The Best of the Bookshelf 2020 Edition
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! A time to look back, reflect, and then look forward. I think if anything 2020 taught me not to make plans that are held in a firm grip, and that was true even when it came to my reading life. I had set a reading goal for this year but alas, 2020 was not the year to be beating records. I mentioned this in my blog post yesterday but when the quarantine started my brain went into overdrive with taking in non-stop news, scrolling social media, figuring out new logistics of school and groceries and what was allowed and what wasn’t safe and the anxiety that came with all these things. I could not read. At all. I couldn’t focus on a book, and my reading life came to a screeching halt. I read 1 book in March which is abysmal for me and I can tell looking at my reading journal where I track what I read and when I finish each book that my reading life picked up again by mid April. I can tell you what changed too, thinking back. By April we were in more of a routine with home schooling and getting our work done in the mornings which left us a lot of time each afternoon to fill. We got into a really good routine where after lunch we’d all have to read silently for 30 minutes, all 3 of us and then if the kids did their 30 minutes of reading they would each get 20 minutes of time on my computer playing PBS Kids games. They would watch one another so that was another 40 minutes of time where they were entertained and I made myself sit and read for that time, so by April I was reading again for about an hour a day. Even with the time I was spending in the evenings doing puzzles and watching TV, I was still making really good progress in books because of this forced afternoon reading time. I also found that this fall, around the election I went through another season where I could not focus on books again. Between the New York Times, Twitter, and other news sources I was again distracted and stopped finishing books. To get back on track this month I started going back to my old trick of forcing myself to set a 30 minute timer and putting my phone on silent in another room. If I can read for 30 minutes a day I can get into a book and gain some momentum and setting a timer is the perfect way to do that. It’s my number 1 tip for people who want to read more but who are struggling with creating a reading routine. Set a 20-30 minute timer and put your phone in another room and I promise you will start making traction in books!
So out of the 60 books I ended up finishing in 2020 here are my very favorites. (I know it’s still a lot, reading is NOT a competitive sport, if you read 2 books this year that is still better than nothing! When I make goals I’m pushing myself to read more and read better books, it has nothing to do with other people’s goals so PLEASE don’t compare your reading life to anyone else’s!)
Best Non-Fiction of the Year (my top 4)
The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adache I don’t know about you all, but 2020 was a year when our blind spots or weaknesses when it comes to home life/life organization/systems/routines/schedules and such became very apparent. When the world shut down and we were all trapped at home for weeks it became very clear how important some of these things are. Kendra Adache is a literal genius. She takes you by the hand and in her hilarious and very practical manner she walks you through 13 principles that can literally revolutionize parts of your life. Her incredibly popular podcast, The Lazy Genius, is all about helping you be a genius about the things that matter to YOU and lazy about the things that you still have to do but that you don’t care about. I’ve used so many of her very practical tips, ideas and principles for a long time now but her book, where they were all in one place, was such a treasure and this year was the perfect year to implement some of these things at home. If you are starting this year feeling scattered, like you’re drowning in a lack of routine, like you wish you had a life coach to help you get it together, this is the book for you. Kendra will be that person and I promise you will find something in here that will be useful no matter what stage of life you’re in!
Stand All the Way Up: Stories of Staying In It When You Want to Burn it all Down by Sophie Hudson I have loved Sophie Hudson (AKA BooMama in the internet world) for a decade now. She is a genuine delight of a writer, blending the thoughtful with the absolute hilarious. This book of essays delighted me. I laughed so hard I was crying in one chapter about her mishaps in a dark hotel parking lot and a rental car key-fob with a very full bladder and underlined every sentence in another chapter as she pulls things out of stories from scripture I’d never noticed before. This book will remind you of the importance of standing up for yourself, the people you love in your life and those who don’t have a voice for themselves. And I promise it will both delight and challenge you. This is fantastic for women of all ages.
Hamilton: the Revolution by Lin Manuel Miranda This will surprise no one but this book was such a fun read for me! It’s the entire backstory of the creation of Hamilton, including how each person was cast and how each actor was found. The entire show’s lyrics are included in this book with footnotes throughout giving behind the scenes info on how Lin was inspired to write each song. The photography was stunning and I read the entire thing from cover to cover before Hamilton hit Disney+ in July. It made watching the show a much richer experience, knowing the backstory of some of these songs, characters and actors. Hamilton truly is a remarkable work of art and this book made me love it all the more.
Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans I have loved Rachel Held Evans for over a decade now, but I had never actually read this book of hers. After she died I was even more hesitant to read it because I knew once I did, she wouldn’t have any new books being published, and I didn’t want this to be the end of reading her brilliant words. But I finally read this one this year and it might be my favorite of her books. It is an incredibly powerful look at what the church is. I know that sounds boring. It’s not. It’s gorgeous and thought provoking and hard all at once. She takes the 7 sacraments and explores each of them in a personal and meaningful way. She asks the question, when things in church seem to make us want to run from it, what pulls us back in? What compels us to continue investing, showing up when the actual church can feel so messy at times? Written in her incredibly intelligent yet very personal style, I have said for awhile now that Rachel is one of the greatest theologians of our generation and this work is some of her best.
Best Novels of the Year (my top 10)
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. If I am forced to pick my favorite book of this year, this one might be it. This novel captivated me from the very first sentence and set me on an adventure I never knew I wanted to go on. Set in the Great Depression, four kids embark on the Mississippi River in a canoe to escape the horrible boarding school they were in. They’re searching for family down south and along the way they encounter a delightful cast of characters in Hooverville Camps, farms, towns and even a traveling tent revival crew. Over the course of a summer these four grow as individuals and as a family, proving that sometimes family isn’t the blood in our veins but the relationships between us.
The Water Keeper by Charles Martin. I discovered Charles Martin a couple of years ago and this latest book of his which was released this year was such an adventure. Set off the coast of Florida this book focuses on Murphy Shepherd, a man with a lot of secrets who has dedicated his life to rescuing those most in need. When he pulls a woman out of the intercoastal waterway one night he finds himself in the deep and dark world of rescuing those trapped in human trafficking and is desperate to find this woman’s daughter who is in danger. This was an action packed page turner with a lot of faith, love and redemption thrown in. He’s working on the sequel now and I can’t wait to find out what ends up happening with these characters I found myself so invested in.
My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie This historical fiction novel about Eliza Hamilton, the wife of Alexander, was absolutely fantastic. I read it this summer and raved about it so much my mom picked it up and loved it as much as I did. Elizabeth Schuyler was an incredible woman of resilience, strength, courage and compassion and many historians credit much of Alexander’s success to her support and intelligence behind the scenes. This look at her life and her as a wife, mother, philanthropist, daughter, sister and patriot brought this part of history to life in a really fun way.
The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare This gorgeous debut novel won a LOT of acclaim and attention this year, for a very good reason. It was one of my Book of the Month subscription picks this fall I believe and I adored it. Adunni is a very young woman in a village in Nigeria who is essentially sold into a marriage to pay some of her father’s debts. All she wants in life is an education so she can find her “louding voice” as her mother used to call it. Something no one can take away from her. She faces incredible challenges along the way but never looses her dream to be free, educated and able to teach others like herself. Written with a remarkable sense of language and setting this novel will break your heart and renew your hope all at the same time.
Beach Read by Emily Henry This looks like the ultimate summer beach read, but it had a lot more substance than a light and fluffy romance. January Andrews is a best selling romance author who no longer believes in love, and Augustus Everett is a literary fiction writer who wants to write the great american novel. They are opposites who end up living next door to one another while trying to write their new books. They decide to try and switch places—he will write a romance novel and she will try her hand at literary fiction and write a “serious” book for him. Along the way they both have to confront their pasts, their feelings for one another, and hope that someone has a manuscript to turn in when fall arrives. Warning, there are some spicy scenes, but this is a fun read with some great characters who have a lot of depth.
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman I love Fredrik Backman. His books Beartown and Us Against You have been on my favorite lists the past couple of years and this fall his new novel Anxious People was my Book of the Month pick. It is so quirky, and told in a really interesting style that might drive some people nuts but if you stick with it it unfolds and you start to figure out the characters. I love that you get multiple perspectives on this story. It’s about a bank robbery that ended up not being a robbery that turned into a hostage situation even though the “robber” had no intention of doing so. You hear each person’s story and realize why they were all present that day and what links their stories to one another. I cried in this book and laughed out loud several times. I think he’s a master at crafting characters and weaving stories together.
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd I’m just going to say it, I am super hesitant to tell you all what this book is about because of the side eye it may cause! But I loved this book SO much I can’t not share it. This is a book set in the years 17 AD-33 AD in Nazareth and Jerusalem. It’s a historical fiction novel that centers around Ana, a young woman who ends up becoming the wife of Jesus of Nazareth. I know. But really, stay with me here. This was an incredible story. Sue Monk Kidd is a phenomenal writer who pulled me into Ana’s world hard and fast. I was so sad when this book ended. Reading her author’s note at the back of the book was really helpful. She wanted to bring out Jesus’ humanity—we talk so much about his divinity but we often forget he was a fully human male living in 1st century Palestine who would have had a place in the Jewish customs and family culture of Nazareth. She wanted to address those “lost” years that scripture doesn’t say anything about—from when he was a young man until he appears on the scene at his baptism. What was Jesus doing at 20? 25? He was the oldest son in a family where his earthly father was believed to have died young. As an oldest Jewish son there would have been some expectations on him in terms of marriage and providing for his mother and family. Obviously Kidd isn’t saying anything in here is factual. But she wanted to paint a picture of his culture and human experience and she does so in a way that is so gorgeous and honoring I fell in love with this story. In all honesty this book doesn’t center around him at all. This is Ana’s story. Ana is a girl who has a strong personality and a deep desire to be a scholar and a scribe, documenting the stories of women from both the Old Testament and from the world around her—stories of women who were mistreated by the patriarchy around them—Tamar, Bathsheeba, her aunt, her dear friend and then her own story. But in 1st century Palestine, women weren’t educated and women were property. Watching Ana fight for her own voice and how her story intersected with Jesus’ was beautiful. If you love historical fiction, give this one a try.
Atomic Love by Jennie Fields This one was a bit of a surprise to me, I chose it in one of my Book of the Month boxes but wasn’t sure it would be a favorite. I loved it. And so did my mom who I also sent it to. It takes place in Chicago in 1950 where Rosalind Porter is having to live in the aftermath of being the only female who worked on the creation of the atomic bomb and carrying the weight of that responsibility. This story is a love triangle between her, her old boyfriend who is now under investigation by the CIA for possibly leaking their atomic secrets to Russia, and the FBI operative who is using Rosalind to track the movements and get to the one they’re investigating. There’s love, danger, historical events and fascinating relationships all wrapped up in a novel that I couldn’t put down.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett Talk about a book that got a lot of buzz this year! It won Book of the Month’s book of the year award, was all over the New York Times list and was one of President Obama’s favorite books of the year. Brit Bennett is a phenomenal writer. She’s young, only about 30 years old and this is her second novel. Its set in from the 1950s-1990s and takes the reader from a small Alabama town to the suburbs of Los Angeles. The Vignes twins are 16 when the book begins, born with skin so light they could pass as white even though technically they are black. They run away from home to start life together in New Orleans and over the years they grow apart, one of them vanishing. One sister marries a man with very dark skin and chooses to live life as a black woman, the other chooses to pass as white and marries a white man. The story shows the different paths their lives take because of these choices and it’s not until their own daughters meet when they are teens that their lives intertwine again. It’s a story of race, family connections, and has a wonderful cast of supporting characters. There’s a reason this is getting all the buzz, it’s such a well written book.
Next Year in Havana/When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton For my final favorite book of the year I am cheating and tossing in two titles but they were by the same author! (I actually read 3 of her books this year, with The Last Train to Keywest being one of them too, which I enjoyed but not as much as these first two). The first two titles go together, so reading them in order was helpful. Next Year in Havana centers on Marisol Ferrerra and her grandmother Eliza Perez. The story goes back and forth between Cuba in 1958 and modern day as Marisol has returned to Cuba for the first time to scatter her grandmother’s ashes. There she learns of her family’s past as sugar barons and their roles in the political climate when Castro was coming to power. When we Left Cuba is the story of Eliza’s sister Beatrice and how the CIA recruits her after her family has escaped to America to go back to Cuba and infiltrate Castro’s inner circle. These are historical fiction novels set in a time of our history I didn’t know enough about and I spent a lot of time looking up people and places while reading.
Phew! Okay your turn! What books would you choose to top your list of 2020? Or if reading was really hard for you this year what did you find yourself doing instead? Happy New Year everyone, may 2021 bring you wonderful novels, books to teach you and pages to turn.
