I'm pleased with the number of books I've managed to read this year, especially as my reading dropped off a bit after my dad died in June. I found myself unable to concentrate on reading, as well as most other things, during this time but I did get back into it again eventually. During December though I've only read two books as I just haven't seemed to have time for anything. In total I've read seventy five books this year.
In 2015 I challenged myself to read Agatha Christie's murder mystery books in chronological order. There are 66 in total and I averaged one book a month for five and a half years, having completed this challenge just before my dad died. I never got the chance to tell him I'd finished reading them all, he was always interested in which book I was reading having read some of them himself.
I've found some new to me authors this year so as well as reading books by authors I already enjoy, I've read quite a few books from some different authors, some of which I'll continue to read. Some new favourites are Dani Atkins, Elaine Everest, Celeste Ng and Mary Gibson. Some old favourites are Charity Norman, Amanda Prowse, Jojo Moyes and Donna Douglas.
Passenger to Frankfurt - Agatha Christie
The Colours of All the Cattle - Alexander McCall Smith
Nella Last's Peace - Nella Last
Nemesis - Agatha Christie
Elephants Can Remember - Agatha Christie
Postern of Fate - Agatha Christie
The Nurses of Steeple Street - Donna Douglas
District Nurse on Call - Donna Douglas
The Light in the Hallway - Amanda Prowse
A Nightingale Christmas Promise - Donna Douglas
The Librarian of Auschwitz - Antonio Iturbe
Nightingale Wedding Bells - Donna Douglas
To the Land of Long Lost Friends - Alexander McCall Smith
The Girl in the Red Coat - Kate Hamer
The View From the Corner Shop - Kathleen Hey
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce
The Story of Us - Dani Atkins
A Good Heart is Hard to Find - Trisha Ashley
While I Was Sleeping - Dani Atkins
Our Song - Dani Atkins
This Love - Dani Atkins
The Christmas Sisters - Sarah Morgan
The Choice - Edith Eger
Fractured - Dani Atkins
The Woolworths Girls - Elaine Everest
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor
The Other Half of Augusta Hope - Joanna Glen
The Perfect Couple - Jackie Kabler
In Five Years - Rebecca Serle
Half a World Away - Mike Gayle
Curtain - Agatha Christie
A Mother's Journey - Donna Douglas
Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano
The Wish List - Ruby Hummingbird
Found - Erin Kinsley
Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie
One Split Second - Caroline Bond
Three Hours - Rosamund Lupton
When All is Said - Anne Griffin
Love After Love - Ingrid Persaud
Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
The Man Who Didn't Call - Rosie Walsh
The Keeper of Lost Things - Ruth Hogan
The Secrets of Strangers - Charity Norman
Poirot Investigates - Agatha Christie
The Garden of Lost Memories - Ruby Hummingbird
The Beekeeper of Aleppo - Christy Lefteri
Sister of Mine - Laurie Petrou
The Day She Came Back - Amanda Prowse
Where There's a Will - Beth Corby
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding - Agatha Christie
I Confess - Alex Barclay
The Chain - Adrian McKinty
The Day the Nazis Came - Stephen R Matthews
The Alibi Girl - CJ Skuse
Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng
All We Left Behind - Danielle R Graham
Hughie Mittman's Fear of Lawnmowers - Conor Bowman
The Holiday - TM Logan
Christmas at Woolworths - Elaine Everest
Wartime at Woolworths - Elaine Everest
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird - Josie Silver
A Gift From Woolworths - Elaine Everest
After the End - Clare Mackintosh
Blood Orange - Harriet Tyce
Foreign Fruit - Jojo Moyes
Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts - Mary Gibson
Jam and Roses - Mary Gibson
Gunner Girls and Fighter Boys - Mary Gibson
Bourbon Creams and Tattered Dreams - Mary Gibson
Hattie's Home - Mary Gibson
A Sister's Struggle - Mary Gibson
The Peacock Emporium - Jojo Moyes
One Moment - Linda Green
The Secret Santa - Trish Harnetiaux
The stand out book for me this year was The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen. I don't know what it was about this book that did it for me, it's just a touching story which is beautifully written and I came across it by chance during the first lockdown when I'd run out of books to read so I was looking for something on my Kindle. In fact, I stumbled across many books this way this year. Other memorable books were The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri and Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson.
Now that my Agatha Christie challenge has come to an end I'd like to think of a new reading challenge, what that will be I don't know, however, I'm going to cut back on my reading in 2021. I've found that I immerse myself in whatever I'm reading to the detriment of my other hobbies. I'd like to spend more time on them this coming year, but we'll see how it goes.