Happy New Year 2021!
To say 2020 was the worst year ever is historical ignorance, but I cannot personally remember a year that felt as crap the one that is now ending. I am certain I do not need to expand on the reasons why, that must be obvious to anyone alive on planet Earth.
As we are about to start a new year, we are going through a second lockdown in Denmark. We may have done decently early on, but now it is going pretty bad and the only consolation is that we have finally started on the vaccination program. Let us just say we are starting the year on a low.
Thankfully, here at home we are okay and so is my closest family so there is that. There has been Corona positives in the larger family, but nobody got very sick (fingers crossed).
On my movie blog it was par for the course. I reviewed 59 movies in 2020. Of these 49 were List movies and 10 were off-List movies. Clearly, going off-List is getting a life of its own and I have to consider if I need to change the format on that, but that will be for another time. The 49 List movies took me from 1969 to 1972. Not a long period at all, 1971 was a killer year with the largest number of movies yet for a single year. It was as usual a mixed bag of candy, but enough great movies and small surprises to keep it interesting.
What really took off in 2020 was my book blog. Not that anybody actually reads it, but I was far more active there than I have been in previous years. The count ended on 14 books, which is almost 3 times more than my target. Lockdown provides for a lot of time to read. This took me from Tom Jones (1749) to Humphry Clinker (1771), about 22 year, mostly covering a golden period in British literature in the mid-eighteenth century. The quality was more varied that I am used to with Rousseau and Sterne marking low points, but also with great stuff from Smollett, Fielding and Lennox. I may not be able to keep up this pace for long, but it is a consolation during lockdown.
I wish all my readers a happy New Year, hope sincerely that you will stay safe and that there is good stuff out there on the other side.
Hey! I just started reading Goethe's The Sufferings of Young Werther and am enjoying the writing while finding Young Werther fairly insufferable. I guess we all were young once. Have you started it?
SvarSletYes, and i am almost done. Completely concur with your opinion. Goethe writes wonderfully, but Werther needs a kick in the butt.
SletIf you need a recommendation, try Humphrey Clinker. I think you will like it.
I read your book blog! F*ck 2020. I also found a lot of comfort in my 1001 books, movies, and music this year.
SvarSletAnd I am very grateful for that, Amanda. Every time I finish a book I check what you wrote about it and while we do not always agree, it is great to know that somebody shared the experience.
SletThe only good thing that came out of 2020 was the time it gave us to read. Oh, and I did find out how many forest there are in a 50 km radius and what they look like...