Book Nook Cafe discussion

It's that time of year folks!

Here is the thread to post your favorite reads and the ones you detested in 2020.

The book does not have to be published in 2020, only read by you in 2020.

If you could provide a link and a few words on each book that would be great.

So far this year I've read 43 books.

I rate my books 0-5- I try to judge the book by how good it is for its genre. Looking back at my journal, it's clear some books could have gone up or down one grade. However, the rating still gives me a good indication of how I felt about the book.

One big surprise this year is how many audio books I read. I think that is because with gyms closed, my exercise is now walking outdoors and I use audio books to keep me company. It's nice to see how much I enjoyed listening to books.

The year is not quite over yet, so I'll add to the list if need be.

This is my rating system I use in my journal

- Zero- Painful, back away ! Not fit for man nor beast- Don't even
think about it.
- 1- awful - Maybe just not for me
- 2- Disappointing- fell below expectations
-3- Good- Okay- solid read
- 4- Above expectations - very good - special
- 5- Wow- good on all fronts. Top of its genre

Here are my Best and Worst Reads for 2020.

My top 5 star rated books in 2020

Where the Crawdads Sing--- Delia Owens

A Little Life---Hanya Yanagihara

American Dirt--Jeanine Cummins

Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss---Rajeev Balasubramanyam
audio book

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk--Kathleen Rooney
audio book

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz-Erik Larson

Nevertheless----Alec Baldwin
audio book

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE---Phil Knight

my 4 star books

Swallows & Robins - The Guests In My Garden- Susie Kelly

Hitler's Forgotten Children: My Life Inside The Lebensborn----Ingrid von Oelhafen
Audio book

A Woman Is No Man--Etaf Rum

How to Eat--Thich Nhat Hanh

The Love Story of Missy Carmichael---Beth Morrey
Audio book

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock---David Margolick
audio book

Little Fires Everywhere---Celeste Ng

How to Sit---Thich Nhat Hanh

Calypso---David Sedaris
Audio book

The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage--Kelly McGonigal
audio book

Outliers: The Story of Success---Malcolm Gladwell
Audio book


I didn't have any zero rated books.

Rated 1
Searching for Sylvie Lee--Jean Kwok

Rated 2
Unsheltered- Barbara Kingsolver

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler -- Kelly Harms

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed--Lori Gottlieb

Such a Fun Age---Kiley Reid

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything--B.J. Fogg

Trajectory----Richard Russo
audio book

Darn, Alias, i was Very Curious to see what a Zero book would look like! It seems you've had a good year, overall. Your praise of the Owens book led me to read it. It'll be on my Best List, for certain. So many people here liked it, too.

Alias, I also enjoyed Calypso. I like listening to David Sedaris reading his books.

I suppose a zero book for me would be the ones that I don't finish and don't comment on. Those are the painful, awful, don't-hold-together (story wise) books, for me.

Barring no more finished this year,

I had two 5-star books this year:
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (audio) - I really enjoyed all the elements of this book: botany, myths, Life, serenity, community, responsibility, awareness, inclusion and more. This book is calming, wise, serene and interesting. It makes one aware of the natural gifts of this World and our responsibility of caring for the World, others, ourselves.


Holy Wild - a powerful book of poems. These poems are about the power in coming to terms with one's true self and having the courage to live that life, with all the glory and tarnishes that it brings.


I had a number of 4-star books and will list a few of my top choices here:
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (audio) - I enjoyed this look at the randomness of events through history. This book focussed on one ancient poem that was tucked away in a monastery library for hundreds of years. It was randomly copied over the years for preservation but was eventually tucked away and totally forgotten until it was randomly plucked from the shelf by someone who thought it might be interesting to read and ordered a copy of the book for his collection. This book, slowly and and over many years, changed the reasoning/thinking of a handful of men and, the premise is, eventually these changes lead to the Renaissance.


In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination - basically a trip through Margaret Atwood's childhood & University interest in science fiction books and how they shaped her, in some ways. Her insights and thoughts are interesting and humorous.


A Time for Everything (audio) - a fictional look at the role of Angels and their relationships with men throughout the ages. I found this book humorous, thought provoking and rich.


Written in My Own Heart's Blood (audio) - a continuation of Jamie & Claire's story. It's such a wonderful series. Sadly, I've caught up with the author (again) and will have to wait for the next book to be published. I hope it's soon.



I don't have any 1-star books this year, but do have a few 2-star books. To me, a 2-star book is "okay". It hangs together well enough but isn't really interesting to me, personally, but I made it through without any distaste; just boredom.

The Johnstown Flood - this was a disappointment because I had liked another book by the author. This one had all the elements of a good read, but was too wordy, drawn out and repetitive. It needed editing.


The Night Nurse: A Massage Therapy Thriller - this book just left out the obvious, which made the storyline silly. There was a secondary storyline that didn't connect to the first and had no part in this book.


Solaris - such a good premise. This could have been a great story about learning to communicate. Instead, communication was avoided at all costs. A dud.


The Alice Network - I'm glad I read this book because it introduced me to a WWII storyline of female spies that I did not know existed. Based on a true story of courage and resilience, this book made this episode in history into a "fluffy" lark. The story was manipulated at every turn to make this into a light, beach read....which I felt took away from the true story of these brave women.

Petra, it's neat seeing which of your interesting books made "the cut" to year's top. I agree with Swerve, as you may have guess. I'm also pleased that two you list here moved to my TBR after your posts about them. Good reading year, i think. Thanks for sharing.

Petra wrote: "Alias, I also enjoyed Calypso. I like listening to David Sedaris reading his books.
."

I read Calypso based on a recommendation from someone here. You? Julie ? I'm not sure.

I'm just glad you enjoyed it, Alias. This group has such great recommendations. I've found so many good reads here.

My Favorite Ten of 2020

The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History -Nathalia Holt

Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B. West

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic

Me by Elton John

Educated by Tara Westover

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

Petra wrote: "Barring no more finished this year,

I had two 5-star books this year:
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (audio) - I really ..."

I enjoyed reading your list, Petra. I've seen the Braiding book, but I don't recall anyone mentioning here. Glad to see it's a winner.

Petra wrote: "I'm just glad you enjoyed it, Alias. This group has such great recommendations. I've found so many good reads here."

Absolutely ! You all are the best. ♥

Julie wrote: "My Favorite Ten of 2020

The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History
------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for sharing, Julie.

I see The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz made both our lists.

I had to look up Malcolm Gladwell, since he authored two books on your list, Julie. It was then that i realized you had mis-authored (coining a phrase, here) the Splendid book. It's author is Erik Larson. It's sad that i didn't immediately realize your error, as this is also one of my top books for 2020. Me & names!

Good list. I well remember some of your comments about a few of them. Most especially i recall what i learned about female animators.

A long list for me! Unfortunately, posting via phone is complicated enough to link one or two reviews, but for this many it would take a very long time. So, I'm going to provide a short summary for each book instead...

The Great Ones

Miss Benson's Beetle - though I especially appreciated the audio narration, the story itself stands up very well! It may sound a bit cliche, but this one really is an example of the journey being worth more than the eventual destination.

I Have Something to Tell You - Mayor Pete's husband's memoir, which is definitely his own worthwhile story both before he met Pete, and afterwards dealing with being unexpectedly thrust onto the national stage.

The Chaperone - very well-constructed story of a girl from modest beginnings in small-town Kansas who succeeds in overcoming the somewhat painful obstacles in her life. Audio narration was outstanding for this book also!

Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation's Leaders - exactly what the title says it is, and though chock full of details and obviously well-researched, it's incredibly approachable! Even-handed in its approach, with an extra plus of giving some of the lesser-known guys equal time as much as possible.

The Frangipani Tree Mystery - there were almost no opportunities for professional positions for non-whites in colonial Singapore. However, our protagonist Su Lin absolutely refuse to let that get in her way; moreover, she was mildly disabled from a bout of childhood polio. If you are into books that can be described as inspiring and fascinating, then this one's for you!

Jane Austen at Home - there are many bios of the famous writer out there, some of which are very good. However, what I liked about this one is that the author manages to fill in the gaps in the known details using research to show what Jane's life behind the scenes was probably like.

Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land - a "historical footsteps" journey of the original made in the 1850s. Especially recommended for those interested in Texas as that state takes up quite a bit of the last section of the book.

The Not-So-Great

The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die - this novella from India was on my TBR for quite a while until the audiobook finally became available from my library. Can't put my finger specifically on why, but it pretty much fell flat for me.

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne - this debut murder mystery fell flat for me also. Frustrating actually, as it really should have worked, but somehow things just didn't come together for me to call the book a success.

Aunty Lee's Delights - decided to try this first book in a series set in modern Singapore by the author of the colonial Singapore book mentioned above. The food angle was terrific, Singapore Regional Cuisine is probably my favorite, but the characters on the whole were rather a mess.

The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari - Paul Theroux had the brilliant idea of trying to travel from Cape Town to Nigeria up the west coast of Africa using only some printed maps he had found. The book was written long after the internet became a regular feature of everyday life, so even a small amount of researching and planning that way would have told him what I could have told him: this will not end well.

John wrote: "A long list for me! Unfortunately, posting via phone is complicated enough to link one or two reviews, but for this many it would take a very long time. So, I'm going to provide a short summary for..."

John, I appreciate you taking the time to post using the phone.

I've added two from your list into my TBR notebook.
Miss Benson's Beetle
and Dead Presidents.

Thanks !

madrano wrote: "I had to look up Malcolm Gladwell, since he authored two books on your list, Julie. It was then that i realized you had mis-authored (coining a phrase, here) the Splendid book. It's author is [auth..."

madrano wrote: "I had to look up Malcolm Gladwell, since he authored two books on your list, Julie. It was then that i realized you had mis-authored (coining a phrase, here) the Splendid book. It's author is [auth..."
Thanks for letting me know - I changed the author to Larson.

John, i cannot imagine creating that post on a phone, when i have an awful time using the larger iPad. Thanks for the effort. I already put a couple of the "best" from you list on my TBR, as they sound appealing. Thanks.

Your list of not-so-great is quite useful, too. I like calling it that, as it allows for differences of opinion. I agree fully with you on Elsa Hart's Cabinet book. A connective something was lacking.

Glad you shared.

My pleasure, Julie.

madrano wrote: "John, i cannot imagine creating that post on a phone, when i have an awful time using the larger iPad. Thanks for the effort. I already put a couple of the "best" from you list on my TBR, as they s..."

The difficult part is that in order to link my review I seem to require finding the book on my very large Goodreads lists and then clicking on the review page and having to paste the link from there rather than just linking in one or two simple steps.

Yikes! We benefit from your efforts, John.

I didn't rate any books at 5 stars this year - like Alias, that's a pretty rare rating, achievable only by the really excellent. I did rate a lot at 4 stars, though:
In fantasy,
The Invisible Library
Bastion
The Girl in the Tower and The Winter of the Witch
The Goose Girl
The Midnight Queen
Skyward
Princess of the Midnight Ball

I'm still figuring out a set way to rate on here. Some of these I rated 4 for the enjoyment factor I got from them, and some for that and how good they were as works of literature.

In non-fiction, books I rated 4 included:
How to Be Well When You're Not
A Political Philosophy: Arguments for Conservatism
How to Be More Tree: Essential Life Lessons for Perennial Happiness
Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind,
Your Inner Critic Is a Big Jerk: And Other Truths About Being Creative
Change Your Thinking Third Edition
Light in the Wilderness: Explorations in the Spiritual Life

My lowest-rated books were:
A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods
Equal Rites
Sanditon (all 2 stars)

Good list, Tamara. I'm not one for rating books, so am intrigued to see how some factors determine a rating. I keep changing my mind about books i've read--suddenly a 3 becomes a 5, when i finally "get it", weeks later. *sigh*

I'm intrigued by two of the novels you rated 4. Of course a book with Library in the title appeals. This Genevieve Cogman novel about getting books from other realities sounds wonderful.

I'm not familiar with the Goose Girl fairy tale but this Shannon Hale sounds enchanting. Thanks for the intro.

Out of my 2020 completed reads, I rated two books five stars.

Books are mentioned below:

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

Tamara wrote: "I didn't rate any books at 5 stars this year - like Alias, that's a pretty rare rating, achievable only by the really excellent. I did rate a lot at 4 stars, though:
In fantasy,
[book:The Invisibl..."

Great list, Tamara. I am going to share the 2 creative books with my friend who is an artist. Thanks for the titles.

Simon wrote: "Out of my 2020 completed reads, I rated two books five stars.

Books are mentioned below:

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

[book:The Splendid and the Vile: A ..."

================================

Simon, The Splendid and the Vile seems to be the one of the most popular reads here on BNC in 2020. I also read and enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad you did, too.

Alias Reader wrote: "Simon wrote: "Out of my 2020 completed reads, I rated two books five stars.

Books are mentioned below:

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

[book:The Splendid an..."

I read it way back in May now - wow seems forever ago! LOL

If anyone's interested in my 4 star books of 2020, let me know :)

I didn't read any bad books, but most of my 2020 reads fell between 4-5 stars.

My apologies folks, as I forgot three more books I rated five stars in 2020.

Mentioned below:

Fast Girls: A Novel of the 1936 Women's Olympic Team by Elise Hooper

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The Dollmaker of Krakow by R.M. Romero

Simon, Crawdads made my best of list, too ! :)

madrano wrote: "Good list, Tamara. I'm not one for rating books, so am intrigued to see how some factors determine a rating. I keep changing my mind about books i've read--suddenly a 3 becomes a 5, when i finally ..."

Yes; if you've ever seen 'Austenland' - a funny movie, but probably appealing more to women, and definitely Austen fans - it's based on Shannon Hale's book. 'Goose Girl' is a young young adult story, but well-written and enjoyable. I also read the sequel to Austenland - another funny story, very light sort of reading, but a well-made Gothic send-up in the tone of Jane Austen.

I'm glad you understand about my rating difficulties! I'd really like to have half-star options. But I'm pretty bad at rating anything - like survey answers. I always want an option than isn't provided. And I'm very concerned about giving 5s - to me, that means it would have to be a perfect book; life-changing. Something I remember forever.

I'm enjoying the Invisible Library series. I think I liked the first best. It's a series I don't feel like I to read the next one of right away... I can just take my time, in between other books. So, not loved, but enjoyable for when I want something different.

Alias Reader wrote: "I am going to share the 2 creative books with my friend who is an artist. Thanks for the titles."

Great! They're both good (obv), and for different purposes. I'd say "Wired to Create" is good for people who have 'creative'-type friends, too, to help them understand them.

Alias Reader wrote: "Simon, Crawdads made my best of list, too ! :)"

You know a book is a really good summer read when you're reading towards midnight or into the wee hours of the morning to finish it :)

Tamara, thank you for that information about "Austenland". I haven't seen the movie but know it is out there. Knowing about the connection, i'll make certain to read that book first. I appreciate you taking the time to share that.

Your description of reading further in the Invisible Library series is right on-target about how i feel about many series. I'll get to it but i'm not usually in a huge rush. Sometimes, however...LOL

It's New Year's Eve. My husband is watching reruns of The Twilight Zone and i'm online. Happy New Year!

Seriously, i want to list my favorites but, as almost every year i run into the same problems. My nonfiction books have been disappointing but i cannot say they were bad because i learned so much from them. It's just the writing was only okay. So, i have decided that i'll just tell ya the NF i read for the facts i learned.

Except for the best, which is the apparently much beloved wor by Erik Larson, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. I appreciated all the quotes from diaries written by regular citizens experiencing the Blitz.

The Feather Thief--Kirk Wallace Johnson introduced me to a crime i never knew about, stealing items i treasure, bird feathers. Good books such as this cover more than just the crime. This one delved into the popularity of feathers in fashions, fly-tying and other hobbies. Neat facts and rather well written. However, it kinda petered out for the last third.

Walking the Kiso Road: A Modern-Day Exploration of Old Japan--William Scott Wilson is about one of the roads in Japan which helped early ancient Japanese travelers to travel to main cities for civic issues. I learned reading about the history and what remains today. However, he easily side-tracked where i wish he'd stuck with the roads themselves. Yet, i've run across mention of these roads a number of times since reading this.

The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921--Tim Madigan. Fascinating history about a horror about which little was known until this century (outside of the victims). I grew up on Oklahoma & all this was new to me. Sadly, while Madigan ferreted interesting facts his writing was not up to the task. At this point it's the only NF i can find on the topic.

The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Black Cavalry in the West, Revised Edition--Leckie William H Leckie Shirley a. Again, new & interesting facts poorly told. In fact, at times it appeared the authors just copied down weekly reports made by officials at the time. To be fair, when they wrote this book (1967) , there was very little interest in these soldiers.

As for my fictional favorites by far the best was one mentioned by several here, Delia Owens's Where the Crawdads Sing. Lyrical, informative and a good story, all in one with superb writing. Thank you!

Kim Thúy's Ru was full of info with writing and a story which told a tale of people adjusting to life (and nation) changing events. I felt her style, with short chapters and brief retelling, was innovative.

The next two were beloved because the introduced me to new occupations from the past.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a well told tale of the Depression era women who rode horses & mules to the Kentucky hills, bringing books to residents. Kim Michele Richardson also incorporated "Blue People" in her story, a small minority of people in the hills whose skin is blue. While Jojo Moyes told a similar story in her The Giver of Stars, it paled in comparison to Richardson's novel.

The Homesman is about a woman who agrees to take settlers who have gone insane in the 1800s Dakotas back to Iowa. The name of this trade is "Homesman", meaning taking people home, and it appears author Glendon Swarthout created the job. However, this homeswoman is the only one willing to do the job this time. It's a good story, which includes a man she rescues from hanging.

Finally one of my DL categories was "Book by an author I don't know", so i selected a book i owned but knew nothing about, Ready or not, written after WWII but before the Korean War by Mary Stolz. While this would today be called a YA, i liked the fact the author told the story, including thoughts and emotions by adults as well as the young people. It was all well told and included uncomfortable facts about this borderline family.

As it turns out, btw, i had actually read a book previously by Stolz, to my son. It was The Explorer of Barkham Street, which we liked. Go figure!

Madrano,

The Homesland is a movie if you’re interested now after reading novel :)

Crud! I forgot about my unfortunate books. The first was disappointing because for years i'd wanted to read it.

Stay Away, Joe about Native Americans in Montana, written by Dan Cushman. Actually a Sioux woman suggested the book to me in the '70s, so at the time it may have read better. Today it sounds a bit degrading to tribes, full of irresponsible behavior and overdrinking. I also didn't find the prose particularly accomplished, either.

Rosemary Mahoney's Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff was half way about attaining a boat in Egypt. While i'm sure it was trying and maybe amusing in retrospect, i found it boring. How i wish she'd spent more time about the trip itself. Instead, even once one the river, she seemed to dwell on her overnight stays in her boat. I felt it was a missed opportunity.

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands was too scattered to tell the tale of people who vanish without a trace while hiking/running or exercising. Jon Billman organized the story poorly, imo. Worse, he became involved with one family's search and intermittently shared their hopes and actions while trying to find the lost one over the years. It was a good and heart rendering story but i could have used more about other people, other places.

madrano wrote: "It's New Year's Eve. My husband is watching reruns of The Twilight Zone and i'm online. Happy New Year!
----
Kim Thúy's Ru was full of info with writing and a story which told a tale of people adjusting to life (and nation) changing events. I felt her style, with short chapters and brief retelling, was innovative..."

Glad we got you for New Years Eve. :)

When you mentioned Ru, it sounded so good I immediately put it on my TBR list. Thanks. I am sure I never would have come across this book otherwise.

Now that we no longer get USA Today, this dear group will be my major resource for new titles. I like "us" better because we aren't pros, some of who have taste i'll never get. Ru was the exception to the rule, in that it was exactly as good as their praise.

Worst was a book called The Island of Sea Women. It had a good start off about women in Korea who were divers, and were the providers for the family while the men stayed home. But then it turned into one more of those books that turn up on the library lists of books you "have to read" - that is, it was exposure to an interesting and unfamiliar culture. But there were long passages of exposition, shallow characters, confusing timeline and then graphic violence that the reader isn't really prepared for and writing that was just okay, but nothing that set it apart from any other writers of modern fiction targeting women.

Barbara, i read a book on a similar topic (divers=haenyeo) last year, White Chrysanthemum. Initially i was disappointed in it but later came to appreciate what author Mary Lynn Bracht did. In her book the diver, Hana, is captured by Japanese during WWII to sexually service soldiers. The story was about her survival but also (double timeline) about the sister Hana saved by allowing herself to get caught. This sister, Emi, returns to Korea to find out what happened.

Where i felt the book failed me was in explaining how Hana's skills as a diver & provider increased her ability to survive as long as she did. As i came to the story wanting to know more about the occupation of diving, i felt it was given short shrift. Too often i think authors do this--pull us in on one topic but give us an inadequate amount of info on it.

Indeed, i feel i'm reading another like that now. Greer Macallister's novel, The Arctic Fury, is ostensibly about an all-female expedition into the Arctic in the mid1800s. I'm almost 1/4 into the book & the expedition has barely begun.

Well, i had plenty to say about this, didn't i? What i meant to relate is that i understand your frustration & can see why it was your worst book of 2020. Glad you shared about it.