My favorite reads of 2020

CI'm writing this on December 23rd. At this point I have read or listened to 190 books this year. I don't think I've had a year since I started recording my reading that I've read more than 110. I had so much time on my hands early in the pandemic.

I posted a favorite book each day of December on Facebook. Here's the compilation.

Nonfiction:

A Promised Land by Barack Obama (I listened as an audiobook and it was wonderful)

The Power of Showing Up by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

Tweak by Nic Sheff 

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi

How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi

The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett Graff

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker 

Fiction:

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict 

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens

The Fountains of Silence by  Ruta Sepetys

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

All the Ways we Say Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

Dear Edward by Ann Nepalitano

The Dead in their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley (I love the whole Flavia de Luce series) 

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg

The Story of Arthur Truluv by  Elizabeth Berg

Young Adult Fiction

This is My America by Kim Johnson

Find Layla by Meg Elison

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

My Top 10 Reads of the Decade

I first started tracking my reading in 2010.  Since that time, I've read more than 1,000 books.  Yearly, I've posted my top books of the year, but I thought as we are on the cusp of a new decade, I should post my top 10 reads of the decade (along with 30 runners up).

1.  The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker.   One of the most beautiful love stories I've read.  I was immediately fascinated by the story of a young woman searching for her missing father in his native Burma and with the story of her father's childhood and great love.  The audio book is beautifully read.

2.  Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, which is read by the fabulous Jim Dale, is a truly enchanting story.  I found it reminiscent of the movie "The Prestige," where two young magicians compete against each other in what becomes a battle of life or death.

3.  Being Mortal is probably the most important book I read this decade, changing the way I thought about medical care and death.  I truly believe this should be required reading for all humans.

4.  Another non-fiction selection, The Book of Joy changed the way I think about happiness vs. joy and how to find joy in life.  For five days, two of the greatest religious leaders of our time (and close friends) shared their thoughts on finding joy despite a life that includes suffering.  Their overall message?  Relationships with others are paramount and joy comes through relationship. 

5. I have three great reading loves - historical fiction, nonfiction, and young adult fiction.  The Hunger Games series tops by young adult reads this decade.  A primer on what government should never be.  et in America far in the future, the country has been divided into 12 Districts with the Capitol in the Rockies.  Because of a rebellion almost 75 years in the past, each district must send two children as tributes to the Captiol each year to compete in the Hunger Games.  Only 1 of the 24 children will survive the competition to the death.  Widely televised, the Hunger Games provide entertainment to those in the Captiol and a reminder to those in the Districts of the price of rebellion.  I loved the characters in this book, but particularly the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen.  While I enjoyed the whole series, this was my favorite of the three books.

6.  My Name is Mary Sutter is set during the Civil War, telling the story of Mary Sutter, who is determined to nove beyond her role as a midwife and become a doctor.  Women's empowerment!

7. Echo was the 2016 Newbery Honor book.  I knew the author from some simple chapter books Lily loved about Tony Baloney the macaroni penguin, and while those books were fun, I wasn't sure what to expect from Echo.  A single harmonica makes its way across the world to change the course of three young lives.  A simply beautiful story.

8.  Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give focuses on the aftermath of the shooting of an unarmed black youth by a white police officer.  A very timely and important read.

9.  I've read all of Robert Dugoni's Tracy Crosswhite thriller series, starting with My Sister's Grave, and have always enjoyed them.  Tracy Crosswhite is a Seattle police officer whose sister was murdered while they were teenagers.  While that entire series is worth reading, nothing about them prepared me for Sam Hell.  This book reminded me of A Prayer for Owen Meany, one of my all-time favorites.  Sam is born with ocular albinism, which makes his eyes appear red.  The book follows his life from childhood to his work as a doctor.  I loved the characters and was sad to leave them at the end of the book.

10.  Adverse Childhood Experiences (or ACEs) and trauma impact health for a lifetime.  More than 20 years after the initial study correlating trauma with long-term negative health consequences, research is finally emerging on how to counteract these impacts as an adult.  Dr. Burke Harris has an amazing TED talk on ACEs if you are interested!

Runners up by category

Fiction

The Institute by Stephen King
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Small Great Things by Jodi Picolut

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani 

Cemetery Road by Greg Iles

Young Adult Fiction

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Forever or a Long Long Time by  Caela Carter
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Fiction Series

Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch) by Stephen King
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith

Natchez Burning trilogy by Greg Iles

Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R King

FBI Profiler series by Lisa Gardner
Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths

Nonfiction

A Secret Gift by Ted Gup

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

The Distance Between Us by Renya Grande

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

My Beloved World by Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Evicted by Matthew Diamond

Wishing you a decade of great reading!

Three five-star reads in a row!

For some time, I've been rating the books I read on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest.  For me, a five-star read is good enough I'd read it again (or more likely, listen to it).  IIt's the kind of book where you are sad it's over, where you feel like you'll miss the characters. There aren't many books that fall into that category, but in the past two weeks, I read three books in a row that I rated five stars! 

I absolutely fell in love with Flavia de Luce, the protagonist of Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  At age 11, Flavia is fascinated with chemistry and has her own (very advanced) chemistry lab in the English manor house where she lives with her father and two older sisters.  I found Flavia's desire and ability to solve mysteries endearing.  I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Next, I read The Broken Circle, which was one of my free books from Amazon Prime for the month of February.  Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller details her life in Kabul, Afghanistan during the mid-1970s - a life of happiness, joy, and riches as well as her family's flight to India following the invasion by the USSR in 1979.  Simultaneously fascinating and heartbreaking.  This book grabbed my interest because there was a boy in my 6th grade class whose family had escaped from Afghanistan in this same time period. 

Finally, I was thrilled to return to the world of Dr. Mary Sutter, protagonist of one of my all-time favorite books My Name is Mary Sutter.  While this wasn't quite as good as the first book with the Civil War as the setting, I loved spending time with Mary once again. 

What are your recent five-star reads?

My favorite reads of 2018

I'm a little early this year, but there were so many books I loved reading this year that I wanted to go ahead and share.  I normally share my 10 favorite books of the year, but this year I have to expand that number.  Most years I read around 100 books, but this year I've read 126, so I figure I can have a few extra favorites!

My favorite book I read this year:

I've read all of Robert Dugoni's Tracy Crosswhite thriller series, starting with My Sister's Grave, and have always enjoyed them.  Tracy Crosswhite is a Seattle police officer whose sister was murdered while they were teenagers.  While that entire series is worth reading, nothing about them prepared me for Sam Hell.  This book reminded me of A Prayer for Owen Meany, one of my all-time favorites.  Sam is born with ocular albinism, which makes his eyes appear red.  The book follows his life from childhood to his work as a doctor.  I loved the characters and was sad to leave them at the end of the book.  

The most important book I read this year:

Adverse Childhood Experiences (or ACEs) impact health for a lifetime.  More than 20 years after the initial study correlating trauma with long-term negative health consequences, research is finally emerging on how to counteract these impacts as an adult.  Dr. Burke Harris has an amazing TED talk on ACEs if you are interested!  

The other non-fiction book that really touched my heart this year:

Dr. Bartolo lives and works on the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is the first stop for thousands of refugees fleeing Africa and the Middle East.  This is his heartbreaking story of the journey of these refugees to find safety.  Tears of Salt was an appropriate name for this book as I found myself crying for the tragedy of hate in our world.

I love young adult fiction, and six of my favorites this year came from that genre.

Similar to The Hate U Give, which was on my favorite list last year, Dear Martin deals with racial injustice and police relations.  A very powerful and timely read.

Pam Munoz Ryan has written some of my favorite books (particularly her young adult book Echo).  Riding Freedom is based on the life of orphan Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst who hid her gender and became the first woman to ride for the Pony Express and the first woman to vote in a presidential election in California.  

Ghost is the first of four books following four members of an elite middle school track team.  Castle Cranshaw (known as Ghost) has struggled with domestic violence between his parents and trouble at school.  Will his natural talent as a sprinter give him the motivation and path to a different life?  While I have enjoyed all four books (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu), this one is my favorite in the series.  

Lily brought this book home from the school library - wow.  It is a truly beautiful book, told mostly through the amazing illustrations of Brian Selznick (who also wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which became the movie Hugo).  A truly wonderful story!

I'm always up for a good story about foster care or adoption.  Far from the Tree follows three biological siblings who were raised in three different homes.  After giving up her own baby for adoption, teenager Grace begins the search for her biological mother.  Along the way, she discovers she has two biological siblings, Maya and Joaquin.  Grace and Maya were adopted a birth, while Joaquin has spent his life in foster care.  Together they will discover the true meaning of family.  

In 1947, a free India becomes two countries - India and Pakistan.  Tensions between Muslims and Hindus are high, and many Hindus in what becomes Pakistan feel they must flee their homes for their safety.  This story follows one family as they leave behind all they know becoming refugees in the new India.  Beautifully written as well as informative.

The rest of my favorites, in no particular order:

I love historical fiction, and Fiona Davis never disappoints.  Set at the famous Dakota apartment building in New York City, the story alternates between Sara Smythe, manager of the Dakota in 1884, and Bailey Camden, living in the Dakota in 1985.  

I love Kate Morton's books, which are also historical fiction.  The Clockmaker's Daughter follows multiple characters across more than 150 years as a London archivist attempts to solve a murder from the 1860s.

I loved this book!  So everyone knows I'm obsessed with Hamilton the musical.  Eliza Hamilton is my favorite charcter in the musical, but little is known about her life, as she was always in the shadows of her husband, Alexander.  This well-researched novel of historical fiction gave me the chance to know Eliza better and my respect for her just continues to grow.

Classic Stephen King with storytelling at its best.  The Mr. Mercedes trilogy is toward the top of my favorite King books (surpassed by The Green Mile and The Stand), and this book brings back some of my favorite characters from the trilogy.

Movie star Evelyn Hugo, now an octogenarian, decides to tell her life story to a young reporter.  Each section focuses on her life with one of her seven husbands.  Just a fun read!

Jaya, a journalist in New York City of Indian descent, travels to India following a third miscarriage.  Here she meets Ravi, her grandmother's former servant and confidant, who helps Jaya understand her mother and the history of her family. 


Wishing you happy reading in 2019!

Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

Okay, so I'm sure most of you know I have an obsession with Hamilton; An American Musical that began two years ago.  Lin-Manuel Miranda not only created "the best piece of art in any form" as Michelle Obama said, but he sparked an interest in our country's revolutionary history.  As a lover of American history, I felt well versed on the Civil War and times after and on the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but my knowledge of the Revolutionary War through the 1850s was pretty sparse.  Did I know who Alexander Hamilton was?  I could have told you he was on the $10, he was our first treasury secretary, and he was killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr (which I only knew from the Got Milk? commercial).  The musical inspired me to read Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton, but also his Washington biography (which I found more interesting and would highly recommend).

The first time I listened to the Hamilton soundtrack in April 2016, the character of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton grabbed me, and she hasn't let go.  Here's a woman who gave birth to EIGHT children and basically adopted a ninth yet she had no rights.  She helped fight the revolution in many ways, but she couldn't vote.  She lived 50 years after Hamilton died in the duel of 1804 and during that time, she fought against slavery and used her influence to help raise funds for the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children as well as helping to found the first private orphanage in New York City.  That orphanage still exist today and functions as a group home for foster youth as well as providing services to families and children.  However, she saw her most important role as maintaining the memory of Alexander's role in the founding of our county.  As the final song in the musical says, "Will they tell your story?"  And I would say as a country, we did not tell Hamilton's story.

I have always loved historical fiction, and My Dear Hamilton did not disappoint.  I was afraid I would find it in opposition to the character of Eliza I had created in my mind from the musical, but if anything, the book made me respect her even more.  As it said in the book, we all talk about the Founding Fathers, but what about the Founding Mothers?  I'm thankful that someone is finally telling Eliza's story.

My Favorite Books in 2017

This has been a light reading year for me - normally I read over 100 books in a year, but with more free time spent on crochet this year, I only read 76 books in 2017.  Here are my 9 favorite reads of the year.

1. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
For five days, two of the greatest religious leaders of our time (and close friends) shared their thoughts on finding joy despite a life that includes suffering.  Their overall message?  Relationships with others are paramount and joy comes through relationship. 

2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas focuses on the aftermath of the shooting of an unarmed black youth by a white police officer.  I love young adult fiction! 

3. Mississippi Blood by Greg Iles competes the Natchez Burning trilogy spectacularly.  It is well worth your time to read all three books (Natchez Burning and The Bone Tree are the first two).  The books feature Penn Cage, attorney and mayor of Natchez, who is faced with the accusation that his father, beloved doctor Tom Cage, killed his former nurse, an African-American woman.  As Penn digs into his father's past, he is drawn into the world of an elite group of the KKK called the Double Eagles.  A thrilling triology!

4. The Trapped Girl by Robert Dugoni is the fourth book featuring Detective Tracy Crosswhite.  Tracy was drawn to a career in law enforcement following the kidnapping and murder of her sister when they were teenagers.  I recommend reading the whole series (My Sister's Grave, Her Final Breath, In the Clearing, and the latest Close to Home). 

5. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik.  Fascinating to learn more about the life of one of our Supreme Court Justices, who spent the majority of her career fighting for gender equality. 

6. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, one of my favorite authors.  I'm a huge fan of historical fiction, and Lisa See is one of the best in this genre.  Li-Yan lives in a remote Chinese village.  More educated than most in their village, Li-Yan rejects many of their ancient customs.  When she becomes pregnant out of wedlock, she gives her baby up for adoption.  The novel focuses on Li-Yan's search for her daughter, adopted by an American family.  A beautiful and heartbreaking book.

7. Mrs. Saint and the Defectives by Julie Lawson Timmer.  I found this book through Kindle First Books - the free books available each month to prime users.  When divorcee Markie and her son move to a new town, they meet a rag-tag group of characters led by their new neighbor, Mrs. Saint.  These characters stole my heart!

 

8. Lisa Gardner's Quincy and Rainie series - Right Behind You is the seventh book in the series featuring FBI profiler Quincy and his wife, law enforcement officer Rainie.  It was the first I read in the series, and I found the characters fascinating, so I went back and read the other six books as well as many of Lisa Gardner's other books, thrillers all.

9. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn - another book of historical fiction based around women serving as spies in Europe during WWI and WWII.  Part mystery, part history, all magical!

Happy Reading!

My favorite reads in 2016

Each year, I look back on the books I've read and share my top 10 (or sometimes a few more!).  This year, I'm grouping my favorite books by category.  As you will see below, I struggled to limit the list to 10 this year, so here's my top 15!

Non-Fiction

Most books I read in this category pertained to poverty in America, since that's the focus of one of my jobs.  The three best books I read this year all fall in this area, and I can't recommend them highly enough.  I think each of them provides a new perspective on life in America, particularly in light of the Presidential election this year. 

JD Vance, graduate of Yale Law School, grew up in a steel town in southern Ohio.  His grandparents, the one constant in his tumultuous life, were recruited by the steel company to move with many others from their hometown in Kentucky, thus maintaining their "hillbilly" culture.  In addition to addressing the reasons why a candidate like Donald Trump appealed to many blue-collar workers struggling to make it financially, Vance addresses the impact of childhood trauma and the Adverse Childhood Experiences study.  PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!

As a living wage job becomes less attainable for those without a college degree, how do families survive financially?  What impact did welfare reform enacted under Bill Clinton have on the fiscal landscape of those at the bottom of the earning pool?  Could you live on just $2 a day per person in your family?  

Sociologist Matthew Desmond moved into two extremely low income housing areas in Milwaukee to understand how families on the edge struggle to maintain housing.  Without an address, how do you get a job?  What would you do to put a roof over your family's head?  All three of these books are heartbreaking, but also demonstrate the problem solving skills and resourcefulness of those living in poverty in America.

As you may know, I'm obsessed with Hamilton - both the musical and the man.  Although I don't think I would have liked him very much because of what is described as a very abrasive personality, I have huge admiration for all he accomplished to make our country what it is today.  Before the musical and my subsequent reading of this book, I could have told you Hamilton was on the $10 bill, he was the first Treasury Secretary, and he died in a duel with Vice-President Aaron Burr (which I knew from the Got Milk commercial!).  I think this may be the level of knowledge most people have about Hamilton's life.  This man set the stage for our economic vitality as a country and his greatest project, the Federal Reserve system, is still going strong.  One of my favorite lines from the musical sums it up for me, "America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me.  You let me make a difference, a place where even orphan immigrants can leave their fingerprints and rise up."

Young Adult Fiction

I love a good young adult book!  Many of these were recommended to me by my friend, and elementary school librarian, Audra Reed.   Please don't discount them just because they were written for a younger audience.  Two of these books, Fish in a Tree and Because of Mr. Terupt, address how an outstanding teacher can change the course of their students' lives.  

“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”  How do students suffering from learning disabilities like dyslexia manage to fool their teachers so they aren't considered "stupid?"  Ally has hidden her inability to read for years.  It takes a very special teacher to help her see how special she truly is.  Last year, I read One for the Murphys by this author, and I would highly recommend that book as well.

Seven 5th graders share the story of a year that changes them forever and the teacher who makes it happen. The first in a series.

I discovered Jennifer Holm this year with the publication of her latest young adult book based on her family history, Full of Beans.  All of her books are enjoyable, but my favorite was Turtle in Paradise about a young girl sent to live with family on Key West during the Great Depression.  

Do you love libraries?  Love to read?  Can you solve the literary clues to escape from Mr. Lemoncello's library?  Truly wonderful - this is one I will read again!

Fiction

There are books published at just the right time, and this is one of them.  Incredibly relevant to the discussion of race in America, Picoult once again delivers a story to make you explore your own beliefs.  As she asks in the book, would you know if your neighbor were a white supremacist?  Do we  ever know how another person truly thinks and feels?  

I always love a good sweeping historically based novel, and Gyasi's Homegoing did not disappoint!  Two half-sisters born in Ghana in the 1700s experience very different lives, and set the course for the lives of their families to come.  One sister is sold into slavery while the other is married to a British slave trader.  What is the legacy of slavery in these families?

I discovered this series this year and read them all!  What great mysteries set in England in the 19th century following the newly created Scotland Yard Murder Squad.  

Maybe I liked The Yard so much because it reminded me of one of my absolute favorite series, Laurie King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books.  The Murder of Mary Russell is the 14th book in this series and the best I've read in a long time.  If you haven't read these books yet, you really need to start with the first, The Beekeeper's Apprentice.  

In the final book of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, Stephen King is at his storytelling finest.  All three books are worth reading, but the third was my favorite.

Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs have appeared in numerous books by Jeffery Deaver, but this was the most engrossing I've read of this series in years.  A true page-turner!

My Favorite Book of the Year

This 2016 Newbery Honor book tops my list this year.  I know the author from some simple chapter books Lily loved about Tony Baloney the macaroni penguin, and while those books were fun, I wasn't sure what to expect from Echo.  A single harmonica makes its way across the world to change the course of three young lives.