Top 20 Books of 2020
Hello all,
Happy new year to you all! May it be better than the one we just survived.
I am running behind, per protocol. If I was on top of things, I would be worried that my death was imminent.
Today I will go over my top twenty books of 2020. I know a lot of people do this earlier in the year, but I feel like I need to finish off December before I can decide. What if the last book I read in the year is one of the best? If I had finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab this would have been the case, but I did not finish. I am ashamed. Anyway, let us get on with the list. These books are not in any kind of order. I am not talented enough to rank like that. These books are ones I have read in 2020, and not books released in 2020. I just don’t want there to be any confusion. I am also excluding rereads from this list.
20. Scythe and Thunderhead by Neal Schusterman- these books are amazing. They are geniuses. I had so many thoughts while reading these and so many reactions. There was even a moment that made me cry. Granted it was only one, but I was screaming at the books the rest of the time, so the point is granted. I was a mess reading these. I also could not put them down. I planned to read a chapter or two at a time and instead I ended up devouring these in one sitting.
19. Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young- this book was amazing. It was an extremely quick read but there was so much content to connect with. The characters were amazing. I grew to love them very quickly. I think about this book at random moments and if a book stays with me like that, I feel confident in saying that it is one of my favorites.
18. Illuminae Trilogy by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman- I loved these books. The audiobooks for this series are works of art. I was very stressed most of the time when I was reading but it was so worth it. I grew to love these characters. They became my friends. I was more worried about them and how they were doing than about the pandemic happening around me so take that as you will.
17. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare0 could this be my top Cassandra Clare book? I am not sure yet. Regardless this book was amazing, and I want to meet all the characters. They are a fantastic group. The kind of group you wish you could be a part of. Also, it takes place in London, one of my favorite places ever. And it is set in the Edwardian period, so the clothing is amazing. Oh, and the weapons, and the love. There is so much complicated love. And friendship. You all know how I feel about friendship.
16. Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman- the combined brains of these two people just work for me. I have yet to read their books written individually but I plan to do so. This book… just this book. I finished it. Sat there stunned for a few minutes and started it right from the beginning. I read it three times back-to-back. I don’t know why. I just know I could not stop reading. I am waiting to read the sequel until I have a release date and tile for the third book in the series.
15. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo- can I get a round of applause for the Queen herself? Leigh Bardugo writes stories I want to read. I loved this book. It was so good. The Dark Academia aspects of it worked for me. The plain dark aspects also really worked for me. The amount of world left to be explored has me so excited to read the next book in the series. I hope we get some news soon.
14. A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet- I did not expect to love this book. But I loved it. The characters, the plot, the romance, and the friendship just worked for me. This is the kind of story I want to read. If I could pay the author to write faster, I would but sadly I am broke and I am sure she is writing as quickly as she possibly can. I only wish I could time travel and get the books I want to read now.
13. Blood and Honey by Shelby Mahurin- I know a lot of people did not expect this book to be what it was. To me, it made perfect sense that this is what happened. These characters had been through so much and had so much to work out in themselves and as a couple. I loved it. There is so much that needs explaining though. I hope Shelby gives us a giant of a book to satisfy my curiosity.
12. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo- I read this book for a class. It is amazing. There is so much power in words, and this book exemplifies that power. I know I can never write like that, but I am so glad there is someone out in the world who can say so much with just a few words. It is books like this that can change the world, and I hope more people read this one.
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte- I finally read this book. It only took me… eight years to finally pick it up. I don’t know what my hold up was. I loved it. Jane I such a unique narrator and the story itself is so fascinating. I adored the gothic elements we were given. I also adored the romance despite screaming at Rochester more often than not. Someone explains that to me. What is this strange phenomenon?
10. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray- I would have included the first book in this quartet too, but I read it in 2019 originally, and according to my own rules it is not allowed on the list. But the second book I read for the first time and it was so amazing I adore the setting, is there anything more exciting than 1920s New York? I adored the characters, even when they were hot messes and were doing their best to make me dislike them. I loved the mystery. I was creeped out on so many levels. These books are dark, probably darker than many expect going in but that is what makes them so good.
9. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout- okay once again I did not expect to love this book. It exploded over social media, and everyone loved it. I was cautious about going in. I recommend everyone be cautious going into an extremely popular book. But my expectations were met. I ended up loving it. There is something about Poppy, the narrator, that is so easy to connect with. I enjoyed myself. I also have a lot of questions. So many questions. I have book two in hand, and ready to go but I’m waiting to get closer to the release of book three. Then I’ll suffer until book four.
8. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden- it took me some time to realize that I loved this book. Originally, I just liked it but with time I changed my mind. It is so whimsical and magical, yet there is always a price for every moment of whimsey and happiness. I am very worried about the characters. I want everyone to be happy, but I can’t possibly imagine how that would happen.
7. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman- another unexpected favorite. It took me a little while to fall into the story but once I did, I was hooked. It is a story about one person, there are no world-changing stakes, no plot to overthrow the tyrannical government. It’s a story about life and how you can eventually find happiness in it despite whatever is getting in your way.
6. The Witches: Salem 1692 by Stacy Shiff- despite being a nonfiction book, it still makes it onto this list because this was amazing. Salem holds a fascination for me because the events are so relatable and yet it is so difficult to wrap my head around how anyone could allow such a thing to happen. There is so much content to this. I loved this book and how the author brought in all the elements that made Salem what it was. I have a whole list of other books I plan on reading about it. They are just so good.
5. Red, White, And Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston- alright but why coil we do not have that presidential debate? Why must we be so deprived? The love story was amazing don’t get me wrong, I would happily die for either or both of these boys, but the presidential election is what got to me and made me cry. It was just such a hopeful moment, not just for the characters but for the world in which the story took place. In a way, they won. They won the lottery of a hopeful feature and I just loved it so much.
4. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi- The story is so good. There is so much that we can dig into here. I sometimes did not feel the sympathy for the characters that I maybe should have, because in some ways our main heroine really was in denial about her anger, and I would rather she acknowledge it. She has a reason to be angry and pretending it’s not there was bad for her character development. But the scope and concept of the story are amazing and the people who live in the world feel like real people with all their flaws. This was an amazing read. I have the second book in the series, but I don’t know when the net one is to be expected and that stresses me out. Until I know I will hold off on reading the second book despite wanting to know what happens next in the story.
3. The Night Swim by Megan Goldin- this was my favorite thriller of the year. I have been having a lot of difficulties lately with thrillers. They often feel rushed and not developed enough. This one was just right. I was rooting for the characters and not wishing them dead as sometimes happens. The parallel storylines made this book feel like it was something special. I am also a fan of true crime podcasts, so it was nice to see it acknowledged in a fiction novel as a huge part of the community who read that kind of book.
2. Educated by Tara Westover- once again an unusual book for me. This is a memoir. I am not the biggest fan of memoirs. But this one had me hooked. I knew the author would be fine in the end because she wrote and published this book and had it become a bestseller, but the stress was real. This story is one all too common but not talked about enough. At least not talked about until it is too late and the citation dissolves into a QA disaster.
1. A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kreammer- I was debating putting this book on the list. While it was great, and I loved it felt very much like the first part of a story. I was surprised because at first, the author was not sure if she would get to publish more books. It is such an original take on a retelling, and the characters all feel like people. There is so much to unpack about each one of them. I think in many cases it is easy to judge a character until we get in their head and this was the case here.
Alright everyone, here is my list of the top twenty books of 2020. I tried to keep them in chronological order of me reading them, but I got mixed up at some point because I was debating. It was very nerve-wracking to go back and look over all the books I read this year and have to make decisions about how I feel about them. I also have reread a lot of great books but have not finished the series that they start. I hope to soon have a list of favorite completed series I can make. Sadly, this day is not today.
This is all for today, I will try to do better about posting regularly and I am planning to modify my way of reviewing books, so I don’t fall behind anymore. We can all hope I stick to my New Years’ resolutions.
Thank you all for Visiting,
Anna
