What a horror story 2020 was eh? Who would have thought at this time last January we’d all end up living in a world of travel restrictions, infection apps and no pub. No pub! Inevitably, without my favourite writing spot, my prose turnout dropped a bit this year… But three weeks of furlough did give me time to read lots of books, and I achieved my new Reading Challenge for 2020: reading 52 books in the year.
Reading Challenge 2020
We know I like to record every book I read. It’s good to read widely and to treat reading as entertainment just as worthy of your time as gaming, scrolling and Netflix. As an author, you pick up tips and learn more about your own place in your genre (or out of it). A challenge helps to push you to read more and to try new books for new experiences.
You even got a preview of what’s been on my hit-list when I posted my mid-year reading roundup in the summer. I hope you’ll still enjoy scanning a half-interested eye down the full tally.
Challenges of 2021
I know a lot of creative people have struggled this year. In the all the upheaval and ever-changing rules, your mentality recalibrates from creative to survival mode. It’s nothing to beat yourself up about. Usually, I make resolutions for the new year. But this January all I’m resolving to do is take things as they come. I’ll roll with the punches and deal with things in a positive way that might inspire others to do the same.
Who knows, I might even squeeze some writing in. I’ve got a doozie of an idea about a Victorian séance, and it would suit chapter titles named after tarot cards…
Watch this space! And now, to our headline act, the Reading Challenge 2020.
All the Books I Read in 2020
Macbeth – William Shakespeare
The Hanged Man – Simon Kernick
Diary of a Somebody – Brian Bilston
A Noise Downstairs – Linwood Barclay
Murder Being Once Done – Ruth Rendell
The Three – Sarah Lotz
The Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris
The Body – Bill Bryson
Night Shift – Stephen King
The Stonehenge Legacy – Sam Christer
Do No Harm – Henry Marsh
The Missing – Tim Gatreux
A Pocketful of Rye – Agatha Christie
This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay
(I actually read this twice! It’s hysterical and you will love it)
A Head Full of Ghosts – Paul Tremblay
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams – Stephen King
The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ – Sue Townsend
Broken Monsters – Lauren Beukes
The Grand Design – Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
Gobbolino, the Witch’s Cat – Ursula Moray Williams
Relics – Tim Lebbon
Penpal – Dathan Auerbach
World War Z – Max Brooks
Harvest Home – Thomas Tryon
Paperbacks from Hell – Grady Hendrix
The Cabin at the End of the World – Paul Tremblay
Let’s Go Play at the Adams’ – Mendal W. Johnson
Horrorstör – Grady Hendrix
Dialogues of the Dead – Reginald Hill
The Other People – C. J. Tudor
John Dies at the End – David Wong
Bone China – Laura Purcell
Off Season – Jack Ketchum
Lockdown – Peter May
Things in Jars – Jess Kidd
(which I now give as an example of a similar novel to my own, when I contact agents. I use one of Laura’s Purcell’s too)
The Dark Portal – Robin Jarvis
At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
Beloved – Toni Morrison
The Turn of the Key – Ruth Ware
Black Butterfly – Mark Gatiss
Ring – Koji Suzuki
Rosemary’s Baby – Ira Levin
All Hallow’s Eve – Richard Laymon
My Best Friend’s Exorcism – Grady Hendrix
In the Downtime – Simon Zec
The Crystal Prison – Robin Jarvis
Danse Macabre – Stephen King
The Starless Sea – Erin Morgenstern
The Final Reckoning – Robin Jarvis
Anno Dracula – Kim Newman
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman
