Wednesday, December 9, 2020

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2020

2020, I'm sure we can all agree, has been one hell of a year. I've been fascinated, throughout, with how the engagement each of us has with reading, listening, and viewing, has altered, for most of us have been reporting to one another about this. (And that, of course, has made me even more aware of just how important these activities are in the daily fabric of twenty-first century life.) For some of us, the difficulties we've faced have prompted us to dig deep into reading, for others of us it has meant losing this or that kind of focus and concentration. For me, it's been an uneven experience, often of extremes, which has made it almost impossible for me to predict what I might want to read a month from now (even as I'm busy placing holds on books at the Seattle Public Library). 

With that difference in mind, I'm especially pleased to announce that this blog's annual series of posts on reading, viewing, and listening is about to begin. Once again I've solicited pieces from a bevy of writers and critics to tell us what they particularly enjoyed reading, viewing, and listening to in the last year. This year's edition will include posts by Lesley Wheeler, Lisa Tuttle, Sarah Tolmie, Nisi Shawl, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Cheryl Morgan, and others. I'll be adding links below as I upload each new contribution, to provide a list for convenient reference. 

I hope you'll enjoy reading these as much as I do, and maybe even swell your ever-growing list of titles you want to read. Sometimes it seems that the volume of books published is so tremendous that it's no surprise that really wonderful work often slips below one's personal radar. And of course, this year, will be the added interest of seeing how or whether the difficulties of 2020 have affected others' reading, viewing, and listening pleasures.  

Part 1: Lesley Wheeler

Part 2: Som Paris  

Part 3: Lisa Tuttle

Part 4: Erin K. Wagner

Part 5: Holly Wade Matter

Part 6: Tansy Rayner Roberts  

Part 7: Margaret McBride

Part 8: Nisi Shawl 

9. Suzy McKee Charnas

10. Lee Mandelo 

11. Beth Plutchak

12. Sarah Tolmie

13. Kate Boyes 

14. Anya Johanna DeNiro

Part 15: Cesi Davidson

Part 16. Cheryl Morgan

 Part 17: Julie C. Day

Part 18: Christopher Brown

Part 19: Lisa M. Bradley  

Part 20: Kristi Carter

Part 21: Andrea Hairston

Part 22: Gwynne Garfinkle

Part 23: Alisa Alering  

Part 24: Susan diRende

Part 25: Rebecca Holden

Part 26: Nancy Jane Moore

Part 27: Mark Rich  

Part 28: Lesley Hall

Part 29: Christina M. Rau

Part 30: Cynthia Ward

Part 31: Eileen Gunn  

Part 32: Isabel Schechter

Part 33: Arrate Hidalgo

Part 34: Vandana Singh 

 


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