BEST BOOKS OF 2020! ✨

hello everyone welcome back to my channel thanks so much for being here today today's video is going to be the highly anticipated the most exciting book of the year and that is the best books of 2020 but first let us devour our last ho ho holiday joke of the season we're just gonna skim through right we're just gonna go and we're going to stop there um what do you call a piece of snow that forgets to fall a flake um well that was such a good way to end the little ho ho holiday jokes today's video is going to be the best books of 2020. i didn't count how many books are on this list i think it's like 10 or 15. i don't know but i did read 125 125 books for read this year and i don't know how it happened to be honest i feel like i blacked out in the middle of the year and i just like don't remember how i got here um it was the best book of reading not only numbers-wise but just like quality-wise i i read so many fantastic books this year and i really started to fall back in love with the romance genre and i just had so much fun with reading and it was just such a great way to spend 2020. it was such a weird terrible year for so many reasons but at least we have reading am i right i'm right anyway let's get into the books i'm very excited and let me know what your top five were i don't want to just say your top book just your top five give me a list let's talk about it i have books from all different genres mostly fiction because that's where i was having fun this year but it's all over the place so let me know your top five and let's get into it so here we go all right so the books are not ranked i'm not like counting down to like the best book of 2020 which you're not gonna be surprised when you see it on my list but uh i did i think this was the first book no sorry the second book that i read in 2020 and then it was a five out of five and it's been one of my favorites of the years so we started the year off really strong with the song of achilles look at how gorgeous that cover is um the thing with this book is that i had seen it on so many shelves for so long and i was so intimidated intimidated intimidated that's the word um because i thought oh it's greek mythology i'm not gonna understand it's just gonna go all over my head and i'm gonna feel stupid rongo bongo this was a beautiful beautiful book it was so well done and the author makes it so accessible she just made it so easy to follow along it was like if she introduced a god that maybe you didn't remember she'd give you like a two sentence recap so that you could better understand what was going on and so if you've been interested in this book but you haven't picked it up because the of the fact that it's greek mythology do not let that deter you it is so stunning it is so wonderful it is just it's one of those books that feels like the pearl in the center of a clam pearls come out of clams right i think that's yeah right okay you know what i'm saying it's like it's that thing where it kind of looks like it's a little hard to get into but then you read it and you find out it is truly such a gem um it was so beautiful it made me cry i loved it and i can't wait to read it again so love it the next book that i thoroughly loved and enjoyed and was so moved by is the vanishing half oh my god can we discuss this book was phenomenal like so phenomenal the writing is exquisite but also just like the conversation around this book and what happens in this book is so intriguing and wonderful and thought-provoking and challenging and it's just truly a wonder and if you've seen people talk about this online and you've been like maybe i should this is your sign that you should like it truly it got all this hype this year because it deserves the hype it is beautifully written it is wonderfully done i had so much fun reading it um and it's a challenging book it's really hard at times it's basically about these two twin sisters that grow up together and at the age of like 14 i think the twins split off into very different lives and it all revolves around race and privilege and family bonds and broken family bonds and falling in love and representation and it's just it's so good it's so good so read it for the love of god to read it if you haven't read it in 2020 put it on your list for 2021 because it truly is so fantastic all right the next book that made this list and is probably in the top three of 2020 for me maybe the top four let's not put a number on it but it is truly such a gem and it is the invisible life of addie larue i finished this yesterday and god above heaven and angels i don't know what i'm saying um but it like perfectly describes how i feel about this book it is a treasure it is a treasure of a novel and it is so expertly done like i feel like there were a few books this year where you read them and you loved them it was just a great time and then there are some books that make you like your heart sing with great writing you know where you're just like oh my god that happened like someone thought of that you know what i mean and that was the invisible life of addy larue for me i loved this novel like loved it so much it basically follows this woman named addy larue who makes a deal with the devil or the god of knight i guess i don't know if he's ever called the devil i guess he's the devil right he's the devil anyway he makes she makes a deal with the devil that says i want to live i just want to live a beautiful life and i don't want to i don't want to answer to anyone i don't want to have to do anything i don't want to do so i just want i just want agency over my life and so he says done deal he says i'll do that for you um just tell me when you're done living and then you'll give your soul to me but what he doesn't tell her is that when she starts this new life no one will remember her so she'll like meet someone and they'll hit it off and it'll be all sweet and fun and then if the person just gets out of the line of sight of addie like closes a door or goes into another room or falls asleep they will no longer remember who she is i know a lot of people think it's really slow um and it's just really long and it is both those things but there was never a time where i was bored with the story so it is long and there are slow moments but not in like a dammit can we get on with it it was more of like a i can't wait to see why i'm getting these details because it obviously means something to the overall plot of the story so anyway i just loved it read it please for the love of god read it it is my book club's december book pick um we were supposed to do the live show at the end of december but we wanted everyone to have a good holiday season so we're probably gonna do this live show like first week of january i think i don't know we're still deciding we just wanted to kind of step back and let people enjoy this book so we will do a live show for this soon and now elias and joel know how i feel about it so there you go the next book we need to discuss is the kiss quotient oh [ __ ] oh my god this book was so good it was fantastic it was fun it was flirty and it was steamy oh my god was it steamy it is a wonderful romance it's so fun and it all takes place in the bay area so i specifically really loved that aspect of it she works on the road in palo alto where i used to work like my company's headquarters used to be in palo alto on that street and then there's another aspect in this story um that takes place in another part of the bay area and my current headquarters is on that street so i'm like i it was all something i could follow along the story was very tangible to me and i just had such a great time with it so the kiss quotient is wonderful it's beautiful it's steamy and i loved it so yeah next up let's talk about it i mean we know how i feel about the sequel or the squeak should i say um but uh ready player one was one of the best books that i read in 2020 is truly just fun like it's a fun book and if you're going into 2021 feeling discouraged or sad or just like life is very stagnant i feel like this is a great book to break up that feeling um just because it is truly a adventure to its core a adventure and adventure to its coal core hi i just feel like it's such a great way to kind of break up the monotony of isolation and the pandemic and having to stay inside this really takes you out of your own life and it's i mean it's an adventure from start to finish and i had so much fun with it so um maybe skip ready player two i don't think it adds anything beneficial to the story in general um but ready player one was phenomenal and so just entertaining and that's what you need during this time of sitting inside so ready player one loved it so glad i read it okay the next book um i don't have a physical copy of it but it is becoming by michelle obama the best memoir i read this year truly a delight so wonderful and so empowering like when i was reading it i was like what can i accomplish like nowhere near as much as michelle obama accomplished but when you're reading it you're like wow she is driven she is brilliant she is wonderful and so personable and so funny and it was just one of those books where i was like if you did all that can i do even a fraction of that right i don't know it kind of motivated me and got me excited for life and it was just so wonderful so if you can find the audiobook i know that libby has it and they seem to have a lot of copies of it so i was able to get a copy right away like i didn't have to wait for it and it was wonderful it's narrated by her and it's just it's so good so give that one a read if you would please for me 2021 read becoming by michelle obama i don't know what i'm saying hi i'm losing my mind the next book we need to talk about is writers and lovers by lilly king um oh my god i want to reread it already because i can feel it getting a little fuzzy for me like i remember my true love for it but the writing is getting a little fuzzy and i want to revisit it immediately i had so much fun with this book the cover is stunning just stunning so good um and it's basically about this woman she's like 30 and she's lost she he's no you know she's trying to fall in love she's trying to be an author she's trying to survive and you're just following a life around that's all it is and that's what i loved it wasn't this like big dramatic moment it didn't make me cry did it i don't think so i don't think it made me cry i think it might have made me cry i don't remember if i cried but i do remember loving it and the writing is so good and i just you're just following a character you know it's just a woman who's lost in life trying to find her way trying to follow her dreams but also feeling the tension that her dreams aren't going to come true and it's just it's so good so if you haven't read it give it a read if not to enjoy the story to just own this cover because it is stunning i love it so much oh please read it that was an interesting noise i just made anyway next up we have dead wake by eric larson um this book is a historical retelling of the lusitadia sinking and i've talked about this before and i will talk about it again friends i am terrified of submarines but i am fascinated with shipwrecks so this was an interesting tandem of being petrified of the submarine chapters but being fascinated with what was going on and it's expertly done like the way it's written is wonderful eric larson seems to be the king of his craft when it comes to like historical retellings of big moments in history historical history obviously um anyway i i loved it so much so well done if you've ever been interested in lusitania at all and even if you haven't been give this one a read trust me it's worth it okay the next best book of 2020 is hood feminism notes from the women that a movement forgot such a good book not only i mean it's already just so well done it's so well written but it challenged me in a way i needed to be challenged right um i strongly consider myself a feminist i'm proud of that fact but i know that my idea of feminism is very white sphere-focused and this was a fantastic book to push against that and to say like hey for any white women reading this you might not have thought of feminism in this way and the author was absolutely right so it was wonderful it challenged me and i feel like i really walked away with it with a different understanding and a different perspective on feminism and what it means to be a woman and you know just fight for women and i just think it's fantastic so please give it a read in 2021 the next best book of 2020 is the seven husbands of evelyn hugo oh my god did i cry i cried so hard to this book like truly i cried so hard um in the best way like in a way that sliced you know and just tore at your heart um and it was such a beautiful build up to such a heartbreak and it was it caught me off guard i'll be honest with you um we read this for the first month of my book club um with elias and joel and i think we all loved it i think we all had an amazing time with it i gave this one a 5 out of 5. just it's safe to say that all of these books got a 5 out of 5. i don't know why i'm randomly telling you a ranking but it is so fantastic it follows like this hollywood starlight starlight spotlight socialite this hollywood actress this famous person named evelyn hugo um and it kind of tracks her life through the telling of her marriages so you're learning about her through her marriages she's had seven husbands in her life and um she walks you through each one um and the way it's told is really fun it's a type of story i've never read before and i had such a fun time with it i'm also obsessed with like hollywood gossip and drama so like e news i'm coming for you you know what i'm saying so this was such a fun one to read and i highly recommend it the next best book of 2020 is the shining by stephen king 2020 was the first year that i had ever read the shining i had seen the movie so many times i loved the movie so much but i had never actually read it and part of the reason was that i thought it was going to be the same exact story and nothing was going to catch me off guard and i wasn't gonna really learn anything new and oh boy was i wrong oh my god it was um it was all fantastic it was such a fun ride it is a long [ __ ] let's let me just say that it might not look that long because it's kind of a short book but it feels like it took a millennia to get through it um but it was so wonderfully done it was so fun it was so spooky if you've seen the movie it's like you understand that the overlook hotel is haunted but you don't really look at the overlook hotel as like its own entity and in the book the overlook hotel is like its own evil festering villain in the novel which was really really fun to read especially since i just didn't get that impression from the movie it's just so good it's so good so yeah give the shining a read especially because my book club is reading it in january the shining is our january book pick of the month and so we're gonna have a live show for it at the end of january so if you've never read it and you've been interested this is your sign because we will be reading it and discussing it at the end of january so yeah okay friends we have hit the end of this video i have two books left and we're not going to be surprised at all there's no surprises here you know exactly the last two books i will give you a moment to guess in the comments what i'm about to say because you already know what these last two books are i mean hell i got tattoos for each of these books this year because of how much i loved them so let's start with the sweeter one which is the hating game um we don't need to talk about it right we already know what this book means to me this i had already gotten into romance again i was reading a lot of romance this year and this was kind of just one that like i saw on scribed and i was like oh i'll just listen to this while i do a puzzle and then while i was reading it my mind was like racing with how much i was loving it and how upset i was that i didn't have a physical copy to highlight and annotate because of how much i loved it it's just the sweetest steamiest flirtiest romance that i read this this year and i loved it so much i got a strawberry tattoo for it if you have read the book then you understand the strawberry imagery and if you haven't read it well what are you doing like just do it i'm even wearing a strawberry earrings today to commemorate this beautiful wonderful super sweet novel i am so excited for the movie adaptation again i will talk about this for the rest of my life i'm sure so strawberry tattoo for life all right friends the last book i mean we know what it is right like there's no surprise here we know exactly what book i'm about to say i got a tattoo for it right here this is annie wilkes axe and that is misery by stephen king um [Music] what to say about this book that i haven't already said i know it's not everyone's favorite king i know that there are annoying parts in this book specifically when there are chapters of another book sandwiched into this book so i'm not above seeing the flaws of this novel there are definitely times where i was like king let's just get to it what are you doing um but through and through i love this novel i completely refocused my thesis for my master's degree around this novel i think it is so fun it is so horrifying it's just it was such a good year to find this book i think i read it in january so we have like the song of achilles and misery at the beginning of the year i was set up for success so that is the final book on this list there you have it there we go those are my favorite books again let me know what your favorite books of 2020 were and what you're most excited for in 2021 i'm gonna make a video talking about like my goals for 2021 because they are drastically different than michaels for the reading i did in 2020 um i just i don't know i know that this year can't be topped but i'm so excited to see what i read in 2021 ah such a weird year such a bad year for so many reasons but the reading was really just like such a beautiful cherry on top of such a weird sunday you know so yeah anyway thank you all for watching this video and i hope seeing the next one [Music] bye

Channel: Noelle Gallagher

Views: 342,106

Keywords: books, booktube, reading, reads, what to read, best books, of 2020, best books of the year, stephen king, misery, the shining, becoming michelle obama, the vanishing half, the hating game, the kiss quotient, romance, thrillers, horror

Id: hHRDnHto7MQ

Length: 20min 47sec (1247 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 31 2020