Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2020

This was a weird year for everybody, and although I had way more free time than usual since COVID affected my job, I read fewer books than I ever have, at only 26.

I continued what I started last year, reading books that I've owned for ages and never read, and then discarding them if I didn't love them. I was less successful this year than last, though, because of reading fewer books in general, and because it was getting hard to find the audio book versions. Audiobooks are one of the few ways I can focus enough to finish books these days.

So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from least to most favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2020:

Runners Up

The French cover for Martian Time-Slip.
I like the atmosphere it gives.

--Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick. I didn't actually love this book that much, but the character's descent into uncertainty about reality was well done and quite evocative. It was also quite atmospheric, which I enjoyed. Normally I wouldn't add a book that I didn't really like, but the fact that the feelings from this book stayed with me, and I managed to remember them, says something, I think.

The man himself, Gabor Maté. I feel extra
proud of him because he lives in Vancouver,  
Canada, close to me.

--When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté. Some really fascinating ideas in this book, but I really don't know how accurate they are, or scientific. Health and human biology is not my area. I suspect science will discover more and more how much our mind and body are connected, but I have no idea if it's quite so connected. It did make me want to make sure I was as mentally strong and healthy as I could be, though. Rather inspiring.

--What Makes Love Last? by John M. Gottman. Really useful information here about how to keep a relationship healthy and alive. I wish it was more well known. It seemed, however, like much of it was not too applicable for my relationship, which is why it's not higher on the list.

--The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. I'd love to get this book for my kids one day. I feel like it would be a great book to learn about money as a teenager. I enjoyed it myself, but didn't learn a lot, since I've read quite a few financial books now.

Third Place: The Books That Gave Me Encouragement

--Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig. This was such a cozy, little book to read. The subject matter wasn't always pleasant, since it talks about his anxiety a lot. But sometimes slightly sad things can be super cozy, too. I also loved the cover and page design. I definitely want to read the other book by him, Reasons to Stay Alive.

--You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero. This book is definitely not for everybody, due to the slightly "woo" elements. But it gave me actual ideas and gave me the energy to start trying them, which is pretty huge for me.

Second Place: The Books That Gave Me Awesome Things to Try

--The Prosperous Heart by Julia Cameron. I really love books with exercises in them, and these exercises were really fun. I'm not sure if it actually directly made me feel or be more prosperous, though. Well, in the short term maybe, but Corona happened soon after, and it did not help things in that department. I do really want to do her more famous book now, though, called An Artist's Way. (I've actually tried to start before, but I couldn't manage to keep up the morning pages and artist dates. I think those will be very good for me, even if I don't do the book, though. So hopefully I can manage to start that up before too long.)

One of the best recipes from Yum & Yummer.
(I made this! And it was so good!)

--Yum & Yummer by Greta Podleski. This is one of those cookbooks that I actually read through every recipe, and thus count it as one of the books for the year. (I don't count most cookbooks because I skim through them looking for recipes that appeal to me.) The recipes from this book never astounded me (like some of the recipes from the cookbooks on 2018's list), but almost every single one I tried was really good, pretty cheap, pretty healthy, looked yummy. Every recipe ticked all the boxes, and what more can you ask for in a cookbook?

Another favourite recipe. Doesn't it look spectacular?

I'd also like to give a mention here to Cook Once, Eat All Week by Cassy Joy Garcia. I didn't actually read it cover to cover, thus why I haven't included it properly. But it's a fantastic book about meal prep, with some great recipes. It basically changed the way I meal plan, and was a definite plus for my life.

First Place: The Books That Gave Me Awesome Things to Think About

--Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. I've been reading a lot of financial books recently and watching lots of Youtube videos on the topic. They usually all say pretty similar things. Very, very useful things, but once you've read a few, you know the gist. This one was a little different, and managed to give a different perspective. A perspective that it turned out I really needed, for balance. It gave me ideas, too, and actually made me excited about my financial future. I really appreciated this book.

--The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. This book said things that I'd read before, but it said it in such was that I was actually struck by it. It felt like it was a bit life-changing, although now that I write that out, I'm not sure I can think of any specifics... Maybe it's not quite as good as I thought, but I can't deny that I really enjoyed reading it.

A happy city

--Happy City by Charles Montgomery. I found this fascinating, and I want the mayors and leaders of all the cities to read it. Our happiness is improvable, and we already know many of the ways to do it. But convincing people is the hard part...

Honourary First Place: The Series I Didn't Technically Finish

--My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi. Usually I don't include manga series unless I finish them, but who knows how long it will be until this series is finished. And this is the year I fell in love with it. So here it is, as an honourary first. And first it definitely should be, because it's so awesome. I love all the characters so much--it's so rare that a series has this good of an ensemble cast. The world building is such fun, and some of the fight scenes are so brilliant. Plus it has Bakugou, who blasted his way up to one of my favourite characters of all time. (I even got a figurine of him, as embarrassing as that is, and it gives me inspiration to give my all.)

Bakugou Katsuki. He wins all the popularity polls for a reason.

P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.

Top Ten (Or So): Covers of Books Read in 2020

I only have four books on my top covers list this year! Four!! I mean, I could add more, but only four actually appealed to me enough to put on a list. I'm sure the lack of good covers is partly just because I've read less this year than I ever have, at only 26 books.

Anyway, but here we are, in approximate order from favourite to least favourite, my top ten (or so) of last year:

I found the cover for The Institute pretty striking, and was a big reason why I read it in the first place. It's so mysterious, and I love the colours. Who is that boy? What's he doing? Will the book be all weird and full of cool mysteries like it looks like?

Outer Order, Inner Calm is minimalist in subject matter and cover, and that happens to be a style I like, especially when blue is featured strongly. The yellow also makes me feel happy, so just just looking at this cover makes me feel like decluttering my house until it feels fresh and clean and happy and calm.

Martian Time-Slip has a pretty minimalist cover, too (although the subject matter of the book is not remotely minimalist). I think the use of light is beautiful, and wouldn't mind having this as a featured picture in my house.

As I say every year, I think, the feel and size of a book, combined with the cover, can make a big difference to my reading experience. I'm including Notes on a Nervous Planet, not because the cover itself struck me that much, but because the cover, the paper used, the small cozy size, and the content of the book all worked so well together. It was a lovely and cozy reading this book.

P.S. See also my previous lists: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.

Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2019

This was a pretty good year. I decided to go through my many many books that I owned and had never read, and try to read (or listen to) as many as I could. 21 of the 39 books I read this year were in that category. And in the end... it wasn't really worth it. Not in the sense that I'm sorry I decided to do that. But in the sense that almost all of them were not books I loved. (Saint Joan, mentioned below, was the biggest exception.) It really started to hit home that my time on earth is limited, and there's no point reading tons of books I'm not going to love.

So now, by the beginning of 2020, I've really started to get used to my new taste in books, and slowly realizing I don't have to like the things I used to like. If my thing now is plays and journalism, so be it. All the better.

So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from least to most favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2015:

Runners Up: The Fictional Books

--Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. It was good and gripping. I enjoyed the twist quite a lot. Main reason why it's a Runner Up is because some of the drama in the middle of the book was tiring for me.

--The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. I don't have too much to say about this one, but I quite enjoyed it. It was one of the few fictional books I was able to get through this year. And definitely the world building was part of that. Some great and interesting things in this book! (Although I kind of suspect that half the reason why I liked this one so much was because I read it during our week of no internet. I've discovered more and more how much my internet use is making it hard to focus these days.)

Third Place: The Journalistic Books

A cool guy.
(Malcolm Gladwell)

--The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I'm also including the other two books I read by him this year, What the Dog Saw and Talking to Strangers. Gladwell is one of my favourite authors now. Although I didn't enjoy these ones as much as the ones I read by him last year, they were still quite fascinating, and gave me many things to think about.

--How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. Gave me new things to think about. That's mostly what I ask for in a book these days.

--10% Happier by Dan Harris. I'd already experienced the importance of meditation before reading this, but this reinforced my beliefs, and gave me inspiration to get back to my meditation practice.

--QED by Richard Feynman. It actually did help me understand some of quantum dynamics a lot better than before. I've always been fascinated by those mysterious areas of science, and it was great to be just a little clearer about how it works.

Second Place: Some Random Nonfiction Books

--Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. The human brain is fascinating, and we make many assumptions about life and how we think, without actually having any evidence for it.

--The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz. Half of why I loved this book was the experience of reading it: the beautiful feel of the book and pages, the way it felt to hold it. But it was also a lovely, thought-provoking book, for the most part.

A sample of my Pinterest board created for one of the exercises in The Curated Closet

--The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees. This book is not exactly objectively amazing, but it really really helped and inspired me, and that's what counts. It helped me think about and enjoy my clothes in way I never had in my life before. And I had so much fun doing the exercises with a friend of mine!

First Place: The Play

--Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw. Like last year, I liked the play I read better than any other fiction from the year. And this was so good. Joan herself was such an amazing character. From my Catholic upbringing, I was used to thinking of Shaw as a bit of the bad guy--at least in his opinions (not character). He was the one who disagreed with Chesterton on everything, and Chesterton was the best. That feeling that Shaw was somehow suspect stuck with me, unconsciously, but this book got rid of that. He had many very interesting ideas in this book, and made me think a lot.

The saint herself.

P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Top Ten (Or So): Covers of Books Read in 2019

So for the fourth year in a row, I feel like this year was really not great for covers. Maybe it's my fault...? I've somehow lost my appreciation for book covers? Or maybe it's because the kind of book I read now has changed, and that kind of book doesn't tend to have nice covers.

Who knows. Anyway. There's only two that I would say spoke to me in any way. The rest I chose just because I had to choose more than two, and they were nice enough.

So in approximate order from favourite to least favourite, my top ten of last year:

The cover for The Emperor's Blades is just beautiful. It gives me a feeling of epicness. And having three such different looking people made me think there could be at least three very awesome characters in it. (I didn't end up enjoying the book as much as I enjoyed the cover, although it was good.)

I, Robot is the second cover that struck me. It's just so green and computery! I can't explain it much more than that. The version I had was a beautiful hard cover, too. It even felt great.

The minimalist aesthetic appeals to me a lot. That's all I really need to say for Goodbye, Things.

Gotta give a place to a good, old-fashioned hard cover book, which is exactly what Man's Search for Meaning was. Plus it's blue. I like blue.

I'm not exactly sure why The Mastery of Love's cover appeals to me, but it does. I think half of it is the feel of the book, actually. The uneven pages, the smallish size of it, the bendy-but-still-firm-ness. Good stuff.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is a bit similar, actually. Half of why I liked it is the feel of the book, although the cover is also noticeable and interesting to me.

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick has beautiful illustrations inside and out.


P.S. See also my previous lists: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018.

Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2018

This year I can say my taste has decidedly changed. ALL of the books except one on this list are nonfiction (not including the runners up). This is very new for me. I like it, for now, although I do hope I'll get back one day to the joys of fiction.

So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from least to most favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2015:

Runners Up: The Fictional Books

These three books felt very similar in my brain--they're all thrillers, I really don't know which I liked best, and I forget them all a bit, but they were engaging and readable at a time when I couldn't read much fiction. Also, I started out quite loving all of them, but they got less interesting in the final third of the book. But the first two thirds were good enough that they deserved to be runners up.

--The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. What exactly was going on? I couldn't wait to find out.
--The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Death is sad, but recovery can be possible with discovery.
--The Lying Game by Ruth Ware. The liiiies. So fascinating.

The Girl on the Train. There's a movie! Any good? I don't know. But Emily Blunt is pretty awesome.

Third Place: The Self Help and Recovery Books

--Total Money Makeover by David Ramsey. My finances are actually in decent shape (I'm hoping to be debt free by the end of this year or the middle of next, and I'm not a big spender). But I read this to try to help my family, and it's really great. David Ramsey's style bugs me a bit, but he's right in the essentials. Debt is a nasty thing, and many of us could actually be free of that trap if we worked really, really hard and followed his steps.

--Master the Day by Alexander Heyne. Honestly, I got more from his Youtube videos than this book, since much of the info from his videos are in this book. But still, he's helped me quite a lot to begin to achieve a better life.

Alex Heyne

--Come as You Are by Emily Nagoski. Sex! Needs to be talked about! Especially the female experience!

--The Trauma Myth by Susan A. Clancy. A fascinating book, although probably easily misunderstood, and not for everyone. It turns our view of trauma and abuse on its head (in a sense--it does NOT make it seem good instead of bad, just... different).
I'm also going to give a shout out here to The Obsidian Mirror, by Louise M. Wisechild. It's more of a standard view of abuse, but really good and personal and poetical. (Although, to be honest, I don't remember it very well... That's not necessarily a sign that it's not as good, though.)

Second Place: The More Fascinating Self Help Book

The man himself, Jordan Peterson

--12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson. Peterson is famous for his stance on Canadian laws for transgender pronouns, but that's not at all what the majority of people like him for. His view on life and how to live it is really really inspiring for me, and makes me want to be strong and courageous more than almost anything else. He definitely has some flaws, in my opinion, and I disagreed with sections of his book (thus the second place). But I keep going back to him to be inspired to change.





First Place: The Cookbooks and Journalistic Books

--The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. So entertaining, so interesting, so strange, so real. I've found a new author to devour everything he's written.

This was made by me!!!

--British Columbia From Scratch by Denise Marchessault and Eating From the Ground Up by Alana Chernila. Cookbooks! It seems like cheating! But it's not, because I read every single word in these amazing books. The first (BCFS) made me interested in cooking, and the second (EFtGU) made me interested in vegetables. What a feat! My whole friend group is astounded. For both of these books, I've found things that are better than almost anything I've had, definitely than anything I've cooked.
Plus both books are soooo pretty. I flip through them periodically, and it gives me such pleasure. Seeing the beautiful colours, the beautiful food. Imagining how good they will taste, and how fun they will be to try to make. Being so thankful at my increase in skill, and at the whole world being interested in food has opened me up to.
It was hard not to book these as first place, but I felt that would somehow be cheating to put cookbooks in first place.

--August: Osage County by Tracy Letts. And the one fictional book on this list! And it's not even a novel, but a play! But such a good one. The subtly and reality of those relationships. It was sad, but it was so real. I don't know, I can't praise this in the right way, I'm no English major. You'll just have to trust me--it's good.

--Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, as well as David and Goliath and Blink. These books have changed the way I've thought about things from choosing schools to airplane safety. How does he find so much fascinating information? Usually I'm not one for random facts, but he makes them so interesting. These books have given me hours of excellent conversation with my family members, and I've found a new favourite author.

One more picture of this book because it's so freaking beautiful

P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.

Top Ten (Or So): Covers of Books Read in 2018

Top-Ten Lists are the best, so I'm continuing these even though the blog is abandoned.

I wasn't super impressed with the majority of the selection this year, but there were a couple great ones, and a couple pretty nice ones. Could have been worse, I guess. Here they are, in approximate order, favourite to least favourite, the best covers from the books I read in 2018.

Now that I'm into cooking, I've realized that I pretty much love all the covers from modern-style cookbooks. But British Columbia from Scratch one beats them all. This is the book that basically gave me my fascination with cooking. I saw it from a distance in a ferry gift shop and it called to me. The inside pictures are JUST as breath taking. I've tried a number of recipes now, and it turns out to live up to its promise. How much more perfect can you get?

And basically tied for first (only slightly behind) is the cover for Eating from the Ground Up. It was partly the cover and pictures in this book that made me think I could find ways to cook vegetables that I actually liked. And it turns out, I was right. Vegetables and be tasty and gorgeous and healthy all at once.

Simple Matters. I love the look of Minimalism. What can I say?

I'm normally not a fan of real people on the covers of books, especially when the person is the author of the book. But this The Sleep Revolution struck me, somehow. Maybe it's the sort of Minimalist look (which, as I've said before, really appeals to me)? Maybe it's the blue and white colour scheme?

I've kind of come off of my interest in Young Adult scifi/fantasy these days, and Three Dark Crowns itself didn't appeal to me much. But the cover was gorgeous.

The Lovely Bones. Simple, gradient blue. I like it.

I wasn't going to add the cover for The Dip (it would make a good runner up). But I found the image stuck in my mind, and kept coming up when I was thinking about progress and sticking with things. That's powerful enough that I feel like it deserves a spot.


And no runners up this year. There were a couple nice-ish ones, but these were the only ones I really liked enough.

P.S. See also my previous lists: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.

Top Ten (Or So): Books Read in 2017

This was a small year for books. Only 33! That's the least amount of books I've read in a year since I started keeping track, and possibly since I learned to read. Of course, I had a good excuse (getting engaged!!!), but it's made making a list like this a little more difficult. Fortunately, there were a couple of amazing ones.

So without further ado, in sort-of approximate order from least to most favourite, are some of the best books I read in 2015:

Section Three--these were great, I loved these ones: the "all the good ones" section:

--Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. This is first on the list because I forget almost all the details and only remember that I enjoyed it a lot. One of my favourites in the "Yeah, it was great!" category.

--A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias. I remember this one much better, and I remember being confused at the end, and not being quite as impressed as I'd hoped to be based on reviews. Nonetheless, it made me think, it entertained me, it remained memorable, and I'd recommend it to scifi lovers, even picky ones.

--Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis. I'm surprised this one didn't end up being higher up the list, since it's Lewis. But, wonder of wonders, I've discovered I've outgrown Lewis just a little. I still loved it (thus it's on this list). Especially when he talks about Joy itself. Lewis gets Joy in a way few people do, and I've always longed for it.

Section Two--these are just so good: the section with my actual favourites of the year:

--The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. This came at a good time in my life. So many good ideas to increase happiness, plus the central idea that you have to work for it. Being joyful is a choice, in many ways, and one you can actively pursue.

--The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. This almost went in Section One, for all-time favourites. So, so close. In fact, one of the only reasons why it isn't there is because I didn't want Section Two to be too small. Because this one is great. So inspiring. Such good ideas. Such an amazing end goal, that I want so much. Yeah, she can be a bit weird sometimes and I don't always agree with her. But when does that not happen? With some caveats: Read this if you want to change your life.

Section One--life-changing, ground-breaking, or astonishing: the new additions to my all-time favourites

--The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Changed the way I thought about food, and made me interested in it for the first time in my life. Now cooking, gardening, farming, hunting, gathering, society's relationship to all those, are all in my areas of keen interest. It was so great, and so entertaining and interesting. Plus the cover is gorgeous, so that always helps.

--The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. This is MY kind of book. This is it. Any attempt to explain it is going to get at the wrong sort of idea.

--The Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster. This changed my life. Part of that is definitely because it came at just the right time, when I was longing for something to teach me about the little disciplines to make my life better. Part of that is probably because it comes from a different perspective than I'm used to. I'm Catholic, and though this book doesn't go against Church teachings at all (except maybe in a couple obvious places (like the part on Confession)), there's still some new ideas for me. Ideas that I think could be very useful for Catholics to internalize. One of the most striking for me was the idea of practical prayer. Don't want to get into it too much, but this is one of the best and most inspiring practical guides to living a Christian life I've found.


Runners Up (In No Order Whatsoever and Possibly Missing Some Good Ones Because I'm Really, Really Bad at Making Up My Mind)
--The Sunbird by Elizabeth E. Wein. Some great, great characters in this slim book.
--What If? by Randall Munroe. So funny. So informative.
--Little Sins Mean a Lot by Elizabeth Scalia. So great at making me want to be better!

P.S. See also the Top Ten (Or So) lists from previous years: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.