{"id":16446,"date":"2020-12-31T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/?p=16446"},"modified":"2020-12-30T18:32:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T23:32:31","slug":"the-books-of-2020-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/archives\/16446","title":{"rendered":"The Books of 2020: Wrap Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just to point out some last few things, including pointing out some authors that might not have made the 2019\/2020 cutoff.<\/p>\n

\"Check<\/a><\/p>\n

My favorite comic of 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

This one was easy, Check, Please!<\/em><\/a> by Ngozi Ukazu. The first volume was published in 2018 but I read the whole thing this year. And then read it again.<\/p>\n

The rest of my favorite comics of 2020<\/a>.
<\/p>\n

\"Hither<\/p>\n

My favorite mystery of 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was a little harder to choose since I read a number of good mysteries, but I think that Hither, Page<\/em><\/a> by Cat Sebastian<\/a> ended up on top. Cat Sebastian is often hit or miss for me, but this story hit it out of the park with all my favorite tropes.<\/p>\n

The rest of my favorite mysteries of 2020<\/a>.
<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

My favorite fantasy of 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was another hard choice, since although I didn’t read as much fantasy as I have in previous years, what I did read this year I enjoyed very much. So I went with The Immortal Conquistador<\/em><\/a> by Carrie Vaughn<\/a>, because it has one of my all-time favorite short stories, and is about one of my favorite characters in that series.<\/p>\n

The rest of my favorite fantasies of 2020<\/a>.
<\/p>\n

\"Boyfriend<\/p>\n

My favorite romance of 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

This pick was just as easy as Check, Please!<\/em>, since I wanted to reread it as soon as I finished it, and forced myself to wait a couple months before going back to it. Boyfriend Material<\/em><\/a> by Alexis Hall<\/a> was my favorite romance, and tied with Check, Please!<\/em> for my favorite book of the year.<\/p>\n

The rest of my favorite romances of 2020<\/a>.
<\/p>\n

Since I didn’t count books published before 2019 is my end-of-the-year roundup, I wanted to take the time to point out some of the books and authors that got me through 2020. <\/p>\n

My Highest Rated Books of 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

10\/10 Books (Re-reads)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Small Vices<\/em>, Audio Edition<\/a> (1997) Robert B. Parker<\/a> narrated by Burt Reynolds
\nThe Rook<\/em><\/a> (2012) Daniel O\u2019Malley<\/a><\/p>\n

Both The Rook<\/em> and Small Vices<\/em> are books guaranteed to take me out of my own head.<\/p>\n

9.5\/10 New Reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joy<\/em><\/a> (2017) C.S. Poe<\/a>
\nCheck, Please!<\/em><\/a> (2020) Ngozi Ukazu
\nBoyfriend Material<\/em><\/a> (2020) Alexis Hall<\/a><\/p>\n

All three of these books were new to me in 2020, and all three I went back and re-read, because they were the perfect antidote to everything raging inside my brain.<\/p>\n

Most Read Authors (minus re-reads)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

These are some authors I recently discovered whose stories were precisely what I needed to read as I struggled with everything happening in the world. <\/p>\n

N.R. Walker<\/a> (Romance)
\nAnnabeth Albert<\/a> (Romance)
\nAlexis Hall<\/a> (Romance, Fantasy)
\nR. Cooper<\/a> (Romance)
\nC.S. Poe<\/a> (Mystery, Romance)
\nRoan Parrish<\/a> (Romance)
\nAlexia Gordon<\/a> (Mystery)
\nJoe Benitez – Lady Mechanika<\/a> (Comic)
\nJosh Lanyon<\/a> (Mystery, Romance)
\nTalia Hibbert<\/a> (Romance)
\nLayla Reyne<\/a> (Mystery, Romance)<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

Most Re-Read Authors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a><\/p>\n

There is some overlap with the most read authors, but I wanted to note that for some series there might be only one or two books that were especially good, but immersing myself in an author can be a different kind of comfort. <\/p>\n

Sometimes it’s just about how a series or author’s writing style makes me feel.<\/p>\n

Agatha Christie<\/a> (Mystery)
\nAlissa Johnson<\/a> (Romance)
\nAngel Martinez<\/a> (Fantasy, Romance)
\nCandace Robb<\/a> (Mystery)
\nK.J. Charles<\/a> (Romance)
\nPatricia Briggs<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nC.S. Poe<\/a> (Mystery, Romace)
\nTerry Pratchett<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nCourtney Milan<\/a> (Romance)
\nCat Sebastian<\/a> (Romance)
\nMichelle Diener<\/a> (Mystery, Romance)
\nN.R. Walker<\/a> (Romance)
\nSergei Lukyanenko<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nCharlie Adhara<\/a> (Fantasy, Romance)
\nAda Maria Soto<\/a> (Romance)<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

Highest Rated Authors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Highest<\/a><\/p>\n

These are the authors who had (at least) one book I rated a 9\/10 or higher. <\/p>\n

Daniel O\u2019Malley<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nRobert B. Parker<\/a> (Mystery)
\nSergei Lukyanenko<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nCharlie Adhara<\/a> (Fantasy, Romance)
\nTerry Pratchett<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nAgatha Christie<\/a> (Mystery)
\nNgozi Ukazu – Check, Please!<\/a> (Comic)
\nAlexis Hall<\/a> (Fantasy, Romance)
\nC.S. Poe<\/a> (Mystery, Romance)
\nAidan Wayne<\/a> (Romance)
\nMarie Brennan<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nMichelle Diener<\/a> (Mystery, Romance)
\nK.J. Charles<\/a> (Romance, Fantasy)
\nPatricia Briggs<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nAda Maria Soto<\/a> (Romance)
\nCarrie Vaughn<\/a> (Fantasy)
\nCourtney Milan<\/a> (Romance)
\nRoan Parrish<\/a> (Romance)
\nAngel Martinez<\/a> (Fantasy, Romance)<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

So that’s what I read this year. It was a lot, but so was this year.<\/p>\n

What authors and books did you turn to, to get you through everything?<\/p>\n

The Books of 2020<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just to point out some last few things, including pointing out some authors that might not have made the 2019\/2020 cutoff. My favorite comic of 2020 This one was easy, Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu. The first volume was published in 2018 but I read the whole thing this year. And then read it again. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,1090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-reading","category-years-favorites"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pefxA-4hg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}