I have to admit that 2020 hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts for me when it comes to reading….in between moving house, adjusting to a new city, and starting a new role (in short, life), my devotion to reading seems to have taken a bit of a hit. My largely questionable book choices don’t seem to have helped either – Kushiel’s Dart and Swan Song were both not to my taste. 

In fact, Swan Song was so tedious, I abandoned it around 30% in, thereby adding it to my extremely short ‘did not finish’ list, where it languishes in the company of Ghosts of Spain, The Woman in White, and Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea. I’ve always been uncomfortable with the idea of not finishing a book once I’ve started it, but sometimes it has to be done if it: a) is in danger of putting you off reading forever, and b) it may be well-written but it’s just not what you need in your current state of mind. I do believe that I will revisit Woman in White one day, but I have no plans to try again with the others.

Anywho, enough of this rumination over what was, and let’s look at what will be! The books currently topping my TBR pile, in no particular order, are:

1. Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik) – I loved Uprooted, so have been itching to read this myth/fairytale loosely based on Rumpelstiltskin.
2. Nudge (Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein) – drawing on decades of behavioral science research, the authors delve into what drives our choices, and how we can make better ones (such as when it comes to what to read!)
3. American Gods (Neil Gaiman) – personally recommended by @kenyanlibrary. Enough said.
4. Altruism (Matthieu Ricard) – my favourite monk with his scientific mind first captured my attention with Happiness, but in this book he expands his lens from a personal level to a global view. I’m looking forward to his arguments on altruism, and why it is so important.
5. The Everything Store (Brad Stone) – I’ve heard nothing but good things about the biography of Amazon, a company that has changed the way we read, and shop.
6. Us Against You (Fredrik Backman) – having already been won over by A Man Called Ove and Bear Town, this one naturally needs to be read, and soon!

What’s on your list for 2020?