Top 10 Books of 2020 (the weirdest year ever…..)

I am betting that your year has been so sucky that you don’t need four paragraphs of me trying to make my reading life interesting so you will want to read these books. I HATE when I google something only to have to wade through a 10 minute back story about their Aunt Edna before I get to the goods. You don’t want salad, you want the MEAT. 

But wait. I do have a teeny, tiny thing to say {Insert eye roll emoji}.

SUUUUUPPERRRR short and to the point back story: In January, I set a goal to read 40 books in 2020. This might have actually been hard to complete if it were a normal year given our numerous extracurriculars. Seeing that a good four months of the year found me moping around the house, occasionally crying, I burned through quite a few books. I ended up at the magical number of 42 books read in 2020. 

OK, now that that is done {Insert praise hands emoji}.

Here’s the MEAT.  Also known as, “My favorite 10 books of the weirdest year everrr”.  

10. Where the River Ends– Charles Martin

Charles Martin has a Nicholas Sparks vibe. But without 13 paragraphs of descriptions of the landscape on every other page. Mr. Martin has the same talent to set the scene but only uses one or two paragraphs to set up a beautiful picture in my mind. Also, (spoiler alert) this is not the only time a beautiful book about a river makes this top ten. Maybe it’s because I have a special place in my heart for the time I have spent with my hubby and his family at the river that I LOVE books placed around bodies of water. Charles Martin is also the author of a bunch of other beautiful books, including When Crickets Cry, which made last year’s top 10. If you are inclined, you can read that here.

In the book, Doss Micheals sets off to canoe down the river all the way to the bay as one last promise to his dying wife. This is about their love story and their journey to finish their ride, even when everyone is against them. This was a romantic and tearful story about hope, the wishes of the dying, and how we comply. 

9. The Tattooist of Auschwitz-Heather Morris

I love historical fiction and this was a great book. It was based on a true story, and while books about the Holocaust are tough to read, I think they are significant. This book is about Lale, who is detained in Auschwitz. When his captors realize he can speak many languages, he is given a job of tattooing numbers on new prisoners. The book is about his will to live, his opportunity to help others with his position, and his relationship with a woman he meets for the first time when he must cruelly tattoo a number on her arm. It was haunting and it also left me hurting for people who lived through such atrocities.  I also loved the follow-up book Cilka’s Journey that didn’t make this list (solely because there were SO MANY good books and it is a close repeat to this book).  I live for books that make me feeeeel all the feeeeels. 

8.The Dry– Jane Harper

Now that I am working on this list, I realize that it’s diverse. And scattered. Just like my brain. I went from beautiful to haunting, to a vicious murder mystery.  I discovered this author after I borrowed some books from my Grandpa. He received two books from my Aunt Jane for Fathers’ Day. This aunt is well-read and also RUNS A MAJOR BOOK FESTIVAL. She knows what’s up and I would read anything she said to read. Or anything she tells my Grandpa to read. It did take me a fair bit to get into the meat of this one, but I think that has more to do with the sporadic periods of time I have to actually sit down and read. But I love a good book where I can get invested in the characters and have no idea who is the killer. This one is set in a rural Australian town. A federal finance investigator, Aaron, returns to his hometown to attend the funeral of his childhood best friend, Luke, and his family, who were gruesomely murdered. While it looks like a murder-suicide, Luke’s parents aren’t convinced. This one did not disappoint!

7. One by One– Ruth Ware 

I got this one from my local library. This author had a hit a while back, The Woman in Cabin 10, but I never read it. This one is set in the French Alps where a tech company checks into a chalet for a ski retreat. Things take a turn when one skier does not make it back before a snowstorm. With everyone safely inside for the impending storm, they all worry about their missing comrade and her safety. When another team member shows up dead and no one has left the chalet, they come to the realization that one of their own is picking them off. One by one. I didn’t see this ending coming. Suspenseful to the maxxxxx.  When the author finally revealed the murder (I did not have it figured out) my heart raced until the very end.

6. Faithful Place– Tana French 

Another book, another mystery. This is my first book from Tana French and it will not be my last. This book, set in Dublin, was about Frank who at the age of 19 was on his way to escape his dysfunctional family and their crowded, chaotic apartment and start anew with his girlfriend, Rosie. But when Rosie doesn’t show up where they planned to meet to board the ship, he figures that was her way of breaking up with him. Later when Rosie’s family reports her missing, he figures she used her ticket and escaped her own dismal life, albeit without him. Twenty years later, his family calls him to tell him that Rosie’s suitcase has been discovered with an unused ticket, and no one has heard from Rosie since that night. Rosie was the love of his life and he owes it to her to investigate what really happened to her. The character development and the descriptions of Dublin are what kept me intrigued the whole time. 

5. The Giver of Stars– JoJo Moyes 

Want a feel good book about the importance of books and how a pack horse mobile library during the Great Depression brought a rural Kentucky community together? Read this one. This book, based on a true story, is about five women who sign on to deliver books to the remote families in the Kentucky mountains and the trials and tribulations that befall them. Jojo kills it with many characters you grow to love and imagery that is unparalleled. You won’t be disappointed with this one. And it’s going to be a MOVIE. Read it before you see it! 

4.The Reckless Oath We Made– Brynn Greenwood 

Every single book Brynn has ever written is now on my list. I have NEVER read anything like this book. It is quirky and light-hearted and examines being worthy of love, family, and loyalty with impeccable character development and a plot that was inventive. This is a story about Zee and Gentry. Zee comes from a hard family and is dealing with a Mom who is a hoarder, a nephew who was abducted, and a sister who may or may not have helped some prisoners escape. Gentry is autistic and makes an oath to protect Zee and this modern day love tale/ fairy tale was so well written done I.couldn’t.put.it.down. 

3. The Girl with the Louding Voice– Abi Dare

I love books about places I know nothing about. This is a story about a teenage girl named Adunni who lives in Nigeria with her family. She loses her Mom when she is 14 and is sold for bride money by her Dad so that he and her brothers can pay the rent and have food to eat. This story is about arranged marriage and what Adunni must do to survive and rise above to reach her dreams of being a teacher. This one is heartbreakingly sad.  I found myself yelling at all the characters who surfaced that didn’t have her best interest at heart. Read it. I promise you won’t be sorry. 

2. The Silent Patient– Alex Michaelides

A psychological thriller that will have you distrusting everybody. Every single character. Theo is a psychiatrist with his own demons who wants to work with a famed artist (Alicia) who is in a mental hospital for killing her husband. Thinking he can uncover her motive, he secures a job at the rundown mental hospital where she has been for the last 7 years. Alicia hasn’t spoken since the murder (her husband was found tied up with a gunshot wound to the head). Theo changes her medication  and starts new art therapy with Alicia. He starts to have hope when she gifts him her diary. Will he figure out her motive? Is she a cold blooded killer? Or is something more sinister at play? I read this one in the wee hours of the night with my mouth wide open. SOOOO good.  

1. This Tender Land– William Kent Krueger 

Big a, BIG HUGE fan of William Kent Krueger. This one is an NYT bestseller, as it should be. This historical fiction book is about a pair of orphan brothers, Odie and Albert, who grew up in an Indian reform school in Minnesota during the Great Depression and their journey with two friends down the Mississippi River to freedom. Indian children were often forcibly taken from their parents in order to strip them of their language, religion, and culture and forced to assimilate in white reform schools. Odie and Albert have to make a hasty escape after an unspeakable event. This is the story of life on the river, survival, and countless unforgettable characters that will live in your head rent-free. This story is big-hearted, full-bodied, and left me wanting more. If this is not in the works for a movie, I’d be shocked. It is a mesmerizing book. If you were a fan of Where the Crawdad Sings, you will LOVE this one.

Epilogue: turns out one of my biggest contributions to the social media world (as my data would suggest) is sharing about what I am reading and loving. I am so moved by all the people who ask me for a good book recommendation and that people actually ask for this post each year. Thank you to everyone who shares good reads with me and shares when they have read something I recommended and loved it.

Love,

Me

P.S. (I keep a detailed list on my computer to help me keep track, complete with a synopsis, for THIS VERY post. If you are interested in the other 32 books I read, the list is below.)

1. Fair Play-Eve Rodsky 

2. The Boston Girl– Anita Diamant

3. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance– Robert Pirsig

4. The Tattooist of Auschwitz-Heather Morris  

5. The Giver of Stars– Jojo Moyes

6. The Reckless Oath We Made– Brynn Greenwoods

7. The Gone Dead– Chanelle Benz 

8. The Gifts of Imperfection– Brene Brown

9.  Cilka’s Journey– Heather Morris  

10. Station Eleven– Emily St. John Mandel

11. Mostly Dead Things– Kristen Arnett 

12. High Performance Habits– Brendon Burchard 

13. Where the River Ends– Charles Martin 

14. Daisy Jones and the Six– Taylor Jenkins

15. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark– Michelle McNamara 

16. The Anonymous Girl– Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen 

17. Everything I Never Told You– Celeste Ng

18. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the birth of the FBI– David Grann  

19. The Whisper Network– Chandler Baker

20. This Tender Land– William Kent Krueger

 21. Grit– Angela Duckworth

22. Originals– Adam Grant

23. Devil in Winter– Lisa Kleypass

24. Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the table-Ruth Reichel

25. The Dry-Jane Harper

26. The Most Fun We Ever Had- Claire Lombardo

28. The Guest List– Lucy Foley

29. The Last Train to London– Meg Waite Clayton

30. Verity– Colleen Hoover

31. An Invisible Thread– Laura Schroff

32. The Handmaid’s Tale– Margaret Atwood

33. The Testaments- Margaret Atwood 

34. A Force of Nature-Jane Harper

35. Faithful Place– Tana French 

36. The Vanishing Half– Brit Bennett

37. The Girl with the Louding Voice– Abi Dare

38.Such a Fun Age– Kiley Reid

39. The Night Watchman– Louise Edrich 

40. Manitou Canyon – William Kent Krueger

41. One by One– Ruth Ware 

42. The Silent Patient- Alex Michaelides