2020 Books
At the beginning of 2020 I set a goal to read 12 books.
Because in 2019 I had read 0 books.
That was very unusual for me, I wasn't comfortable with it. It reflected something about the state of my life and what I prioritized that I didn't like. Some of it was outside of my control (Simone was born in late 2018 and was--and still is--a poor sleeper...so every time I would try to read I would fall asleep) and some of it was me (defaulting, in spare moments, to the endless & seductive scroll of social media because I convinced myself that it wasn't enough time to do anything REALLY productive).
Note: I'm not here to judge how much anyone else reads or doesn't read. But reading *a lot* had/has always been a part of my identity and seeing that slip away was a piece of the greater puzzle of losing one's self in becoming a parent and, ultimately, not feeling like a real, whole person.
So a goal of 12 seemed like a good way to ease into things without going nuts. 1 book a month I could do, and if that was all I did I would be pretty satisfied.
I ended up reading 88 books. Which is, I grant you, a lot more than 12.
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So here is my 2020 list. I've put ratings (some I modified as I went through and thought about the book again) and I'll call out a few stand-out books, too. Ask me about anything...mostly I have reasons for why particular things weren't higher or lower.
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This is me on Goodreads. I will probably "steal" all the books you like and mark them as "want to read" if friended. I'm a shameless book-stalker.
Hey, TLDR: what are the 6 I'd call out that I enjoyed or made me think the most and are also different from each other?
Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, Lindy West, 5/5 : I like Lindy West's easy, funny, to-the-point writing. Her arguments are satisfying in their brevity and cohesive tightness.
What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, Lesley Nneka Arimah, 5/5 : This really stuck with me, upon reviewing the list. It's a collection of short stories set in Africa, has doses of magical realism, and can be both wonderful and deeply weird.
The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui, 5/5 : This is a multi-generational coming-of-age graphic novel that is an immigrant story, a refugee story, a first-generation story...all woven together with the complexities of coming to terms with being a daughter in the way you do when you have a child yourself.
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Caroline Fraser, AB, 5/5 : This is a fascinating look at the whole myth and mythology of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Spoiler: Rose Wilder is a TERRIBLE person, and most of their bootstraps libertarianism is a fabrication. (Heeeey, guess what? "We did everything for ourselves and no one gave us handouts" literally means "we were given stolen land for free!" and "sometimes we lied to get free land claims!" with an extra side of "we're racist as f*ck" and "sometimes Nazis had good ides!" and "why be a journalist who researches stuff when you can make it up and pass it off as true!")
The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai, AB, 5/5 : This is about a group of friends/lovers living through the AIDS crisis in the 80s (and also some during more recent times). It says a lot of really poignant things about love and loss without being pretentious or obnoxious about it.
Black Girl Unlimited, Echo Brown, 5/5 : This one stuck with me a while as well; it has some magical realism, but primarily it's metaphorical magic--what happens when girls and women are abused and how do the shrouds of sadness settle over them forever.
Because in 2019 I had read 0 books.
That was very unusual for me, I wasn't comfortable with it. It reflected something about the state of my life and what I prioritized that I didn't like. Some of it was outside of my control (Simone was born in late 2018 and was--and still is--a poor sleeper...so every time I would try to read I would fall asleep) and some of it was me (defaulting, in spare moments, to the endless & seductive scroll of social media because I convinced myself that it wasn't enough time to do anything REALLY productive).
Note: I'm not here to judge how much anyone else reads or doesn't read. But reading *a lot* had/has always been a part of my identity and seeing that slip away was a piece of the greater puzzle of losing one's self in becoming a parent and, ultimately, not feeling like a real, whole person.
So a goal of 12 seemed like a good way to ease into things without going nuts. 1 book a month I could do, and if that was all I did I would be pretty satisfied.
I ended up reading 88 books. Which is, I grant you, a lot more than 12.
( Collapse )
So here is my 2020 list. I've put ratings (some I modified as I went through and thought about the book again) and I'll call out a few stand-out books, too. Ask me about anything...mostly I have reasons for why particular things weren't higher or lower.
( Collapse )
This is me on Goodreads. I will probably "steal" all the books you like and mark them as "want to read" if friended. I'm a shameless book-stalker.
Hey, TLDR: what are the 6 I'd call out that I enjoyed or made me think the most and are also different from each other?
Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, Lindy West, 5/5 : I like Lindy West's easy, funny, to-the-point writing. Her arguments are satisfying in their brevity and cohesive tightness.
What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, Lesley Nneka Arimah, 5/5 : This really stuck with me, upon reviewing the list. It's a collection of short stories set in Africa, has doses of magical realism, and can be both wonderful and deeply weird.
The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui, 5/5 : This is a multi-generational coming-of-age graphic novel that is an immigrant story, a refugee story, a first-generation story...all woven together with the complexities of coming to terms with being a daughter in the way you do when you have a child yourself.
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Caroline Fraser, AB, 5/5 : This is a fascinating look at the whole myth and mythology of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Spoiler: Rose Wilder is a TERRIBLE person, and most of their bootstraps libertarianism is a fabrication. (Heeeey, guess what? "We did everything for ourselves and no one gave us handouts" literally means "we were given stolen land for free!" and "sometimes we lied to get free land claims!" with an extra side of "we're racist as f*ck" and "sometimes Nazis had good ides!" and "why be a journalist who researches stuff when you can make it up and pass it off as true!")
The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai, AB, 5/5 : This is about a group of friends/lovers living through the AIDS crisis in the 80s (and also some during more recent times). It says a lot of really poignant things about love and loss without being pretentious or obnoxious about it.
Black Girl Unlimited, Echo Brown, 5/5 : This one stuck with me a while as well; it has some magical realism, but primarily it's metaphorical magic--what happens when girls and women are abused and how do the shrouds of sadness settle over them forever.