With the added time at home in 2020, I read more books than I have in one year in a long time. I generally only read at bed time and this year found myself doing some more reading on the weekends than I normally would, especially when nearing the end of a good book! I shared the books from the first half of this year back in the summer, and here are the remainder that I read in 2020, picking up in order where I left off last time.
13. The Day The World Came to Town by Jim Defede - this book told the stories of Gander, Newfoundland following the attacks of 9/11. I had seen the musical Come From Away early in the year (luckily we got it in before everything shut down) and really enjoyed learning more about some of the characters that were featured in the story. It was a very enjoyable read and I recommend it to anyone who wants a reminder of the goodness in people.
14. The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens - this book was recommended by another blogger and it was a great suspense book. I stayed up too late reading this because I just couldn't stop at the end of a chapter! There were a few twists and turns and it was a quick and entertaining story. I especially liked the relationship of the main character to his Autistic brother.
15. The Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb - Another WWII story that sucked me right in. It was a mix of love story and hardship and I was in this for every page. This one was written by two women who worked apart and sent each other chapters overnight. I can't imagine how they put their two writing styles into one book and made it seem so fluid. It was one of the highlights from the year for sure and I would recommend it if you love a good war/romance.
16. The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlin - A time travel book about a woman who leaves the 1970s to go forward in time in hopes of a life-saving surgery for her unborn child. There were a few surprises in this book and some things that the reader could see coming, but the character couldn't know about, given important historical events. Another good read if you can suspend the disbelief on how she travels through time.
17. Little Family by Ishmael Baeh - I found this one at the library on the "new releases" shelf and it looked interesting and also a little out of my normal go-to. I thought it would be a good book to stretch my mind and it was. It follows a small group of orphaned children in Africa as they struggle to live together and stay safe. It was another good book and I have continued to think about those children and what happened to them after the book ended.
18. We Met in December by Rosie Curtis - I went from a pretty heavy book to a very light one - this was a fun, easy romance set in London about a group of housemates all trying to come of age. There is some romance and some family drama, but it mostly centers around romance. If you're looking for a light read that doesn't require any deep thought, this one would be a good read.
19. It's Easy Edna, it's downhill all the way by Edna Dercum - my mom gave me this book probably 15-20 years ago and it has been in the basement since we moved into the house. I was between library books waiting for those in the queue to come up and wandered down to pull out this one. This is an account of the early ski resort days in Colorado. I enjoyed reading about the locations and the stories that went along with those early ski lodge days and it made me think a lot about the lodge that we stayed in when we we skiing and the family who built it. It was not a very well written book, and wasn't something that kept you turning the pages, but I am glad to have finally read it.
20. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty - many of you have probably already read this or watched the series on TV. I hadn't done either and when my friend offered to share her copy, I took her up on it. I've read a few other Liane Moriarty books and this one was just as entertaining as those - twists and turns and unexpected villains and heroes. It was another good page-turner as I wanted to know what happened next.
21. The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen-Loigman - another book that I added to my list based on another reader's recommendation and boy am I glad it was available! This story is about two brother's families who live in the same house - one with all girls and one with all boys. When the Sisters-In-Law find themselves pregnant and giving birth at the same time, they make a decision that is meant to be a secret and changes the course of their lives. I really enjoyed this book and thought a lot about relationships - spousal, friend, mother/child, and aunt/niece during this book. It was a relatively quick read (probably also because I was on vacation by this point and stayed up later reading!) and I recommend it.
22. I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez - this book was on a list recommended through my library. It is set in southern California and centers around a girl in high school whose sister has just died. It works through what happens in her life after the death of her "perfect" sister. She is struggling that she doesn't meet the same expectation of her parents and it is a coming-of-age story where she must figure out how to make decisions for her own life, but also maintain a relationship with her parents. This was a YA book and I have to say, I do enjoy reading YA from time to time as I think it gives me a few more insights into my kids' lives and some of the challenges they face today that didn't exist when I was growing up. This was my last book for the year and it was a good one - not one that will stay with me for a long time like some of the others on the list, but a solid read.
Hope you enjoyed seeing what I read through the second half of this year - I will be tracking my books once again this year and hope to get through a few more on my long list of "want to read" books.
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