2020, my hardest year to date, and only 22 books read

This was the hardest year of my life. My daughter’s been suddenly diagnosed with a rare, advanced form of cancer in January. Covid19 and everything it brought with it took hold of the UK in March. A taxing redundancy situation was happening in Culture Trip, between April and June, with my leaving the company off the back of it. Going on my own — at least for now — from September.

An arduous year. The year of Three awful Cs — Cancer, Corona and Cuts. But also a year of another C —for Certainty — that everything will be alright. And another C — for Consultancy — which I enjoyed doing immensely.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, I found it incredibly difficult to find the time or to concentrate whilst reading, especially in the first half of the year, averaging only a book a month for the first six months. Fiction books were no longer able to take me away from my reality. Non-fiction books bombarded me with concepts and numbers that my exhausted brain was finding challenging to take in.

I picked up the pace as things had started settling into an unfamiliar yet stable flow in the second half of 2020 when I managed to add another 16 titles overall, a decent annual average rate of just under 2 books a month, 22 in total. Not reading was stressing me out, as books have always played an enormous role in my life, I desperately wanted to get back into it. It’s no wonder that a friend said to me the other day: “It’s hard to focus when life-altering events are happening around you! That you read at all is a feat in and of itself”.

This is the seventh year since I started publishing my annual reading lists with comments and recommendations here, you can see the previous articles here — 36 in 2019, 38 in 2018, 44 books in 2017, 40 in 2016, 41 in 2015, 32 in 2014.

In 2020, 22 titles are again, like in the past, neatly divided in half — 11 fiction and 11 non-fiction titles. Language-wise, however, I only read books in English this year, but I do have an exciting Russian selection planned for 2021! All of them were real, printed books — I still cannot make myself become an e-reader, however, I am toying with an idea of audiobooks, given the number of podcasts I listen to (which deserves a separate article, anyway).

So, here are all the books I have read in 2020, the full breakdown with links and some recommendations are below these photos.

Non-fiction list

Medicine

1. A Young Person’s Guide to Cancer, by Teenage Cancer Trust
2. How to Starve Cancer, by Jane McLelland

Tech/innovation

1. 2020 Tech Trends Report, by Future Today Institute
2. Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds, by David Rowan

Business and career

1. The Content Trap: A Strategist’s Guide to Digital Change, by Bharat Anand

Society and World Around Us

1. The Story of Craft Beer, by Pete Brown
2. Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference, by David Halpern
3. Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, by Caroline Criado Perez

History

1. Invisible Romans, by Robert Knapp

Spirituality and self-improvement

1. …To Be Continued… Reincarnation and the Purpose of Our Lives, by Karen Berg
2. Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles

Fiction list

Drama

1. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
2. An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
3. Silver Sparrow, by Tayari Jones
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey (re-read since Uni days, the first time in English)

Crime

1. Knife, by Jo Nesbo
2. The Collector, by John Fowles (re-read since Uni days, the first time in English)
3. The Labyrinth of Spirits, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

History

1. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, by Patrick Suskind (re-read since Uni days, the first time in English)

Humour

1. The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man, by Jonas Jonasson

Poetry

1. The Poetry Pharmacy, by William Sieghart
2. The Poetry Pharmacy Returns, by William Sieghart

Some reviews…

Best non-fiction: Without a doubt, this prize goes to David Rowan’s important book on the best and crucially — non-bullshit — innovation examples happening around the world. David is an incredible storyteller, a former editor and journalist, an angel investor and a founder of a wonderful Voyagers network. Each chapter is full of practical, actionable cross-sectoral advice — I’ll be using plenty of quotes and other bits and pieces in my work, for sure.

Biggest non-fiction surprise: It took me about a month to properly process a large volume of what is 2020 Tech Trends report from Future Today Institute. This annual creation covering all aspects of human life being disrupted by technologies of all kinds — as a content and media person myself, I’ve started developing my knowledge and network around synthetic media after having read a chapter on it there. I can not wait for the presentation of the 2021 volume.

Best book for a career: Not for a career in general (I did not read any of these this year), but one for a media/content career — The Content Trap is a seminal, strategic volume and while some of the examples did not age well (and why would they in our sector?), the monetisation concepts and general thought process in this book are incredibly relevant to many of us today.

Non-fiction everyone has to read: I’d go for Invisible Women. It’s a book that will make you set it aside in disbelief of what you’ll be reading, and on so many occasions. For me, it is as important as 21 Lessons for 21st Century or Factfullness, for example, but it goes further, diving deep into so many examples of gender unfairness, and of instances/countries where the situation is improving, that it really ought to be taught in high schools — and I am not using this recommendation lightly. It’s all about educating people and doing it consistently from younger ages.

New author, I will now never miss books by: Having read two novels by Tayari Jones this year, I’ll be certainly following her literary career from now on. Both Atlanta-based books had their strong moments especially about plot setting and characters and dialogues, but I am expecting the next one to be an even more complete, standout novel.

A book I never thought I’d like, but loved: I generally do not read poetry, but the two volumes from Poetry Pharmacy helped me out a lot over a 26-day stretch in July when my daughter and wife were at the hospital following my daughter’s massive surgery — a few poems each night really helped to process all the emotions and centre me.

Disappointing novel: This nomination goes to The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man. I loved the first instalment, it was so fresh and original., and funny. The second one was tired, flat, repetitive and, frankly speaking, boring. One of the few novels that I did not finish over the last few years.

The most surprising novel I read and probably the best novel I read this year: I’ll be honest with myself — this has not been a vintage year for my reading. It did not have anything comparable to, say, Middle England, A Little Life, The Goldfinch, Swing Time or The Mandibles. So I’d give this prize to a Perfume, a novel I can read from any chapter or paragraph. Reading it in English this time added something extra to it — the prose is just so exquisite.

Special mention: Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a great Spanish novelist died this year. The news about his passing reached me as I was finishing the fourth and final instalment of his Barcelona-based Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, a true literary masterpiece. I love books about novels, writers, literary process, bibliophile secrets, and this tetralogy is a triumph.

And here we are, that’s it. Thank you for sticking around. My reading list for 2021 is almost complete, and I can not wait to start on it in from January. Meanwhile, I am wishing you all the best in 2021! Happy reading!