December, 2020
December 6th, 2020, 4:27 p.m. - Bears vs. bulls
51. Us Against You (Fredrik Backman)
Up next: The Prized Girl (Amy K. Green)
December 12th, 2020, 3:06 p.m. - Once again, men are gross
52. The Prized Girl (Amy K. Green)
Up next: The Lost Night (Andrea Bartz)
December 18th, 2020, 8:19 p.m. - A history of violence
53. The Lost Night (Andrea Bartz)
Up next: Leave the World Behind (Rumaan Alam)
December 24th, 2020, 3:28 p.m. - Don't even bother with the blurb on the book jacket. It barely has anything to do with the story
54. Leave the World Behind (Rumaan Alam)
Up next: The Herd (Andrea Bartz)
December 29th, 2020, 7:59 p.m. - Fittingly, this takes place around Christmas
55. The Herd (Andrea Bartz)
Up next: When No One Is Watching (Alyssa Cole)
December 31st, 2020, 1:01 p.m. - The 14th Annual Year-End Book Round-Up
I read 55 books this year, which was only two more than last year, but I also survived a pandemic, so let's put that in perspective.
1. The Fact of a Body, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
The best: We Wish You Luck; Followers; Pretty Things; We Ride Upon Sticks; Solutions and Other Problems; Anxious People; S#!%, Actually
The worst: I Don't Want to Die Poor
The most memorable/impactful: Biased
Favorite characters: Pete Corley (Wanderers), Amat (Beartown/Us Against You), Benji Ovich (Beartown/Us Against You)
Least favorite characters: Rachel Fleishman (Fleishman Is in Trouble), Mr. Erdahl (Beartown), Elisabeth Zackell (Us Against You)
Book that most lived up to its hype: The Glass Hotel
Book that least lived up to its hype: Fleishman Is in Trouble
Book I was looking forward to that didn't disappoint: Solutions and Other Problems
Book I was looking forward to that did disappoint: Wow, No Thank You
Books I'm most looking forward to in 2021: Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson, Dream Girl (Laura Lippman), We Were Never Here (Andrea Bartz)
I liked this less than Beartown, though I did still like it. There were just too many people and too much going on. Give me a third in the series, though. I'm there.
Kind of slow, but great use of dual narratives. I didn't guess the killer, who never even crossed my mind as a suspect.
I liked this a lot more than I expected. Bartz is a great writer with some really terrific turns of phrase. Once again, I didn't guess the killer, though I did have some suspicions about that person.
This book is 20% Alam showing off his vocabulary, and that's the most interesting part. I don't get why everyone's raving over this.
There was more going on here than there should have been, but at least it moved at a good pace. I did guess the culprit, though.
2. Nice Try, Josh Gondelman
3. Good Girl, Bad Girl, Michael Robotham
4. A Field Guide to Awkward Silences, Alexandra Petri
5. The Better Liar, Tanen Jones
6. Thirteen, Steve Cavanagh
7. The Heap, Sean Adams
8. Under a Dark Sky, Lori Rader-Day
9. We Wish You Luck, Caroline Zancan
10. Wanderers, Chuck Wendig
11. Something That May Shock and Discredit You, Daniel Mallory Ortberg
12. Saint X, Alexis Schaitkin
13. The Lucky One, Lori Rader-Day
14. The Dark Corners of the Night, Meg Gardiner
15. Wow, No Thank You, Samantha Irby
16. Followers, Megan Angelo
17. I Don't Want to Die Poor, Michael Arceneaux
18. Chosen Ones, Veronica Roth
19. Take Me Apart, Sara Sligar
20. Fleishman Is in Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner
21. Pretty Things, Janelle Brown
22. Lakewood, Megan Giddings
23. We Ride Upon Sticks, Quan Barry
24. Biased, Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Ph.D.
25. Fairest, Meredith Talusan
26. Under the Rainbow, Celia Laskey
27. They Did Bad Things, Lauren A. Forry
28. Unfollow, Megan Phelps-Roper
29. The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker
30. Darling Rose Gold, Stephanie Wrobel
31. Pretty as a Picture, Elizabeth Little
32. Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why, Alexandra Petri
33. Safe, S.K. Barnett
34. The House in the Cerulean Sea, T.J. Klune
35. Weird but Normal, Mia Mercado
36. The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel
37. Are You Sleeping, Kathleen Barber
38. Home Before Dark, Riley Sager
39. Conviction, Denise Mina
40. Solutions and Other Problems, Allie Brosh
41. Don't Turn Around, Jessica Barry
42. The Night Swim, Megan Goldin
43. Anxious People, Fredrik Backman
44. Lock Every Door, Riley Sager
45. Hench, Natalie Zina Walschots
46. S#!%, Actually, Lindy West
47. The Silent Wife, Karin Slaughter
48. The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
49. My Life as a Villainess, Laura Lippman
50. Beartown, Fredrik Backman
51. Us Against You, Fredrik Backman
52. The Prized Girl, Amy K. Green
53. The Lost Night, Andrea Bartz
54. Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam
55. The Herd, Andrea Bartz