Best of 2020 - Books

 

2020 was an odd year for my book reading, since I read so many children's books.  When the library closed down, I picked up some good books from my daughter's room, and got into a habit of reading that genre.  This helped me to complete 55 books in 2020, which is a personal record.

Here are some of the children's books that I enjoyed, ranked in order of how much I liked them.  Interesting that over half of them were written before I was born, and only one was written after the year 2000.  I read 35 children's books this past year.

1. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O'Brien (1971)
2. Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery (1908)
3. Frindle, by Andrew Clements (1996)
4. Danny, the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl (1971)
5. Matilda, by Roald Dahl (1988)
6. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg (1967)
7. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, by Roald Dahl (1972)
8. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling (1999)
9. Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson (1958)
10. I Survived the American Revolution, 1776, by Lauren Tarshis. (2017) ( I read seven I Survived Books, as recommended by my younger daughter, but that one was the one that stood out.  Another good one was I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912.)

For grown-up fiction, I read the following:

1. The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett (1989) (audio book)
2. Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple (2012)
3. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (2018) (audio book)
4. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London (1903) (eBook)

The longest book I read was "The Pillars of the Earth," by Ken Follett, at 976 pages.  This was actually an audio book that took me 15 months to complete.  Since I finished it in January of 2020, this counts as a book that I read in 2020!  It's a masterpiece.  There are some uncomfortable scenes of violence and sex, but I really liked how the stories all weaved together.  

For computer/technical books, I read the following:

1. Windows PowerShell in Action, Third Edition, by Bruce Payette (2016)
2. SQL Server 2019 Revealed, by Bob Ward.  I was given this book at the PASS Summit in 2019, which turned out to be the final in-person PASS Summit.
3. Query Store for SQL Server 2019, by Tracy Boggiano and Grant Fritchey 

Another long book that I read was "Windows PowerShell in Action", Third Edition, by Bruce Payette.  This one was 576 pages, and took me 5 months to read.  I have to be honest, by the end of it, my mind couldn't take in too much more.  But I was able to soak in a few things.  I really like programming with PowerShell, and would like to do more of this.

I read some non-fiction as well, including the following:

1. How the Bible Actually Works, by Peter Enns
2. 1776, by David McCullough
3. Atomic Habits, by James Clear
4. Rest in Power, by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin (about Trayvon Martin)
5. Overview: A New Perspective of Earth, by Benjamin Grant 
6. Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church, by Rachel Held Evans
7. Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch 
8. The Mildenhall Treasure, by Roald Dahl

8.5.5