Holy HELL what a year that was. There is so much I could say and write about it but honestly I have nothing else to add that hasn't been said by other writers and speakers way better than I could. A quote I heard on a podcast is one I've been using as a personal mantra is this: 

We might be in different boats but we're all in the same storm. 

Many people who have been stuck home, vacations canceled, work furloughed, etc. have been turning more to reading and knocking off many books on their TBR lists. Not me. I spent probably the first six weeks in quarantine playing Animal Crossing and crying to my therapist. I didn't read a single thing unless it was tweeted out en masse. No books at all.

In the beginning of May, I started to dip back into reading. I didn't reach my book total goals for this year, (thanks for the constant reminder, Goodreads) but I focused more on quality rather than quantity, discovered some new-to-me and debut authors, and returned to past favorites. 

In the end, I read 66 books in 2020. Even though I didn't do as much reading as I intended, I still read so many incredible books. Below, I wanted to share my favorite reads of the year and finally kiss 2020 goodbye *blows raspberry*

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Honestly this first entry could be all of Acevedo's books. Her other two, debut The Poet X and With the Fire on High are also incredible peeks into young, strong, complicated female protagonists' lives. Acevedo's debut and latest publication are both novels in verse. I really credit Clap When You Land with getting me out of my reading rut. I devoured it in about two nights thanks to the flow and style. 

Clap When You Land begins with a plane crash that introduces two girls who have never met, but are connected by their genes. Camino lives in the Dominican Republic and can't wait until the summer when her father visits her. Yahaira lives in cramped New York City and knows her dad is keeping a secret. But they're the same man, and now he's dead and the sisters are left to sort out his affairs and learn how to live without him. 

While the characterization shined and the conflict exploded, I mostly loved how firmly rooted in place this YA novel-in-verse was. Since I'm not doing any traveling this year, I loved the vivid description of one of the settings, Camino's small beach town in the Dominican Republic, which instantly transported me to a new setting. I could practically hear the soft waves lapping as Camino waited for her father's plane to touch down. 

And this is not a spoiler--you learn about the plane crash on the jacket flap. 

Read Clap When You Land if:

• You want to read about two worlds colliding in the best way possible
• You like your YA to feel more adult
• You want to try a novel-in-verse

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

This was maybe my most-anticipated read of 2020. After Bennett's debut The Mothers in 2016, I knew I would read anything this young (!) author published. Her sophomore novel is anything but a slump. 

The Vignes sisters grew up in a small, Black, rural town in the south. When they're sixteen, they both run away from home to start over new. Ten years later, Desiree Vignes returns to the same small town with a daughter who is "black as tar" in order to escape a violent marriage. Stella Vignes goes her own way, learning she could pass as white, marries a wealthy white man, and blends in with her 100% white neighborhood in California. She starts her own family and keeps her race, family, and old life a total secret.

The twins, while not physically together, are still inextricably tied. And against all odds, their daughters happen to meet, which is where the real story begins. 

What I loved about this one was the storytelling--it felt like I was one of the townspeople listening to what became of the twins that disappeared without a trace, leaving their mother completely alone and continuing an old family curse. Brit Bennett continues to show she's one of the most talented writers out there right now. I can't wait to see how the limited series plays out, and HUGE congrats to Bennett for inking a historic deal. 

Read The Vanishing Half if:

• You've thought about disappearing without a trace
• You loved Bennett's debut The Mothers
• You inhale multi-generational, detailed novels 

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

This one was published in 2019, but my book club (still happening on Zoom) read it this summer. I ended up being the only one who loved it. I could still be in front of my computer talking about it if given the chance. Choi created something so strange but I just couldn't put it down.

This whole novel is a trust exercise--who is telling the story? Who can the reader believe? Is any of it true? Do I like this? Most people in my book club HATED this one and we tend to be an optimistic group. I loved it for all the reasons my friends didn't enjoy it. I love an unreliable narrator, characters that you want to shake, and the feeling of not knowing just what I read. 

The setting for this one is a performing arts high school in the 1980s in Houston, TX. There are musical and theatre (with an -re, not -er) references abound that were fun to keep up with. The main plot unfolds during a particular school year when the students start exploring their sexualities, learning how to drive, and of course, acting their adolescent hearts out using the Meisner technique. And of course, there's also an eccentric, boundary-pushing teacher who pushes them to their boundaries and beyond. 

And then--something really weird happens. I want to say so much more but I'll hold off. 

Read Trust Exercise if you:

• Were a theatre kid yourself and miss those goofy-but-fun warm-up exercises
• Don't mind when the author playing games with your head
• Like books that aren't necessarily for a majority of readers

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

If you need to laugh, look no further. Seriously, I don't think any of the other books on this list will really make you laugh at all. 

Samantha Irby is one of my favorite storytellers. Her first two books (Meaty and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life) are also incredible. In her third book of essays, Irby covers subjects of marriage, mental health, being a step-parent, race, gender, chronic illness, aging, and working. I know none of those topics is funny on its own, but Irby approaches them with personal stories and observations that are perfectly poignant for 2020 and beyond. 

This is exactly what the doctor ordered, if my doctor prescribed book instead of anti-anxiety medicine. If you need to laugh, scream, rage, or think, look no further--this is the one for you. 

Many of these essays are incredibly relatable especially in pandemic times. At times, she struggles to get out of bed, scramble downstairs to work, eat real food (not just ramen) and change out her pajama bottoms into a different pair of pajama bottoms. I felt very seen.

Read Wow, No Thank You if you:

• Have literally said "Wow, no thank you" aloud or in your head to someone 
• Don't mind some "blue" humor--consider this your language/content warning
• Always have a snack (or three) next to you while you're reading

How We Fight For our Lives by Saeed Jones

You've all seen Saeed Jones on Twitter. His image is a meme---the "really?!?!" incredulous face that makes for a perfect response in all different situations. I knew about him through Twitter and already loved him when his debut book came out towards the end of 2019. In early 2020, I finally started reading it and was angry that I didn't read it as soon as it arrived. 

Having some hindsight and time to reflect on my favorites of 2020, I see the similarities between Jones and Samantha Irby. They're both hilarious. They are both Black, queer writers. They're both brilliant on Twitter. Both make me think long after I've closed the back cover. But the contexts are different enough that I couldn't imagine including one or another. And because this list is in alphabetical order, they're back-to-back as well. 

Jones's memoir centers around power most of all. He explores this topic in a series of vignettes about his life as a Black, gay man in the south and then what he's learned all the way to current day. He explores identity, not just his own, but as a Black man, as a queer man, and as a Black, queer man. 

Read How We Fight For Our Lives if you:

• Admire a truly ferocious writer--his Twitter handle is @theferocity
• Want to continue your anti-racist learning in 2021
• Love prose that feels like poetry

Luster by Raven Leilani

This was another one of my most-anticipated debuts of 2020. Maybe the most anticipated. I love unreliable or unlikable narrators. I'm fine with the cringing if it makes me look long and hard at our society. I want my notions of class, race, and what is moral to be challenged on every page. And wow does this book do all of that and more. 

Luster is like looking at the sun. It's painful. There are truly some moments I had to put the book down and wash my face and hands before starting again. I felt uncomfortable. I squirmed. I thought about stopping. But this is what makes Leilani's book stand out and remain in my mind and heart months after completing it. The reading experience itself was extraordinary.

You're going to dislike the narrator, Edie. You might hate her. She probably makes decisions you think are questionable, illegal, or immoral. But this is a reality that so many young people are living right now. They're poor. They don't know how they're going to pay rent. They haven't had a hot meal in weeks. They're desperate. But there are glimmers of goodness and still relatable moments even for readers who will see this book through a window instead of a mirror. I have almost nothing in common with Edie but I still feel like I knew her. 

Don't stare into the sun, y'all. But reading Luster seriously shines. And I don't just mean the cover...

Read Luster if you:

• Want to explore social issues like class, race, misogyny, and politics without a preachy message 
• Don't mind descriptions or sex and violence--this one is rated R for sure 
• Want a whole range of emotion packed into a tight-240 page novel

A Burning by Megha Majumdar

This is it. My favorite read of 2020. Such a soft, delicate, gentle, funny novel where everyone lives happily ever after! 

NOT. 

Come on, haven't you been listening? 

Like most of my 2020 favorites, this was a book with a plot's subject that was somehow worse than what we were really experiencing. I needed something even more despairing than what I was seeing on my TV. 

There are three main narratives in this book, alternating between three connected-but-not alike characters who all live in a contemporary, but slightly dystopian, India. Jivan, a young Muslim girl, is trying to work hard enough to move her family from the slums but is suddenly accused of executing a terrorist attack on the train station. Next is PT Sir, a gym teacher who is lured in by a charismatic right-wing nationalist political party. And finally Lovely, an outcast in every sense who wants to get her big break in the film industry. As different as these characters are, they make choices that disrupt one another's lives and the country as a whole. 

This is a short, but pow.er.ful. novel. I wasn't expecting to get so wrapped up in these three characters' narratives, for better or worse. Even though many of the concepts felt familiar (almost too familiar) the setting and context felt fresh. 

When I finished this book, I was left with my mouth absolutely agape. For awhile. And then I sat in silence for even longer. And then I told everyone I could about it. I promise you haven't read anything like this before. And if you have, tell me because I want to read that book, too. 

TW: most of them, but especially violence, sexual assault, trans/homophobia

Read A Burning if you: 

• Are tired of reading how bad things are in America--try India instead!
• Believe in "the butterfly effect"
• Want all the sensation of losing a bar fight without having to leave your house and breaking social distance rules

Other books I loved!

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

Leave the World Behind by Ruhman Alam

Passing by Nella Larsen

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe

The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Where I Buy My Books

One of my other major coping mechanisms in 2020 besides the aforementioned Animal Crossing was buying books. Not reading them, in a lot of cases. But buying them, thumbing through them, smelling them (don't look at me like that) and organizing them. I believe collecting books and reading books are two different hobbies and I will not hear any differing opinions at this time, thank you. 

If a book is older, I will buy it used. I try to buy more books through Bookshop.org (also peep all their favorites from 2020--that's totally coincidental, y'all.) than I do the bigger, cheaper, faster options. If this option is available to you, try to support your local bookstores when you can. 

I also learn about many books through the subscription service Book of the Month. They have five options (and add-ons!) per month representing the best new releases. The options really vary but there is always something I can't wait to read. Did I mention it's only $14.95 a month for a brand-new, hardback copy? And add-ons (up to two per month!!) are only $9.99. Where else can you get brand new books for that price? I'll wait. 

Best of all, BOTM is focusing on improving their inclusivity of BIPOC authors as well, and so far they are walking the walk. 

Learn more here. Disclosure, if you join using my link, I'll get a referral bonus which I'll use to buy even more books. And you'll get a free book as well. Win, win! 

Feel free to share your best 2020 reads with me or what you're addition to your TBR thanks to my recommendations. I always want to talk books!