn't much of that in this extraordinary year of 2020 -- almost all of the titles were new (to me) and those are indicated by an asterisk (*).

 I read a lot by Mark Twain in 2020. That man could write! Although obviously i'd heard of him before it wasn't until recently i discovered how much style he had. Haruki Murakami is a new favourite -- he reads like a cross between Franz Kafka and Lewis Carroll: there is magic and there is horror in his writing. Andrew Cartmel's Vinyl Detective series was recommended to me by an anonymous commentator on this blog and it's wonderful. It's about a man who tracks down very rare vinyl records for clients who usually have some sinister purpose. Mr Cartmel obviously has a vast knowledge of music and musical trivia and the books i read appealed to me on a visceral level. I will now have to buy the entire series.

I read Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon because i heard that it was the inspiration behind one of my favourite Mark Knopfler songs, Sailing To Philadelphia. It was painful to read, so damn' tedious.... I also read a couple of books about one of my favourite politicians, Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Everything i'd heard about her led to believe that she was a wonderful, extraordinary woman of intelligence and empathy and courage -- so unlike most common-or-garden variety politicians and, from what i read, i was right! Unfortunately, neither book was recent enough to deal with her brilliant response to the global pandemic and how her fast and firm actions practically eliminated the virus from her nation.

My favourite book of the year was Erik Larson's book about Winston Churchill during World War II, The Splendid And The Vile. He's a brilliant writer and an historian and provides so much detail about a terrible time and gives a brilliant portrait of bravery under fire. Grace under pressure, for sure. 

 Here's that book, and Jacinda. 

 Jan. 23: Haruki Murakami – Kafka On The Shore* 

Jan. 27: J.R.R. Tolkien – Letters From Father Christmas* 

Jan. 31: Roddy Doyle – The Commitments 

Feb. 6: Roddy Doyle – The Snapper 

Feb. 18: Roddy Doyle – The Van 

March 3: Ian Rankin – Westwind* 

Apr. 22: Thomas Pynchon – Mason & Dixon* 

May 6: Cynthia Kennedy Henzel – Jacinda Ardern: Prime                 Minister Of New Zealand* 

May 14: Erik Larson – The Splendid And The Vile: A Saga Of         Churchill, Family, And Defiance During The Blitz* 

May 15: Mark Twain – On The Decay Of The Art Of Lying* May 21: Simon Webb – The Life And Times Of Jeremiah Dixon,     Surveyor Of The Mason-Dixon Line* 

June 6: Mark Twain – A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's         Court* 

June 25: Mark Twain – Roughing It* 

July 4: Michelle Duff – Jacinda Ardern* 

July 15: Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid's Tale 

July 24: Andrew Cartmel – The Vinyl Detective: Written In             Dead Wax* 

July 31: Mary L. Trump – Too Much And Never Enough: How         My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man* 

Aug. 22: Justin Kaplan – Mr Clemens And Mark Twain: A             Biography* 

Sept. 3: Aldous Huxley – Brief Candles 

Sept. 14: Andrew Cartmel – The Vinyl Detective: The Run-Out         Groove* 

Sept. 18: Martin Amis – Night Train Sept. 

24: Michael B. Druxman – Basil Rathbone: His Life And His             Films 

Oct. 8: George MacDonald Fraser – Flashman At The Charge Nov. 11: Haruki Murakami – Killing Commendatore* 

Nov. 18: Ian Rankin – A Song For The Dark Times*