Books that Didn’t Make the Blog

It was a stellar year for reading. All the
quarantining gave me ample time to read and read and read. I had a total of 165
books, including finishing eight series (some I read in toto during 2020).

• Here’s a link to my original plan for the
  PopSugar challenge. One hundred choices, and I had to pick fifty.
• Here’s what I actually read for the challenge, some the
  same, some not.
• And here’s my list for 2020—well, until Dec. 18.
  I still have three audios, one paper, and a digital started. LOL

Finally, thank you for joining me on this journey
that was the 2020 PopSugar Reading Challenge. Here are a few books that didn’t make the blog:

• Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw—A Medical Thriller.
  This novel has a paranormal doctor caring for vampires, werewolves, ghouls, and
  the like. Great story, and very fun, but the medicine didn’t save the day. I opted to
  read another for the blog.

• The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett—From a Series
  of more than Twenty Books. This is a Disc World title and not one of Mr.
  Pratchett’s best. It
  took me a long time to read it, and then I had little to say when I finished.
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin—Book
  with a Made-up language. Old sci-fi can either be fun or tedious. I enjoyed
  this novel very much. All the philosophical debates about government, free
  will, interplanetary relations was an excellent choice for 2020. But I didn’t feel the language added to
  the story enough to count for this category. A Clockwork Orange was a
  better choice.
• Fright or Flight Anthology by Stephen King, et
  al.—Anthology. I’m a
  horror fan who started reading Mr. King at eleven years old. I saved up all my
  horror choices for October and then realized I had way too many horror books on
  the list. Instead, I added a romance anthology. This anthology was interesting,
  containing new and old stories. I especially liked Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
  that ended up being a Twilight Zone tale.
• The Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie—Book Pubbed
  in the 20th Century. This year I finished all the books written under the name
  Agatha Christie. Such a feather in my cap! But when I read this one, I liked it
  but didn’t think it had
  enough meat for the blog. Instead, I choose a romance by Marion Chesney (AKA MC
  Beaton). One of my highest viewed posts!
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater—Favorite Past Prompt:
  Audio. I am a huge fan of Ms. Stiefvater from her Raven Boys series. But
  Shiver didn’t
  speak to me. I liked it, enjoyed all the teenage angsty and such, but in the
  end, I had little to say. So I added Nora Roberts to the list again, trying to
  infuse some more romance.
• The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan—Book Pubbed
  in 2020. As this was the last in the series, I opted not to include it. Also,
  the new Hunger Games was published first, and I wanted to check that
  item off. I loved the Magnus Chase series for so many reasons. Go read
  it!
• Astrophysics for Busy People by Neil deGrasse
  Tyson—A Subject I Know Nothing About. Loved it, very short though, and the Bill
  Bryson fit better with the Libba Bray novel.
• Y by Sue Grafton—Book with only Text on the
  Cover. The last in the series and the last by Ms. Grafton.
• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown—Book with a Robot.
  Loved this story, but it’s
  a kid story, and seriously, Martha Wells’ Murderbot stories are the BEST things
  I’ve read in a while.
• Legend by Marie Lu—4 Stars or Higher Rating. An
  excellent book, but Speak was so amazing it needed to be in the blog.
  Plus, Legend hints at a pandemic. I already hit that with The Host.

There were tons of books I almost read for the
challenge but choose not to. These titles you can see on the first link, but I
added a few including White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, Murder on
Astor Place by Victoria Thompson, The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K.
Le Guin, A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny (which I had to put down because
of all the fat-shaming. I won’t
ever read her again.), Call of the Wild by Jack London, and 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. (I actually read those last two, but
this post is long enough.) 

Next week, let’s talk about the 2021 PopSugar Reading Challenge! (I’ve
already started making lists…)