2020 Reading List
I am prioritizing reading in 2020, and with the COVID 19 quarantine I have been given the gift of extra time to do so. Considering it is one of my greatest pleasures in life, it feels like an important commitment to honor to spend daily time devoted to reading. My goal is to read 52 books this year, and I wanted to share the progress with you, along with some thoughts on each one. I am going to be reading a variety of fiction, personal development, and other nonfiction books, and I can’t wait to keep turning the page! I hope you’ll read along, and share what you’re reading as well.
Want to see what I’m reading currently in 2021? Click here.
>> Here’s What I Read:
1/50: Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
By Adrienne Brodeur
Genre: Memoir
A memoir of the author’s childhood growing up on Cape Cod with a fetching yet narcissistic mother. Brodeur navigates her young life and personal identity journey, while being a pawn in her mother’s scandalous affair.
2/50: Normal People
By Sally Rooney
Genre: Fiction
A raw novel about young love, social class, family histories, and sexuality, Normal People is a true page-turner. The connection between Marianne and Connell is unusual, two people coming from different worlds but living in the same town, but it is also strong, deep and highly compelling. Follow their transition from high school to college and how through all of the trials they experience and choices they make that separate them, they always end up finding each other again.
3/50: Three Women
By Lisa Taddeo
Genre: Fiction
A book that explores female sexuality through the intimate stories of three very different women, this book is definitely not for the prude! Although I did find the book a little sexually graphic for my personal taste, I liked that it brought to light the ways women are told confusing messages around what is ok and what is not ok in terms of their own sexual desires and behaviors in our society, and how that can be detrimental. If you are interested in the topic of the #metoo movement and the conversation of accepting a more progressive sexual relationship for women, then this book is worth a read.
4/50: 10% Happier: How I tamed the voice in my head, reduced stress without losing my edge, and found self-help that actually works — a true story.
By Dan Harris
Genre: Personal Development
My favorite lesson from Harris’ exploration of mindfulness: “Striving is fine, as long as it’s tempered by the realization that, in an entropic universe, the final outcome is out of your control. If you don’t waste your energy on variables you cannot influence, you cab focus much more effectively on those you can. When you are wisely ambitious, you do everything you can to succeed, but you are not attached to the outcome — so that if you fail, you will be maximally resilient, able to get up, dust yourself off, and get back in the fray. That, to us a loaded term, is englightened self-interested, (207).”
5/50: I am, I am, I am
By Maggie O’Farrell
Genre: Memoir
This was my second time reading this book, and I think I loved it even more this time through. This book is a compilation of the author’s seventeen brushes with death - and how she survived. Poignant and fascinating. I have a feeling that will not be my last time picking it up.
6/50: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
By Lori Gottlieb
Genre: Nonfiction
If you are a therapist or have ever been in therapy I think you will enjoy this book. Gottlieb shares her work as a therapist helping others with their lives, when her own was crumbling. She turns to therapy herself and navigates being in the patient role for a change.
7/50: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
By Gail Honeyman
Genre: Fiction
This book is one of my favorites I have read this year, and maybe ever. It starts out seeming a little silly, a little Bridget Jones-y, but stick with it because it’s not like that at all. It is funny and heartbreaking and real and touches on mental health, alcoholism, love, friendship, and all that comes with navigating life on your own as a young professional woman with a difficult past.
8/50: Modern Love: True Stores of Love, Loss, and Redemption
Edited by Daniel Jones
Genre: Autobiography, Compilation of Essays
If you like the New York Times column, the podcast, or the TV series of Modern Love, you’ll certainly like this compilation of some of the best stories over the past few years. I cried at several.
9/50: The Twits
By Roald Dahl
Genre: Kids Fiction
Roald Dahl is my favorite author from childhood, and during this pandemic I turned to him again for a comfort read. The Twits is silly, whimsical, a little bit dark, but always delightful, just like all of Roald Dahl’s books.
10/50: The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober
By Catherine Gray
Genre: Personal Development
I have been exploring my relationship with alcohol, and this book is a good read if you are doing the same. If your’e interested in reading more about that exploration I shared it here.
11/50: A Gentleman in Moscow
By Amor Towles
Genre: Historical Fiction
Probably my favorite book of the year so far, mostly because Towles incredible characters. This book follows Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov who is under house arrest in a luxury hotel in Moscow during the Bolshevik revolution.
12/50: Broken: A Love Story
By Lisa Jones
Genre: Biography/Autobiography
This book is about a young writer’s experience living on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming with the Northern Arapaho people. The book is about her exposure to the power of a man who became a great healer, a paraplegic named, Stanford Addison, and her own healing journey. Pick this one up if you like horses and the allure of the West.
13/50: The Work
By Wes Moore
Genre: Nonfiction
Wes Moore is an incredible man, not an incredible writer. His book is interesting about his life as a combat officer in Afghanistan, a White House fellow, and a Wall Street Banker, and some of the mentors he had along the way. Honestly, I would skip this one unless you know about him and are interested in his story.
14/50: Girl Code
By Cara Alwill Leyba
Genre: Personal Growth
I’ve had this book about being a female entrepreneur forever and never cracked it open, and it turns out I wasn’t missing anything. It’s cheesy and cliche about being a #girlboss and how she knew she had “made it” when she could buy herself a Chanel purse. There are so many more thoughtful and uplifting books out there about being a strong woman in business, I wouldn’t spend your time on this one.
15/50: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
By Grady Hendrix
Genre: Fiction - Vampires!
This is a very atypical book for me, but trying something new. I never read horror or true crime or anything scary, but why not mix it up!
16/50: The Paris Hours
By Alex George
Genre: Fiction
This book follows many seemingly unrelated characters who eventually all intertwine - which is a narrative style that I love. The setting is Paris between the wars in artist studios, Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore, street cafes, and an infamous nightclub. I liked the cameos of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Marcel Proust, and other famous icons of this time.
17/50: The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
By Kelly Harms
Genre: Fiction
A cute book about a mom who has done everything for her kids who finally gets to do something for herself on an adventure in New York City.
18/50: The Children Act
By Ian McEwan
Genre: Fiction
This novel is about an esteemed High Court judge in London who has to make moral and legal decisions for children’s welfare in family court while her own marriage is crumbling. One particular case involving a Jehovah’s Witness with leukemia ends up being a lot more complicated than it first appears. This book was intriguing and hard to put down. It got a little dark for me toward the end!
19/50: The Soul of Money: Transforming your Relationship with Money and Life
By Lynne Twist
Genre: Nonfiction
“We each have the choice in any setting to step back and let go of the mind-set of scarcity. Once we let go of scarcity, we discover the surprising truth of sufficiency. By sufficiency, I don’t mean a quantity of anything. Sufficiency isn’t two steps up from poverty or one step short of abundance. It isn’t a measure of barely enough or more than enough. Sufficiency isn’t an amount at all. It is an experience, a context we generate, a declaration, a knowing that there is enough, and that we are enough,” (page 74).
20/50: The Upside of Falling Down
By Rebekah Crane
Genre: Fiction
An 18-year-old girl is the only survivor of a plane crash in Ireland but when she wakes up in the hospital she has no memory of who she is or how she got there. This story follows her trying to remember who she was and trying to decide who she wants to be.
21/50: Match Making for Beginners
By Maddie Dawson
Genre: Fiction
Such a sweet book about finding love and trusting in magic with a fun cast of eccentric Brooklyn characters.
22/50: A Happy Catastrophe
By Maddie Dawson
Genre: Fiction
Sweet second book to Match Making for Beginners.
23/50: Life and Other Near-Death Experiences
By Camille Pagan
Genre: Fiction
24/50: Such a Fun Age
By Kiley Reid
Genre: Fiction
Good and thought-provoking. A young black woman is a nanny for a wealthy white family in Philadelphia. One night she is at the grocery store with the little girl and gets accused of kidnapping her. The fallout that follows is unexpected and complex.
25/50: Red at the Bone
By Jacqueline Woodson
Genre: Fiction
Oh so beautiful. Reads like poetry.
26/50: Pride and Prejudice
By Jane Austen
Genre: Fiction/Classic
I read this lovely classic about once a year. It never disappoints.
27/50: All Adults Here
By Emma Straub
Genre: Fiction
Such a good read. Touching about family dysfunction and quirks and how we all have to find our own way and accept each other.
28/50: The Secret Life of Bees
By Sue Monk Kidd
Genre: Fiction
A new favorite book of all time. So beautiful. Can’t wait to read more by Sue Monk Kidd.
29/50: I’m Fine and Neither Are You
By Camille Pagan
Genre: Fiction
30/50: Everything We Keep
By Kerry Lonsdale
Genre: Fiction
31/50: Brown Girl Dreaming
By Jacqueline Woodson
Genre: Memoir
32/50: Beneath a Meth Moon
By Jacqueline Woodson
Genre: Fiction
33/50: American Dirt
By Jeanine Cummins
Genre: Fiction
34/50: Friends and Strangers
By J. Courtney Sullivan
Genre: Fiction
35/50: The Life Purpose Boot Camp
By Eric Maisel
Genre: Nonfiction/Personal Growth
36/50: You Can Heal Your Life
By Louise Hay
Genre: Nonfiction/Personal Growth
Louise Hay is an OG of self-help. This book is a little dated, but I took a lot of important tidbits from it that I am using in my coaching and personal work daily!
37/50: Exciting Times
By Naoise Dolan
Genre: Fiction
If you liked Normal People, you’ll like this one. I loved this book.
38/50: The Amateur Marriage
By Anne Tyler
Genre: Fiction
39/50: Weird but Normal
By Mia Mercado
Genre: Essays
40/50: Slouching Toward Bethlehem
By Joan Didion
Genre: Essays
41/50: Modern Lovers
By Emma Straub
Genre: Fiction
42/50: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
By Deepak Chopra
Genre: Personal Development
43/50: New Order: A Decluttering Handbook for Creative Folks (And Everyone Else)
By Fay Wolf
Genre: Personal Development
44/50: You are a Badass at Making Money
By Jen Sincero
Genre: Personal Development
45/50: When No One Is Watching
By Alyssa Cole
Genre: Fiction
46/50: The Vacationers
By Emma Straub
Genre: Fiction
46.5/50: Nothing to See Here
By Kevin Wilson
Listened to this one as an audiobook
Genre: Fiction
47/50: The Hunting Party
By Lucy Foley
Listened to this one as an audiobook
Genre: Fiction
48/50: Alone Together: Love, Grief and Comfort During the Time of COVID 19
Edited By Jennifer Haupt
49/50: The Dharma Bums
By Jack Kerouac
50/50: Know My Name
By Chanel Miller
What was your favorite book of 2020?
Want to see what I’m reading currently in 2021? Click here.