My Best-Loved Books of 2020

Jan 02 2021 My Best-Loved Books of 2020

Hello, friends!

I read quite a bit in 2020, as you can see by the pictures of the fifty-two books I tackled (copied from Goodreads). I reread seven from my shelves at home because of quarantine, and the library was closed, and I blew my book budget.

I want to highlight some of my 2020 favorites for you bibliophiles (and wanna be’s) as I do each year on the blog. So, here we go…

Non-fiction:

1. Chasing Vines by Beth Moore: I deeply enjoyed the lessons on viticulture and the connections between the Old and New Testaments. The questions raised are great for readers about the fruitfulness of our lives.
2. Doing Life With Your Adult Children: Keep Your Mouth Shut & The Welcome Mat Out by Jim Burns:  So… funny timing… I read this book just before my three adult children moved back in for quarantine! There were no big light bulbs here for me, but it is all practical, doable, encouraging, and engaging.
3. The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation by Miles McPherson is my favorite book on this difficult subject. The author (a beloved San Diego pastor) brings much hope and positivity while writing through a biblical and practical lens.
4. Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World by Andy Stanley: This book is controversial. I find myself still thinking about it often, even though I read it over two months ago. The author makes some points that are hard for me to swallow, but there are also points that challenge me in the deepest parts of my Christian soul and cause me to embrace the New Testament and Jesus as never before.
5. The Path Between Us: An Enneagram Journey to Healthy Relationships by Suzanne Stabile is an Enneagram book by my favorite teacher. If you know your number and the numbers of those with whom you do life, you will find this book an invaluable tool. I refer to it often.

Fiction:

1. The Last Man by Jane Harper: A book club book that I enjoyed on Audible. The reader is magnificent! This story is a mystery with the outback of Australia as the main character. It is long and intense and way beyond pg-13 at times.
2. Lovely War by Julie Berry is a delightful YA book. It is pretty clean, which is a big plus for me. It is part love story, part WWI and WWII, and—believe it or not—part Greek Gods. That is all I can say without being a spoiler, but believe it or not, it works.
3. The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate: Lisa Wingate writes beautiful, clean historical fiction. This was one I could not put down and was my favorite nonfiction of the year. It has dual timelines, which I adore. I confess I cried through much of it because what the author writes about actually happened in this country.
4. Waves of Mercy by Lynn Austin is another clean historical fiction author. It is a lovely novel about a Dutch immigrant in the 1800s with messages of faith and following God’s will. It is a generational story with the history of towns and events that are all true. I learned a lot. 
5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: I read this again, for the third time. It is written entirely in letter format and takes place post-WWII on the island of Guernsey. Cheers to this tearjerker that is oh so sweet and has just the right bits of humor.

What did you read in 2020?

Happy reading, friends, and Happy, Happy 2021!