Books of 2020

One good thing to come out of this year is that, in the absence of travel or social gatherings, I had a lot more time for reading!  My book club moved to a Zoom format for the year but we continued to meet every month and our membership grew.  I supported our local bookstores by placing regular orders for curbside pickup, and probably spent more money on books this year than any year previously.  In the midst of the political and societal events of the year, I felt very inspired to dive into some important nonfiction and to expand my awareness and perspectives.  At the same time, I also found myself needing a break from reality sometimes and craving a suspenseful mystery or a tender love story.  Needless to say, my book list this year was eclectic and vibrant (maybe the only thing that was so this year!).  

I had a really hard time narrowing down my favorites, but here are the ones that stuck with me.  I bring you my Top 20 titles of 2020...

Apeirogon, by Colum McCann

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot, by Mikki Kendall

The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai

Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo

A Pull of the Stars, by Emma Donoghue

Sula, by Toni Morrison

My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein

Behold the Dreamers, by Imbolo Mbue

The Most Fun We've Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo

The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett

Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo

How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi

The Book of Longings, by Sue Monk Kidd

Beyond the Point, by Claire Gibson

Red Lotus, by Chris Bohjalian

Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid

The Last Romantics, by Tara Conklin

A Promised Land, by Barack Obama


    

 


Here are some of my reading goals for 2021:

1. Discover a new favorite author
2. Read a new title from an old favorite author
3. Read more stories from women of color
4. Explore Native American voices
5. Explore transgender voices
6. Read a genre that's outside of my comfort zone
7. Read a National Book Award finalist
8. Buy books only from indie bookstores
9. Finish books already on my shelves, or give them away
10. Read a translated work
11. Read more poetry
12. Read a classic that I haven't previously read


And finally, 21 titles I look forward to reading in 2021....

Homeland Elegies, by Ayad Akhtar

Crosshairs, by Catherine Hernandez

A Good Neighborhood, by Therese Anne Fowler

American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson

Want, by Lynn Steger Srong

This Close to Okay, by Leesa Cross-Smith

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White America, by Ijeoma Oluo

Little Eyes, by Samanta Schweblin

Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi

Dog Flowers: A Memoir, by Danielle Geller

Jazz, by Toni Morrison

Children of the Land, by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

The Blithedale Romance, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary, by Sasha Geffen

The Great Pretenders: The Undercover Mission that Changed Our Understanding of Madness, by Susannah Cahalan

Leave the World Behind, by Rumaan Alam

Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart

Blindness, by Jose Saramago

The Four Winds, by Kristin Hannah

The Chosen and the Beautiful, by Nghi Vo

Outlawed, by Anna North



For the full list of my 2020 reads, visit my Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/26924259-betsy-ross


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