I Finished 52 Books This Year...So Far
I did it! I completed my goal outlined earlier this year here, of reading 52 books this year!
This has been a goal for me for the past three years because I felt like I had lost my love of reading and was trying to get it back. When I was little I would just devour books. Books were far better than most TV and movies, and they were my preferred Christmas gift. Each year, I’d come out of Christmas with a stack of ten or twenty books and I would have finished them all by the time winter break was over.
But of course, as school gets harder, the reading gets drier and I started to lose my love for it. I’d still read regularly but I found myself drifting towards other forms of media more and more often. So a couple years ago I decided to commit to getting my love of reading back.
I’m tempted to caveat this accomplishment by saying that it was a little easier because of the pandemic - a lot of extra time and all - but it’s still a big accomplishment for me and I’m going to keep reading - I even finished by 53rd book this morning!
To anyone that wants to increase their reading - here is how I read so much --
I carved out time every day to read. Before the pandemic, it was during my train commute, and in lockdown, it’s part of my morning routine at home. Of course, I’m allowed to read at other times, but this ensured I read at least a little bit every single day, rather than just in random spurts.
I read whatever the hell I wanted. The full list is posted below and you’ll see that it’s all over the place. I switch genres constantly because my taste changes over the course of the year. I also found it helpful to switch between fiction and nonfiction to keep things feeling fresh. Don’t feel like you should only be reading ‘serious’ books. Reading should be fun, so read what YOU want.
I read one book at a time. I know some people find it helpful to read multiple books at once so they don’t get bored, but for me, it was helpful to pursue each book one by one. It also allowed me to completely immerse myself in each one without getting confused or distracted by another.
I took book recommendations throughout the year. I had a list of books when I started but over the course of the year, that list morphed and it morphed frequently based on recommendations from others. I don’t take book recs from just anyone, but the people I do take them from, I take them seriously and often times, I’d make a recommended book the next book on my list. This not only kept me excited about what I read, but it also gave me another way to connect with people over a shared book.
This is more of a disclaimer, but I am a very fast reader. I like words and am able to consume knowledge very easily when it is written down so that helped my pacing a lot I’m sure.
Below, you’ll find a full list of the books I read, their authors, the page count, a one sentence summary, if it was a recommendation, and my own personal enjoyment rating. The rating is out of 5 and it is purely based on how compelling I found the book to be, and nothing else.
And in case you don’t want to read the whole list, here are some of the highlights -
Most interesting book I read:
This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (202) - an incredibly interesting tale of two time traveling spies on opposite sides of a war who develop a relationship. Recommended. 5/5. This was the most interesting structure for a story I’ve ever encountered. I felt like I knew nothing about what was going on, but I still understood everything.
The book I finished in one day because I couldn’t put it down:
The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino (298) - An amazing crime thriller that analyzes one crime from the perspective of multiple characters. Recommended. 5/5. I don’t know what it was about this book. On the surface it seems like just another crime thriller, but it was incredible.
Best New Series:
Grishaverse. Below you’ll find 6 books that take place inside this fictional universe by Leigh Bardugo, and I loved them ALL. I tore through these in a matter of days. They are all so well written that I picked up all the author’s other books as well. The characters are what really pull you in and keep you attached. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a fantasy series that isn’t too heavy but super satisfying.
And now, here is my goal winning list of 52 books in 2020:
Beneath a Scarlet Sky - Mark Sullivan (591) - a historical memoir about one Italian man’s role in WWII. A good story, but I find WWII overdone at this point. Recommended. 3/5
The Cruel Prince - Holly Black (373) - the first in a popular YA series about a rebellious human girl living with the fae. Recommended. 4/5
The Wicked King - Holly Black (358) - the second book to the Cruel Prince. 4/5
The Queen of Nothing - Holly Black (308) - the third book to the Cruel Prince. This one takes a lot of liberties with character development but in true YA fashion they are all very fast reads. 3/5
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid (390) - a gorgeous fictional tale of an old Hollywood starlet and her rise and fall in the industry. Recommended. 5/5
Daisy Jones and the Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid (352) - same author as the above, so similar vibes, but this time with music in the 60’s. Recommended. 5/5
Daily Rituals - Mason Currey (278) - an analysis of the routines of some of the most famous creators ever. 5/5
Final Girls - Riley Sager (368) - a thriller about a girl who survived a mass murder. Her past catches up with her and tension ensues. 3/5
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (286) - Gladwell tackles extraordinary humans and tries to figure out exactly what makes outliers tick. 4/5
Greek to Me - Mary Norris (287) - the story of one woman’s love of Greece and the Greek language 2/5
21 Lessons for the 21st Century - Yuval Noah Harari (372) - Harari tackles some of the biggest questions we might face in the next century as a human race. 5/5
What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty (495) - A fictional novel about a woman named Alice who suffers an accident and forgets the previous near decade of her life. 5/5
Bella Figura - Kamin Mohammadi (285) - One woman’s journey moving to Italy and the lessons she learned in changing her lifestyle 4/5
The Beauty Myth - Naomi Wolf (349) - An analysis of beauty standards and how they shape our world and our ideas of ourselves 5/5
Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng (338) - A great novel tackling race, family, and how decisions you make trickle down to your loved ones. 5/5
Education - Tara Westover (335) - a memoir from a woman who grew up in the outskirts of society, and her transition away from that life. 4/5
The Au Pair - Emma Rous (373) - a thriller about a woman who services as an au pair for an affluent family and the drama that she gets wrapped up in. 3/5
City of Girls - Elizabeth Gilbert (470) - a fun historical fictional novel detailing the coming of age of a couple of girls who move to NY in the 1940’s. Recommended. 4/5
This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (202) - an incredibly interesting tale of two time traveling spies on opposite sides of a war who develop a relationship. Recommended. 5/5
Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips (278) - a light novel that imagines what the greek gods would be like in modern day society 3/5
Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney (310) - a novel about a young woman navigating adulthood confronting her own vulnerabilities as exposed by an older, richer couple and her more outspoken best friend. 3/10
Dear Girls - Ali Wong (217) - Ali Wong’s memoir written as letters to her daughters. Incredibly hilarious and real 5/5
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins (517) - another hunger games installment, detailing President’s Snow’s origin story 3/5
Atomic Habits - James Clear (307) - a self help book detailing how to use your habits and stack them to improve your life incrementally over time 3/5
After I Do - Taylor Jenkins Reid (338) - a cute novel about the dissolution of a marriage 5/5
Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo (466) - the first in a duology about a ring of criminals committing their most dangerous heist yet. Part of the Grishaverse 5/5
Crooked Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo (547) - the sequel to Six of Crows 5/5
Shadow & Bone - Leigh Bardugo (358) - the first in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, outlining the savior of a kingdom from perpetual darkness. Part of the Grishaverse 5/5
Siege and Storm - Leigh Bardugo (437) - the sequel to Shadow & Bone 5/5
Ruin and Rising - Leigh Bardugo (421) - the sequel to Siege and Storm 5/5
Attached - Amir Levine & Rachel Heller (294) - An analysis of relationships through the theory of attachment. Recommended. 5/5
King of Scars - Leigh Bardugo (507) - Another Grishaverse book, this time about a Prince’s rise to power. 5/5
Maybe in Another Life - Taylor Jenkins Reid (343) - A sliding doors type novel that analyzes the impact one simple decision can have on the rest of your life 4/5
One True Loves - Taylor Jenkins Reid (256) - A novel that explores what might have been and what you might do were you given a second chance 4/5
Essentialism - Greg McKeown (247) - a self help book about how to strip your life down to the essentials and how that could exponentially increase your happiness. Recommended. 5/5
Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria - Beverly Tatum (505) - an analysis on systemic racism in the U.S. from the general perspective of the US education system 4/5
Ninth House - Leigh Bardugo (467) - The first in what will probably be a series about a girl who becomes part of a magic order at a major university 5/5
Through the Language Glass - Guy Deutscher (305) - A analysis of why the world appears different in different languages. 5/5
Irresistible - Adam Alter (355) - an analysis of the internet, social media, and online gaming and how those technologies enable and encourage addiction. 5/5
Has China Won? - Kishore Mahbubani (312) - a great analysis of the advantages and disadvantages that both China and the U.S. have in their relationship with each other 5/5
Range - David Epstein (328) - Similar to Outliers mentioned above, Epstein tries his hand at explaining extraordinary individuals, but with the opposite conclusionj. Recommended. 5/5
Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall (303) - AN analysis that breaks down ten maps of the world and explains just how much geography informs politics and societal development. Recommended. 3/5
The Future Is Asian - Parag Khanna (365) - An analysis of Asia and it’s growing socioeconomic power on a world scale. Recommended 5/5
Valley of the Dolls - Jacqueline Susann (443) - A super delicious fictional novel about three women (closely based on real starlets) and their journeys with fame and fortune in the Hollywood industry. Recommended. 4/5
The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino (298) - An amazing crime thriller that analyzes one crime from the perspective of multiple characters. Recommended. 5/5
Debt - David Graeber (534) - An analysis of the concept of debt and its role in history and society - not only from an economic angle, but also from a religious and anthropological angle as well. 5/5
Lost Connections - Johann Hari (311) - An analysis of depression and anxiety and why they might be manifestations for more than just chemical imbalances in the brain 5/5
The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett (345) - A super interesting novel about twins who are half black and half white. Each twin decides to pursue living her life as full black or full white and the novel explores how their stories unfold because of that decision. 4/5
My Lovely Wife - Samantha Downing (392) - A gone girl-esque novel about a couple who enjoys killing women as their bonding activity 4/5
A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Mass (420) - A YA novel yet again about a rebellious girl who has to live with the fae. 3/5
Draft No. 4 - John McPhee (193) - An explanation of how to write true nonfiction 3/5
Out of the Gobi - Weijian Shan (496) - A memoir of one man’s coming of age during the Chinese cultural revolution and subsequent career in the US. Recommended. 5/5
If you have any book recommendations, feel free to send them to me, my new goal for 2020 is to see just how many books I can read before the end of the year!
How I felt after shutting that 52nd book…fabulous