What I Read in 2020 | January & February

Last year I completed by goal of reading 30 books and actually ended up reading 35, which I am super proud of. As a result of beating my goal from last year, as well as the fact that reading so much improved my overall mental wellbeing (we love decreasing screen time!), I decided to up my reading goal to 40 books this year and I’ve already gotten off to a good start. Because my reading goal is so hefty this year, I’ve decided that instead of writing up my book recaps on a seasonal basis, I’m going to switch to monthly recaps. Now I did miss December and January since I made this decision this morning to switch up the consistency of these posts, but I will just be lumping December, January and February together for the sake of today’s post.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood ~ I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to read the Hand Maid’s Tale! I’ve read other Margaret Atwood books during my school days and loved them, but kind of avoided reading Handmaid’s Tale because it had been so hyped up and because, quite frankly, I thought it would be too depressing given our current political climate. When the Testaments (the sequel) came out last year, I felt compelled to finally read The Handmaids Tale, and while I do think the book is very hyped up, there’s good reason for it. I really love Atwood’s writing and I don’t think it’s necessarily for everyone but I enjoyed it and will definitely be reading the Testaments in the coming months!

Ritz and Escoffier by Luke Barr ~ My friend was reading this book over the holidays and after I read the Handmaid’s Tale, I definitely needed something a bit more lighthearted to read. This book is a nonfictional account of the opening of the Savoy Hotel in London and the history behind the development of high-end hotels. I found this book so fun to read, and if you aren’t much into non-fiction or historical books, it honestly is so engaging that it reads like fiction. I recommend this to anyone who is intrigued by the Gilded Age or just wants a fun and somewhat indulgent read!

The Gown by Jennifer Robson ~ Following off of the prior book, I was definitely in the mood for some more historical-based books. That combined with the fact that The Crown had just come back, I was in desperate need for a royal-related book and one random search of Goodreads later, I found The Gown. This book is about two women who are seamstresses in the atelier that make Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding gown. The book flips back and forth between the 1940s when the gown was being made to the present day, which explores the life of the granddaughter of one of the women who made the gown and details her search to find out more about her grandmother’s past. I really recommend this book for those who are interested in historical fiction and the British Royal Family.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates ~ This is Ta-Nahesi Coates’ first work of fiction and I really enjoyed it. The book revolves around a young man named Hiram Walker who was born into slavery and by an almost magical/mystical experience, decides that he is going to escape. Even though he successfully escapes, he is pulled back to the plantation by the need to free his loved ones from bondage. The story is absolutely incredible, beautifully written, and intensely thought-provoking. I also loved how Coates weaved in elements of magical realism in a way that felt organic and enhancing to the story.

How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell ~ This book had been on my list of books to-read for awhile and I started reading it at a particularly stressful time where I was feeling incredibly burnt out from work and then ended up having the flu for over a week and was forced to be bedridden. The title is definitely a bit tongue-in-cheek but the message Odell conveys is crucial to our day-in-age. Odell’s thesis centers around the idea that our attention is a commodity in the modern world and it is being taken advantage of almost 24/7 between technology, social media, work, and capitalism and her methods on resisting what she deems the “attention economy”. I loved this book and was recommending it to everyone in my real life. I love that so much of what Odell talks about is rooted in real research and cultural critique rather than being a simple how-to guide on how to use your phone less.

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo ~ Woah baby this book caused quite a stir! This book was based on about a decade worth of research on three different women and their sex lives. The premise is extremely interesting, but the execution definitely fell short for me. The main issue that I had with the book was how little diversity their was within all the women’s stories; their all white, middle-class, and heterosexual. In the introduction Taddeo sets out to make some overarching claims about women’s sexuality, but, to me, that’s an impossible task when your sample of women come from relatively similar socio-economic backgrounds. The narrative style also was a bit too fictionalized for me and contained zero analysis, which is something I expected to get. I wouldn’t say I flat-out don’t recommend that book, but I certainly wouldn’t expect to get a lot of deep insights out of it.

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino ~ Talk about another book that got a lot of hype in 2019, but unlike Three Women I absolutely loved Trick Mirror. If you haven’t already heard of Jia Tolentino, she’s an essayist for the New Yorker and the New York Times, I believe, and she writes a lot about millennial culture and politics. The book is a collection of essays on “self-delusion”, which honestly meant nothing to me when I first read that subtitle, but I was intrigued. The essays range from discussions of social media, marriage and weddings, and optimization culture. The book definitely errs more on the intellectual side and you might find yourself googling terms while you’re reading this book, but her humor adds much needed levity to otherwise heavy topics.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong ~ A few of my friends had read this book in 2019 and recommended that I read it. Vuong is first a foremost a poet and this book is technically a novel, but it’s written in a very poetic way. The book is written as a series of letters from a son to his mother, and those letters chronicle his family’s immigration to the United States from Vietnam, his identity as a member of the LGBT community, racism, and class. I really loved this book and it is a beautiful read, I can’t wait to see what Vuong’s future novels will be!

The Course of Love by Alain de Botton ~ After Brad and I got engaged, I was fully immersed in wedding culture and wanted to read some good books about marriage. This book constantly came up in my searches and I really enjoyed it. The book is a work of fiction, but it is one of the most realistic portrayals of marriage and relationships I have ever seen both in books or film. If you love realistic portrayals of relationships, I highly recommend this book.

Dear Girls by Ali Wong ~ To say I love Ali Wong would be the understatement of the century. Not only is she a native San Franciscan like me, but her comedy specials are some of the best I’ve ever seen. I even went to see her with one of my best friends this past winter and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder in my entire life. I loved the format of this book; she wrote about different topics in letters to her two daughters. The book is both heartwarming and hilarious and honestly I aspire to have the kind of marriage that she has with her husband. I also learned so much about her journey getting into standup and her work ethic is incredibly inspiring.