Favorite Books I Read in 2020
I’ll be honest. I’m not a huge reader, but I try to read a few books every year. I’ll be honest again: When I say “read,” I usually mean listen to the audio book.
The Reasons I Love Audio Books
- I can do other things and still learn or be entertained by a book. I can fold laundry and read at the same time.
- I feel less time commitment to an audiobook; I’m OK with listening to a few minutes of a book, whereas I feel the need to read an entire chapter in one sitting.
- I often like the narrator’s voice, emphasis, and tone they add to the book.
- I can easily access my book as it’s available on my phone. I don’t have to carry around a book or e-reader.
I use Audible to download and listen to my audio books, they always have a great variety of books.
A few of the books I read in 2020
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Hate U Give is about a teenage girl who grapples with racism, police brutality, and activism after witnessing her black friend murdered by the police.
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery
Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hundred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, sixty-seven-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail.
A memoir of leadership and success: The executive chairman of Disney, Time’s 2019 businessperson of the year, shares the ideas and values he embraced during his fifteen years as CEO while reinventing one of the world’s most beloved companies and inspiring the people who bring the magic to life.
Boy & Going Solo by Roald Dahl
In Boy, Roald Dahl tells the story of his adventures and misadventures as a child: his involvement in the Great Mouse Plot of 1924; his first automobile ride, in which he nearly lost his nose; his many canings by Headmasters; and his vacations at home in Wales with his big family.
The fascinating story of Dahl’s life continues in this marvelous evocation of the author’s wartime exploits as a pilot in World War II. Told with the same irresistible appeal that has made Dahl one of the world’s best-loved writers, Going Solo brings the reader directly into the action and the mind of this brilliant man.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to out charm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
The Track Series by Jason Reynolds
Ghost. Patina. Sunny. Lu. A fast but fiery group of kids from wildly different backgrounds, chosen to compete on an elite track team. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves. Discover each of their stories in this complete collection of Jason Reynolds’s explosive New York Times bestselling Track series.
These are a few of my favorite books from 2020. I’m not going to give you a full review of them because I really just want you to decide if you like or dislike them on your own.
And if you think you’re too busy to read, check out Audible.
