My friend and very favorite blogger, The Orangutan Librarian, recently created The Beatles Book Tag. Little known fact, The Beatles are my all-time favorite band, and my favorite song in the whole world and all styles of music is a Beatles song. So I was so excited to get tagged and would have tagged myself if she didn’t. *smiles*
Oh my gosh. June is over. Summer vacation is halfway over. I don’t know whether to shout for joy or cry. Shout for joy because PLEASE can we go back to school in August. Cry because summer is over and I’m still waiting on pretty much all the books from my summer reading list to come either to the book store or library. I’m worried I won’t have time to read them all. 😥
Also, the middle of the year always sneaks up on me. During summer vacation it’s really hard to keep track of the date, so I’m always shocked and, well, freaked out to find it’s July. lol
So far this year I’ve read 45 books, but since a HUGE chunk of those were either gifts or read for work, it hasn’t been the most exciting year for me book-wise. Not even all the books in my Top 10 have four stars, yikes! Still, I’m well on my way to my 75 book goal, and frankly may have to adjust it to 100. YAY ME!
Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2020
Okay, I’m going to share my two favorites, because they’re so different from each other. My top book is hands down The Mirror & the Light, which is easily the best historical fiction novel I’ve ever read. I love the Thomas Cromwell trilogy so much, and this book was literally perfect. I wouldn’t have changed ANYTHING about it (except maybe make it never end!). My second top book is a YA backlist title, A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi. It had been on my to-read list forEVER, and I finally picked it up on sale in February. GUYS. Why did I wait so long to read this book?!?! If you haven’t read it yet you’ve GOT TO.
The last 365 days or so I’ve made a big effort to read more in a variety of genres. The result is that I’ve read some amazing books that I would never have read before! So I thought I would take some time to share with you all my favorite book from each genre.
Literary Fiction: Bel Canto
If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you’re probably tired of hearing about Bel Canto. But I’m going to tell you again anyway. In an unnamed South American Country, a group of rich industrialists get together for a birthday dinner/concert. A group of guerrilla terrorists show up to kidnap the president of the country, who isn’t there. Their indecision leads them to being stuck with a hundred hostages when the military shows up. The terrorists and the businessmen get to know each other, form friendships, and even fall in love. It’s beautiful, it’s heartbreaking, it’s just wonderful.
I think I speak for everyone when I say THANK GOD 2019 IS OVER. Golly, this has been a stressful and difficult year for me, to say nothing of the state of the social internet. But I’m so excited about 2020 and what it’s going to bring for me professionally, personally, and as a blogger.
It’s been an interesting year for me here at my third year at Never Not Reading. I set an all-time personal record, reading 74 books this year (mostly thanks to my children’s and young adult literature class). I “discovered” graphic novels and non-fiction. But I haven’t been blogging much. Non-review posts have basically dropped off my blog altogether this semester, and my bookstagram has come to a screeching halt a whopping three times this year. So the blog has had its ups and downs.
So thanks, y’all, for reading. This community is so amazing and supportive, and I love every one of y’all.
Wow, what a year! This might be my best year for reading ever. Which I’m pretty sure I said that last year too, but it’s even more true this year. I read so many books that could have been on this list. Six 5-star books is an all-time record for me, and there were countless four-star books that were a HIGH four stars. For the last three or four months every time I’ve had to bump a book off the list it’s been such a difficult decision. The books that did make the list have been re-arranged multiple times. For the first time since I’ve started blogging, this could have been a Top 20 list.
Yet, alas, for some reason I limit myself to a Top 10. So without any additional rambling, here they are, my favorite books of the year.
1. Bel Canto by Ann Patchet
This book gave me ALL of the feels. I connected with it on such a deep emotional level. Bonus points for the love of music that permeated the novel.
Genre: Young Adult Maturity Level: 4 View on Goodreads Rating:⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?
THIS BOOK!!!! Oh my god, I am dead. I just want to read it again. It’s all the things that are amazing about a John Green book, all the philosophizing and complicated presentation of people as people. But they took out all the not so great John Green things and replaced them with Rainbow Rowell things. And together they make MAGIC.
Never Not Reading 