Top 10 Reads of 2020

 

10) 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍, 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝑶𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 by Bernardine Evaristo - 2019 Booker Prize Winner, Girl, Woman, Other connects the lives of 12 Black British woman while telling each ones story in a series of shorts.

 9) 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 by Sheila Williams - This book was an absolute "can't put down, must finish reading this or I won't be able to sleep because I'll be wondering what the characters are doing" read about three women who connect because of their secrets. 

 8) 𝑩𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 by Jacqueline Woodson - Before the Ever After explores the story of a family affected by CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy through a child's eyes. 

 7) 𝑩𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆 𝑮𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒅 by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This debut novel asks what would you do if you could travel back in time ... and you only have the amount of time it takes to drink a hot cup of coffee. 

 6) 𝘾𝙡𝙖𝙥 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙙 by Elizabeth Acevedo - Some books go hand in hand, yes? This is the perfect companion piece to Tayari Jones' Silver Sparrow. Sisters, secrets, dipping daddies. 

 5) 𝙁𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙮 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙍𝙖𝙞𝙣 by Asha Lemmie - Post-WWII biracial Black & Japanese girl trying to find her place within her family and in Japan. All of the yeses! 

 4) 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘧 by Brit Bennett - It is everything. E-v-e-r-y-THING! Well developed characters, well thought out story lines, unpredictable. There's nothing I didn't love about this book.

3) 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 by Rita Woods - If Octavia Butler, Tananarive Due and Toni Morrison wrote a book, it would be Remembrance. 

 2) 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘕𝘰 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 by Alyssa Cole - Cole might possibly have written the scariest take on gentrification that I've ever read or seen. 

 1) 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝑳𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔 by Deesha Philyaw - Church lady or not, every woman can find a little bit of themselves within these pages. It's an absolutely brilliant read. 

What books are on your top 10 list for the year?

The Secret Women by Sheila Williams

Elise, Carmen and DeeDee meet in a yoga class and quickly bond over the loss of their mothers. Whether their mothers passed years ago or recently, all of the women have some healing to do. Since all three have or need to sort through their mother's things, they decide to tackle the tasks together, leading to the discovery of the secrets their mothers kept from them when they were alive.

This book was an absolute "can't put down, must finish reading this or I won't be able to sleep because I'll be wondering what the characters are doing" read. I loved that the women were older and that their ages ranged from their 40s to their 60s, because that's life, right? Growing up, your friends tend to be your age, but as an adult, you make friends with people you have things in common with. So at 21, you probably never imagined you'd be hanging out with a 45 year old, but at 40something, the concept of age-based friendship becomes an illusion.

The other aspect of the book that I was really loved as the recognition of mothers are fully realized beings outside of being mothers. Ask yourself how old you were when it first dawned on you that your mother had a whole life before you came along, one that didn't include you. She didn't just wake up as your mother, she was out doing things, living (and probably well) long before you came along. These are things that all three ladies discover in The Secret Women. And learning these kinds of things then lead you to reconcile what you knew and what you thought you knew about your mother. Talk about a wig snatching read!