Today I bring you my “best books of 2020” list. As I was compiling this (very long) list, I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes by the poet Mary Oliver: “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.”
For many, many reasons this year has been one of the hardest, most tragic and unbearably stressful times of our lives. And like many of us who are starry-eyed bookworms, novels were a necessary escape I clung to every day of 2020. Like many authors, I treasured the privilege to write those escapes into the two romance novels I released this year. But after every finished draft, I’d grab my books and my Kindle and camp out on my couch, or by a pretty stream in Vermont, or on my back stoop here in South Philly. And I’d read for hours ❤
All of that to say - I am unbearably grateful to the incredible authors who gave me strange, unique, mysterious and romantic worlds to slip into. They were truly the rope I know many of us cherished.
Category: Memoir
“It seemed that way in the 1960s, at the height of the civil rights movement, when America itself felt as if it might burst at the seams - so much tension, so many storms. But the people of conscience never left the house. They never ran away. They stayed, they came together and they did the best they could, clasping hands and moving toward the corner of the house that was the weakest.
And then another corner would lift, and we would go there. And eventually, inevitably, the storm would settle, and the house would still stand.
But we knew another storm would come, and we would have to do it all over again.
And we did. And we still do, all of us. You and I. Children holding hands, walking with the wind. That is America to me.”
John Lewis’ memoir is 500+ pages of his life, the civil rights movements and his belief in non-violence. I sat down over my birthday weekend and read the whole thing over three days. He believed his whole life that hope and anger could exist together and that is this book: optimism and tragedy, action and heart-break, community and pain, hope and anger. And through it all: inspiration.
Category: Non-Fiction
This memoir should be mandatory reading. It's enthralling - I read it in one sitting - and Austin's memoir tells the story of being a Black woman in America. It spotlights the impact of white supremacy from massive institutions to micro-aggressions, and truly emphasizes the antiracist actions that make real change, not just words that become empty promises. It's important and vital and I really believe it should be on every single bookshelf.
Very Close Runners Up:
I loved this book and think it should be required reading for (especially) white women like myself who have always been active in the feminist movement. This book is a powerful critique but also full of solutions and real-world policy change and efforts -- both are needed. Highly recommend as a book to re-visit as folks work to dismantle white supremacy.
An excellent and incredibly important read on racism, white privilege, and intersectionality. From the preface: "We have to look racism in the eye wherever we encounter it. If we continue to treat racism like it is a giant monster that is chasing us, we will be forever running. But running won't help when it's in our workplace, our government, our homes, and ourselves." I absolutely recommend this critical and timely read.