New Year’s Eve, 2020

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! I think that most of us would agree that 2020 has been a hard year (both personally and globally), and I imagine that there are very few people who are sorry to see it go.

In all honesty, it would be incredibly easy to spend this entire post dwelling on all of the horrible things that have happened over the course of the past year. There are certainly plenty of options to choose from, including (but not limited to) wildfires, hurricanes, and a worldwide pandemic that has lasted for the better part of a year and cost a devastating number of people their lives.

But that’s not how I want to spend my final post of the year.

As 2020 draws to a close, I thought it would be nice to reflect on some of the exciting things that have happened on The Unapologetic Bookworm this year, and to share some of my favorite titles from the (rather long) list of books I had the opportunity to read.

At the beginning of August, The Unapologetic Bookworm officially celebrated its One-Year Anniversary! This was a huge milestone for the website, and I have to confess that I was more excited about the website’s anniversary than I was for my own birthday. In my celebratory post, I made several announcements regarding the expansion of The Unapologetic Bookworm’s off-site content, including: the launch of my Patreon creator page, an upcoming book club on Goodreads, and an increased presence on social media.

Here’s a quick update regarding those announcements:

• Patreon: After a considerable amount of thought, I have elected to discontinue my work on Patreon for the foreseeable future. While I may re-launch my creator page at some point, patron subscriptions are currently unavailable.
• Book Club: Originally, The Unapologetic Bookworm was going to be launching a book club on Goodreads toward the end of August. However, the launch needed to be delayed. The book club will finally be coming to Goodreads during the first quarter of 2021, and I am very excited about it!
• Social Media: I am now officially on three social media sites! Following me on social media will give you access to additional book recommendations, my new adventures in bookstagramming, frequent updates regarding my participation in the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge (as well as Beat the Backlist, and various readathons), and pictures of my adorable feline/velociraptor hybrid, Darcy.
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

The Unapologetic Bookworm also saw a tremendous amount of growth this year. As of today, our readership has officially grown to over 130 followers! I am so thankful to you all for showing so much love to my website this year! Your support for The Unapologetic Bookworm means the world to me, and it’s what drives me to continue producing new content each week!

Turning our attention to the subject of books, 2020 turned out to be a year of marathon reading sessions. Many of my marathon reading days occurred simply because I needed to escape into a good book, but I also had the opportunity to participate in three Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon events. While I did learn that my body can’t handle remaining awake for a full 24 hours (at least, not without unpleasant consequences), I had a tremendous amount of fun participating in these readathons.

I was also able to complete the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge prior to the end of the year. If you’d like to see the full list of titles I read (and the prompts they fulfilled), I hope you’ll check out my “POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2020 — Completed!” post from the end of September.

In case you’re wondering, I actually ended up reading a total of 232 books this year. I am currently in the middle of a couple of books right now, but I probably will not have the opportunity to finish them today. Overall, I’m very pleased with the amount of reading I was able to do this year.

Many of the books I read provided me with a much-needed escape from the anxiety 2020 managed to produce, and I thought it would be fun to share some of the books and series that I enjoyed having the opportunity to read (or re-read) this year.

• Favorite 2020 New Releases:
  • Fangs, by Sarah Andersen
  • Solutions and Other Problems, by Allie Brosh
  • The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins
  • Happily Ever After & Everything In Between, by Debbie Tung
  • Network Effect, by Martha Wells
• Most Intriguing Mystery:
  • A Holiday for Murder, by Agatha Christie
• Most Humorous Read:
  • Redshirts, by John Scalzi
• Hardest Books to Put Down:
  • The Hunting Party, by Lucy Foley
  • Shinjū, by Laura Joh Rowland
• Most Interesting Non-fiction:
  • Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners, by Therese Oneill
• Most Enjoyed Series:
  • The Phryne Fisher Mysteries, by Kerry Greenwood (currently reading)
  • The Witcher Saga, by Andrzej Sapkowski (currently reading)
  • The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells
• Most Frequently Read Book:
  • The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
    • This delightful story really helped me get through 2020. I read The Hobbit a total of three times this year (including my increasingly beat-up old paperback edition, the illustrated edition, and Charles Dixon’s graphic novel adaptation) and re-watched the movie adaptations.

Do you have a book or author that you really enjoyed reading this year, or that helped you get through the chaos of 2020? If so, I hope you’ll take a few moments to leave a comment on this post. I’d love to have the opportunity to check out your recommendations in the new year!

Also, please be sure to visit The Unapologetic Bookworm tomorrow and Saturday for a special post about my 2021 reading goals, and my first POPSUGAR Reading Challenge update of 2021.

I hope that 2021 will be a wonderful year for you and your family!

Happy New Year!