We all know 2020 has been terrible and weird and unsettling…and don’t forget ‘unprecedented’. One of the things I know I’m not alone in was the effect those early days of COVID concern had on my ability to read for pleasure – and here we are staring down the barrel of October (and the foretold ‘Second Wave’) and I’m still in that situation. I keep buying things – hoping something will click – trying different topics…but so far apart from my comfort pulp novels and my comics nothing has held my attention for long. Hasn’t stopped me trying but I’ve ended up writing this as I’ve just spent 30 minutes scrolling through my Kindle and looking at the pile next to my armchair and nothing..

Maybe my daily trip to my studio from October and trying Audible again might help? Hope so. I miss the distraction and I have pretty much run out of TV!

Books I bought and started in 2020 and am still at least kidding myself I will finish

The System: Who Owns the Internet, and How It Owns Us Who Owns the Internet, and How It Owns Us Ball, James

Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the ’80s Changed Hollywood Forever  Semlyen, Nick de

Goin’ Off: The Story of the Juice Crew & Cold Chillin’ Records (RPM Series Book 3)  Merlis, Ben, Wolf, Peanut Butter

By Force Alone Tidhar, Lavie

Books I bought and started in 2020 and have accepted I will never finish 

The Last Emperox (The Interdependency)  Scalzi, John

Don’t Be Evil: The Case Against Big Tech Rana Foroohar 

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons in Creative Leadership from the CEO of the Walt Disney Company  Iger, Robert

That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix by the first CEO and co-founder Marc Randolph  Randolph, Marc

Books I bought in 2020 that I haven’t started but fully intend to – someday

A Civic Technologist’s Practice Guide  Harrell, Cyd

XX: A Novel, Graphic A Novel, Graphic Hughes, Rian,

The City We Became (The Great Cities Trilogy)  Jemisin, N. K.

Forever Employable: How to Stop Looking for Work and Let Your Next Job Find You  Gothelf, Jeff

Warhol Gopnik, Blake

The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood  Wasson, Sam

Comfort books I finished in 2020

The Shameless (Quinn Colson Book 9)  Atkins, Ace

Dream Girl (The Spenser Series 34) Parker, Robert B

The Revelators (Quinn Colson)  Atkins, Ace

Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby (A Spenser Mystery) (The Spenser Series Book 40)  Atkins, Ace, B. Parker, Robert

Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes (The Spenser Series)  Atkins, Ace

Cold Service (The Spenser Series Book 32) Parker, Robert B

The Sinners (Quinn Colson Book 8) Atkins, Ace

The Street Art Manual Posters, Bill

..and a LOT of comics. Like a LOT – even for me.