Here’s a teeny tiny blog post about what I read in December of 2020 followed by what I read in all of 2020! As always, all links within this post will go to support Twice Told Tales–my bookstore in McPherson Kansas!

What I read in December of 2020:

Very similar to my last post about what I read in November of 2020, I thought we were going to have another month with a big fat “nothing” in that space. Which, I can’t stress this enough, I was completely unbothered by. The holiday season in retail is challenging enough in a normal year. In 2020… ha! No space in my brain for books of my own.

And then just after Christmas, I started listening to the audiobook of When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole and I was hooked so quickly. I finished this book in about three days and loved every minute of it. I feel like Cole did what Kiley Reid did so well with Such a Fun Age which is using story telling to tell white people about themselves. I guess, that’s a quick way to say what I think that they did so magnificently. Sometimes when someone says, “this is an important book to read”, I hear “I’m assigning you homework.” But Alyssa Cole (and Kiley Reid, too) dropped us into an incredible, suspenseful, thriller and got us hooked and there were several times when I looked at what the villains (or even the people that you aren’t sure are villains?) were doing and I was like, “Oh yikes, I’ve totally done/ absolutely do that! Time to pivot.” I also learned so much about the history and power of Black communities and Red Lining and all that. All wrapped up in a thriller. Genius.

Also the ending was ASTOUNDING! I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!!

Okay so this wasn’t such a teeny tiny review. If you want to listen to When No One is Watching, you can grab it on Libro.fm. If you want to read the print version, here’s a link to buy it from our Bookshop page!

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What I Read in 2020

I had a goal to finish 50 books in 2020. I finished 42, which, I gotta say, is pretty good considering I had a brain that turned most words on a page into alphabet soup.
Here are five of my favorite reads from 2020 in no particular order.

Just FYI, since I instated my strict, do-not-finish-books-you-hate policy, most of the books I completed the past year were all 4 and 5 star reads! Which makes picking my favorites really challenging but it makes reading books really fun.

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
Grab it on audiobook. Snag the print version.
Every night on New Years Eve, Oona jumps to another period of her life. Sometimes it’s forward, sometimes it’s backwards, every time she’s living through a year that she’s never been to yet. Through this book, she lives her whole life–just out of order. Filling in gaps. It was hilarious and light and also kind of sad and poignant at times as well.

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Grab it on audiobook. Snag the print version.
This book tells the story of Ana–the wife of Jesus. Usually I don’t care for historical fiction–especially if we’re talking ancient history. But Ana’s story gripped me from start to finish. I blew through this one so fast–even though it’s considerably longer than most books I like to read. It wasn’t until near the end that I remembered what happened to Jesus… and yeah. I cried like a baby. I straight up wept when I was finishing it up at work. But it’s not all sad. Ana is powerful and subversive and incredible.

Mercy House by Alena Dillon
Grab it on audiobook. Snag the print version.
This one was kind of an unexpected love for me. I downloaded it on a whim–I had a roadtrip coming up and this book was long enough to last the whole trip! So I downloaded it and fell in love. It’s about a group of nuns living in modern day Brooklyn and working to maintain their safe house for women who need help. We do jump back in time to see what made these nuns into the badasses that they are today and we see the hurt they’ve felt through the church that they’re so dedicated to. It’s another story of powerful women with untold stories.

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong
Grab it on audiobook. Snag the print version.
I’ve always said that stories make change and I feel like this book sets out to do that, too. Disability is such a broad category–affecting so many potential different parts of each individual person. No one’s story is the same as anyone else’s. This book sheds light on just a few different stories–which not only showed me all the different ways I could make changes in order to be more adaptable to disabled humans, but it also gave me permission to explore various ways that disability might be impacting my own life.

Wandering in Strange Lands by Morgan Jerkins
Grab it on audiobook. Snag the print version.
Morgan Jerkins goes on an incredible (literal) journey to trace the paths that her ancestors took as they migrated around the United States post-slavery. This is one of those books that showed me how much I absolutely do not know when it comes to the history of Black Americans–and I don’t think that is accidental either. I think it was intended that I know as little of the truth of American history as possible. And that’s why I’m 37 years old, sitting on my couch, listening to Morgan Jerkins tell me the story of her family (and herself), gape-mouthed and amazed. I especially loved listening to Jerkins read this in her own voice–so much so that I reached out to her on Instagram to tell her so. And she wrote me back about how nervous she was to record her own voice! I like her a lot and I want to read everything she ever writes forever. She dips her toes in so many different topics and genres!

That isn’t all the books I loved but I wanted to talk about a few of my favorite books that not everyone else is talking about. Y’all don’t need to hear me talking about how Untamed was awesome–everyone else already did that.

LOL Nothing.

Well, I didn’t finish anything. At all. Not even audiobooks! I’m not going to meet my Goodreads reading goal but, like, that’s fine. It’s just a number I made up. It has felt really refreshing to let myself off the hook.

This was a light reading month! I made my way through three books (two of them I finished in the past few days) and I’m not mad about it at all. According to Goodreads, I’m still on track to reach my goal of reading 50 books before the end of the year!

(Okay, so I just checked and I need to read 9 books in the next two months to meet my goal. So… we’ll see! COVID brain is real and not allowing me a whole lot of attention for books. If I don’t meet my goal, I won’t be upset about it.)

As usual, every link in this post will help support our bookstore! But if you want to help Jeff Bezos colonize the moon, you can order your books from him. I won’t judge you.

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Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Get the paperback copy here.
Get the audiobook version here.

What do you know? Another romance book! I’m telling you–my brain wants to read romance these days! It’s predictable. It’s fun. I know it’s going to end well–and this one really did. I read the first one in this series last Christmas and fell in love with Talia Hibbert’s writing. And Dani Brown was such a fun character. A little witchy. Super bi. I’m in!! This delivered and I gave it 5 stars.
Fun fact about me, I can’t listen to romance novels on audiobook. They make me blush too much. So I read all my romance novels in hard copy and I’ve already got another one on deck. Up next for me is Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo.

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
Snag the hardcover copy here.
Get the audiobook version here.

This book was super fun and super spooky and super queer and super, super satisfying. It’s a wild ride–it goes back in time between the early 1900’s where we learn about the Brookhants Boarding School for Girls and tragedies that befell students there and present day where some Hollywood filmmakers are telling the story of what happened at Brookhants. This book was longer than I usually listen to–and I had to listen to it, I had 8 hours in the car alone for a road trip I took this month.
Someone asked me if this was a ghost story and my honest answer was, “Um… I… don’t… know?”
Even though I listened to this on audiobook, I’d love to get it in print because I’ve heard the hardcover copy has a lot of illustrations–not unlike those in turn-of-the-century boarding school texts. FIVE STARS!

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the 21st Century edited by Alice Wong
Get the paperback version here.
Here’s the audiobook version.

I read this book with a book club that I’m a part of. It’s a collection of essays written by different folks who experience disability in one form or another. What I liked about this book is that not everyone who is included in this book is a prominent figure or Capital A Activist. Some were just regular people talking about their regular lives. I think telling our stories is how we make change. And that’s why I’m happy to keep reading these stories and passing them along to others.
This book opened up something brand new in me–something that I’m excited to keep learning about and exploring. Five stars!

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Welp! That’s what I read this month! Did you read anything that you really loved?

Well, it finally happened. I skipped writing about what I read for a month. But in my defense it’s just because I didn’t read anything in July. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I read one, singular book in July. And I just didn’t feel like writing a whole post about it. So here we are… a look at what I read in July and August of 2020.

But first… anything to fill you in on? Let’s see..

OH! Twice Told Tales (our used bookstore in McPherson, KS) turned five years old this past weekend! We had a celebration at the store–not as exciting as we had originally fantasized about but it was still fun. And highly successful! We’ve had a few pretty good days since The Pandemic hit, but it felt good to have a really freakin’ great day for once. Whew! Happy Birthday to us!

Okay onto the books! Oh, but a reminder. All of the books that are linked here will go to further support our store. If you’re not a fan of affiliate links or helping small businesses, feel free to seek these books out on Amazon. (LOL)

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In July I read:

Most Likely by Sarah Watson
Buy on Audiobook.
Buy in print or e-book.

I gave this one five stars! I don’t often give YA novels 5-stars but this one really just hit me in the best place. The book starts out far in the future where a woman is taking the oath of office to become President of the United States. In the chapters following, we go back in time (to 2019) and follow a group of best friends who are navigating their senior year of high school. We know that one of these girls will grow up to become Madame President but we won’t find out until, literally, the very last page.
I hope she’s not reading this right now because I’ll probably send a copy of this to my oldest niece for Christmas.

IN AUGUST I READ:

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
Buy on Audiobook.
Buy in print or e-book.

Another five star read for me!! What we have here is a really fun, light read. So, basically, a plus-size blogger snags a spot on The Bachelorette (or, whatever it is that they called their version in this alternate universe). What I like about the fat representation here is that, yeah, she has some insecurities but that isn’t the main focus. She’s a woman who’s proud of her body and proud of her life and also is ready to make some changes in her world! Now, I’ve never seen an episode of The Bachelorette but I know enough to understand the vibe of this book. It was so fun to read about her outfits and how she was relating to the people she met on the show.
I don’t know if Kate Stayman-London is reading my blog or not (lol she isn’t) but just in case, I want to use this opportunity to beg her to write a sequel based on Bea’s BFF. I wanted more of her on these pages!

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Buy it on Audiobook.
Buy it in print or e-book.

Yet another five stars!! I think I’ve just been very easy to please this summer. This was just a classic psychological thriller. A wedding takes place on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. Something happens and someone did it but we don’t know what or who for quite a while. It’s riveting! Also, I super recommend this one on audiobook because there are so many incredible accents.

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi
Buy on Audiobook.
Buy in print or e-book.

I gave this one four stars. I liked it a lot. Kwame Onwuachi has so many stories and has lived in so many different places in his short life. It’s such an exciting book and, honestly, I really couldn’t wait to find out where he was going to go next and what would lead him to his dream of owning his audacious restaurant in Washington D.C.
The only thing that kept it from getting five stars, for me, was basically just the fact that while there was no shortage of stories to tell, I couldn’t feel a ton of insight gleaned from those stories. Which is my favorite part of a memoir, to be honest. I hopes he keeps writing, though. I’ll keep reading it as he ages.

I also tried to read Luster by Raven Leilani but I couldn’t finish it. It’s not bad! It’s just not to my taste. I think that if you loved books like My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, you might like it? I can appreciate it but I do not do well with books that focus on someone’s mental health descent–I can watch tv shows (in fact, I just finished “I May Destroy You” on HBO and it is soooooo good!) and I can watch movies but I can not do it with books lest I get dragged down, as well.

And that’s what I read!! What did you read?