Happy Sunday Bibliofriends,

Well flipping done Boris!!! I mean, fancy having all your kids back to school for one day then telling them they can’t come back in for the rest of the term… AT 8PM ON A MONDAY NIGHT!! 😂🙈 #shortesttermever!!

That aside, we’re now using Microsoft Teams to do our online teaching and I must say I’m absolutely loving it!! I’ve never been so organised with all my files, folders and powerpoints everywhere! Obviously I wish I was still stood directly in front of my children actually teaching rather than death by powerpoint but oh well! With that in mind, spending all day on Teams and then coming home and trying to blog did not mix incredibly well and my scheduled posts went back down to big fat zero!

Onto Six for Sunday goodness! For January our theme is ‘It’s All About Boooooooks!” and this week the prompt is Bookish Wins of 2020. I got a little confused at first about what that actually meant: is it supposed to be my favourite books of 2020; good bookish things that happened in 2020? 🤔 Let’s face it, I think the pure existence of anything bookish was 2020’s greatest achievement alone! With that in mind, here are six totally random things that I consider to be a bookish win of 2020 – remember the word ‘random’ when you get to the bottom!

For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Steph over at A Little But A Lot.

Bookish wins of 2020!

1. Releases actually happened!!
   On a globe where everything was shut down to the extent that the canals in Venice actually ran clear, I think any book release that managed to hit the shelves in 2020 was a major achievement (side-eyeing Bond: No Time to Die – I’m still waiting!!!). I know that books sometimes take years to get to full publication stage but kudos to those people actually ensuring that they made their way from the machine and onto my bookshelves. There were some pretty amazing releases last year and I mention several of my favourites in my previous post about my best reads of 2020.
   
2. People rediscovering reading during lockdown!
   It’s been said that one of most popular hobbies people rediscovered during lockdown was the joy of reading books – especially in the garden with a glass of wine… (although that was probably just me!).
   
3. Bookshop.org!
   With businesses being shut down and ending up in financial difficulties, bookshop.org was one of the lights in the darkness for all of our sacred indie bookshops. I have been one of those self-confessed shoppers who bought a whole basket of books on Amazon because they were cheaper than anywhere else – but this pandemic has really brought to light the hardships faced by our independent bookshops. It has ignited my passion to perhaps buy fewer books across the year but purchase them through more rewarding channels, especially now that I have an indie bookshop in my village (when lockdown is actually over and I can visit it…).
   
4. NetGalley release the Shelf app!
   OMG Netgalley’s Shelf app totally revolutionised my ability to actually read and make it through all of those arcs! I know it still isn’t perfect, especially when you normally only read e-books on an iPhone like I do (tiny-text-alert) but in my personal opinion, it really improved the productivity and experience of being able to request books on NetGalley and not have to struggle through some sort of Aldiko or Adobe app just to read them.
   
5. Cheltenham Literature Festival went online!
   The Cheltenham Literature Festival is one of my favourite events of the whole year! How many times do you get to meet Salman Rushdie, Sarah J Maas or Mary Berry and have them sign your books? Or even get to sit in a tent with Matt Haig whilst there’s a howling storm outside shaking the whole damn thing – only for him to turn around and quip, “never mind Notes on a Nervous Planet – how about Notes from a Nervous Tent!” Whilst nothing can live up to spending time meeting authors face-to-face and having them sign your books, or to spend time wandering through the stacks in the book tent with a crepe or some kind of amazing street-food fayre – just having the events online or on a catch-up player so you can watch the ones that take place in the day when you’d normally be working was amazing. I’d definitely pay extra for that kind of catch-up service again this October, although hopefully we’ll be back in the tents by then!
   
6. The Books themselves – my shelves are WINNING!
   Let’s face it – the books themselves are what matters right? So many awesome titles made their way onto my brand new bookshelves last year that my 2021 reading list is looking stellar! I have The Poppy War trilogy, The Daevabad trilogy, Raybearer, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin and Crescent City still to read – I know I’m leaving it mightily late with some of those! 🙈 And that’s not to mention the ones that I actually did get around to reading – Addie LaRue, The Once and Future Witches and Woven in Moonlight are still some of the favourites on there! So yeah, my 2020 book haul was a major WINNER!

I told you it was all random right?! 😉

What are your bookish wins for 2020? Would it be something to do with your own reads, a newly discovered author, a bookish event that got you shouting from the rooftops, or some other bookish news or release that made you get that winning feeling?
As always, leave your links below or drop me a comment to chat!

T xx