Book Club: The Final Round of 2020

In January, I set my reading goal to 40 books — which was slightly more than I read last year. By April, I knew I was going to beat that goal, so I extended it to 52 — one per week seemed reasonable. By October, I was several over being on track for 52 so I extended to 60. I finished with 63 books under my belt.

You can find the first 1/3 of 2020 here and the 2/3 of 2020 here to see all the books I read.

Elin Hilderbrand was my most read author this year as I finished multiple series that she’s written, in addition to other series-less books. I loved almost all of my Book of the Month books that I got — I think there was only one that I wasn’t a huge fan of, which is pretty good out of all the ones I ordered.

Here’s the list for what I read in the last 1/3 of 2020:

• Majesty
• The Wife Between Us
• We Used to Be Friends
• Things You Save in a Fire
• The Perfect Couple* (I need a follow up to this — Elin said she wrote a short story to follow but isn’t sure it was shared so fingers crossed we get more!)
• The Girl in the Mirror*
• Troubles in Paradise
• Here’s to Us
• The Lies that Bind
• Nine Perfect Strangers
• What You Wish For
• The Identicals*
• This Time Next Year*
• Pretty Little Wife*
• Friends & Strangers
• The Whisper Network
• The One that Got Away
• The Twelve Dates of Christmas
• The Wife Upstairs*
• In a Holidaze*
• Winter Street
• Winter Stroll
• Winter Storms
• Winter Solstice

I marked my favorites with an asterisk. Some of these I’d really love to have a sequel so I can keep following the characters. Elin Hilderbrand does such a great job of including characters in different books/series and also making you love them so much.

I plan to read more non-fiction this year, including the stack of biographies I’ve collected. I also might try an audio book — but mostly because I want to read Obama’s latest book and find his voice soothing so it seems like a great time to try to listen. I did listen to some of Mindy Kaling’s short stories last year and it was fun because it was like 20 minutes here and there but I still love the feel of a book in my hand so that’ll always be my go-to.

I don’t think I can exceed 63 books next year — but maybe. I already know I won’t be traveling for work so that cuts out a lot of time, while I read a lot on planes, I don’t do a great job once I’m at my destination. Making myself read at least 30 pages or 2 chapters a night has been a great goal and way to get through so many books.

What was your favorite book of 2020?