When I left my career last spring, I had 3 months off in the
interim. I made a point of spending time reading—something I used to thrive on
but had become non-existent in my life. Reading is enjoyment, growth, expansion
of my mind and the world around me. In the last 6 months of 2019 I was able to
read 17 books, so when I created a Goodreads account, I made 36 books my goal
for 2020. Three books a month sounded completely doable, right?
By early March, I had already CRUSHED the three
books per month goal, and had finished 26 books. TWENTY-SIX.
Eventually I knew 36 was going to be too easy, so I upped my 2020 goal to 100
books! Many of my reads have been through Hoopla and Overdrive--audiobook apps that are free through my local library. So ironically, my time at home has decreased my audiobook reading and I'm now only at 32 books read. You can follow me on Goodreads, I LOVE to see what people are reading. Some were mediocre, and one
I chose not to finish, but I’m here to share some books that completely knocked
it out of the park for me! You can also see a few of my 2019 favorites here.
This post contains affiliate links, more information can be found in the disclosure policy.
This post contains affiliate links, more information can be found in the disclosure policy.
Educated
I know this book was hugely popular when it came out two years ago. I never made time to read it, so when I renewed my library card this was immediately on my holds list. I love a memoir, no matter how thrilling or mundane someone’s life—and Tara Westover’s life was anything but mundane. Raised without formal education (and bare minimum home-schooling) by survivalist parents, Educated is Tara’s story of life with her family in Idaho, and her quest to move beyond the education imparted by her parents and find herself.
Where the Crawdads Sing
I was able to read my grandma’s copy of this book, the final book
she was reading before she passed. I devoured the easy prose of the book, eager
to solve the murder mystery.
The Good Immigrant
Like I said, I love a memoir, and Good Immigrant is basically a
compilation of 26 mini-memoirs. Told by first and second gen. immigrants in the
US and UK, these stories weave together the tension of their cultural
identities and lives in the West. It is honest and often heart-breaking.
Grief Works
I have read several books about grief since the passing of my
grandma. I found Grief Works through the author’s episode on my favorite grief
podcast, Griefcast. The author is a therapist so she her episode was completely
different from most others, but I really connected with her therapeutic message,
and her book was the same. The book is broken down into case stories by type of
loss—parents, partner, child, etc. She shares the stories and grieving journeys
all through her lens as the therapist in a way that was incredibly gentle and
validating.
Health at Every Size
This book is a well-educated look at the way America equates size
and health. The author has led research and case studies, so she is not simply
talking form a place of passion, but quantitative truth. She encourages readers
to change their relationship with food and their views on their body vs. dieting
as a misguided way of being “healthy”.
The Hate U Give
Here is another example of a book I was way behind on. Apart from
Netflix and Amazon Prime, my husband and I don’t have any tv channels in our
home. I rarely know about upcoming movies unless I see a trailer in theatres
(and I rarely go to the movies). A friend of mine had recently watched this
movie and suggested the book, but I was completely clueless about the content.
When the characters friend is murdered by a cop in front of her in the very
first chapter, I was shocked. The book is a powerful and relevant look at race
in America.
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