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Best in Books - 2020 Edition

December 29, 2020 by Megan 2 Comments

Can we believe it? 2020 is almost over (yay!), which makes it the perfect time to look back at the year behind as well as look forward to the (hopefully better) year ahead. I did this survey in 2018 — skipped last year due to a brand new baby — and loved it. I want to give a shoutout to The Perpetual Page Turner, who has been doing this annual year-end survey for 11 years now! Without further ado, my 2020 in review:

2020 READING STATS

Number Of Books You Read: 70 (as of 12/28 before bed)

Number of Re-Reads: 3 — this is huge for me because I never re-read books. One of these books was an old favorite, one was a book I read and disliked the first time but loved the second time around, and one was a book I read 70% of a couple years ago and DNF’d (I got so far into it the first time that I’m considering it a re-read)

Genre You Read The Most From: I’m going to guess it was Literary Fiction again

*A note: In most cases, the links below will go out to my full length review, if you'd like to read more of my thoughts on the book and/or a fun book-inspired recipe!

1. Best book you read in 2020? Without a doubt my favorite fiction was The House in the Cerulean Sea. It was happy and hopeful, and exactly what everyone needed in 2020. My favorite nonfiction was Hood Feminism, which I’m glad I was able to get from the library after a very long time on the waitlist.

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A Gentleman in Moscow + Dill Bread

December 15, 2020 by Megan Leave a Comment

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I have had A Gentleman in Moscow sitting on my shelf for what feels like forever. I recognized it at a used book sale and scooped it up for a dollar. But then it sat there. The size really intimidated me. When I was presented with an opportunity to partner with the Book Club Cookbook for their Book Blends Bash, I knew now was the time to push myself to read it!

Well, I’m mostly just disappointed I waited so long to pick Amor Towles’ novel up! It was really quite lovely — almost a 5-star read. In it, we follow Count Alexander Rostov, who is sentenced to house arrest by the Bolsheviks in the early 1920s. The rest of the story takes place in the Metropol, where the Count will be staying; to step out onto the street would mean being shot dead on the spot.

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Anxious People + Pizza Capricciosa

December 1, 2020 by Megan 4 Comments

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As I have said time and time again, I really love Fredrik Backman’s storytelling. In the case of Anxious People, his latest novel, not that much happens but you get so caught up in the story that you fall in love with it anyway. Anxious People takes place during a hostage situation in Sweden, and though we have a few flashbacks and several interrogation scenes at the police station afterward, the majority of it takes place in a single apartment.

It is not dissimilar to Bel Canto, which also takes place during a hostage situation (this one in a large mansion in South America) and which I also loved. The key here is that Backman really builds the characters — and they’re mesmerizing. With some, you meet them thinking one thing and leave them realizing you were completely wrong; with others, your initial judgements were apt from the start.

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Magic Lessons + Courage Tea Cookies

November 24, 2020 by Megan 3 Comments

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Have you had a piece of technology totally crap out on you lately? It makes you feel so helpless. My laptop completely lost its mind yesterday. First of all, it took forever to finally get it to come on in the morning, and then, it wouldn’t hold a charge. Despite being plugged in constantly (I was afraid to unplug it), it remained at a 1% charge. Oh, and the fan wouldn’t stop blowing — it blew the entire day. Yikes.

All that is to say, sorry this post is late. I had the best intentions of getting it up according to my normal schedule. And now onto the book!

When I found out yet another Practical Magic prequel was on the way, I didn’t hesitate to get my hands on it. Obviously I loved The Rules of Magic when I read and reviewed that a few years ago. (It remains my most popular post… probably because of the recipe, but regardless.) Thankfully, Magic Lessons lived up to my expectations — it was exactly the story I wanted.

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Gifts for Book Lovers: A Bookish Gift Guide

November 14, 2020 by Megan 5 Comments

Though 2020 is unlike any other year, we’re still rolling into my favorite part of the year — the part where I can shop as much as I want and not feel bad about it, because I’m buying gifts for other people! If you’re like me, you probably have some bookish friends you need to shop for, or you may be making your own bookish wish list, or a little bit of both. Hopefully this Bookish Gift Guide helps you on your way...

Gifts for your book club

Despite being in various (and multiple) book clubs for almost a decade now, I’ve never done a gift exchange with my fellow book club members. That changes this year, and I’m SO excited. Here are some fun book club-themed gifts for your favorite reading buddies:

Book Club Cocktail Napkins

Funny and oh-so-true. Perfect for your fellow hosts/hostesses. Buy here

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The Switch + Ooey Gooey Homemade Brownies

November 7, 2020 by Megan Leave a Comment

Could you use a lovely read right now? If so, The Switch is for you. I was supposed to post this on Tuesday, but let’s be honest, I was preoccupied. I still am… and haven’t read anything in the last few days, but I need a distraction, so I’m going to share this relaxing, cozy story with you.

Beth O’Leary’s The Switch seems made for the movies. It’s a rom com where Leena switches places with her grandmother, Eileen — not in a Freaky Friday way, more in a The Holiday way. Leena moves out of her apartment in London and into her grandmother’s house in Yorkshire (the country). Eileen takes up residence with Leena’s roommates and decides to give online dating a go. They switch phones and find ways to busy themselves over the two months they’ve agreed to swap lives.

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