2020 was a lemon of a year. Instead of whipping up pitchers of lemonade, I read. Lots and lots of books. The local library closed for about two months, so after plowing through the few loaned books I had, I began downloading books on my iPad via Hoopla, a free online media source. I also purchased a few books to add to my home collection. In June the library reopened, and I was once again able to borrow hard copies to help soak up time. By year’s end, my list grew to an all-time personal record—82 books! I highlighted my top five choices in red, which are split among the genres of biography, fiction, memoir, and self-help.
I wish you well as we begin a new year, and hope your days are filled with joy, good health, connection with others, and books.
| TITLE | AUTHOR |
| Finding Chika: A little girl, an earthquake, and the making of a family | Mitch Albom |
| Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me | Adrienne Brodeur |
| The Time Keeper | Mitch Albom |
| The Deepest Well:Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity | Nadine Burke Harris, M.D. |
| Onederland: My Childhood with Type 1 Diabetes | Jamie Kurtzig |
| Maybe You Should Talk to Someone? | Lori Gottlieb |
| Images of America: Greenhills | Debbie Mills and Margo Warminski with the Greenhills Historical Society |
| The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles | Steven Pressfield |
| Becoming | Michelle Obama |
| The Unbreakable Child | Kim Michele Richardson |
| Finding Your Way Home: A Soul Survival Kit | Melody Beattie |
| Brother & Sister: A Memoir | Diane Keaton |
| Gay Like Me: A Father Writes to His Son | Richie Jackson |
| The Two Lives of Lydia Bird | Josie Silver |
| The Book of Delights | Ross Gay |
| Dear Edward | Ann Napolitano |
| Cincinnati Goetta: A Delectable History | Dann Woellert |
| One Day in December | Josie Silver |
| Zen in the Art of Writing | Ray Bradbury |
| Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe | Laura Lynne Jackson |
| Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt | Todd Harra and Kenneth McKenzie |
| Beginner’s Guide to Numerology | Joy Woodward |
| An Abbreviated Life | Ariel Leve |
| The Light Between Us: Stories from Heaven, Lessons for the Living | Laura Lynne Jackson |
| Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: An Introvert’s Year of Living Dangerously | Jessica Pan |
| Everything is Horrible and Wonderful | Stephanie Wittels |
| Driving Miss Norma: One Family’s Journey Saying “Yes” to Living | Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle |
| This Could Change Everything | Jill Mansell |
| Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World | Brook McAlary |
| Stories I’d Tell My Children (but maybe not until they’re adults) | Michael N. Marcus |
| A Different Kind of Same: A Memoir | Kelley Clink |
| The Hideaway | Lauren K. Denton |
| Changed By Chance: My Journey of Triumph Over Tragedy | Elizabeth Barker |
| Recipe For a Perfect Wife | Karma Brown |
| Splitting the Difference: A Heart-Shaped Memoir | Tre’ Miller Rodriguez |
| Fire Season: A Memoir | Hollye Dexter |
| Let’s Talk About Death Over Dinner | Michael Hebb |
| Green Nails and Other Acts of Rebellion: Life After Loss | Elaine Soloway |
| A Leg to Stand On: An Amputee’s Walk into Motherhood | Colleen Haggerty |
| Four Funerals and a Wedding: Resilience in a Time of Grief | Jill Smolowe |
| Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving | Celeste Headlee |
| The End of Your Life Book Club | Will Schwalbe |
| St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets | Annie England Noblin |
| Her Beautiful Brain | Ann Hedreen |
| Dumped: Stories of Women Unfriending Women | Edited by Nina Gaby |
| Flip-Flops After Fifty: And Other Thoughts on Aging I Remembered to Write Down | Cindy Eastman |
| The Fallen | David Baldacci |
| The Keeper of Lost Things | Ruth Hogan |
| Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives | Brian L. Weiss, MD |
| We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor | Marika Lindholm and other authors |
| My Sister’s Grave | Robert Dugoni |
| Bones Never Lie | Kathy Reichs |
| Wild and Precious Life | Deborah Ziegler |
| Found: A Memoir | Jennifer Lauck |
| Secret Girl: A Memoir | Molly Bruce Jacobs |
| Marrow: A Love Story | Elizabeth Lesser |
| A Perfect Proposal | Katie Fforde |
| Dead Guy’s Stuff | Sharon Fiffer |
| Redemption | David Baldacci |
| Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man | Mary Trump |
| A Cold Trail | Robert Dugoni |
| Untamed | Glennon Doyle |
| Writers and Lovers | Lily King |
| I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman | Nora Ephron |
| Life After Suicide: Finding Courage, Comfort, & Community After Unthinkable Loss | Jennifer Ashton, M.D. |
| Your Voice in My Head | Emma Forrest |
| The House on Olive Street | Robyn Carr |
| Bunco: A Comedy About the Drama of Friendship | Robin Delnoce |
| Past Lives With Pets: Discover Your Timeless Connection to Your Beloved Companions | Shelley A. Kaehr, PhD |
| Anxious People | Fredrik Backman |
| Walk The Wire | David Baldacci |
| You Ought To Do A Story About Me | Ted Jackson |
| And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer | Fredrik Backman |
| The Friends We Keep | Jane Green |
| The Buddhist on Death Row | David Sheff |
| The Lost and Found Bookshop | Susan Wiggs |
| The Spirit’s Way Home | Natalie Fowler |
| Finding Freedom: Writings From Death Row | Jarvis Jay Masters |
| Britt-Marie Was Here | Fredrik Backman |
| Prozac Nation | Elizabeth Wurtzel |
| No Time Like The Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality | Michael J. Fox |
| So You Want To Talk About Race | Ijeoma Oluo |
Joan's Jottings 