I have way more but this was catchier ;P
I was very intentional about the books I chose to read in December since November was such a bust, and it worked out GREAT—I can’t wait to share my December reading recap, and my 2019 reading recap for that matter—so to carry the momentum, I decided to put together a preliminary TBR to guide me into 2020 with intention.
I’ve experimented with sharing TBRs in the past. On one hand, TBRs aren’t that useful since I often end up disregarding them and reach for whatever else I happen to be in the mood for instead. Additionally, my own TBR probably isn’t that useful to anyone else because we all have the books on our own never-ending TBRs to contend with. On the other hand, TBRs can be a great way to find reading buddies. So if any of these books are on your TBR as well, let me know! I’m always down for a buddy read!
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Classic
The dystopian classic trio: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and 1984 by George Orwell. I finally read Brave New World in 2019, and now it’s time for The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984 in 2020. I’ve especially been dying to read The Handmaid’s Tale as I’ve forbidden myself to watch the show until I’ve done so.
In 2019 I thrifted a first edition of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, remembering that a few friends told me it’s one of their all-time favourites. Now that I’ve got the book, I don’t want to be a poser, so I gotta read the book!
Literary fiction
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt has been one of my all-time favourites since 2015, and I’ve been meaning to read more of her work ever since. In 2019 I thrifted a copy of The Secret History, so I definitely intend to read that in 2020. Ideally I’d get around to The Little Friend as well, but baby steps!
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara seems like every-literary-fiction-lover-on-bookstagram’s favourite book. The book had been on my radar even before I joined bookstagram this year, but I never felt especially compelled to read it until I saw it everywhere on bookstagram. Plus, I thrifted a copy in 2019.
Historical fiction
Another observation since joining bookstagram is that everyone’s favourite historical fiction seem to be All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I’m not big on historical fiction typically, unless it’s WWII fiction, so these two titles fit the bill. I’ve already read All the Light We Cannot See (which I loved), so it’s time I’ve read The Nightingale! Another WWII fiction on my TBR is The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.
Thriller
I never really paid much attention to publishers of my favourite books before joining bookstagram, but I’ve since developed an appreciation for Celadon’s selections. They seem to be a small and selective imprint of Macmillan, and they’ve done an amazing job with their 2019 thrillers: The Whisper Man by Alex North, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, and A Nearly Normal Family by MT Edvardsson. The Whisper Man was my favourite thriller of 2019; I actually didn’t like The Silent Patient that much but a lot of people did (it won the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller); which just leaves A Nearly Normal Family left for me to read. I’m also looking forward to reading Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin (to be published Feb 18, 2020), which Celadon was kind enough to send me the ARC of.
A thriller recommended to me by my friend Sheena is The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor, so I want to get around to that in 2020. Sheena’s pretty good at predicting how thrillers conclude, so if one has her shook, it’s probably a good one.
Fantasy
The Toll by Neal Shusterman was a highly anticipated 2019 release for me, being the final book in the Scythe trilogy, which I fell in love with in 2018, but the last few months of 2019 were a whirlwind and I didn’t get around to it (it published in November). The second book ended in such a cliffhanger; I’ll get around to the last book in 2020, for sure!
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin is a book I heard a lot about leading up to its release in 2019, but afterward the title seemed to fizzle out. But the reviews I came across were mostly very positive, so I’m interested in checking out this debut author.
This year I fell back in love with YA fantasy, thanks to Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books. Another YA fantasy series I’ve been interested in diving into is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas. I’ve avoided reviews and memes related to the series, but I’ve picked up that the series may or may not be accurately summarised as: fairy smut. LOL. Don’t ask me. I don’t know. Yet.
Sci-fi
I love sci-fi but was surprised to realise that this year I only read three sci-fi books in 2019, two of which were by the same author (Blake Crouch’s Recursion and Dark Matter, both of which I loved). In 2017, I read Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang and Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein, both of which were sci-fi short story collections I loved; in 2020, I look forward to reading the newest releases by both authors, which are sci-fi short story collections as well: Exhalation by Ted Chiang and Universal Love by Alexander Weinstein.
Non-fiction
Memoirs: Educated by Tara Westover is a book that received a lot of love in 2019 (with all the hype, I was surprised to discover it was published in 2018). The blurb doesn’t interest me that much, but I’ve heard so many people say how they were surprised by how much they liked it, and I heard this from a lot of fiction lovers too, so that’s saying something! Another memoir I’ve been meaning to read is Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness. I love the Fab Five, I love Queer Eye, and I’ve teared up a few times watching the show, but personally, positive words affirmations don’t do much for me, and the Fab Five do a lot of it. I enjoy watching the show passively for entertainment, but I don’t know if I necessarily need an extension of that into a book. But I vaguely heard that Over the Top is very revealing about JVN’s personal journey and that he’s been through some dark shit, so I’m really interested in learning how he got from that mental space to where he seems to be now; just from the show, I would have thought he was the most lighthearted of the Five!
True crime: Columbine by Dave Cullen and American Predator by Maureen Callahan are two titles I’ve seen quite a few times across bookstagram. I think that with content like thrillers and true crime podcasts that are so quick and easy to consume, it’s easy to get caught up in the fascination of these horrors, but in a true crime novel, there’s space to be more nuanced in the recounting of events, which seems healthier.
Other: How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell was on my 2019 TBR but not too high on it until I heard Jia Tolentino—author of, my fave, Trick Mirror—recommend it, so now it’s definitely on my list for 2020. Another book on my list is Diagnosis by Lisa Sanders; I binged her Netflix show (by the same name) and have wanted to read her book ever since. Lisa Sanders’ New York Times Magazine column (the original Diagnosis) inspired the TV series House.
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Besides my annual Goodreads reading goal and getting through these 20 books, two more bookish goals I have for 2020 are to 1) buy as few books as I can bear, and 2) read as many of the unread books on my shelf as I can. In fact, I want to share a post of all the unread books on my bookshelf to shame myself into reading (or donating) them. That post will probably come mid-February, when I’ve settled back from the holidays and have had time to take inventory. It sounds late in the year to be doing a post like that, but I’m sure it’ll come round before I know it!
What books are you prioritising in 2020?