Season 7, Episode 21: A Look Back - Our Top Reads of 2020!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Currently Reading – Season 7, Episode 21: A Look Back - Our Top Reads of 2020!

Release Date: December 30, 2024
Hosts: Meredith Monday Schwartz and Kaytee Cobb

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1. Introduction to the Episode Theme

In this special episode of Currently Reading, hosts Meredith Monday Schwartz and Kaytee Cobb delve into their top ten favorite books of the tumultuous year 2020. Recognizing 2020 as an "amazing outlier" influenced by the global pandemic, the hosts aim to reflect on how the year's unique circumstances shaped their reading habits and choices.

Meredith (00:53): "We have a theme for a really good reason, Katie. [...] 2020 was that amazing outlier of a year."

2. Reflecting on Reading Habits During 2020

Both Meredith and Kaytee discuss how the pandemic impacted their reading patterns. Meredith, residing in Austin, Texas, benefited from having fewer family obligations as only one of her four children was at home. This afforded her the luxury to delve deeply into books she might not have otherwise prioritized.

Meredith (02:03): "I was lucky enough to go through 2020, the lockdown, which is pretty much all of 2020 for us. [...] I didn't have a Baby at home at the time."

Conversely, Kaytee, based in Arizona, balanced homeschooling four children, leading to shifts in her reading as community activities were curtailed.

Kaytee (03:29): "We had moved in 2019, so we were still trying to build community and then all that community got taken away."

3. Overview of Top 10 Lists Preparation

The hosts emphasize the meticulous process behind selecting their top ten books, highlighting the challenge of narrowing down vast reading lists. They postponed finalizing their lists until after December 31st to ensure no late-year reads were overlooked.

Meredith (04:12): "We want to make absolutely sure that a five-star top 10 book didn't sneak in right at the very end of the year."

4. Detailed Discussion of Top 10 Books

Meredith's Top 10 of 2020

1. Greenwood by Michael Christie (40:17)

   • A sweeping family saga that intertwines story and plot, spanning from 2038 back to the early 1900s.
   • "This book is that intersection of story and plot."

2. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (13:05)

   • An inventive horror novel that captivated Meredith with its unique narrative.
   • "I can't to this day tell you exactly what this book is about. [...] It's impossible to describe."

3. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz (23:00)

   • A complex mystery within a series, praised for its well-drawn characters and engaging plot.
   • "It's a very long brick of a book, but it's brilliantly executed."

4. All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (30:55)

   • The 16th installment in the Inspector Gamache series, lauded as possibly the best in the series.
   • "She just does family relationships so well and there are some gut-punch moments."

5. Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (19:41)

   • A middle-grade novel addressing police brutality from multiple perspectives, including that of a deceased boy.
   • "This book is a book that should be taught in all classrooms at the fourth and fifth grade level."

6. Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi (26:16)

   • A nonfiction guide on productivity and prioritization, resonating deeply with Meredith's personal and professional life.
   • "It's all about doing instead of working harder, working smarter."

7. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (32:18)

   • Explores themes of choice and redemption through a metaphysical library where each book represents a different life path.
   • "It's full of hope and full of redemption. It's really, really a very happy book at the end."

8. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (36:01)

   • A polarizing short novel about two families navigating an unexplained crisis, praised for sparking engaging discussions.
   • "It's a book that should be read by book clubs all across the country."

9. Know My Name by Chanel Miller (24:34)

   • A powerful memoir recounting the author's experience in the Stanford rape case, delivered poignantly in her own voice.
   • "The emotion in her voice as she reads. It’s absolutely vital to listen to her read it."

10. Here for It by R. Eric Thomas (39:11)

    • A humorous collection of essays exploring the intersectionality of being Black and gay in America.
    • "It's hysterically funny. It's absolutely wonderful."

Kaytee's Top 10 of 2020

1. Pride by Ibi Zoboi (42:20)

   • A contemporary retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in a gentrifying New York City neighborhood with Black teenage protagonists.
   • "It's a Pride and Prejudice retelling YA set in New York City. [...] I cannot talk about it without a smile on my face."

2. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson (43:56)

   • An explorative nonfiction work comparing American racism to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany.
   • "It's a super palatable package. [...] It’s that kind of accessible and digestible."

3. Lobisona by Romina Garber Russell (31:55)

   • A YA fantasy novel blending werewolves, immigration, and magical sports, celebrated for its rich world-building.
   • "It has everything I want in a book and didn't even know I needed it."

4. Saving Ruby King by Katherine Adele West (11:57)

   • A thriller featuring the church as a character, blending mystery and suspense.
   • "It had the church as a character in the book as a point of view, which I just thought was so interesting."

5. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (15:47)

   • A YA novel focusing on a teen mom aspiring to be a chef, lauded for its vivid culinary descriptions.
   • "The food, you just can't not love the food in this book."

6. Hampered Nonfiction Title Placeholder
   (Note: The transcript doesn’t provide all ten books for Kaytee, but this placeholder indicates continuation.)

7. Another Book Title Placeholder

8. Additional Book Title Placeholder

9. Further Book Title Placeholder

10. Final Book Title Placeholder

(Due to the transcript's focus on Meredith’s list and partial coverage of Kaytee’s list, only five of Kaytee's top ten are detailed here.)

5. Reflections and Conclusions

Meredith and Kaytee reflect on the significance of their chosen books, many of which remain influential and beloved beyond 2020. They acknowledge the lasting impact of their top picks, noting how certain books continue to resonate with them and their audiences.

Meredith (46:08): "It is that intersection of story and plot. [...] It's written in a way that you just forget that you're reading."

Kaytee highlights the surge in social justice themes within her top ten, mirroring the broader societal focus of 2020.

Kaytee (45:35): "There are a goodly number of these [...] Cast is the second book by Isabel Wilkerson."

Both hosts express gratitude for the opportunity to revisit their favorite reads, emphasizing the enduring value of these literary works in their lives and communities.

Katie (49:02): "Happy reading, Meredith."

6. Notable Quotes

• Meredith (02:58): "2020 I needed much more escape."
• Kaytee (05:02): "There was weeping and gnashing of teeth it was very, very upsetting for me."
• Meredith (15:10): "It's not safe. There's a lot of stuff in there that we really, you know, can't talk about on the show."
• Kaytee (10:05): "Once I hit those top 10 [...] it got really sweaty and anxious at my house."
• Meredith (32:18): "It was carried through the story from start to finish."

7. Episode Highlights

• Reading Quantities: Kaytee astonishingly read 316 books in 2020, while Meredith read 116, though both note significant growth in their reading habits.
• Genre Diversity: Both hosts showcase a range of genres, from YA and middle-grade to horror, mystery, and nonfiction.
• Influence of 2020 Events: The global pandemic and social justice movements heavily influenced their reading choices, with many books reflecting themes of resilience, identity, and societal change.
• Book Recommendations: Numerous titles are highlighted as must-reads, often accompanied by personal anecdotes and reasons for their lasting impact.

8. Final Thoughts

The episode serves as both a nostalgic look back and a curated guide for listeners seeking their next great read. By sharing their top ten lists and the stories behind their selections, Meredith and Kaytee offer insightful recommendations shaped by a year of unprecedented global events.

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For more book recommendations and community discussions, listeners are encouraged to connect with Meredith and Kaytee on Instagram and join their patron community to support the show.

Transcript

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Foreign. Hey readers, welcome to the Currently Reading podcast. We are bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we read recently. And as you know, we won't shy away from having strong opinions. So get ready.

[Katie Cobb]

We are light on the chit chat, heavy on the book talk, and her descriptions will always be spoiler free. Today we have a very special episode for you.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

I'm Meredith Monday Schwartz, a mom of four and full time CEO living in Austin, Texas. And I love not only to look back, but to look way back.

[Katie Cobb]

And I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in Arizona. And I love looking back on my reading life. This is episode number 21 of season seven and we are so glad you're here. We have a theme.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

We have a theme for a really good reason, Katie. There was really nothing else that we could say as we thought about this because this is one of those really fun episodes where we're going to not just look back, we're going to look way back. We're going to look back to your top 10 favorite books of 2020. My top 10 favorite books of 2020. Of course, 2020 was that amazing outlier of a year.

[Katie Cobb]

Yep.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

It was a whole scene and it definitely affected our reading in both good ways and not so good ways. And you see that in this episode.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, it is. It's interesting to look back on this year in specific because we've been doing this now for a couple years and 2020 was such a change for so many of us. Some of us read way more than we had in the past and some people read almost nothing because they felt like everything about that year was broken for them. So it's fun to see what rose to the top out of that melee.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Right. And I think it has a lot to do, like how much we read or what our experience was had so much to do with the circumstance that we found ourselves in during the pandemic. Right.

[Katie Cobb]

Which was.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

So we were all going through the same thing, but we all experienced it really differently based on our family situation at the time, work situation at the time. That had a lot to do with it. I was lucky enough to go through 2020, the, the lockdown, which is pretty much all of 2020 for us. Where we are with. I only had one. I was only living, you know, with one of my kids. My husband and I only had one of our four kids at home. Our older kids were grown and were in their own homes and he was 9. So I didn't have a Baby at home at the time.

[Katie Cobb]

I did.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yeah, exactly. So that for me, 2020 meant a really good year of reading and reading some, like, being able to really deeply read some books that wouldn't have normally been available to me if I'd been working and doing all. I mean, I was working, but like the normal way a year would have gone.

[Katie Cobb]

Right. Yeah. I think a lot of us experienced a. Like a bringing in in that year. Right. I also was at home all the time, but with my kids, who were used to being at home with me, but used to getting out and doing a lot of activities that we could no longer do. So there was a shift even in our, like, little homeschool life, which kind of persisted for many years after that because we had moved in 2019, so we were still trying to build community and then all that community got taken away.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yeah, us too. We moved to Austin in. In October of 2019. It was just five months before the lockdown happened and. Right. Like, I. I felt like that affected a lot of things too, because it was like. But wait, you know, Jackson was just getting into his school and just being able to make friends and. Yeah, that was tough.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah, it was. But this is a phenomenal list of books. So we are going to toss it back to past Meredith and Katie. You're gonna hear our entire top 10 lists and then we will be back at the end for a little bit of reflection. So let's get into our top 10 lists, which, as people who have been around for a long time know that we are the type of readers that have to wait until after December 31st to make these lists. Right, Right.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

We want it. We're completists. We really like to make absolutely sure that a five star top 10 book didn't sneak in right at the very end of the year. Because that's happened before.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah. And if you're making a top 10 list in November, I'm throwing shade at you. My eyes are shifty.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

So my question for you is this, Katie, I know you're going to run us through some kind of overall numbers of your reading for this year. So why don't you kind of give us some totals? But then also I want to know, how did you decide on your top 10? Because it was torturous for me to decide on my top 10. And I read a third of the books that you did for the year. So what was your. Run us through your totals and then tell me your process. How did you do it?

[Katie Cobb]

There was weeping and gnashing of teeth it was very, very upsetting for me.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yeah, it's really, really tough.

[Katie Cobb]

It's so hard. So, you know, we talked about this on a co video. 2020 was my biggest reading year ever. I really hope that I can reduce those numbers going into 2021, but I finished 316 books in 2020, which is just disgusting. And I, I feel like I had a good year though. Overall, my rating, overall, my average rating for the year was pretty high. So even when I went through my book spreadsheet, my tracker that I use, and eliminated everything that wasn't five stars, I still had a pretty big list to choose from. So then I just put all those books into a single document and did kind of a quick and dirty hash out where I just got rid of anything that maybe I really loved it at the time, but it didn't stick with me. Five stars still. I'm sure you were a great book at the time. You were perfect for what I needed at the time. But I don't care about you that much right now. That got me down to 33, which is a great number. And that's still 10% of my books for the year or like very slightly over 10% of my books for the year. So then, you know, because Meredith is bossy, I had to get it down to 10 for this episode. And that's when it got really like sweaty and anxious at my house because it was like, how do I choose between. Oh. So then a lot of that came down to which ones are the ones that, you know, I think are going to end up on my press list. So someday which ones are the ones that I want friends to read? Which ones are the ones that I cannot stop thinking about these characters. How did you narrow yours down? What did you end up at for the year?

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

So I ended up at 116 books for the year, which was 16% more than I read the year before. And certainly my biggest year ever too, for sure. And the other thing that was interesting about my reading is that only 8, 8 of those 116 were nonfiction, which is by far my lowest percentage of non fiction to fiction that I've, that I've ever, ever read. I usually get through a lot more nonfiction. So clearly in 2020 I needed much more escape. The other thing is that I realized that my ratings when I, when I did kind of what you did, where I went through and chose my five star reads, I had 18 five star reads. And so then I had to cull 18 down to 10. Those 18 though were very very, very much five star reads. So it was, there was maybe just one that I kind of immediately was able to go, ah, you didn't stick with me the way I thought you would. But those other ones, it was really difficult to knock off the list. So I realized with my ratings, I, I had good number of five stars. I had a lot of four and four and a half star reads. And then I had just a couple of one and two star reads and very few three star reads. So it was like I either DNF'd books right, or I finished them and they really worked for me. And it's not 100%. Obviously there's a, there's a mix in there. But more than ever before, I feel like it was those two extremes. I either just could not get into the book at all and I set it down or I really, really liked it. So I don't know if that means I chose better or if I was just, if I could finally get into a book. It worked for me. I don't really know yet exactly what that means about my reading. I did realize that of my 116 books, 18 of those were middle grade. So middle grade represented a really large number. And I also was swinging wildly back and forth between hardcore horror and then some very, very, very gentle middle grade. So that probably is the thing I'm going to remember most about 2020.

[Katie Cobb]

I also read less nonfict in 2020 than I did in years past. Not always, you know, 50% nonfiction, but this year it was less than 20. And I'm okay with that. I was fine with it.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

I definitely realized that my sources, I'm getting a lot better at trusting certain sources and that tracking of sources has become really, really key. And so I actually, for my top 10 that I created, I'm going to tell you what the source was for each of those. And you can see that some pat begin to form. So, you know, but it's not easy choosing your top 10. We were so grateful. We asked our bookish friends, our patron supporters, to fill out a form for us and sort of weigh in, tell us who were your top 10 favorite books. And then we asked who were your top 10 or your, your least favorite 10 books. And we got so much response to both of those, proving that this was a year that people felt really strongly about their reading. So we're putting together some interesting stuff related to that data that we got the top 10 books of 2020 and the least favorite books of 2020. And Katie, there are some books that appear on both lists. And that's my favorite is fascinating. Yeah. Yes. All right, so I think we should get into these books that we worked so hard to choose. Katie, what is your. Are you now are you ranking these top 10 or are you just going in? Are you going 10 to 1? How did you do it?

[Katie Cobb]

I'm going 10 to 1. And once I hit those top 10, once I had solidified that list and I sat there and I thought, well, am I going to put these alphab? I'm going to put them based on when I read them. How am I going to. And as I started looking at them, it was relatively easy for me to pick the very top and bottom and work my way toward the middle and end up with a ranked 10 to 1. So what about you?

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

I'm doing mine chronologically, but I am going to save my favorite one for last. So my number one is actually my number one, my true favorite book of the year. But the rest of them I will just run through chronologically.

[Katie Cobb]

All right, that sounds good. I'm excited to get into it. I don't think that we're going to have any matchups this year, though. Last year I was sure that we were going to have a matchup. So let's get started.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

This book happened to be the first book I read in 2020. And there is no question from the moment that I read it, there's no question it had to be on my top 10 list. I've known since then it would be on my top 10 list. And that's El Deafo by CeCe Bell. This is a graphic novel. We've talked about it many times on the show. Our kids, Micah and Jack, have both talked about El Deafo. They absolutely love it. We love it. I don't read really, honestly, I don't read any graphic novels. This is just not something that I'm interested in. I'm not a visual person, so that medium doesn't work for me. But this book is so great on every level. I have gifted this book to so many people, kids and adults. Everybody has loved it. And so for that reason, and also, you know, I think about this book all the time. My husband and son and I will mention it during the year multiple times. We've been like, oh, right. Remember that one part in El Deafo? We all three read it. And so for that reason, it just stuck with me. It's beautiful. I absolutely love it. So El Deafo by cece Bell.

[Katie Cobb]

That is a recurring theme in my list of 10 as I was writing Notes about each one. I was like, this is another one I just could not stop thinking about. So that's what we're going to end up with. It's 10 books Katie could not stop thinking about. So my 10th one is Saving Ruby King by Katherine Adele west, which I had a really hard time narrowing this 10th spot because I loved Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. And then I loved Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adele West. Really what this came down to is that I feel like Saving Ruby King is a little more under the radar and I want to give it a little bit extra boost. Everybody and their mom has heard of Transcendent Kingdom, right? It's not a surprise pick for anyone. So I went with this one. Even they have similar themes about Chur, Church and family. This one's much more mystery, much more thrillery. And it had. I don't know if you remember me talking about this, but it had the church as a character in the book as a point of view, which I just thought was so interesting, so novel, that I could not stop thinking about it. And now here it is eight months later, still can't stop thinking about it.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

All right, my next one is a book that I read all the way back in. I think it was May, but man, I think about it all the time. And that is the Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. This. Oh, this. I can't to this day tell you exactly what this book is about. I couldn't at the time, I struggled giving any sort of setup for the library at Mount Char. What I will remind you guys is this is a book that sounds like it's a book about books. That is not what it is. So this is horror. This is an incredible. It's so inventive. I don't know how to describe this book, but I think about it all the time. It's a debut novel, which blows my mind. He hasn't written anything else. People are banging down his door to have him write something else. And he literally has a website that is just like, no, there's no follow up to the Library of Mount Char. The thing that I love about this book too is that it's one of two books on my list, my top 10 list that I got through what I call library Bookish Serendipity, which is something I mentioned a show or two ago that I miss so much. They're just books that I put into my bag, really not knowing much about at all. Sometimes I haven't really even fully read the front, like the Inside Flap. I'm just interested for some reason. And because it's the library, we can take books out with reckless abandon and we don't have to have this thought process like, do I really need to own this book? Should I spend this money on it? And so for that reason, I can get home and do a book flight and read a chapter. And just with Library at Mount Char, I got sucked in from the very beginning. And it is not just on my top 10 books of this year, it's in my top 10 books of all time. So library, bookish serendipity is really important and I know we're all going to look forward to getting that back again in 2021.

[Katie Cobb]

Reach that. I. I did read this one after you recommended it, and it is totally, mind blowingly indescribable. It's also nsfwj. I mean, what. How many.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yeah.

[Katie Cobb]

Things can we put on there?

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yeah. It's not safe. Yeah. There's a lot of reasons we can't talk about it, and part of that's because there's a lot of stuff in there that we really, you know, can't talk about on the show. But. But it's not like a sexy book. It's just impossible to describe. It's not for every reader, that's for sure. Katie. That's another thing about my list is I'm realizing that a lot of books on my list, I would say, are not books that I would describe as real crowd pleasers. The books that I. That really made an impact on me this year were ones that I felt made an impact on me as an individual. But for a lot of other readers, that just wouldn't be their cup of tea.

[Katie Cobb]

Right. Okay. My number nine book is with the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. This is ya. I don't usually love a ton of ya, but I did end up with two on my list. It deals with all kinds of tough topics, but it also has the most incredible food in it. And I like, salivate when I think about this book. It's so tasty. I loved the whole arc of the story. This is Acevedo's only novel thus far that isn't written in verse. So all her other books are verse novels where it's like that kind of short poetry on the page. And I did binge her entire catalog this year, so I can say that pretty definitively. Her verse novels are wonderful. But Emoni, the main character in this novel, is the one that just kept sticking with me. And I kept thinking about her. She's a teen mom, which is kind of the setup for our story. And then it goes from there. And the food, you just can't not love the food in this book. So that was with the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Okay. My next book is also ya and this was one that there's no question was a Bookstagram made me do it. And that was A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. Now, interestingly on my list, I only have a couple sort of mysteries or, or horror books on my list. I read a lot of that kind of book this year that I really, really loved. But as far as the, like, the best of the best of the best, there were just a couple that fit that category. And A Good Girl's Guide to Murder was just. To me, it was, it was so excellent in every way. It was a book that was. This is the book that focuses on. Our lead character is Pip. And there was this murder that took place in her town. She's a high schooler and she decides that the guy who was convicted of the cr, she knows him, and she decides that she just does not think it's possible that he committed this crime. And so she goes about reinvestigating it under the guise of doing her senior project kind of on this particular crime. So it's got major serial podcast vibes, but it's done really, really well. It's. It's ya, but you just wouldn't know it. It's just a really excellently done mystery. So that is A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. This one, that one was just so.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay. My next book for 2020 was stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi. And this one is a little bit like the. A little bit prideful. And I'm recognizing that in myself because this is the Honkin book, right? When everybody was buying anti racism books in June, this one sold out immediately. And it's like 650 pages. So I do wonder how many people actually read it after they sold it out of bookstores. Because it's either this or the YA remix, which is called Racism. Anti Racism and you'd by Jason Reynolds and Ibram Rex Kendi. And I think both are fantastic. Both are absolutely worth reading. They both have their merits. This one, though, this is the 650 page honker. You feel very much like you accomplished something when you finished it and also like you got your brains exploded out of your ears on both sides and you're kind of mad at the entire world. So just know that going in, it's impeccably researched. He's a professor, so you know that going in, it's incredibly illuminating. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I know it's starting to sound like a broken record at this point. Level one, if you're going to pick up one of these two books, is stamped. That's your, that's your like nice little gentle introduction. In the YA version. It's again kind of written in verse, so it flows really great. Level two, if you're ready to step it up to the next level, is stamped from the beginning. And it is absolutely worth reading. But maybe take it as a slow and steady. If you're going to pick this one up because it's worth it, it's worth reading. It's difficult. So be gentle with yourself, reader. If you want to pick this one up, it's worth it.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Okay. My next book is another book. Katie, they're just gonna. This should be a drinking game. Drink. Every time we say it, I cannot stop thinking about it. It's Ghost Boys by Jewel Parker Rhodes. This is another book that I read with Jackson. This is middle grade. This is the book that is about a young boy who has been killed by a police officer at the very beginning. And it is from his point of view. It's from multiple points of view, but one of the points of view is from this, this boy who's been killed after he is dead. And the points of view go back and forth between, you know, his point of view and then the daughter of the policeman who shot him. And we also see what his family is going through. This book is so incredible as far as being incredibly written, but the story is amazing. This book is a book that had me crying, but mostly because of the impact that it had on my nine year old son. And watching Jackson and we read it together, which I think was really important. But watching him take in everything that this story offers, all the truth and the reality that this story offers, that he really, because of the life that he lives, doesn't have any concept of it, made me say, I said at the time, this is why we read. Because we need to see the world through other people's eyes. And this book does that incredibly well. I just. This is a book that I think should be taught in all classrooms at the fourth and fifth grade level. In my opinion. It just, there's just no question it's that good. So this is Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes.

[Katie Cobb]

I love that. I'm so happy that that's on your list. That makes me so happy.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

So good. So, so, so good.

[Katie Cobb]

So good. Okay. My next one is also middle grade. It is my only middle grade on the list, and I had a hard time narrowing it down, but it's the Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Geminhart. I read some really incredible middle grade this year, but this one, I could not stop thinking about it. Gosh, I need another euphemism. Here's the thing. When I finished this book, I was shopping at the grocery store the day before the country shut down, and we knew that there was a shutdown coming. And I finished this book and I'm listening to it in my earbuds and I'm trying to, like, plan well, and I'm crying in the grocery store aisles. You guys know I love a crying book. This is a great crying book. So this is the story of Coyote Sunrise, and she is traveling across the country with her dad, Rodeo. They have weird names. Just go with it. It'll get explained eventually, but it has a very solid found family trope in it. And I have realized over the course of 2020 that found family is absolutely one of my very favorite things to find in a book. That people coming together and becoming a tribe for one another is so wonderful to me. And this book, they're on a bus, they're traveling cross country, and they meet the most incredible people. I loved it so much. I love the COVID I love the characters. It was March, nine months later. Cannot stop thinking about Coyote. I love her. And I want everybody to read this. It's the Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gminhardt.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

All right, this next one of mine is squarely in my wheelhouse. And this is one of my favorite mysteries of the entire year. And interestingly, a second in a series. It's pretty amazing for a, you know, a series book to make it into my top 10. So this is Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz. This is a big honking book, for sure. I can't remember how many pages it is, but it's a brick. It is such an excellently done kind of closed door murder. It's done. This is the follow up to Magpie Murders. And each one of those books has a book within the book, which is part of the reason why they're big, long bricks of bricks of books. And I love that. I actually always love the book within the book even more than I love the kind of, like, story that's on the outside. I love the Atticus pun. Character. And so he's very like Hercule Perrault, who I absolutely am in love with. And these are just smart, well drawn mysteries that let you play along the entire time. They're perfect if you love an Agatha Christie, if you love a whodunit, if you love that very classic structure in your mystery. Something that's well written, the plot, the plot flows really well the entire time. It doesn't get mired down in the middle, which a lot of these books sometimes do. And I absolutely loved it. I love Anthony Horowitz. I love almost everything he's ever written. And this one I was nervous about, but it absolutely lived up to my expectations. It was excellent. So this is Moonflower Murders by Anthony.

[Katie Cobb]

Horowitz, second in the series. I love it when those delivery. Okay, my next one is my first memoir on the list. There's one more that I would probably put in this category. It's Know My Name by Chanel Miller. This book was on a lot of People's Best of 2019 lists, which is how it ended up on my 2020 reading list. And I had heard that the audio was excellent because Chanel Miller reads it herself. So that's the way that I went here. This is her memoir of the Stanford rape case, Brock Turner, his trial. And Chanel Miller is the victim in that case. But throughout the entire proceedings, she is anonymous. So she, her, her friends do not know that it's her that's the main, you know, complainant in this case. And so this memoir really tracks between kind of her inner turmoil and heartbreak and damage from what happened to her and then what's happening external to her and how the people outside of her are processing everything that they're seeing on the news or hearing about or reading the papers or whatever. And the way she it. It is impossible to believe that this girl is like 23 years old when she's writing this book. She is incredible. It gave me goosebumps multiple times. You can hear the. The emotion in her voice as she reads. And it's absolutely vital to listen to her read it. Even if you have a paper book in front of you, having her read it to you is just really an incredible experience. And I think this is one of those books that you close the last page and you say, we can do better, we can do this better, we can reach higher than we have before. And those books always stick with me. So that's Know My Name by Chanel Miller.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Okay. My next book is the only nonfiction on my list, and it is the book that has the distinction of the first time I think ever on the show we had a book that went straight to our press list. So this is the Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi. You guys are probably familiar, familiar with the Lazy Genius podcast, which I love. This book is just the perfect distillation of the most useful things that Kendra Adachi sort of teaches in her Lazy Genius way of doing things. It's all about doing instead of working harder, working smarter and really letting go of the things that aren't important to us, knowing what's important to us, letting go of the things that aren't important and that's different for each person. And then figuring out how to really make sure that the, the places in your life that mean a lot to you, that you do important tasks and things related to, you know, to those things in your everyday life. So in the kitchen, with your children, in your work, all of those things. The Lazy Genius way is so executable. It's just so perfectly written where you, you hear her voice and she's leading you through all these things and it's funny and I laughed out loud multiple times. But then she also is making it really easy to take these ideas and do something with them. And that is my favorite kind of, kind of life hack productivity book. She does it really, really well. I will definitely be giving this book to a lot of people. So that is the Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi.

[Katie Cobb]

It's so good. I love that book too.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yeah, she crushed it with this book.

[Katie Cobb]

Definitely. Okay, my fifth book. Fifth from the top. What number are we on? Book five is the Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dharre. This is one of the very first books that I read in 2020 and one that I loved so much that before the end of the year I had pressed it into our listeners hands. This is an amazing story of Aduni who's a young girl living in Nigeria. She's basically sold into marriage to pay off her family's debts. By the end of this story, you love Aduni. With the fire of a thousand suns. You just want to hug her and you want all the best things for her so wrapped up in her story that you can't let her go. Getting to talk to Abi Dharre at the beginning of the year for a minisode was absolutely a highlight of 2020 for me. I loved this book so much. It has a stunning graphic cover, a character you can't forget, a sense of place that takes you straight there. The whole thing's just wonderful. So it's the Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Darre.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Well, so speaking of books within series that make my top 10, I think everybody knew that on my top 10 list was going to be all the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny. This is the 16th book in the Inspector Gamache series. Let me say that again. This is the 16th book in this series, you guys. This was arguably the best book she has done yet. I think this may be the best book in the series. And the fact that it's book number 16 blows my mind. This is so incredible to me that she still can write not only at this level of quality, but this level of story and keep things so fresh. Now, what was interesting about this book is of course we were all really concerned as we heard what the book was about because it's not set in Three Pines. And so automatically all of us were like, wait, what? We only like it when we're in Three Pints. Or we mostly only like it when we're in Three Pines. We're in Paris in this book. And she does it so well. I honestly didn't even miss Three Pines when I was reading this book. That's how good the story is. The mystery itself in this book is incredible. The execution is amazing. It's heart pounding in several places and we get to know a side of Ghomesh's family that we sort of knew a little bit about. But she really, really blows the doors open in ways that are. She just does family relationships so well and there are some gut punch moments. And if you're a parent and if you're a child and obviously we're all one of those things, we know that these relationships are complex and she does this really, really well. So no question of my top 10 reading experiences. It had to be on the list. That's all the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny.

[Katie Cobb]

Happy sigh about that book. I love that book. Okay, what's your next one? Is Lobisona by Romina Garber Russell. This was my YA fantasy pick of the year, which I didn't know if I was gonna end up having one, but here it is. It came from my bookshelf. Thomasville subscription hit out of the Park. From then I opened this package and I knew I was in for the treat because of the gorgeous cover and the maps on in on the inside flaps. But I didn't know just how much I was gonna love it until I picked it up a few months later. This story mixes the moon with werewolves with immigration and Ya know, coming of age and magical sports. Hello. Amazing. It has everything I want in a book and didn't even know I needed it. Presents it in just the most wonderful package. I loved it so much. And every time that somebody tags me and says, katie, I read this and I loved it and it's all because of you. My heart grows three sizes. I love this book. It is so fantastic. I want everybody to read it. It's lovely. Sona by Romina Garber. Russell.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Well, and that's the thing I was going to say about this book, Katie, is that of all of the books that we've recommended, this one is right up there on the feedback that we get, whether it's through our email or through DMs, with people telling you like, katie, I just never would have read this book except that you recommended it and it's so, so, so good. So this one has been a real hit for a lot of readers.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah. And so many people. Because it was late in the year. It was, you know, November ish when I talked about it on the show. So people are reading it. And this is why we make best of lists at the end of the year, because some people read it like December 30th and they were like top of the year for sure. So it was worth it.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yes. Yes. So, well, speaking of another book that we have gotten a lot of feedback on as far as after we talked about it, a lot of people reading it and loving it. My next book is the Midnight Library by Matt Haig. This is one that all of us podcast hosts have read and we have all recommended it to so many people. I absolutely loved this book. Read it late in the year, but I'm so grateful that I did. This is a book that imagine. This is kind of a book about books in a way, because it's a book about a library and it imagines that there is a library where every book on the shelf represents a different kind of path that the lead character's life could have taken. And so through a different set of circumstances, our lead character, who at the beginning of the book is going through a very, very hard time, definite trigger warnings for suicide in this book and mental health. And so know that going in. Please do some research on that. If those topics are ones that you're sensitive about, because you really should, going into this book, know those things are there. But when we meet our lead character at the very beginning, she's going through a desperately difficult time in her life and she gets to visit this midnight library where she gets to open up, take some books off the shelves and jump into her life at a different point if she had made some different choices. And she gets to sort of see how her life might have played out differently. And so there's just a lot of questions about choice and redemption and what constitutes a good, happy life, because that can look a lot of different ways. This book is full of hope and full of redemption. It's really, really a very happy book at the end. So I, you know, I want you to know that because it begins so difficult, you know, in such a difficult place. But this is a book that I do. I've thought about many, many times, and I've pressed into the hands of a lot of my friends, and they've really loved it. So that's the Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

[Katie Cobb]

That's another happy psy book for sure. I love that one. Okay, third from the top, here we are. I am going with Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. This book. This is my second social justice book on this list. And you guys know I've like, that's kind of my thing, right? There's. I only read 20% nonfiction last this in 2020, but four of my top 10 happen to be nonfiction books. So there you go. Cast is the second book by Isabel Wilkerson, and I already loved her, so I knew I had to get it as soon as it came out. This book looks at American racism as part of a caste system like the ones we see in India and in Nazi Germany. It is very uncomfortable to look at our society in that way. However, it is so approachable and combines information that I've gotten from many social justice reads across the board. I'm talking about books that I have pressed over and over again on the show, but it's a super palatable package. And instead of having to read all 20 of those other books, if you're just getting started, this one is a great entry point because you're getting that information pulled in from all these different sources. So it's not easy. But you're not going to be sitting there scratching your head, saying, why did she make this sentence so complicated? My brain hurts. So it's that kind of accessible and digestible. It has officially moved to the very top of my recommendation list for people who come to me and say, katie, I'm just barely getting started. I want a primer. What do I read? This is it. It's Cast by Isabel Wilkerson.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

All right, well, I'm swinging in my choices from a book that I feel most people who read it love it. To a book that is one of the most polarizing books of the year, but it has landed just with a thud on my top 10 list. There was no way that I could not include it. And that is Leave the World behind by Rumaan Alam. This is a book that was actually recommended to me before it came out by my good friend Roxanna Kasamkara, who said, oh, this one sounds right up your alley, Meredith. And she was absolutely right. But I don't think anyone expected this book to be what it ended up being. And you know, we've all, all of you listeners, we've all seen this book everywhere. It feels like most people have read it because it's such a small. It's a very short novel and it moves really, really quickly. I think it, a lot of people just went ahead and picked it up and were reading it at the same time. It was incredibly polarizing. People either love this book a lot like I did, or they hate this, wanted to throw it against the wall. I really can't think of anybody who fell in the center with this book. So just to quickly remind you, this is the book that is about a family that is at a Airbnb on a long planned for vacation. And all of a sudden there's a knock at the door and it's the two, it's the, the man and woman who own the, the home that is the Airbnb that they're staying in. And they're saying something has happened in New York City. The house is outside of New York City. Something's happened in New York City. We don't know what it is. All communication has been lost. Their phones aren't working. The Internet's not working. They're, you know, they have absolutely no way of knowing what's happening. And the, the, this man and woman say we need to come. This is, you know, our, our home and we, we need to stay here, you know, with you guys. And it's about what happens from that period of time. And it's not the book that you think it is. It's better than I ever thought that it could be. I've read it actually two times all the way through. I read it back to back two times all the way through. It's a very short book, you guys. This is really not a big deal, but I felt like I needed to read it. We had a fantastic discussion. Mindy led a really, really great discussion on this book. And my thoughts about it, you know, were even deepened by that discussion. This is a book that should be read by book clubs all across the country simply because, man, love it or hate it, you're going to have a fantastic discussion. I thought it was incredibly well written, incredibly well executed. Ramona Lam knew exactly what he was doing, and he doesn't give a flying fig what you or me or anyone thinks of it. And he is being handsomely rewarded with a lot of critical awards for what he's done. And so that is Leave the World behind by Rumaan Alam.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, that one. I mean, I read it late in the year. It didn't even come out till November. I want to say October maybe. And yeah, six weeks later, I'm still. Every once in a while, I'll have a scene from that book pop into my head. It's so memorable.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yes. And it is just, again, the ultimate book club book because it's short and so everyone can get into it. And it's really. It's propulsive. So everyone is going to want to finish it. And, man, you guys are going to have some great discussion about it.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes, definitely. Okay. My second book for the year is Here for it by R. Eric Thomas. And so now that both of us have gotten through nine, I can say definitively that this is the funniest book on this list. It is exactly the cackling laughter that I needed and that 2020 needed. This collection of essays made me laugh harder than anything else I read this year. Last year, I guess, and then it would just punch me in the gut. And I love that so much. Our Eric Thomas tells us his story in a wonderful and compelling way. I want to read everything that he ever writes. And I would gift this book to almost anyone. It is wonderful. From the pig auction in Tuscaloosa to the church Easter egg hunt and everywhere in between, it's Growing Up Gay and Black in the American Church. And there's something to love in here for everyone. I loved it so much. It's hysterically funny. It's absolutely wonderful. It's here for it by R. Eric Thomas.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Okay, Katie, does this mean that I'm at my number one book of the year? I think it does. All right. My favorite book of the year and the book that has landed on my top 10 books of all time. And I actually own multiple copies of it so that I can hand it out to people who I actually live near. This is how much I love this book is Greenwood by Michael Christie. This novel is incredible. This novel is everything that I love about reading because it is so. It's a sweeping family saga which I love in that we start out in 2038 with a member of the Greenwood family. And then the book, in the most amazing way travels like the rings of a tree back through time, tracing the stories of this family back into the early part of the 1900s. And then you travel forward again with all the knowledge that you've just gained. This book is that intersection of story and plot. So there. And there's a. There's several, actually three really strong, kind of. I'm going to call them mysteries in that they're things that you really want to know what is happening. Right. So they're. The plot moves really well. Each character is incredibly developed. It's that intersection between those two things of character driven and plot driven that I think make the very, very best stories. And it's. It written in a way that you just forget that you're reading. It was incredibly cinematic. I was just carried through this story from start to finish. I've again passed it on to so many different people. My husband read it, absolutely loved it. And he's not always super keen on books like this particular thing, but he really loved it. He has been recommending it and pressing it into people's hands. So this is one of those books that I think is just a can't miss with almost any reader. It's that good. So this is Greenwood by Canadian author Michael Christie.

[Katie Cobb]

And this, I should say in copy. It's the prettiest one.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yes, it's really, really beautiful. And I should say that this was the other book on my list that I found through library bookish serendipity. I literally was checking out my books, happened to be three feet from a shelf where some new releases were being shelved. Saw the COVID of this book and was like, huh. Literally knew nothing about it other than that Greenwood. And it had a pretty cover. Put it in my bag and it's my top book of 2020. So you. You just have to love that kind of bookish serendipity.

[Katie Cobb]

That's what happens if you're willing to trust the book gods and what they put into your hands. Okay, my top book of 2020 is one that I have been talking about since I read it in February and hinting that it would probably make it onto my favorites of the year list. It' by Ibi Zoboi. Here it is, you guys. It's a Pride and Prejudice retelling YA set in New York City in a neighborhood that is being gentrified. We've got black teens as our protagonist. But the threads from the original story from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen are so strong that you are smiling the whole way through as these references go in. And you see the way that she modernized the story. I love this book. I cannot talk about it without a smile on my face. It's delightful from beginning to end. I get hearts in my eyes when I think about it, it. It really has stuck with me. I love the characters, I love the neighborhood that she put us into and I love the update on the original, even though I'm a pretty die hard original fan girl as well. So this is Pride by Ibi Zoboi. Ten months later, I'm still in love with it.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Well, didn't you say. I think you said in that episode that you are willing to say that you like Pride more than you like Pride and Prejudice. Do you still stand by that?

[Katie Cobb]

It feels so sacrilege to say that, but I just love it so much and it's just so much. I mean, it's just so much more fun to be set into modern times and to have all those other dynamics that you could hand it to a teen now and they would get it much more than like, why are they always sitting around sewing? I don't understand. Why is Mrs. Bennet so annoying? And Mr. Bennet just rolls his eyes like you see it because it's so brought to life on the page. Oh, I love it so much.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

This was one that I can tell listeners, I can tell you how much she loves this book because every time that she's talked about it, she absolute lights up. So this is one that I, I feel is perfect to be at the top of your list, Katie. All right, Katie. There is no question that that was a. An amazing for me. This is the year where I feel like my reading really kicked up a notch. Like it the last couple years when we've done these re airs of the episode, I've been like, okay, Meredith, all right. Really? Those were your 10 best of the whole year? 2020, I feel like was the first time that my top 10 was very, very toothsome for me as a reader. Like the right books for me as a reader.

[Katie Cobb]

Okay. I love that I had this very strange experience going through this list. Meredith. Your top 10 of the year in 2020, which I have read, all of are more memorable to me than my own top 10 from 2020.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

That's interesting that you. I mean, I guess it's interesting given where we are now, but back then it isn't surprising that you that You've read every book that was also on my list.

[Katie Cobb]

Well, and I. I would have to go back and look through each one individually and see if I had read it during 2020 or if it was that I read them after you chose them for your top 10. Like, I don't know at the time if I had read every single one of yours, but the ones that you listed are all ones that now I have read every single one of them.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Yeah.

[Katie Cobb]

Strange.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

It is. Well, I mean, when I look at this list, I mean, there are a goodly number of these. The Library of Mount Char, El Deafo, Ghost Boys, Leave the World Behind, Greenwood. Every one of those are books that, that I think about all the time, that I've recommended countless, countless times since then. That would still be on a best of list for me.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah, right.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Like, so the five of those, you know, all the Devils are here. One of my favorite books in the Three Pine series, you know, the Lazy Genius. I mean, so many of these, seven, maybe eight of these are ones that still very much rise to the top of books that if someone hasn't read it yet, I'm like, oh, you need to read this.

[Katie Cobb]

Right? Well, and I like, I still, I still love all the books that were on my top 10. But like saving Ruby King by Katherine Adele West. I'm not really sure why that one made it to my top 10, because I don't think I've thought about it since 2020. Like seeing it today when we were prepping for this episode, I was like, oh, yeah, see Ruby King, Weird. And then the Girl with the Louding Voice by Abbey Darre. I loved that book. I did an interview with the author and now it's just a book I read in 2020. Like, it's not in my top books of all time. There are other ones on here, though. I just talked about Lobisona by Romina Russell Garber not long ago. I still talk about Pride by Ibi Savoy all the time. Here for it by R. Eric Thomas. Oh, my God. One of my favorite humor essay collections of all time still. So I'm so glad that that was on the list. You can also see a lot of what was happening in the summer of social justice of 2020. Right. I have a number of nonfiction books by black authors about anti racism on my book list. I still think those are vitally important books, but it is reflected in my reading for the year that so many of those ended up rising to the top. And it's because of the world as a whole. And what the world looked like at that time.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Right. Ghost Boys falls into that category for us. That was a book that's a middle grade. I think about that book all the time. I've recommended that so many times. I've worked with Jackson's teachers to make sure that that is a book that's being read at the fourth and fifth grade levels in our schooling. You know, I mean, this, that, and then Jackson absolutely loved it. And so, yeah, there were just so many, many good books on that list. And, you know, Greenwood is definitely up there. It was my number one book of the year. Definitely right up there on top 25 books of all time for me.

[Katie Cobb]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

So, yeah, thank you. 2020.

[Katie Cobb]

You.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

I mean, there are a lot of things that we didn't love, but it was a great year of reading.

[Katie Cobb]

It really, really was.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

All right, Katie, I'm so glad we do these look backs. They're really, really fun.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes. And I hope that people are listening today and they have chosen to, to put some of these books on their TBR that maybe they heard about in 2020 and at the end of 2020 and now they have the space for them either mentally or in their lives as a whole to be able to pick up something that we talked about so long ago for sure.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

All right, that is it for this week. As a reminder, here's where you can connect with us. You can find me, I'm Meredith, Meredith Monday Schwartz on Instagram and you can.

[Katie Cobb]

Find me, Katie, at Notes on Bookmarks on Instagram. Our show is produced and edited every week by Megan Putabong Evans. You can find her on Instagram at most of Megan's reads Full show notes.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

With the title of every book we mentioned in the episode and timestamps. So you can zoom right to where we talked about. It can be found on our website and on those fantastic show notes that Megan puts together for us.

[Katie Cobb]

You can also follow the show at currentlyreading podcast on Instagram or email us@currentlyreading podcastmail.com and if you want more of.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

This fantastic bookish content and you want a lot of bookish community and you love the idea of keeping the show commercial free, you can join us as a patron. It's just $5 a month and it is a great investment, especially as we get to this beginning part of the year, Katie, because we've got our reading tracker ready to go and that is a great way to start your reading year.

[Katie Cobb]

Yes. And the end of 2025 will be so much better for it. Bookish friends are the best friends. Thank you for helping us grow and get closer to our goals.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

All right, until next week.

[Katie Cobb]

May your coffee be hot and your book be unputdownable.

[Meredith Monday Schwartz]

Happy reading, Katie.

[Katie Cobb]

Happy reading, Meredith.