Is it me or did you all read an extraordinary number of books this year compared to all the years before? This past year, I have spent much of my time social distancing from friends and family with a book in my hand and a homemade latte in the other. (I also discovered chai tea lattes and how to make coffee from a French Press, thank the Lord.) Reading has kept me sane this past year. I joined a book club, read books I never would have thought I’d enjoy, and somehow learned how to get better at balancing rest and work all thanks to my favorite incentive when reading–turning the last pages of a chapter and finally closing the book.
On the blog today, I wanted to share some of my favorite books I have read this year. If you are a reader and are looking for some great recommendations, keep scrolling!
Some of you may know that I studied non-fiction writing at university and because of that, I haven’t really gotten a chance to delve into a lot of fiction in the past couple of year. After traveling back from Guatemala for a medical service trip, I started getting an inkling in my heart to read more fiction. I mean, I came back to America a day before the Guatemalan borders closed due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic’s center stage debut of 2020 and I had nothing to do but finish up my Spring classes and read! I wanted to dedicate myself to reading more fiction because in a time where I would usually like to book a flight and travel for an escape, I no longer could do that without putting my safety and the safety of my loved ones in danger. Instead, I picked up a book! This year, I traveled to Haiti, California (loads of time), Vietnam, rural Louisianna, back to Haiti, Alabama, London, the Dominican Republic, and New York (specifically the Bronx) by turning 7,792 pages of 23 different books! I still have Italy and Cuba to go too! Those will be my last two books of the year if I can sit myself down long enough to read them.
The shortest book I read this year was Fahrenheit 451 which is a book a lot of students read in high school, but I never did. I listened to it on Audible (an app for audiobooks) one day while making some birthday cards for the hospice patients I volunteer for and loved it. In this dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury, we follow a character named Guy in a future American society where books are outlawed and are actually burned by firefighters. Guy, a firefighter himself, starts to have second thoughts about his job, role, and existence in society and we watch him in his own awakening. The writing in this short novel was tremendous. Some of my favorite qutoes include:
“We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
“Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You’d find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more ‘literary’ you are. That’s my definition anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies. So now you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
The longest book I read was “American Royals.” After I got home from my holiday break from graduate school, my entire family (yes, like including my aunt) all became obsessed with the show on Netflix called “The Crown.” I had heard that Katharine McGee’s sequel to the “American Royals” book called “Majesty” came out this year and was hearing nothing but great comments on it! Since I was already in a royal mood, I decided to pick it up and give it a try. Oh my goodness, this was such a fun read! Sometimes I can get caught in trying to read impressive reads (you know, the books that those who are avid readers expect you to read…especially if you have a degree in English), and those reads are important, but sometimes they can be draining. In this novel, we follow Beatrice, Nina, Samantha, and Daphne on their journey either in or to royalty. This book is a fun twist on what would happen if after the American Revolutionary War, America becomes a monarch instead of….well, whatever you want to call the government we live in today. It was super fun and easy to read. Some people didn’t like it, but if you had a thing for Gossip Girl growing up, you’ll have fun with this one. I will be reading the sequel in January if I can’t slide it into my December TBRs (TBR = to be read)!
My 2020 Favorites via Genre
My Favorite Thriller: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
“She used to say we are made up of different parts, some good, some bad, and that a healthy mind can tolerate this ambivalence and juggle both good and bad at the same time. Mental illness is precisely about a lack of this kind of integration—we end up losing contact with the unacceptable parts of ourselves.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient
My Favorite Romance: Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory or The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
“I’ve spent so long being afraid of love, because the last time I was in love, the man I loved only loved one part of me, but not all of me, and I thought love meant having to sacrifice a part of yourself. But then I was with you, and you loved every part of me, even the parts I don’t like. And that scared me more, because I thought there must be some trick and that I couldn’t let myself believe it or I’d fall into the trap. But finally I realized it wasn’t a trap.”
― Jasmine Guillory , The Proposal
My Favorite Literary Fiction: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet
“She hadn’t realized how long it takes to become somebody else, or how lonely it can be living in a world not meant for you.”
― Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half
My Favorite YA Read: Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite And Maritza Moulite
“Never take words lightly…Words make us. They destroy us.”
― Maika Moulite, Dear Haiti, Love Alaine
My Favorite Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick: The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
“She wondered how many women had been trapped – in terrible marriages, terrible jobs, unbearable circumstances – simply because the world hadn’t been designed to allow them to thrive on their own. Their decisions would always be scrutinized by the lives at which they were able to sacrifice themselves, their bodies, their pleasures and desires. A woman who imagined her own way out would always be ostracized for her own strength.”
― Nancy Jooyoun Kim, The Last Story of Mina Lee
My Favorite Non-Fiction: Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
“There’s nothing feminist about having so many resources at your fingertips and choosing to be ignorant. Nothing empowering or enlightening in deciding that intent trumps impact. Especially when the consequences aren’t going to be experienced by you, but will instead be experienced by someone from a marginalized community.”
― Mikki Kendall, Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
My Favorite Book from my Book Club: When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
“They can break, but they can’t erase,” Gracie says. “They can build but they can’t bury us.”
― Alyssa Cole, When No One is Watching
My Favorite Short Story Collection: Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat
“The lightness returned. That airless sensation of his body evaporating. Darline and Paris were fading, too. They were becoming distant longings, silhouettes, shadows fading on the ground.
There are loves that outlive lovers.”
― Edwidge Danticat, Everything Inside
Check out some book reviews I did throughout the year on the blog:
My 2020 Reading Essentials
The Libby App – Life-changing. If you have a library card, you can read books for FREE on this app. You can even check out audiobooks! Sometimes you do have to wait in line, but you can put books on hold like you would at the regular library. It syncs up with your Kindle so it saves your highlights and notes which I really like especially when reading non-fiction. Socially distant friendly and safe for a pandemic if you asked me. Highly recommend.
Audible – Perfect for reading on long drives or reading while going on a walk. I would dedicate listening to one specific book only when I was walking to encourage exercise. I live nine hours from my family at hoe so audible came in handy on those long drives up and down the East coast.
Book of the Month – I started back up my book of the month subscription to help diversify my reading. I noticed that I can get into the habit of reading the same types of books sometimes. This isn’t bad, but I want my library to be full of different genres, diverse authors, and varying points of view of the world. This subscription is how I treated myself this year for doing well in school.
BookClubz – This is the way that my book club met virtually. It is an app that you can start your own book club with friends, formally or informally. It keeps track of your books, your group’s rating of books, and more! I think there are a lot of other apps out there like this, but if you are looking for a specific community or want to start your own book club, I suggest checking this out.
#Bookstagram- I have found so many amazing reads via bookstagrammers on Instagram. Here are a couple of my favorite book bloggers:
That is all for today’s post! I hope this post got you excited to set your reading goal s for 2021. I will be writing another post all about my reading goals in January of 2021. Hopefully, I can read a little more next year since I will graduate from my graduate program in May! Until then, grab some hot chocolate, put your phone on do not disturb, and read away the rest of this year. Stay safe and healthy my blessed, brilliant, beauties.
Did you read any books you loved this year? Comment them below!
