My 2020 Reading Wrap-Up

Over the past couple of years, I have documented every film that I have watched and reviewed them all using Letterboxd. As a way to motivate myself to read more, I thought I would do the same for what books I have been reading, using Goodreads as a way to set myself a reading challenge every year.

I initially set my target as 25 books this year, but a few things happened that meant I reached this goal quite early on. Firstly, I had a baby, so this meant that I was awake at silly hours with plenty of time to read. Then, there was lockdown. Because of lockdown, I decided to join Bookstagram and NetGalley and get more serious about reviewing books. So now, instead of reading two books at most a month, I’ve been reading up to ten.

I upped my goal to 60 around halfway through the year, and still managed to pass that by reaching 74 books. This year has really rekindled my love of books, and I can’t wait to start 2021 with this new passion.

Here’s how my 2020 challenge went:

Book Review: In Cold Blood (DI Isabel Blood #1) by Jane Bettany

“Time is a strange, liquid thing. It moves in one direction, of course, but it’s capricious. Sometimes it flows swiftly, other times it can be sluggish and wearisome.”

Set to be published on 27th August 2020 and written by Jane Bettany, In Cold Blood is the first book in the DI Isabel Blood series, which follows the titular character as she and her team are called to investigate a body that is discovered in a back garden. But as Isabel approaches 23 Ecclesdale Drive, a feeling of unease settles in her gut. She used to live here, and she hasn’t seen her dad since he left their family forty years ago. Isabel can’t escape the unnerving sense of dread that it’s his body buried in the garden, but she knows best that secrets can’t be buried forever.