First 15 Books of 2020

I love books and I have always loved reading. Reading has been a beautiful escape in a lonely time. If you've read my other posts, than you know that I bought A LOT of books to read when I finished business school at the end of 2018. This picture shows you all of the books that I bought and had plans to read! While I love reading a physical book, I have found that when traveling and reading in bed after my husband goes to bed, it is way easier to read on the kindle app on my phone or listen to an audio book rented through the library. So, while I have this incredible stack of books to read, I am shocked to say that out of the 15 books I finished in the first three months of the year, I only read ONE physical book... say what?! If you are like my former self, you are going to be like, OK Theresa, I do NOT have time to read that many books. I hear you and that's exactly why I am writing this recap! I will give you the full list of the books I read and give you my top 3 to add to your list!

At the beginning of March, I decided I was going to read all of the books that had ever been on Reese Witherspoon's Book Club Picks. As I write this in April 2020, there are currently 35 books on the list and I have finished 10. Maybe you are a big fan of Reese too and are wondering how my suggestions will differ if that's all I am reading?! Not to worry! While I do hope to finish the list as soon as possible, I am also a member of two different book clubs and can be persuaded pretty easily to add new books to my reading list, so my favorites and recommendations will certainly be different.

**Something to Note** As I share with you my preferred books in this post and future posts, I promise to always share with you in what form of media I read the book. Personally, I do not feel like there is a wrong way to read a book, but I know some people have preferences! I do a mix of reading on my kindle and listening to audio books (I use the Overdrive app with a library membership so that I don’t go bankrupt buying books) and occasionally I read a physical book. While I won’t judge you for how you choose to consume a book, I personally think the form of media you choose to read a book can completely change your experience with the book. I will always tell you in what form I read the book and also whether I feel like it helped or hurt my personal experience.

Ok, without further ado!!

Here are the first 15 books I read in 2020

Top 3 List (in no particular order)

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book has been on my must read list for a LONG time (pretty much since it came out) but for some reason it kept getting moved down the list. When I committed to reading Reese’s book list, I finally decided to read it and I am sure glad I did! It is also important to note that this is the only book from Reese’s list that made it to my top 3. I actually listened to the audio version of this book and I think it really enhanced my experience. The characters in the book all have different voices in the audio version and it really brought the book to life! The format of this book is different than most as it reads like an interview which had me thinking multiple times throughout the book that I was listening to real people!

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

It may be a fiction novel, but this book helped me learn so much about being an immigrant in the U.S. and about the experience in a conservative Arab marriage. The book bounce’s back and forth between the voice of Deya living in modern day Brooklyn and her mother who moved from Palestine to America as a teenager for marriage. It was incredibly thought provoking and I highly recommend it! (Read this book on my kindle app)

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

I am definitely late to the part with this book because the author, Allie Brosh released this book in 2013 and has kind of fallen off the map since then. Regardless, I found this book extremely entertaining. I read this book on the Kindle app on my phone and because the author illustrates most of her stories with hilarious comics, I recommend you read the physical book version if you plan to read it. There are a bunch of stories in the book about the author’s dogs and if you are a pet owner, I think you will get a good chuckle from this book.

Honorable Mentions

I gave ALL of the books I read over the last 90 days at least 3 stars so if you are an avid reader, go for it, read them all. But, I will add that there were quite a few that I gave 4 stars. These three books deserve an honorable mention because I really enjoyed them too!