Saturday, January 2, 2021

Hello #2021 - First Book of the year, #OneWord, one resolution, and best #books of 2020


My friend, Sheila at Book Journey does this wonderful new year thing every year....First Book of the Year. She gets pictures from all of us with our first book and creates some great collages. Check it out here. Mine is above...Ronald Malfi's The Ascent (if you haven't read his books, you simply must. One of my favorite horror authors). My cats always do the honors. This year, it's Merida. 

One Word


I haven't done a One Word (or word for the year) since 2019. That year, I chose Onward and actually adopted the word as my Life Word. I have a slender cuff bracelet with the word engraved on it and I wear it all the time. I didn't think I needed a one word each year after that, but after 2020, I've changed my mind. We all have been through a lot with the pandemic, but I also had a lot of life changes in 2020. We moved house from Tennessee back to my home state of Michigan. It was a very stressful move, notwithstanding the thousands of books my mother and I have, combined. I only just recently started feeling settled and I still have a lot of decor placement/settling to do after the Christmas decor comes down (plus, getting my writing space ready in my HUGE walk-in closet). My older son graduated high school, and was supposed to move with us to attend college here in Michigan, only to change his mind the last minute (he has since changed his mind again and will be attending college here starting next week). On top of all that, my grandfather passed in September. Yeah, quite a year. So, the word I have chosen is ADAPT. Because I simply must focus on adapting to the changes happening around me. This is mainly focused on having a 19 year old son and another son who will be 18 in nine days. They have been my entire life, but I know I have to learn to let go. It's not easy. Anyone who is a parent will understand this. I also need to learn to adapt to things not going quite as planned which seems to be the flavor these days. 

ADAPT I will! No fancy jewelry this year. I will make something to hang over my desk in my writing space (or maybe print the image below). I'm ready!


My One Resolution...


Best Books Read in 2020

I usually do that long end-of-year survey, but as you can see in the image below, I only read 19 books (see my rough year story above). I'm just going to list my top six this year. Since I hardly write reviews anymore, I'll link to my rating/short review on Goodreads.


1. The Outsider, Stephen King
2. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
3. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
4. The Bone People, Keri Hulme
5. The Descent, Jeff Long
6. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins


I'll post about 2021 reading challenges in a few days. Still haven't decided which, if any, I will join besides the few I host myself. More later...

How was your (reading) 2020?


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4 comments:

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment. It means so much.

I apologize for word verification, but as soon as I changed the settings from only users with Google accounts, I started receiving a ton of spam comments...within one hour of changing the settings. The bots are on high alert apparently.

  1. Adapt is a good word for all of us! After the year we've had that we'd all like to forget. Eesh! I wish you the best in the new year and don't forget to feel what you feel. Don't keep your feelings about your children leaving the nest bottled up. Let them out! <3

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  2. Michelle this is great and I love your word! I have a life word too - SHINE. I'm posting this morning about the word for 2021 as well as where First Book originated from. Looking forward to a year of good reads and new adventures.

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  3. Adapt is a great word. I'm so glad that you'll have both boys close again. You've had a stressful year, for sure. Onward :)

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  4. Adapt sounds like the perfect word for you! I remember when my oldest graduated high school and i was devastated because I wasn't just losing him, as he headed off to college, but also all of his big group of friends who had spent so much time at our house. It's tough to see them go when your identity is "mom." But you'll find new ways of being mom; you'll adapt.

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