My top five reads | My favourite books from 2020
This year has been a pretty great reading year. 56 books across the year and some actually amazing new books. A total of 27,825 words read, across a mix of genres, paperbacks, hardbacks and ebooks! I even finished two books on New Years Eve!
I’ve found books that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with and have gone straight to the top of my favourite books of all time. To showcase the best books of the year, for me personally, I thought I’d share them in a separate blog post.
I’ve gone for a mix of books that I loved to read for the escapism, and others for how profound they were, or how important a read I feel they were.
So in no particular order, my top 5 reads from my 2020 reading.
1 | The Daevabad Trilogy | S.A. Chakraborty
Ok this is a bit of a cheat, as it’s three books, but I couldn’t pick a favourite so I’m going to include the three. This series is quite popular across bookstagram, and I was lucky enough to come across it on Kindle Unlimited which has the first two books. The last book I had to buy. I think this says quote a lot about my love for the books as I went and bought the final part straight away, in hardback no less. This distinguished it from some of the other excellent trilogies and series I’ve read this year.
I love the inclusivity of this series, being diverse in race and religion, creating an intricate magical and political story with Arabic and Muslim myths and folklore woven together. The character development across the books is excellent to be frank, and the slow burn romance that literally has you begging for more is everything a book needs.
2 | The Midnight Library | Matt Haig
I think this was a vitally important book to have published in 2020. I like Matt Haig as a person, his social media presence being as important as his books. And as is typical with many of his books the elements of mental health that he works through are dealt with carefully and thoughtfully. This story is thought provoking and timely when thinking about what we are doing with our lives, especially given how the world has been turned upside down. Hands down a brilliant book from 2020, and a must read book for anyone.
3 | Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race | Reno Eddo-Lodge
Another very poignant read for 2020 and one I think everyone should read at least once in their life for their own race education. This book is thoroughly educational without being boring, pouring personal anecdotes with facts that at times are uncomfortable but needed. This book will have you questioning all aspects of anti-rascism, and is an excellent starting point for anyone’s diversity and racism education. Many parts of this book have stuck with me and I will be making this a yearly read to ensure I remain educated and continuously better myself.
4 | Kingdom of Ash | Sarah J Maas
I loved pretty much every book in the Throne of Glass series if I’m completely honest. This book, being the last just sticks in my mind the most. It had everything you could want from a fantasy; laughter, intrigue, suspense, tears. I full on sobbed with this book. Considering I read this at the beginning of the year, it’s stayed with me through 30+ books and the series is high on my list for a reread in 2021.
5 | House of Earth and Blood: Crescent City | Sarah J Maas
Another SJM book, but what can I say, I’m a huge fan of her writing and stories, and her characters are just brilliant. I adored this book, and again it is very high on my reread list for 2021. I liked that this was like SJM’s typical fantasy, but with a crime fiction vibe to it as well. Like all SJM books this had me laughing out loud, and crying my eyes out.
All the 2020 books:
You can read all my 2020 book reviews below:
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
Find me on Goodreads to keep up with my live reading for 2021!