50 Books Read in 2020

My reading goal in 2020 was to read 40 books. I didn’t actually set this goal until I was halfway through 2020 and I had already read 20 books. So I thought it would be cute to read 20 and 20 books. Get it? 20(books)20(books).

Welllll, I met that goal a little sooner than I planned. Now I’ve read 45 books and it’s only the end of November (Edit: I read 50 by the end of December).

I’m going to be honest with you, some of these were books that I reread, but I still count them because I did read them this year. Either way, I haven’t had the head space to read this many books since I was a kid. Back then, I used to read constantly because I had a looooot of free time (no internet, no cable, strict guardian). I was that kid who would stay up late reading under the covers with a tiny book light.

Now I’m the adult who does that! Instead of my grandma poking her head into my room to tell me to go to sleep, my husband rolls over to tell me. I haven’t changed much. 🙂

You might be wondering how I managed to read 50 books this year. It’s pretty simple—I graduated college (aka, finally had the time and the space in my brain for fun books) and then prioritized reading. Books are a form of self care for me, so I started making time to read before bed each night. It didn’t take long for it to stick and now it’s part of my nightly routine. So if you want to read more books (which I highly recommend), just make it a priority.

Anyway, here are the books I’ve read this year:

Okay, so I read 50 books, but which ones did I love the most?

MY TOP 7 OF THE NEW-TO-ME BOOKS:

*not necessarily in any order, because I’m really bad at ranking books.

1 // The Last Girl series – so so good! I love me some YA dystopian society, so if you also love that, then I think you’ll like this series.

2 // Four Dead Queens – it might be because I JUST read it, but gosh I loved it. It was dystopian society with some murder mystery and romance.

3 // Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda – ok I watched the movie twice in one day and then read the book in 5 hours a couple days later haha. It’s just beautiful and it kind of changed the way I see some things. I know this won’t be a favorite for some of my audience but that’s ok. I loved it.

4 // The Host – ugh so good. I wish I’d read it years ago but I just love the main character so so much. And the story. Another dystopian society gem.

5 + 6 // The Siren + the Betrothed – I’m lumping these together because they’re by the same author and I love her and everything she writes. If you don’t know about Kiera Cass, you should go read all her books right now. I actually read the Siren at the end of last year and then again at the beginning of this year because it’s so good.

7 // Time of Our Lives – this one is YA but not dystopian, but I adored this story. I fell in love with the characters and related to their stories a little bit. It’s just a fantastic romance slash coming of age story.

AND now for my favorite of all time books, because why not?

MY FAVORITES OF ALL TIME:

3 // The Selection series – like I said, Kiera Cass is amazing and you should read everything she writes. She’s a Christian but she doesn’t write Christian stuff, which I think is cool and needed. Her writing is beautiful, her characters are so real, and her stories are unique. The Siren has also made it high on my list, but since it’s also by her, I’ll leave it here.

4 // The Hunger Games – I read this in high school and loved it. I read it again this year and loved it, but also noticed so much parallel with our current society and it’s scary but incredibly insightful. Some books we read as kids are just so different when you read them as adults.

5 // Harry Potter – after all this time? always. Yeah, I will forever love the Harry Potter books.

If you want to know my personal review of any of the books above, leave a comment below or on my Instagram post! I’m always happy to chat about books. 🙂 You can also befriend me on Goodreads! I’m going to try to be more intentional about adding books I’ve read and writing reviews of them there.