I decided on a whim to challenge myself to read 52 books in 2020. Roughly a book a week.
I’m not a very fast reader and I’ve always averaged about 2 books a month but I figured hey, why not challenge yourself to read more. I’m home a lot during the day in between teaching classes in the morning and at night. Focusing on reading more has really inspired me to spend that time with a book rather than scrolling Instagram. I’d say that’s a major upgrade.
This month I finished 4 books keeping right on track with my goal of reading a book a week. I personally love reading Grace and Carly’s month book round-ups, it’s how I get a lot of my book recommendations. So, I’m going to start doing the same!
You can also follow me on Goodreads. I’m pretty new to the app and only just started using it regularly. I’m loving seeing how all my friends are doing in their own reading challenges and what they’re reading. It’s keeping me motivated!
What I Read This Month:
The book I couldn’t put down:
One Day in December by Josie Silver
I LOVED this book. At first, I was iffy about the premise — Laurie spots a guy outside while she’s riding on a bus in London. They both lock eyes but the bus leaves before they have a chance to chat. After spending a year pining for “Bus Boy” she gives up on finding him again only to then be introduced to him at her own holiday party. Turns out Bus Boy is Jack, her BFF Sarah’s new boyfriend.
I feared it would be a bit too predictable as a rom-com and the whole pining for Bus Boy story would get old fast, but the book goes in a lot of directions I wasn’t expecting. The book is told from the perspective of both Laurie and Jack from the year 2008 to 2017.
I ended up getting totally sucked in and couldn’t put it down. And don’t feel like you have to wait until December to read it — it really takes place all times of the year but their first meeting was in December.
TLDR: If you love rom-coms and “chick-lit” you NEED to read this. Trust me.
My Rating: ★★★★★
The book that wasn’t a total rom-com:
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
I am guilty of reading mostly light, fluffy, rom-com, fiction. While “Such a Fun Age” does have some romance, it’s really about SO much more. And that’s what makes it really good.
The book starts when Emira gets a call from the family she regularly babysits for on a random Saturday night. It’s late but the family needs Emira to watch after Briar, their eldest daughter. Emira ends up taking the two-year-old down the street to the local fancy natural foods supermarket where the police end up stopping her convinced that she’s kidnapped the child. A situation complicated by the fact that Emira is black and Briar is white. Bystanders start watching the scene that’s unfolding, one even starts recording what’s going down.
That night ends bringing someone new into Emira’s life and changes the dynamic of her relationship with Briar’s mother, Alix.
The book is a pretty eye-opening discussion of what it means to be a young, black woman in modern times while also being a really enjoyable read with insanely well-written characters. It definitely speaks to what it looks like to be in your mid-20’s but still totally clueless about what you want from your life. Something I can certainly relate to.
TLDR: “Such a Fun Age” is a great book with an awesome cast of characters, but also really important read on racism now.
My Rating: ★★★★
The book that got me thinking:
Followers by Megan Angelo
I’m still on the fence about this book. There’s a lot about it I liked, but I definitely didn’t love it.
The book flip-flops between the point of view of two different women. One is in modern-ish times (2015) and one is in the future (2051). Our lead in the modern-day, Orla, is a journalist at an Elite Daily type of website. She reports on buzzy influencers and Kardashian-type people. When her roommate, Floss, proposes a plan to plan to launch Floss into fame and fortune, Orla doesn’t realize just how much of an impact it’s going to make on her life.
In the future, we have Marlow, a 35-year old living in the gated community of Constellation in California where her entire life and the lives of those around her are being broadcast like The Truman Show to followers all over the country. From the get-go, you can tell that something weird happened in the past. The government has full control over the internet
The book brings up a lot of interesting points about social media, influencers, bloggers, media consumption and what it really means to look to people on the internet for inspiration. I loved that aspect of it, but sometimes the execution was super meh. It drags in the middle. I also never read anything remotely science-fiction-y so it took me a bit to grasp all the nuances of the 2051 world.
TLDR: I liked this book and what it had to say about social media and influencers, but didn’t love it.
My Rating: ★★★
The book I couldn’t wait to read:
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver
This book comes out March 3rd but I luckily stumbled upon a copy at my local library. They have an amazing selection of “pay what you can” books and I was able to snag an advanced reader copy of this one for $3!
I could not wait to dive into this book after reading “One Day in December” earlier in the month. While I think I liked that book more than “Lydia Bird” overall, I LOVED this book and the premise behind it.
Lydia and Freddie have the most perfect relationship. After a decade together Freddie sadly passes away on Lydia’s birthday in a tragic car accident. She realizes she can access an alternate version of her life where Freddie is still alive thanks to these sleeping pills she’s been prescribed.
The book is told both through “awake” Lydia and “asleep” Lydia and the two worlds she starts to live between.
As you can imagine the story heavily discusses grief and loss.
A follower on Instagram warned me that it might be a bit heavy considering I recently went through a break-up. The book is definitely devastating at times, but I found it comforting more so than anything. I know my loss is not even remotely the same, I still even have my former boyfriend as a person in my life. I can still turn to him for support, but I could certainly still relate to the feeling of loss and longing.
The ending felt a bit rushed and like each of the final few chapters were trying to sum up the moral of the story. But I really loved the characters and how it talks about grief and loss.
TLDR: I think I liked One Day in December a bit more, but it’s a close call.
My Rating: ★★★★
Thanks for sharing! I love seeing what people are reading and getting some new book ideas. Following you on Goodreads now – I just started using it too and it’s so helpful even just to keep track of what I read 🙂
Kathryn • simplykk.com
It’s been SO helpful!