2020 was the year of many things. Some planned and expected, like the War and Peace chapter-a-day readalong. But many things unexpected and impossible to plan for as well.
Who knew that Plague-Lit would become a thing?
Or that I would waste one whole perfectly good reading month by feeling weird and distracted about a certain virus to the point of being unable to read or blog or focus on anything productive except for another 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle!
How can 2021 possibly compare?
2021 will still be a year dominated by Covid-19 - it's not going anywhere in a hurry folks. Any new vaccine will take time to get out there and there are no guarantees about mutations or other unknowns. I cannot see any overseas travel on our immediate horizon. Even inter-state travel is fraught with uncertainty and quickly changing border rules.
2021 is looking like another quiet, stay-close-to-home year. Which is perfect for tackling some of those reading projects I've been meaning to get to for ages.
Therefore 2021 will be Project-Read-My-Own-Books (PRMOB).
A number of possible reading challenges have already come to my attention and I am creating two of my own.
- The Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall Readalong: Feb - May 2021
- The Edith Trilogy Readalong: Oct - Dec 2021
Nick @One Catholic Life is once again hosting his now-famous chapter-a-day readalong. This year we are reading several different books to make up the 365 chapters.
The schedule looks like this:
- The Divine Comedy: January 1 to April 10 (100 cantos, or chapters= 100 days)
- Quo Vadis: April 11 to June 23 (73 chapters and an epilogue = 74 days)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame: June 24 to August 21 (59 chapters)
- David Copperfield: August 22 to October 24 (64 chapters = 64 days)
- The Three Musketeers: October 25 to December 31 (67 chapters and an epilogue = 68 days)
December 2020:
- Tarissa @In the Bookcase: A Literary Christmas
- The Tailor of Gloucester | Beatrix Potter (1902)
- Christmas at High Rising | Angela Thirkell (2013 - a collection of stories written during the 1930's & 40's and published together for the first time by Virago)
- Plus a few assorted Christmas cook books
- CC Spin #25
- My Love Must Wait | Ernestine Hill (1941)
January 2021:
- First Book of the Year with Sheila
- Master and Commander | Patrick O'Brian (1969)
- Bill @TheAustralianLegend and his Australian Women Writers Gen 3, Part II Week, 17-23 Jan
- The Pea-Pickers | Eve Langley (1942)
February:
- Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel (2009) | reread
March:
- Post Captain | Patrick O'Brian (1972)
- Bring Up the Bodies | Hilary Mantel (2012) | reread
April:
- Zoladdiction Month with Fanda @ClassicLit
- The Sin of Father Mouret | La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret (1875)
- 1936 Club with Simon & Kaggsy, 12 - 18th April
- All that Swagger | Miles Franklin (1936)
May:
- The Mirror and the Light | Hilary Mantel (2020)
- Liz's 2021 Anne Tyler Reread Project
- The Accidental Tourist (1985)
June:
- For Lisa's Indigenous Literature Reading Week in early July
- Benang | Kim Scott (1999)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Alexandre Dumas (1831)
- HMS Surprise | Patrick O'Brian (1973)
July:
- Paris in July with Tamara
- A Maigret or two
- Liz's 2021 Anne Tyler Reread Project
- Ladder of Years (1995)
August:
- The Mauritius Command | Patrick O'Brian (1977)
- David Copperfield | Charles Dickens (1850) | reread
September:
- Liz's 2021 Anne Tyler Reread Project
- Noah's Compass (2010)
October:
- Desolation Island | Patrick O'Brian (1978)
- Grand Days | Frank Moorhouse (1993) | reread
November:
- AusReading Month
- Dark Palace | Frank Moorhouse (2000) | reread
- Non-Fiction November
- Novellas in November
- German Literature Month
- Margaret Atwood Reading Month
- Hagseed (2016)
December:
- Cold Light | Frank Moorhouse (2011)
- First Book of the Year with Sheila
- The Fortune of War | Patrick O'Brian (1979)
- I read Wolf Hall in 2011 and Bring Up the Bodies in 2012.
- 2021 will make it nine years since I read the first two books.
- Before reading the final instalment, I want to revisit the first two, to refresh my memory and to see if I still love them as much as I did the first time.
- I would be delighted if anyone would like to join me on this journey back in time to Tudor England.
- #WolfHallReadalong2021
- I first read Grand Days and Dark Palace in my late twenties and adored them, particularly Edith and everything about her.
- I reread GD in 2006 and sadly found that somehow Edith and I had gone our separate ways.
- The books ended up in the big book cull of 2007 as I prepared to move from the country to the city.
- But then in 2011, Moorhouse published the final, long-awaited book in the trilogy and I knew straight away that I wasn't done with Edith after all.
- This trilogy has been patiently waiting to be read complete since 2011.
- If you have a hankering for the League of Nations or would like to read a book set in Canberra and the ACT for AusReading Month, then Cold Light is the book for you!
- Who's in?
- #TheEdithReadalong2021