10 Best Books I Read in 2020
Year-end wrap-up and some amazing recommendations
When it comes to discovering and loving underrated books, 2020 has been an amazing year. As of 17th November 2020, I’ve read 74 books and loved most of them with all my heart.
Since most of these amazing books — especially the fiction recommendations — are fairly underrated, you might not have come across them. And so, I decided to write a year-end post dedicated to the best books I’ve read in 2020.
Be prepared to have your heart stolen by just how AMAZING these books are.
(Note: The links mentioned in this article are affiliate links. If you choose to purchase these books through these links, it will help me earn a small amount of money — at no extra cost to you. Thanks!)
10. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: Young Adult/LGBTQ romance
Aristotle Mendoza and Dante Quintana are two Mexican-American teenagers growing up in El Paso, Texas during the 1980s. They are trying to find their way in the world. But before they do that, they need to find their way to each other.
Aristotle (Ari, to his friends) is a self-doubting silent guy, who has learned from experience to bottle his feelings up. Dante, on the other hand, is an expressive, fair-skinned boy who meets Ari at the pool one afternoon and asks him if he should teach him swimming. Dante reads poetry and loves painting. He makes Ari laugh and fills his world with colours, and before they know it, the two become the best of friends.
“Sometimes, you do things and you do them not because you’re thinking but because you’re feeling. Because you’re feeling too much. And you can’t always control the things you do when you’re feeling too much.”
Why you should read it
I recently wrote an entire post gushing about how beautiful this book is. But, if you are still not convinced, let me summarise in two lines.
You can call Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe a love story. But in its heart, it’s the story of being a misunderstood teenager and the struggle of dealing with a world so hell-bent on ostracising what it considers as “different”. It’s a book you MUST read, for it will leave you with tears of happiness and goosebumps all over your skin.
9. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb
Genre: Non-fiction/psychology
If you’d wanted to know how to gain from disorder and chaos while being protected from fragilities and adverse events, this is the perfect book for you.
The author discusses the concept of resilience as the ability to withstand difficulties without breaking.
The book introduces the term antifragile as the ability of a person not just to resist shocks but to use them as a launchpad to become a better, more robust version of themselves. You can become antifragile when you learn to turn a catastrophe into an opportunity for personal growth.
“Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.”
Why you should read it
Taleb discusses a three-step strategy to turn every misfortune into an opportunity. His approach has helped me rethink some of my worst personal failings and visualise them as chances to make myself better.
8. City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty
Genre: Medieval fantasy
Nahri is a con woman of unsurpassed talent, hustling for a living on the streets of 18th century Cairo. Ali is the second son of King Ghassan of Daevabad — a djinn who doesn’t hesitate to give up all he has to bring equality between the djinn and shafit (half-bloods, or children of djinn with humans). Their paths cross when Nahri unknowingly summons Dara, a daeva who saves her from ghouls in Cairo and takes her to Daevabad.
This book has a little of everything — palace politics, ancient djinn and their blood rivalry, a chosen-one character arc, badass female warriors/magicians, and a love triangle that is delightful and heart-breaking at the same time.
“Greatness takes time, Banu Nahida. Often the mightiest things have the humblest beginnings.”
Why you should read it
The City of Brass is both smart and very entertaining. The richness of the world Chakraborty has created gives added heft to a beautiful story. The writing is so vivid and descriptive, you can almost smell the incense and would want to keep a damp cloth at hand to wipe the desert sand from your brow. This is a wonderful, engaging, and fun read I recommend to all lovers of adult fantasy.
7. Choose Yourself: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream by James Altucher
Genre: Non-fiction/self-help
This book lays out a clear, actionable way how you can always prioritise yourself and live your dreams. I’m not exaggerating when I say, but this is exactly what the book delivers. The author’s friendly, conversational tone draws you in right from the first chapter and helps you believe that no matter how high the odds seem to be stacked against you, you are the only one with the power to change your destiny. You CAN do it.
All you need to do is keep working on yourself and keep pulling yourself back to your feet no matter how hard the world pushes you down.
“The only truly safe thing you can do is to try over and over again. To go for it, to get rejected, to repeat, to strive, to wish. Without rejection there is no frontier, there is no passion, and there is no magic.”
Why you should read it
This is an interesting read. Altucher’s writing is laugh-out-loud funny and weirdly inspiring. I am not a big fan of self-help books, but this one made me change a few things about the way I live. Let’s hope those changes stand the test of time.
6. The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Genre: Fantasy fiction
40-year-old Linus Baker, a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, is asked to visit an orphanage on an island and prepare a report on whether the home is safe for the six extraordinary children who live there.
What begins as a series of misadventures turns into heartwarming banter and some amusing, light-hearted moments spent between the children, their Master, Arthur, and our protagonist.
“Sometimes our prejudices color our thoughts when we least expect them to. If we can recognize that, and learn from it, we can become better people.”
When I finished reading this book, I closed it gently, as if the pages were sentient and might be bruised. It was hard to immediately identify the sensation in my chest. It took a while, but when it hit me, there was no escaping it: an exultant, bubbling joy pushed back immediately by a sorrow that hadn’t yet sunk its claws in deep enough in my heart — all leading to a rawness that only a novel like The House on the Cerulean Sea can leave behind.
Why you should read it
This is a story about accepting your imperfections and learning to live with them. About getting back up on your feet in a world designed to keep pushing you down. About finding kin among strangers, and understanding that you don’t need to be tied by blood to be part of a family.
5. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
Genre: Non-fiction/self-help
Jen Sincero adopts a no-nonsense way of talking to the reader and uprooting all the limiting self-beliefs they might have held. She goes on to emphasise how important it is to love yourself because if you don’t, no one else will. She lists out a step-by-step guide on how one can become their biggest fan.
Her approach to self-love is centred around understanding your worth and not settling for anything less. The writing is compassionate and compelling, forcing you to rethink several of your core beliefs. Sincero’s self-love rule follows the following strategy:
- Appreciate how special you are.
- Practise affirmations.
- Do the things you love.
- Practice positive self-talk.
- Don’t compare yourself with others.
“You get to choose how you perceive your reality. So why, when it comes to perceiving yourself, would you choose to see anything other than a super rock star of a creature? You are a badass.”
Why you should read it
The biggest lesson I learned from this book is that no matter what life and the universe might have taught you to believe, you can change it.
You can rewrite your history by looking at your past experiences from a different perspective and you can unlearn all the toxic lessons you have accumulated over time.
4. Hidden in Darkness by Alice Winters
Genre: Thriller
Felix, a 25-year-old ex-thief is hired to take care of 37-year-old Lane, who just lost his eyesight in a freak accident. Wheelchair-bound and dependent for even the most basic of chores, Lane is depressed and devastated. Naturally, he tries to scare Felix away. But the latter is determined (more so because of the handsome paycheck), and in their twisted jibes and pranks they play on each other, the two find a way out of their personal hell.
Felix helps Lane to embrace his new normal as a blind man, and Lane helps him come to terms with the fact that life doesn’t have to mean running from one high to the next. A settled, stable life is possible, and love can be found at the most unexpected of places.
What Felix doesn’t know is what Lane did before he became blind. And what he’d thought to be an accident was probably not an accident at all, but brutal, cold-blooded torture. As a whole world of kidnapping, drug-trafficking, and murder unfolds, Felix and Lane find themselves drawn into an adventure that might lead to the death of hundreds of innocent people.
“I’m not scared of being hurt…I’m scared of being alone,”
Why you should read it
Alice Winters is a ROCKSTAR at writing heartwarming characters with endearing banter. There are some spine-chilling mysteries/situations they are put into, but the overall feel of the book is so warm and happy, it will leave you craving to spend more time with these badass characters.
3. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Non-fiction/self-help
Liz Gilbert espouses that the universe buries strange jewels deep within all the living beings, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover these jewels is what she calls Creative Living.
Fear is boring. It is predictable. Every time you think of doing something new, fear will tell you it will not work, and so, it is better you don’t start.
Rather than giving in to fear or running away from it, why don’t you try to befriend fear? Establish a healthy relationship with your fear. Be open to the fact that it will always be there, no matter how far and fast you run away from it. The best you can do is draw clear boundaries and make it explicit that fear will get to have a say in your decisions, but it will not get to make those decisions for you. Your fear keeps your creativity in check.
“A life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.”
Why you should read it
To truly live a creative life, you have to put fear in the backseat and listen to its concerns, acknowledge them, and carry on with whatever you were planning to do anyway. This book lays out a roadmap to do exactly that. You’ll no longer be the same person after completing this book.
2. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Genre: Horror
Coraline is the story of a little girl who goes on an adventure, with her nemesis being an evil witch. The book follows all tropes of a ‘child vs witch’ stories, though written superbly. This is an excellent short spooky book, nevertheless.
Those who are familiar with Neil Gaiman’s writing will be aware of the raw honesty he puts into his tales, and this one is no different. The parent-child bond, explored with such delicate mastery, leaves the reader with a smile on their faces.
“The sky was a little more sky. The world, a little more world.”
Why you should read it
So heartwarming, this tiny little book left me with a heart full of happiness. The audiobook, performed by the author himself, is a masterpiece, complete with songs, music, and spine-chilling voiceovers — making it an extraordinary experience worth the three hours spent in listening.
1. Wolfsong by T. J. Klune
Genre: Shifter fantasy
Fifteen-year-old Ox Mattheson had an abusive father who damaged young Ox’s sense of self-esteem and instilled in him the feeling that no matter where he goes and what he achieves, he will never be enough. It’s a burden Ox believes he would have to carry on his shoulders all his life.
And then, he meets Joe Bennett and his life changes forever. What Ox didn’t know was that Joe Bennet is a werewolf, destined to be the future Alpha and lead the Bennett pack — the most powerful family of werewolves in the whole of North America.
The Bennetts bring colour into Ox’s life, and they paint the book in shades of orange, violet, blue, and green, green, green.
“You don’t get to decide what you’re worth because you obviously don’t know. You don’t get to decide that anymore because you have no f*cking idea that you’re worth everything.”
Why you should read it
I wrote a post saying this was the best fiction book I read in 2020 and I stand by the statement. Even if you are not a fan of fantasy fiction, you should read this book for the heartwarming story it tells.
Read it for the family and pack values the Bennetts inspire, for how willing they are to sacrifice their lives, so their loved ones remain safe, and how they think of nothing else but family, love, brother, pack when they face danger.
Read it for the edge-of-the-seat excitement of the battle scenes — all the blood and gore and the immense strength of will each character shows.
But most of all, read this book for Ox and Joe. Read it for the pure, unadulterated love they share and how their bond grows and evolves as they age.
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