A pile of book stacked against the wall with a palm in a woven basket sitting on a chair to the right.

In 2020 I read 52 books, here is what I read and how I did it.

At the start of 2020 I set myself a goal to read 52 books. On average one book a week.

2020 turned out to be a year that was quite appropriate for me to spend more time reading for fun on our couch.

In this Insights Article I cover:

Some things that I have learnt from reading.
A break down of the books.
A list of all the books I read.
How I did it.
My Goal for 2021?

Me taking a selfie with 34 of the 52 Books I read this year. Plus 1 I accidentally included having read it late in 2019.

Some Things that I Have Learnt from Reading

Of course, my reading ability improved the more I read, but my reading and writing for my PhD thesis improved significantly! I was taking more in and able to be more critical.

Reading became more like my meditation. When reading I could rest my mind from the world, my PhD, life and escape in fiction. I could use a book on improving my academic writing to help get me in PhD mode over my morning coffee, I learnt things about myself and the world around me. And I have to agree with what Martha learnt at the end of Sorrow and Bliss (you will have to read it yourself to find out).

Having such a clear reading goal helped trick me into resting. I had to set time aside to switch off, rest and read. Something I’m not that great at doing. I get stuck in ‘on mode’ easily and say yes to too much. 2020 was a great year for me to practise saying no to others and yes to myself, which was much more socially acceptable this year making it that much easier to do.

I learnt that it was possible to retrain my brain to read really well again, like I did as a kid. To put my phone away and focus on something that was not my work or social media for a period of time. Reading a book (not a social post) can change the way your brain works and though I read a lot for my PhD, it isn’t quite the same as immersing yourself in some fiction or an essay. Reading is a very mindful activity and very very good for us.

Proving to myself I could read 52 books in a year has also given me the confidence in other areas. I proved to myself that I could do it. I can finish things, I can meet a challenge even in a rubbish year, when not a whole lot else seems to be going well.

Some of the books I read in 2020.

A Break Down of the 52 Books

Some books I owned, others were library books or books borrowed from friends they covered a variety of genres. Here is a summary:

16 Non-fiction
4 Memoirs
5 Essays/Essay Collections
18 Novels (6 Debut Novels)
5 Short stories/Novella
4 Poetry

All 52 books were physical books, some I bought new, some I already had, some were second hand, others were from the library or borrowed from friends. I didn’t count the few Audible books I listened to. I love paper books, spend so much time in front of my screen I avoid e-books.

The List of Books I Read

Here are the books I read, listed in order of completion, with the author and type of book.

Each book in the list allows you to click through using my Booktopia Affiliate link (if you purchase this way you can support my reading habit - including for my Yoga studies). I really encourage you whenever possible to purchase from your local bookstore or second hand, here in Adelaide I love Imprints and Adelaide’s Pop-Up Bookshop.

Below the list I have included the images I saved to my Instagram Highlight as I went. If you click on the image it will enlarge and you will be able to see in the top left corner how many weeks from the end of the year I read the book. For example 51W means I finished the book in the first week of January 2020.

The 52 Books In Pictures

In 2020 I shared each book on my Instagram stories as I finished it. Here are the screenshots of those stories.

How I Did It

When I told people what I was planning to do throughout the year, many people were surprised. I was already a busy person, they don’t have time to read, how could I have time to read that much? It wasn’t always easy, it did take work, lifestyle changes and commitment. There were some personal circumstances which helped me read easily and some things I actively did to make time for reading.

Personal circumstances:

Having to be at home more due to COVID. Making it even easier to say no to things to stay home and read.
Doing a PhD is my primary job which means I mostly work from home and can save time commuting and convert that to reading time. A PhD also requires a lot of reading, giving me the ability to include the few PhD books I read cover to cover.
As a Yoga teacher and business owner I already dedicate time to reading in these areas for my development. While not many of these books were directly related to Yoga, many had themes which made their way into my Yoga teaching!
Since my shoulder injuries and surgery I needed a lot more downtime at home to rest it. For a while I was unable to do many of my usual hobbies. I converted that time to rehab, rest and reading.
I don’t have kids yet - this was something I really wanted to do before that stage in life.

Actions I took to ensure I had reading time and to keep me motivated:

Saturday mornings were blocked out in my calendar for reading.
I aimed to be in bed at 9-9:30pm each night to read until I was ready for sleep.
I unknowingly trained for it in 2018 when I set a goal to start reading one book a month.
I was part of 2 book clubs. This helped keep me motivated and reading more diversely with a deadline. One local club who met mostly online during the year and another one for meditators.
I take a book with me basically wherever I go, I will take any opportunity to read. Especially to appointments!
Most of the time I was reading more than one book at a time so I could switch books if I wasn’t in the mood for it.
I read a range of books, they weren’t all 400 page novels or dense PhD texts. I read non-fiction books (memoirs, PhD books, books on writing and development, trees, essay collections), fiction (contemporary novels, and short stories) and poetry.
Knowing it was possible. In the year before Claire Baker turned 30 she set herself a goal of reading 52 books and she did it! Claire was my inspiration for taking on this challenge in 2020.
When I got a little behind around August I purposefully chose some shorter reads to give myself some quick wins. Think short essay collections, long form essays or poetry books.
I listened to podcasts where books are recommended and discussed plus podcast interviews with some of my favourite authors. This helped give me ideas of books to read next and helped me get a little more out of books which I heard discussed in more detail.

My Goal for 2021?

While I’m not going to put the pressure on myself read 52 books again in 2021, I am going to keep up the habit of reading and ensure I make time for it. Especially before bed, Saturday mornings and some PhD or development reading over my morning coffee.

I do know that I am going to chip away at this bookshelf pictured which I have separated into read and not read. The books I have not read are mostly second hand books and classics which I have collected over the last 5 years or so. I actually didn’t read any classics in 2020 which supervised me. I did attempt to read Wuthering Heights early in the pandemic but it was a bit dark for that time. Though this version of Wuthering Heights was played a lot throughout the year! So expect some updates on those.

What am I Reading Now?

It’s January 3rd as I finish writing this and I am already reading and loving two Christmas gift books, Monkey Grip by Helen Garner and Grand Union by Zadie Smith (two of my favourite authors).

Did you read any of the books I read? What was your favourite? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Get in contact with me here.

Looking forward to sharing with you my 2021 reads! Make sure you subscribed to my Sunday morning emails, where I generally share what I am reading.