It’s been a busy week and time of year for me, and I stalled out a little but with Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen. This was an interesting thriller about a doctor who hits and kills a man and tries to hide his actions from his detective wife. All the makings of this thriller are ones I usually enjoy. However, the pace was slow and I never really got into the plot or the characters. I read to the end because I wanted to see how it wrapped up, but I didn’t love it.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid was another great 2020 read. I LOVED it. Reese Witherspoon chose it as a Hello Sunshine read and I have seen it in my Instagram feed over and over for the past few weeks, so I BOUGHT it. Those who read this know I NEVER buy books. I am so glad I picked this one up. Amazon describes: “Emira Tucker is a 25 year-old living in Philadelphia with two part-time jobs (typist and babysitter) and no health insurance. One night the mother of the child for whom she babysits calls upon her in an emergency, and Emira—clad in her “going out” clothes—takes the toddler to a yuppie grocery store, only to be accused of kidnapping by a security guard and fellow shopper. You see, Emira’s employers are white, and she’s African American.” Other complications ensue. This is a real page-turner and the only reason I put it down was that it was a busy week and I fell asleep. I highly recommend this one. 2020 is starting off really well on the book front!

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick was a delightful, quick, and enjoyable read reminiscent of A Man Called Ove and The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper (also by Patrick). In The Library of Lost and Found, Martha struggles with not always saying yes. Volunteering to help people all the time has meant lost love, overwhelming anxiety, and crippling stuff-collection. It takes a mysterious book showing up on her doorstep (well, really the stoop of the library where she volunteers) to shake her life up and, ultimately, bring her happiness. This is a sappier read, but I was about due for a simpler story. I’d recommend it as a good palate-cleanser or beach selection.

I’m not sure where I read about Mostly Dead Things by Kristin Arnett, but it’s been on a number of end-of-year lists. While, ostensibly a story about a taxidermy shop and a woman who has taken it over from her father who committed suicide, it is also a story of family, love, and loss. I fell into this story right away as it is unique and unusual, but the descriptions of blood and taxidermy-ing were a bit much and the main character careened around in life in a way that was challenging for me to understand. So, overall, this one wasn’t much to my liking.

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:

Happy New Year! And boy did I start 2020 off with a bang! I woke up late, and stayed in bed much of the morning of January 1 to finish this marvelous book. While I began The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall on December 31, I couldn’t wait to continue in 2020. About a quarter in, I wasn’t digging it too much. But right thereafter, I fell in love. It’s a wonderful story of two families, both husbands who became ministers. It’s really the tale of relationships, between humans and between humans and God. But, it’s so much more than that. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I love a family saga and this is a shortened one that was so satisfying that I feel like reading the beginning again because I’m sad I didn’t get into it earlier. I am so glad I stuck with it to declare my first book in the new year as a FIVE STAR book. Grab it – you won’t regret it!

All This Could be Yours by Jami Attenberg focuses on the Tuchman family whose patriarch has had a heart attack. One child, Alex, returns to say goodbye to her father with whom she has a fraught relationship. The other child, Gary, does not return, his relationship with his father being even more fraught. The story is told from multiple perspectives and is interesting with possible mob connections and a problematic parent relationship, but some characters aren’t fully integrated and there were story elements which I didn’t feel were fully fleshed out. Overall, I enjoyed the story and it was a quick read, but it wasn’t a top read of the year.

I was really excited to find Erin Morgenstern’s newest, The Starless Sea in the new books at the library and eager to get started on the 500 page tome. And, boy was I disappointed. Fantasy is certainly not my favorite and this one bounced around back and forth and in and out of time in a way that was, at first confusing, and then, as it became more interesting, fine. Amazon describes it: “Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student…when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages…he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues…that lead him…through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth.” Even though I finished this one, I really only kept reading to find out the ending (which I liked). However, I can’t say I really enjoyed it overall.

I have heard amazing things about Waking Lions, also by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, but The Liar was available at the library first, so I started with her second book rather than her debut. If nothing else, this one grabs you just because of the cover. I liked this somewhat quiet story about a teenager who made one simple mistake that spiraled out of control. It makes you think a lot about the truth and how people spin things for their own gain.