#20booksin2020
In 2018 I decided to challenge myself to read more books and track them. In 2018 it was18 books in 2018. I did not achieve my goal that year. However, 2019 was a comeback year and I have been at it ever since.
For the #20booksin2020 challenge I successfully surpassed my goal and read 28. It was a year of unlearning, learning, and understanding as far as the books I choose to read and how I thought about, interacted with, and processed them. There were some heavy lifts where it came to books on race and identity, which were compounded by the current events of the year. But, I was sure to feed my inner YA (young adult) loving self. I plan to read more books that challenge my thinking but will continue to incorporate the feel good, mushy, light at the end of the tunnel books as well. Because, after all, we need some goodness in our lives.
Without further ado, here is my 2020 list all in one place that some of you asked for. I've linked my Instagram reviews. Follow me there (@wattsnatural) to see what I'm reading in 2021.
Books on race:
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing
Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Poetry:
The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur
Doing Wattsnatural: Life in Words by Latoya Watts
Young Adult:
Camp Valor by Hof Williams and Scott McEwen
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
Booked by Kwame Alexander
500 Words or Less by Juleah del Rosario
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
I'm not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones
One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus
A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
Catch all:
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Well Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves by Glory Edim
For Everyone by Jason Reynolds
These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card
Romance:
Finding Home Again by Brenda Jackson
General Fiction:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Non-Fiction:
Let Love Have the Last Word by Common
The Lost Girls by John Glatt
The Cross And The Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
From Survival Mode to Greatness by Ana T Ayobiojo