It's 2021 - What Am I Reading Today?

I'm being lazy today. Instead of doing my 1-1/2 - 2 miles on the treadmill, I'm taking today off and I'll return to a "normal" schedule on Monday. It's a 'holiday gift' to myself (although, realistically, the treadmill workout would be a better gift to myself). I was busy with so many things over the past year, so even though I read a lot, my numbers were probably a bit down from prior years. Still, I managed to read 156 novels and 20 instructional books over the past year. Of these, only four books were marked down as total duds, so the average was pretty good. 

One of my favorite books of the year was 
also one of the earlier books - published 
in January 2020. TJ Klune's "The House in 
the Cerulean Sea" is a masterpiece. Beautifully 
conceived, wonderfully framed. It's made 
a lot of Top Books of 2020 lists and it 
deserves the accolades. Give yourself a 
treat and read it. 

The non-fiction books slowed me down. John Bolton and Mary Trump's books about our soon-to-be-leaving President were slow reads, but essential and interesting. All things considered, although some of the books I read weren't five-star, I regret few of them, and if they were awful, I usually gave up early and went on to something more interesting. 

Neither of these two books was an easy read, but I pushed 
through them because I wanted to understand who this 
President really was before I voted. I had no doubt I would 
vote against him, but I wanted to try to understand him and 
his governmental policies better. It was a total train wreck, 
and I'm glad I read both of these. I think I still have one more 
book down the pile of the pending 106. 

My problem now is that I have a bunch of books that have moved over to my 20221 TBR list and that is far more than usual. Counting them up, I have 106 books that have moved over from 2020 to 2021. You would think that with all that enforced time off I'd have read more, but apparently not. I'll have to get moving on reading this year. I have a lot of books to catch up on. 

I fully admit that Gay Romance novels may not be everyone's 
cup of tea or choice of reading material, and they aren't 
everything I read, but when I do read romance, Rhys Ford, 
Amy Lane and Andrew Grey are go-to authors for me. 

I think I've received all of my holiday cards from family and friends now. I'll try to spotlight a few of these and make sure I thank each and every one of you who were kind enough to send a physical card for my mantle. It makes my heart happy when I walk into the living room and see them hanging in their colorful array. 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have a wonderful Saturday and I'll be back on Monday.