Yes, I know I am pretty much a month late for the Q3 round-up party. What can I say? The pandemic has messed up with my internal calendar and my brain still thinks it is July, despite the weather trying its best to bring me to reality. Another factor may be that I was lucky enough to get two bouts of holiday in this quarter, and somehow despite everything managed to travel (safely, allow me to add). But now I’m back, so let’s do this!

It seems this year, after a relatively slow start I am now on a roll. 18 books in Q1, 26 in Q2 and now 28, let’s see if Q4 will be a slump or another record quarter (more cheerful than most record things recently). I gave up on the plan of reading every other book in Polish, because of the vacation, this is when mostly use my Kindle and it’s stuffed to the brim with English books.

I did manage a rare thing for me, though, reading fiction and non-fiction in even doses. This is a big change for me, a few years ago I was happy if I read 2 non-fiction books a year, now in many ways thanks to the great blog What’s Nonfiction? the situation drastically changed. And I must say in the current situation I really enjoy the balance but also the diversity it brings.

This quarter has also been pretty heavy on feminism for me. Not necessarily by a conscious decision, but clearly I needed it, otherwise I would not pick up those books from the shelf. You can see below what I enjoyed reading. Overall it seems a lot darker list, than the previous quarters, lots of mental issues, politics, feminism, legal problems, social and racial issues. A bit like the current world really. It is weird that the mind seeking escape from reality selects books that are its mirror image. But maybe that’s what it needs to process complexity – take a look at it again, through another lense.

72. The Adventures of China Iron – Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (r)
71. Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe – Kapka Kassabova (r)
70. The Atlas of Red and Blues – Devi S. Laskar (r)
69. Somewhere Close to Happy – Lia Louis (r)
68. The Guilty Feminist – Deborah Frances-White (r)
67. The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen DNF (r)
66. Zrób Sobie Raj – Mariusz Szczygieł (r)
65. Tyrania Rzeczywistości – Mona Chollet (r)
64. The Partner – John Grisham (r)
63. The Keeper of Lost Things – Ruth Hogan (r)
62. Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and The Parting of Friends – Anne Applebaum (r)
61. Sycamore Row – John Grisham (r)
60. The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken – The Secret Barrister (r)
59. Lives of Girls and Women – Alice Munro (r)
58. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides (r)
57. Piasek ze Szkła – Joanna Szczepkowska (r)
56. Born Lippy – Jo Brand (r)
55. Lala – Jacek Dehnel (r)
54. Dark Tales – Shirley Jackson (r)
53. Czarownice. Niezwyciężona Siła Kobiet – Mona Chollet (r)
52. Coronado: Stories – Dennis Lehane (r)
51. Odwiedziny. Rozmowy od dizajnie – Aleksandra Koperda (r)
50. How Did We Get Into This Mess?: Politics, Equality, Nature – George Monbiot (r)
49. Returning to Reims – Didier Eribon (r)
48. Hello Mum – Bernardine Evaristo (r)
47. Mazel Tow – J. S. Margot (r)
46. The Days of Abandonment – Elena Ferrante (r)
45. Impas. Opór, utrata, niemoc w sztuce – Maria Poprzęcka (r)