To all the books I read before (in 2020)

a story by Ben

How to survive a year of isolation, social distancing, Zoom-fatigue, and doom scrolling?

Books.

At least that’s what I tried. In the miserable year of 2020 (may it rest fitfully), I turned to books as a quiet solace. I did not have the words to express what I wanted, needed, felt. So I turned to the words of others.

In books we find a portal to new worlds. Some books help us to escape, while others hold up a mirror to our own world.

I read memoirs and science fiction and graphic novels. I learned about the ➿ancient tradition of tea brewing in the mountain villages of China. I reveled in the ➿magic of redwood forests. I let my soul be swallowed by poems of grief, loss, and hope.

If reading is an act of learning, then writing must be an act of remembering. I read some incredible books this year, ones that I hope to never forget. So this interactive essay will act as a commemoration, a bookend of sorts, but also a practice in remembering.

To all the books I read last year: thank you. Your pages pulled me through.

All

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In 2020, I read a total of 40 books.

For the most part, I read some very good books in 2020. This is what they look like sorted by my Goodreads rating. Over half received a 4✭ or 5✭.

I was not picky with genres. I wanted to read widely and find new ideas in undiscovered realms. Last year I read my first graphic novel and absolutely loved it (➿Blankets).

Throughout the year, I read more or less consistently. Summer months were the slowest. I read the most books in the fall months of September and October.

Explore the books

I reviewed every book. Click on a bubble to explore!

Sort the books

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Design notes

If ya know, ya know. If you don't, stop reading this and watch the beautifully designed and art-directed Netflix series "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Then come back. Trust. That was pretty much my design process.

Dev notes

This was my first project using Svelte from start to finish, and wow! Loved it. There are many places it could be more Svelte-y, but for a starter project the development process was very smooth. Svelte made the scrolly transitions easy with a native scroller plugin. The bubbles are some D3 force shenanigans inspired by this block.