Happy November! There are (only?) two months of this year left. Today, I’m going to share 10 books I want to read before 2020 ends. I don’t usually put together TBRs aka to be read lists because I’m a huge mood reader and prefer to read whatever I happen to feel like at the moment but I like to do a check-in with my reading goals for the year near the end of it to improve my chances of actually hitting them. After a strong start at the beginning of 2020, I fell into a reading slump and barely ever felt like reading but I’m happy to report that my reading mood might be back just in time for me to hopefully enjoy myself reading these books in November and December:

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1. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

This is a sci-fi book I already read a couple of chapters of in October and I’ve been really enjoying it. We follow April May, a 23-year-old graphic designer living in New York, who stumbles upon a strange statue that appears in Manhattan and makes a video about it with her friend. It turns out that the same statues (nicknamed The Carls) came to life at multiple places all around the world at the exact same time but it’s April’s video that goes viral and forces her to deal with unexpected internet fame.

This is pretty much all I know about the book because I like going into books not knowing a lot but I’m intrigued by the sci-fi element as well as the commentary on social media and internet fame, especially given that the book was written by someone who would know a lot about it. There is also queer representation because April is bi and lives with her girlfriend, and I’m always here for queer rep in books.

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2. How to Survive the End of the World (When It’s in Your Own Head) by Aaron Gillies

I’ve already started this book as well and it’s a non-fiction book about anxiety and other mental health struggles that was recommended to me by a friend. Although it’s dealing with heavy topics (it was published two years ago so, despite the title, the pandemic isn’t one of them), there is a lot of (dry) humor, which I appreciate (along with the use of swear words). A quote that might give you an idea:

“The anxious brain is extremely good at reading people and, at the exact same time, fucking terrible at reading people. Marvellous, isn’t it?”

Aaron Gillies

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3. The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron

One of my reading goals for this year is to read or get rid of all the books I got before 2020, and this book is one of them so I should finally read it.

“One in every five people is born with a heightened sensitivity; they are often gifted with great intelligence, intuition and imagionation, but there are also drawbacks. Frequently they come across as aloof, shy or moody and suffer from low self-esteem because they find it hard to express themselves in a society dominated by excess and stress.”

From the synopsis of The Highly Sensitive Person

I came across this concept a few years ago, realized I’m checking a lot of the boxes, and since then, I’ve been interested in the topic but haven’t read the book that started it all. You can take a test to evaluate if you might be a highly sensitive person here.

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4. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

I’ve been wanting to read a book on feminism by a Black woman for some time. It’s a collection of essays on feminism, race, and culture that are described as funny in the synopsis, and they probably will be because I find this hilarious:

Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink.

Roxane Gay

My favorite color is still black (and purple) but at least, I realized some time ago that hating pink is not a personality trait. :- D

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5. Starting a Successful Blog when you have NO CLUE! by G. Gabrielle

During the first lockdown in the spring, I got a lot of e-books from Amazon that were either free or very cheap, and this random book about starting a blog was one of them. At this time, I have some clue since I’ve already started this blog, but I figured I might still give it a try. :- )

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6. Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately by Alicia Cook

This is a poetry collection with a really cool 90s cover and what’s more, each poem is paired with a song. One of my intentions for this year was to read more poetry but I haven’t done much of it so I’d like to improve my score a little bit with this one.

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7. and 8. The Humans and The Radleys by Matt Haig

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I have two Matt Haig’s books on this list and I’ll be very brief about them. I’ve already read and loved two non-fiction books by this author (Notes on a Nervous Planet and Reasons to Stay Alive), and The Humans and The Radleys are fiction books that apparently have some paranormal/sci-fi elements, which is all I want to know at this point.

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9. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder is a young adult sci-fi retelling of Cinderella about a cyborg, and it’s supposed to feature “a forbidden romance” and “a deadly plague”. I’ve been wanting to give one of Marissa Meyer’s books a try, and this one sounds pretty intriguing.

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10. Emma by Jane Austen

Last but not least, we have Emma by Jane Austen. Even though Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books of all time, I haven’t read any other books by Jane Austen besides Persuasion, and I’d definitely love to read all of her books. I don’t know a lot about the plot of this one either except for the fact that we follow a young woman who likes to play matchmaker. Jumping into a classic feels a bit daunting these days but it just needs to happen. :- )

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I might also squeeze in a Christmas read or two but I’m not sure about which one(s) because I currently don’t own any unread ones. Last year I ended up reading 4 Christmas-themed books in December, which felt quite magical so I’d like to get to at least one this year. :- )

Are there any books you’re hoping to read before the end of the year? What is the last book you read and loved?

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