If You Want to Make God Laugh was another winner for the start of 2020. I recently read Bianca Marais’ first book, Hum if You Don’t Know the Words, and really enjoyed it (five stars!). This was another story mired in apartheid, and about it in many ways, but also not focused on it. Three lives intersect in this one (and are related to those in Hum) – sisters, Ruth and Delilah, brought back together by circumstance in their older years, though they have been estranged, and Zodwa, who is pregnant and whose mother is dying. I love the way Marais weaves together the characters and thought this was another great one (though I liked Hum slightly better). I hope my reading in 2020 continues in this bang-up fashion!

Every year, at the end of the year, I look back on all the books I have read the year before and list my favorites overall. This year, I again topped my 100 books in a year goal and made it to 123. The added bonus of this post is that you don’t have to bother to read any of my other posts over the course of the year.

There were ten five-star books this year:

And here’s the bulkier list of 24 books that I gave four-and-a-half stars: