top books of 2020
I did little to no reading this year, but here are some titles I got through for 2020. I’m starting to think that out of my never-ending Goodreads list, I should have a list at the beginning of the year that would be more digestible so that I know I’ll be able to chew through without decision-misery. Here’s the run down from best to bestest:
5. Trick Mirror — Jia Tolentino
In most ways, an echo chamber of everything you’ve seen on your Instagram and Twitter feed for the past few years tidied up in this collection of essays. What I love about Jia is that she feels like that one friend you go to coffee with only to have your phones down face flat and fool yourselves into believing you’re doing your part in the world by talking about the social issues at large.
4. Run River — Joan Didion
Not as good as Play it as it Lays, but Didion enough for a good stretch of summer. A book meant to be read in between naps on weekend dogday where people drink too much and have your protagonist fall in cahoots with the likes of characters named Ryder Channing.
3. Such a Fun Age — Kiley Reid
The structure of this novel felt like the structure of Euphoria, but done so tiresomely. I stopped halfway to badmouth it only to pick it back up because I couldn’t stop thinking about it as it turned into seeing the growth and power of women as independent souls striving just to live their own beautiful lives.
2. Flights — Olga Tokarczuk
I am one for meandering novels because I find myself commuting from place to place often. So, I often think about the gray areas of life, and this book is just chockfilled with moments like those.
1. Beloved — Toni Morrison
This has always been one of those books that you tell yourself you’re going to read because it’s great and I’m glad I read it in 2020. For a year that sucked A LOT, reading something that made me rethink the English language and how it can be churned out really made me look at my own writing, its purpose, and how it too can change for the better. Above all that, a heart-wrenching story with so much beauty and pain that I could not put it down.
