End of the Year TBR – 2020

Here’s the deal – there are 39 days left in absolute dumpster fire that has been 2020. Back last December, eons ago when life was simpler and and things hadn’t yet devolved into the sort of surreal, too extreme to be true reality of today, I set a Goodreads goal to read 60 books in 2020.

60 books is something I’ve done before many times in many years.

But 2020 has been a year different from all the others, and I am currently 11 books away from 60. Goodreads tells me this means I’m four books behind schedule. My eyes tell me this means I’d have to read about one book every three days, and have a bit of wiggle room for myself. I’m going to be honest and admit my current total of 49 books is padded by a selection from a box of books I was fond of at 12 and found while stress-cleaning after having spent a good decade or so thinking I’d sold them at a yard sale. But books are books, and I’d count Goodnight, Moon if I’d read that.

I digress, and what I read in 2020 is a topic for next month.

For now, let’s figure out an “End of the Year TBR” for myself.

Am I going to read 11 books in 39 days? Highly doubtful.

Am I going to try to read 11 books in 39 days? Absolutely.

And so, that being said, time for a list of 11 books I’d like to read before 2020 wraps up, no doubt in some new crisis or catastrophe. (Keep in mind, if I find my old stash of Archie comics in another fit of stress-cleaning, I will read those and count them among the 11 books too. We’re not picky.)

BOOK ONE — Fairy Godmothers, Inc. by Saranna DeWylde

I’m reading this super cute little magical romance right now, because it’s an ARC and holy heck did 2020 wreak havoc on my “I’m going to read my ARCs on time” kinda-sorta-New Year’s Resolution so I do want to at list finish that goal with at least a whimper of success.

BOOK TWO — The Cemetery Vandals (The Sugar Creek Gang #31) by Paul Hutchens

Coming in at a whopping 95 pages this one could be knocked out in a day. It was, as you might suspect, excavated from that box of books I mentioned. And no, I haven’t read the first thirty(!!!) books in the series so… wish me luck!

BOOK THREE — Furbidden Fatality by Deborah Blake

Might as well try and get ahead on the ARCs I’ve got for books coming out next year, and if there is one thing that’s been nice this year it was the discovery that I do like cozy mysteries way more than I thought I would.

BOOK FOUR — Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

What is a TBR without a classic? And I’ve never read this one before, though I also have The Little Minister by Barrie so, depending on whether I want to read a very fragile physical book or spend more time staring at a screen, I’ll read one of the two.

BOOK FIVE — Slingshot by Mercedes Helnwein

Another ARC in preparation for next year, I seem to have forgotten what this one is about but my spreadsheet says it’s a young adult (honestly, I spent more time making spreadsheets about reading than I did reading this year… so sad).

BOOK SIX — O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

Yes, another classic but the most recent version of my spreadsheet is sorted by page number and I am, remember, trying to get to 60 books so non-ARC books will be short ones. Apparently classics, when not Russian, tend toward manageable page numbers.

BOOK SEVEN — The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

A mystery/thriller… pretty sure that’s what this is… should be a good way to spice up the holiday season if it goes sideways or the forced cheer turns me Grinch-like. And I feel like I’ve heard good things about Sally Hepworth.

BOOK EIGHT — Selections From Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

Not entirely sure I only have Volume One of this, which Goodreads tells me is only 67 pages, but a little fantasy might hit the spot in the holiday season which be unlike any other. And American Gods was good, so maybe I’ll like this too.

BOOK NINE — Strongheart by Jim Fergus

The twist with this one, in my most beloved genre of historical fiction, is that it is book three in a series of which I have not read the first two. I have wanted to, but I haven’t. And didn’t realize this was part of a series when I got it.

BOOK TEN — The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

Adding this one to the list because it’s short stories that I’ve read before, and brain power for too many new things is definitely iffy right now. It’s also my only autographed book, so that’s always fun.

BOOK ELEVEN — Total Olympics by Jeremy Fuchs

A non-fiction read seems like a good way to round out the list and the Olympics is something I’ve liked for a very long time. Should be, hopefully, an easy go and I’m looking forward to it.

And that’s the list, very fluid though it is. Is there a chance I’ll just gather up eleven short kids’ book from that box? You better believe it. So we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, what do you hope to read before the end of the year? Did the pandemic and the election (American) wreck your reading style like they did mine?

Stay safe, everybody, and stay home!