Top 15 Reads of 2020

Out of the more than 100 books I read this year, here are the ones I enjoyed the most:

Juvenile and Young Adult Fiction:

Eloise by Kay Thompson
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Adult Fiction:

The Theban Plays by Sophocles
Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge

Nonfiction:

Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
More Myself by Alicia Keys
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres
Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
Mobituaries by Mo Rocca

Honorable Mention:

Nancy Drew Mysteries: Book 1-7 by Carolyn Keene – audiobook narration by Laura Linney

Favorite Read of 2020:

 

    So You Want to Talk About Race

                           by

                  Ijeoma Oluo

Top Ten Favorite Reads of 2019

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham CR: Simon & Schuster

Out of the more than 100 books I read this year, I decided to share my favorites.

Favorite first time reads published prior to 2019:

The Library Book by Susan Orlean (2018)
The Shining by Stephen King (1977)
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959)
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (2012)

Favorite reads published in 2019:

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (2019)
Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark (2019)
Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham (2019)
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal (2019)
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2019)

Honorable Mentions – Books I reread because I love them:

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (1997-2007)
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939)

Favorite read of the year:

 

Americanah (2013)
by
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Top 50 Reads of the Decade (2010-2019)

As this decade is coming to a close, I thought it would be fun to go through my Goodreads list of all my reads over the last decade and list my favorites. I put the list in alphabetical order by title.

1. Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen
2. The Alienist by Caleb Carr
3. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
4. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
5. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
6. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
7. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
8. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
9. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
10. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
11. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
12. Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama
13. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
14. Educate by Tara Westover
15. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
16. Emma by Jane Austen
17. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
18. The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
19. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
20. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
21. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
22. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
23. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
24. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
25. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
26. The I-5 Killer by Ann Rule
27. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
28. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
29. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
30. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
31. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
32. The Martian by Andy Weir
33. The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis
34. Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
35. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
36. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
37. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
38. Reading People by Anne Bogel
39. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
40. Sadie by Courtney Summers
41. Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
42. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
43. The Shining by Stephen King
44. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
45. Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
46. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
47. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
48. Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
49. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
50. Yes Please by Amy Poehler

What have been some of your favorite reads of the last decade? Please comment on my list or leave some recommendations in the comment section below. Here’s hoping for another decade of amazing reads!!!

My Top 20 Favorite Reads of 2018

Out of the more than 100 books I read this year, I decided to share my favorites.

Books I reread because I love them:

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (1908)
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (1952)

Favorite first time reads published prior to 2018:

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (2015)
The Raven and Other Favorite Poems by Edgar Allen Poe (1845)
The I-5 Killer by Ann Rule (1984)
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (2012)
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (2008)
The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking (2016)
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin (2017)
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexendre Dumas (1844)
Columbine by Dave Cullen (2009)
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (2017)

Favorite reads published in 2018:

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara (2018)
Educated by Tara Westover (2018)
I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel (2018)
The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis (2018)
The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland (2018)
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan (2018)
Sadie by Courtney Summers (2018)

Favorite read of the year:

 

A Man Called Ove
by Fredrik Backman
           (2012)

My Top 20 Favorite Reads of 2017

Out of the 75 books I read this year, I decided to share my favorites.

Books I reread because I love them:

• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911)
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (1934)

**I listened to Dan Stevens narrating the audio versions of the Agatha Christie books. He is brilliant.**

Favorite first time reads published prior to 2017:

• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (2008)
• Yes Please by Amy Poehler (2014)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (1955)
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2016)
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (2016)
• Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (2013)
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (2016)
• A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (1929)
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (1975)
• The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman (2015)
• My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2011)
• The Witches by Roald Dahl (1983)

Favorite reads published in 2017:

• Writing for Bliss by Diana Raab (2017)
• Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen (2017)
• Reading People by Anne Bogel (2017)
• Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson (2017)

Favorite read of the year:

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2017)