Book Club

[smoky22]

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@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

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@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]

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)

[Alter Ego]

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.

[sunala]

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@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.

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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!

[SWEET]

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@sunala wrote:

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@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.

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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!

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@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.

[kitty45]

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.  

[kitty45]

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

[paulazaj]

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

[smoky22]

@kitty45   

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

[FindingMyJoy]

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@smoky22 wrote:

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@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.

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@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.