Reading 52 Books in 52 Weeks, Year 7
I almost stopped writing these annual reflections last year because I was getting into a comfortable reading routine and didn’t anticipate anything changing that significantly…like, I don’t know, a global pandemic?? 2020 was without a doubt one of the most challenging years—to just exist, let alone read. Even though I had long bouts where I couldn’t muster the energy to read, books were the one thing that helped me both keep my focus and find a way to escape real life. Books helped distinguish days that blurred together. Whether it was one day at a time or one page at a time, it all added up to my seventh year of reading 52 books in 52 weeks.
What I did differently this year
My year started off with in-person author events and book clubs. Little Women was my book club’s January pick and after our discussion, we watched the film in a crowded theater at BAM Rose Cinemas. I went to The Strand for Mary H.K. Choi’s Permanent Record book launch and for the release of Ken Liu’s new short story collection. I saw Jenny Han speak at Eater’s February book club where we read P.S. I Still Love You which had just come out on Netflix a few days prior. I went to a Girls at Library book swap with my friend Carolyn the same bonkers night the NBA shut down, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson got COVID-19, and Sarah Palin was inexplicably revealed as The Masked Singer.
I still use my book-tracking spreadsheet to track metadata around the books and authors I read. The final count ended up being 52 books (the last 5 books completed in the last 2 weeks of the year), with 46 books by women, 24 of those written by women of color, and 6 books by men, 3 of those written by men of color.
Then, March came. The New York Public Library, which I rely on for most of my books, shut down completely. I spent six months with family in Atlanta, taking with me the following books that were the last physical ones I checked out before quarantine: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, Good Talk by Mira Jacob, and New Waves by Kevin Nguyen. When I finally returned the books in September with new sanitation and social distancing measures in place at my local branch, it felt strange to part with them.
I’m usually a pretty picky book buyer, but thanks to Bookshop, I ended up buying a lot of books—of the 52 books I read, 17 were purchased this year. I even bought two out of print books from my childhood on eBay (the Addy American Girl series and Trial By Journal). Although I ended up reading mostly physical books, 40 vs. 12, my Kindle came in handy for checking out ebooks from NYPL and taking advantage of ebook deals on various sites.
My pandemic reading was about comfort above all else. Since I was living with my family for much of the year, I decided to fully embrace regressing and reread a bunch of middle grade and YA books I loved growing up. I found solace in Sharon Creech’s novels that perfectly capture awkward tween years and marveled at the precision of Beverly Cleary’s prose. Coincidentally, these were also books short enough to keep my attention and also provided me the comfort of knowing exactly how things would end.
I didn’t realize how important book clubs and author events were to my social life until this year. Although it was a more solitary year of reading than most, I still felt connected with friends through books. Some fellow Asian American women from The Cosmos discussed Minor Feelings over Zoom, and then Cathy Park Hong herself joined us at the official Cosmos Book Club event. For the book club started by my friend, Emma, we went from our usual gatherings at Emma’s apartment to Zoom calls (Red, White & Royal Blue, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, and The City We Became).
To support authors, I attended Crowdcasts and Zoom book launches and readings. I loved Samantha Irby’s discussion with Maris Kreizman about her essay collection Wow, No Thank You in April, Jenny Zhang’s book launch for her poetry collection My Baby First Birthday in May, Casey McQuiston’s sneak preview of her second book in June, and K-Ming Chang’s debut novel release in September. In July, I went to two events for Big Friendship, which was one of my favorite books of the year and one I mailed to some of my own long distance besties. When the moderator for the Girls’ Night In event asked them what they were most looking forward to, Aminatou and Ann had the same answer: the next time they’d get to see each other in person. Their voices caught and I found myself tearing up along with them. Despite the immense Zoom fatigue of 2020, I am still so thankful that it has allowed intimate, earnest moments of connection such as this.
I wrote a decent amount this year, working mostly in spurts when I had the energy or the social media accountability. I had two short stories — my first ever fiction — published! In April, I journaled every day as part of The Isolation Journals. I took many Zoom writing classes with Asian American authors such as Esmé Weijun Wang, Meredith Talusan, Emily X.R. Pan, and R.O. Kwon that were super energizing. I participated in both rounds of Jami Attenberg’s #1000wordsofsummer and wrote 38,000 words of a new novel. I started a biweekly newsletter (subscribe here!) and sent 16 dispatches. Reading less this year made more room for writing.
Pages read per month:
Breakdown of books I read:
As I’d expected, I skewed more towards fiction than nonfiction: 37 vs. 15.
In nonfiction, I read about defunding the police (The End of Policing) and relationships and gatherings (Big Friendship, The Art of Gathering). In terms of memoirs, I read Anthony Bourdain’s autobiography, Anna Wiener’s Silicon Valley chronicles, and Sarah M. Broom’s New Orleans family saga. When a loved one of mine was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder over the summer, I turned to memoirs by those living with similar diagnoses such as Amanda Rosenberg’s That’s Mental and Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind. I didn’t read as many essay collections or short story collections as I have in previous years, but I read poetry by Jenny Zhang and Frank O’Hara, and Elizabeth Acevedo’s phenomenal novel Clap When You Land which is written in verse.
In fiction, I read several debut novels like Such a Fun Age, Real Life, and Days of Distraction. I revisited the books of my childhood like Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family and In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. I devoured 15 romance novels, many of which were by my favorite authors such as Alyssa Cole, Alisha Rai, and Tessa Dare. I made progress on the Bridgerton series (and watched the Netflix show in less than 24 hours) and unwittingly read a lot of romances in the “and they were roommates” subgenre, including Beach Read, The Flatshare, Evvie Drake Starts Over, and The Roommate. I thoroughly enjoyed YA novels by Asian American writers like The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan and Parachutes by Kelly Yang.
How I track what I read
I tweet out a book when I finish it with the hashtag #52booksin52weeks. I use Coach.me and Goodreads to track day-to-day progress. I’ve started to compile all of my tweets/books into Twitter moments for better discoverability: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
This year I also tried to include summaries and quotes of my favorite books on my Instagram or share short reviews on my stories, but I gave up halfway through the year and just focused on reading. I still take pictures of my favorite passages and highlight things on my Kindle, but have preferred sharing them in my newsletter.
How I choose books to read
I continuously add books to my to-read list on my book tracking spreadsheet and/or on Goodreads. I try to prioritize recommendations from friends and authors I like and follow. Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that a lot of the same authors reappear on my book lists as I try to read through all of their published works. This year, I also read several books that were either by authors I took classes with or were mentioned by teachers in prior writing classes. I didn’t rely on as many external places or publications for book recs this year, though I always like to follow the seasonal BuzzFeed lists about anticipated new releases.
A few favorites
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
- Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
- Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
- The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
- Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang
- Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
- Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sou and Ann Friedman
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
- Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
- The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
- The Roommate by Rosie Danan
What I’m doing differently this year
I’d like to focus more on my writing this year, which I think will translate to a different kind of reading routine. Perhaps it will mean reading less, or maybe it will mean reading more books around specific topics for research. I might read genres unrelated to my writing altogether. Reading will always be a major part of my life, but I increasingly itch to stitch together my own narratives.
