topic Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020 in Book Club

FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

sunala — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 01:24:46 GMT

So, my friends, it's that time of year. Time to rate our favorite books, the ones we want to share with each other.

Here are some of mine that I gave 5 star ratings:

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride by Joe Siple

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland.

A Good Neighborhood by Theresa Ann Fowler

The Falling Woman by Richard Farrell

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Monogamy by Sue Miller

I read very few books this crazy year. I had a problem concentrating, and only read 30-something books. But, I enjoyed several of them. These were the best.

Happy and healthy New Year!!

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

grandma r — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 02:22:51 GMT

@sunala. I read a number of books especially during the summer. I always enjoy books by Timothy Snyder. As an historian he has such insight into relevant issues. However, my 2 favorites were "Before We Were Yours" and "Where The Crawdads Sing". I really got caught up in both.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

Mellyg — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 02:57:57 GMT

Thank you for sharing @sunala . And I'm glad you mentioned that you didn't read much this year due to lack of concentration. Not that I'm glad you experienced that, but that's exactly how I was this year (I'm glad it's not just me)!

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

feline groovy — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 20:10:48 GMT

A few faves I read this year:

* All The Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

* The Shape of Family by Shilpi Somoya Gowda

* Christodora by Tim Murphy

* The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

* The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

FindingMyJoy — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 03:34:18 GMT

I always enjoy reading this topic each year! You all give such good suggestions that I keep adding to my future reading lists. Thank you all for the recommendations!

This year, I finally read the mystery series by Louise Penny!! I still don't know why I kept putting it off since I had heard of her books for years. But I'm really glad this year that I just kept putting them on hold at my library and I got thru the entire series up to the very last one. I'm on the hold list for that one. This was the best series of the year! I'm a bit sad that I did read all of them and now I have to wait.

My favorite individual books of 2020 that I loved and the characters stuck in my head long after the book was over:

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Ordinary Grace by WIlliam Kent Krueger

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

SWEET — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 08:36:27 GMT

I'm very picky about giving 5 stars/favorites on GR but everyone is different in their ratings and there have been many good books that I have given 3 or 4 stars to too.

My favorites for 2020 are:

1. Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland, which was my last book in 2020. I cried, I laughed, and loved it.

2. Me by Elton John

3. Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

4. Nine Tenths of The Law by Claudia Long*

5. Royal by Danielle Steel

6. The Wedding Dress by Danielle Steel.

*SUNALA, you need to check out this book. It was wonderful Jewish fiction that you might enjoy.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

sandy53 — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 13:04:01 GMT

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

The Matt Royal mystery series by H Terrell Griffin

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

Judaline — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 13:25:54 GMT

@Mellyg wrote:
Thank you for sharing @sunala . And I'm glad you mentioned that you didn't read much this year due to lack of concentration. Not that I'm glad you experienced that, but that's exactly how I was this year (I'm glad it's not just me)!

It's not.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

tobe — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 15:34:02 GMT

5 Star books for me this year:

Killing Crazy Horse by Bill O'Reilly (this is not a political book, it is a well-researched history book and a real page-turner).

THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson (I love his books).

HELL IN THE HEARTLAND by Jax Miller

THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS by Lisa Wingate

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

icezeus — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:43:39 GMT

I enjoyed most of the books that I read in 2020, but the two that stand out for me would be the following:

The Return by Nicholas Sparks

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

What was sort of amusing was that these were books that I would not have expected to enjoy as much as I did. The Return, I thought would be a sappy love story and it was so much more. When it comes to Jodi Picoult, I find her books depressing, and her book was my top rated for this year.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

smoky22 — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 18:16:24 GMT

@FindingMyJoy wrote:
I always enjoy reading this topic each year! You all give such good suggestions that I keep adding to my future reading lists. Thank you all for the recommendations!

This year, I finally read the mystery series by Louise Penny!! I still don't know why I kept putting it off since I had heard of her books for years. But I'm really glad this year that I just kept putting them on hold at my library and I got thru the entire series up to the very last one. I'm on the hold list for that one. This was the best series of the year! I'm a bit sad that I did read all of them and now I have to wait.

My favorite individual books of 2020 that I loved and the characters stuck in my head long after the book was over:

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Ordinary Grace by WIlliam Kent Krueger
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

@FindingMyJoy i also loved the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. If you liked Ordinary Grace, I wonder if you read This Tender Land, by the same author. One of my favorites of the year.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

smoky22 — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 18:25:18 GMT

This Tender Land (William Kent Krueger)

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Olga Tokarczuk)

The Vanishing Half (Brit Bennett)

Anxious People (Fredrik Backman)

The Glass Hotel (Emily St. John Mandel)

Piranesi (Susanna Clarke)

The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman)

Gods of Jade and Shadow (Sylvia Moreno-Garcia)

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

Alter Ego — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 01:32:45 GMT

Since I primarily listen to Audible and my driving has decreased significantly, I am a little sad that there are probably so many great books this year that I missed out on.

Winner for me by default is Anxious People by Backman. A feel good book for a blah year. Maybe I would have selected it in a normal year as I did enjoy it. But I know there were great books out there that I’ll never get around to now.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

sunala — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 03:29:37 GMT

@SWEET wrote:
I'm very picky about giving 5 stars/favorites on GR but everyone is different in their ratings and there have been many good books that I have given 3 or 4 stars to too.

My favorites for 2020 are:

1. Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland, which was my last book in 2020. I cried, I laughed, and loved it.

2. Me by Elton John

3. Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

4. Nine Tenths of The Law by Claudia Long*

5. Royal by Danielle Steel

6. The Wedding Dress by Danielle Steel.

*SUNALA, you need to check out this book. It was wonderful Jewish fiction that you might enjoy.

hi @SWEET - thanks for the heads up or Nine Tenths of the Law. Sadly, my library doesn't have it on Kindle. It does sound really good though. I did love the Florence Adler book with my whole heart. Much of the family story is true, sadly. It took me a long time to get the book out of my head. Happy reading!

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

SWEET — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 09:27:32 GMT

@sunala wrote:
@SWEET wrote:
I'm very picky about giving 5 stars/favorites on GR but everyone is different in their ratings and there have been many good books that I have given 3 or 4 stars to too.

My favorites for 2020 are:

1. Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland, which was my last book in 2020. I cried, I laughed, and loved it.

2. Me by Elton John

3. Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

4. Nine Tenths of The Law by Claudia Long*

5. Royal by Danielle Steel

6. The Wedding Dress by Danielle Steel.

*SUNALA, you need to check out this book. It was wonderful Jewish fiction that you might enjoy.

hi @SWEET - thanks for the heads up or Nine Tenths of the Law. Sadly, my library doesn't have it on Kindle. It does sound really good though. I did love the Florence Adler book with my whole heart. Much of the family story is true, sadly. It took me a long time to get the book out of my head. Happy reading!

@sunala

I was lucky enough to win that book from her on a FB book group and she sent me her other one too. I need to read that one.

As for Florence Adler Swims Forever, I cried at the beginning of the book and had my weepy moments throughout. It was a book I'll never forget either. Speaking of books based on real events, I won a book by Rachel Solotov that I'm going to start today called The Girl With The Silver Star. It's based on her grandparents life and it's also Jewish fiction.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

kitty45 — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 16:01:50 GMT

I read sooo many good last year. Here are just some

The Missing of Clairdelune, by Christelle Dabos

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain

Kokoro by Natsume Soseki

How We Fight for our Lives by Saeed Jones

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Check Please! (book 1&2) by Ngozi Ukazu

There are many more.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

kitty45 — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 16:05:36 GMT

@smoky22 Everyone of these books are on my TBR for 2021.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

paulazaj — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 16:35:02 GMT

My favorite book this year was All the Flowers in Paris. It was a great story.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

smoky22 — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 17:32:56 GMT

@kitty45

You have some very intriguing titles listed. I need to look them up.

Re: FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2020

FindingMyJoy — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 15:41:19 GMT

@smoky22 wrote:
@FindingMyJoy wrote:
I always enjoy reading this topic each year! You all give such good suggestions that I keep adding to my future reading lists. Thank you all for the recommendations!

This year, I finally read the mystery series by Louise Penny!! I still don't know why I kept putting it off since I had heard of her books for years. But I'm really glad this year that I just kept putting them on hold at my library and I got thru the entire series up to the very last one. I'm on the hold list for that one. This was the best series of the year! I'm a bit sad that I did read all of them and now I have to wait.

My favorite individual books of 2020 that I loved and the characters stuck in my head long after the book was over:

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Ordinary Grace by WIlliam Kent Krueger
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
@FindingMyJoy i also loved the Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. If you liked Ordinary Grace, I wonder if you read This Tender Land, by the same author. One of my favorites of the year.

@smoky22 Yes I did read This Tender Land. It almost made it into my best of 2020 books. I recall I loved most of it and then the ending sort of lost me.