What a year 2020 has been! I don’t think any of us will forget it in a hurry, much as we might like to. At the start of the year, I set myself a personal challenge of reading 30 books and trying to complete the 2020 Reading Women Challenge.
As I read 73 books this year, I think I can safely say that I achieved that first goal! I didn’t do so well with the Reading Women Challenge, although I did manage to complete 16 of the 24 prompts.
Below is a breakdown of the books I read for this challenge:
1. A book by an author from the Caribbean or India: Queenie, by Candice Carty-Williams. Also The Henna Artist, by Alka Joshi
3. A book about the environment: No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, by Greta Thunberg
5. A winner of the Stella Prize or the Women’s Prize for Fiction: An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
9. A book inspired by folklore: The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey
10. A book about a woman artist: The Henna Artist, by Alka Joshi
11. Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation: Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple
12. A book about a woman who inspires you: Becoming, by Michelle Obama
13. A book by an Arab woman: A Woman is No Man, by Etaf Rum
14. A book set in Japan or by a Japanese author: Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee
16. A book featuring a woman with a disability: The Keeper of Lost Things, by Ruth Hogan
17. A book over 500 pages: The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling. Also The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt; Sphinx, by T. S. Learner; The Russian Concubine, by Kate Furnivall; Sheer Abandon, by Penny Vincenzi; The Kingdom of Copper, by S. A. Chakraborty
18. A book under 100 pages: Confessions of a Chalet Girl, by Lorraine Wilson. Also No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, by Greta Thunberg
19. A book that’s frequently recommended to you: The Hunting Party, by Lucy Foley. Also The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes
20. A feel-good or happy book: The Switch, by Beth O’Leary
22. A book by either a favourite or new-to-you publisher: Apologize, Apologize!, by Elizabeth Kelly
23. A book by an LGBTQ+ author: Untamed, by Glennon Doyle
