Goodbye 2020
Hi friends,
I cannot believe I am writing this but we have just three days left in the year. I am really looking forward to a fresh start- it’s cliche but I love new beginnings, even if they are just symbolic like the New Year. I am looking forward to all the books I will read, and have high hopes for what the year will bring.
Books I’ve Read:
In the second half of the month, I read 6 books. First up was The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah. Sara from @FictionMatters, posted about this book several times saying how great it was, and I have to agree! I think it may be my favorite this month.
Next I read Well-Behaved Indian Women, which I thought was fine- I tend to have trouble with narrators I find annoying (it sometimes keeps me from connecting fully with the story) and that was the case here. In the end though I enjoyed the mother-daughter story, as well as each ones individual search for identity.
I also read How to Catch a Queen, the newest romance from Alyssa Cole. I am a huge fan of Alyssa Cole’s and loved this new story. It was the first in a new series, Runaway Royals, which is a spin off of her Reluctant Royals series.
This Time Next Year was cute and sweet, a story about two people who share a New Years Day birthday and have spent the first 30 years of their lives in a series of missed connections. The book follows the year after they finally meet.
Pizza Girl was weird and funny and heartfelt. I would recommend Convenience Store Woman, which I read last month as a pairing to Pizza Girl.
I saved The Twelve Dates of Christmas to read on Christmas Day. It was a sweet albeit predictable British rom-com.
With three days to go, OF COURSE I am trying to finish up my TBR for the month (while simultaneously watching Bridgerton non-stop). I am currently reading A Burning, and if I finish it, I will choose from either Hood Feminism, A Long Way Gone, or Boy, Snow, Bird as my last book of the year.
Favorite Books of 2020:
Instead of links and things I’ve been loving lately, I am going to share my top 10 books of the year. On Instagram, I’ll be posting Top 20, but I worked hard to narrow it down to 10 for this newsletter. They are below (in no order because that’s too much to ask!)
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Good Talk by Mira Jacob
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Here to Stay by Adriana Hererra
Here For It by R. Eric Thomas
In the Dream House by Carmen Machado
I loved so many books this year but these ten were my favorite. I am very excited to discover new books and authors in 2021. Happy New Year everyone!
Sarah