This was going to be “things I liked this year” but books are the easiest for me. One thing I’ve loved doing is the goodreads challenge – here is mine for 2020, it’s simply “read 52 books in 52 weeks”. I don’t put all the books on it, no one really needs to know when I binge read entire crime series, but most of them make it there and having a goal makes it easier for me to find the time to read. Which I love by the way, I do love reading, it’s not a chore.
Favourite book: Emergency Skin by NK Jemisin
This won the 2020 Hugo for best novelette and it’s a quick read. I don’t, as a general rule, indulge in hope – reading this is the one time last year I really felt it. (It had serious schadenfreude too which I loved, I’m petty like that.) Also: The City We Became by Jemisin is awesome and I cannot wait for the next one.
Favourite non-fiction book that is good to read now: The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton
This is for people in countries with a sovereign fiat currency only – the US, UK and Australia fit this bill. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means, I didn’t either when I started. It’s a reassuring (and more correct) way to look at federal government deficits and how they can be used to kickstart or cool down the economy. It’s much easier to read and more interesting than my explanation.
Book that inspired the most other reading: The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel
I read The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana B. Henriques –bonkers but also sad in that people thought they were taking the boring safe route and lost everything – and Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate by Rose George off the back of The Glass Hotel and loved reading all three.
Book that is going to be a movie but will be too scary for me to watch: When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
This was a pretty well paced and the tension ramped up throughout the book until I was furiously reading the last pages to find out the ending. Definite page turner!
Book that I’d love to discuss in a book club: The Thief on the Winged Horse by Kate Mascarenhas
This is a mystery at its heart (like her other book) which involves a family that makes magical dolls. It’s a good read with some astute observations. Kind of like Jasmine Guillory’s books I think (her “Wedding Date” series is one of my ongoing favourite series). You could write / I would read full essays on some of the seemingly offhand comments that Guillory and Mascarenhas both drop throughout.
Favourite book set in IKEA: Finna by Nino Cipri
Fun short romp through the multiverse in an IKEA. Sweet, too.
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