Top 20 of 2020 (so far…)

From The Front Porch recently did an episode where they discussed their top ten reads of the year so far. My total books for 2020 right now is sitting at 165 books, and I think Annie’s total is around 80, so I figured I could expand my list out to 20 books and match the year! The books are in no particular order because I loved all of them for many different reasons. They’re actually organized in alphabetical by author last name because to do ‘no order’ I had to do a specific order. Thanks, type 1 personality. I’ve also cheated a bit here by including some series books, which I am allowed to do because this is my list.

• With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 1-3 by Hiromu Arakawa
• I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel
• Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey
• How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason
• The Office (An Oral History) by Andy Greene
• A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green
• The Warehouse by Rob Hart
• The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal
• Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
• Know My Name by Chanel Miller
• Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
• Long Bright River by Liz Moore
• Heartstopper Vol. 1 – 3 by Alice Oseman
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
• Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll by Neal Shusterman
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

Now, I will categorize them! No one should be surprised by my ‘science fiction’ category being the largest. You can check out my Goodreads for more detailed reviews on each of these (link on the right side of the site).

YA Fiction: With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll by Neal Shusterman

Contemporary Fiction / Literary Fiction: Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore, Long Bright River by Liz Moore, The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

Science Fiction: Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey, How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green, The Warehouse by Rob Hart, The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal

Fantasy: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Non-fiction: I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel, The Office (An Oral History) by Andy Greene, Know My Name by Chanel Miller, Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Graphic Novels / Comics: Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 1-3 by Hiromu Arakawa, Heartstopper Vol. 1 – 3 by Alice Oseman

SOME COMMENTARY…

Of all 165 books I read this year, I have 41 books that I rated 5 stars. I excluded from this list any re-reads, and put together series novels, bringing the total down to 30 books or so. Selecting from those 30 books was difficult! My heart goes out to each and every book I rated five stars, and I just want to pick them up and squeeze them and then demand that you read them. Maybe later this year I will publish my ‘5 star books of 2020’. Let me know if you’d be interested in the comments…

One category that lost a strong amount of books from this top list was Romance. There are 6 romance novels that I read this year that did not make the list. The main reason for this is that I tend to fall hard for romance novels, rate them five stars, and then am not interested in them at all later in the year. They’re my fluff, and I love fluff, but fluff novels just aren’t ‘Top Books’ quality for me. Some exceptions were made for Tweet Cute and Heartstopper because I find myself thinking about this books quite often months later. If you’re curious, the other novels that didn’t make the cut were Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center, Regretting You by Colleen Hoover, Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev, and I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver.

A surprising category is the amount of non-fiction books that are making the cut. I don’t read a lot of non-fiction (only 8 books this year) and four of them are on this list. To me, this implies that I am good at selecting my non-fiction reads and tend to only read non-fiction books that I know are going to be good. The average rating of all 8 non-fiction books is 4.6. Take that to the bank! If I recommend a non-fiction book to you, it is a sincerely good recommendation (and can likely be corroborated by an abundance of podcast hosts who are likely the reason I picked it up in the first place).

Let me know via the comments or an Instagram DM what your top books of 2020 so far are!