Perhaps you'll recall that last year, I had a challenge from a young friend. To be honest, I thought we weren't competing this year! And then some time this fall, her mom texted me: "O wants to know how many books you've read." Game on! In these past few weeks, though, we both set our cap on 125, and I believe that she will hit her goal tomorrow! Hooray!
Some people had a hard time reading during the whole quarantine thing. I had the opposite problem - I couldn't stop reading! To be honest, the year started out a little meh with my first choice, but luckily things picked right up and there were a lot of really good choices this year. Although I chose some favorites, I really liked a lot of these books.
This year I also took on the project of writing monthly short reviews of what I'd read. Links to each month's post are at the bottom - if you want to hear more about any of these, click over and read what I said right after I finished reading!
As usual, a lot of mishmash amongst my choices. I really do like middle grade and YA fiction, and of course, I read a lot of Jewish-themed books. You'll see almost all of the Am Shalom 5781 book discussion books in this list as well. (And some that were in consideration but didn't make the cut!) I read way more romance novels than ever before, and I came to appreciate their familiar rhythms. I think I'm over the fauxmance storyline, though.
Anyway, here's the list....
- The First Mrs. Rothschild by Sara Aharoni
- Shouting at the Rain by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
- Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
- One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus
- Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
- Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
- Talking to Strangers by Malcom Gladwell
- American Royals by Katharine McGee
- The Forgotten Room by Karen White
- Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
- Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
- Here All Along by Sarah Hurwitz
- Kaddish.com by Nathan Englander
- Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly
- The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali
- Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
- White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
- The Unbreakables by Lisa Barr
- What To Say Next by Julie Buxbaum
- The Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
- I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
- The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
- The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
- Wunderald by Jennifer Cody Epstein
- The House of the Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
- Switch by Chip Heath
- My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
- Once We Were Brothers by Ron Balson
- The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum
- On Division by Goldie Goldbloom
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle
- An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
- 4321 by Paul Auster
- Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth
- The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
- A Bend in the Stars by Rachel Barenbaum
- Saving Sophie by Ron Balson
- The Imperfects by Amy Meyerson
- Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
- Karolina's Twins by Ron Balson
- How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones
- Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
- Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Jennifer Weiner
- Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein
- All Adults Here by Emma Straub
- An Unorthodox Match by Naomi Ragen
- Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
- The Trust by Ron Balson
- Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
- Stamped by Jason Reynolds
- I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
- The Book of V by Anna Solomon
- In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
- Invisible as Air by Zoe Fishman
- Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah
- Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
- The Betrothed by Kiera Cass
- A Room Away from the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma
- Feast Your Eyes by Myla Goldberg
- The Girl from Berlin by Ron Balson
- The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
- Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing by Allison Winn Scotch
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner
- The Order by Daniel Silva
- The Royal We by Heather Cocks
- Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid
- Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland
- Boyfriend Materials by Alexis Hall
- House on Endless Waters by Emuna Elon
- Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan
- The Braid by Laetittia Colombani
- The Nesting Dolls by Alina Adams
- The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason
- Good Talk by Mira Jacob
- 36 Righteous Men by Steven Pressfield
- The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
- The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
- The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz by Laura Toffler-Corrie
- This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
- Gone by Michael Grant
- The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward
- The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
- Love, Loss, and What We Ate by Padma Lakshmi
- Need to Know by Karen Cleveland
- The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline
- Heating Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly
- The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
- American War by Omar El Akkad
- Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn
- The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
- The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
- Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
- Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
- Followers by Megan Angelo
- Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
- Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney
- The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory
- Reverie by Ryan LaSala
- Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
- Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Baryon
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
- The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
- The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli
- Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
- Fish Out of Water by Joanne Levy
- The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
- Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder
- Becoming Brianna by Terri Libenson
- Color Me In by Natasha Diaz
- Sidetracked by Diana Harmon Asher
- Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynne Solomon
- The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane
- A Place at the Table by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
- Not Your All American Girl by Wendy Wan-Long Shang and Madelyn Rosenberg
- Girl Serpent Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
- The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
- Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn
- The Midnight Library by Matthew Haig
- King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callendar
- Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
- Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
It's always really hard to choose favorites, but here are some of mine from the list above:
- This Tender Land
- American Royals
- Invisible as Air
- Such A Fun Age
- Florence Adler Swims Forever
- Dear Edward
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Here are the monthly review posts:
Previous years' book lists are here:
1 comment:
I've been reading a lot, but I can't imagine keeping a list. My books are borrowed from friends or the library or given to me for review.
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