Welcome to the last installment of 2020 Top 7! Although we are well into the new year (whoops), I couldn’t finish off my “2020 bests” without books—I mean, just look at the name of this site. Here are my favorite books that I finished for the first time in 2020!
#7—Home by Toni Morrison
This poignant short novel is written with a fractured timeline, which makes it both a fascinating read and challenging to follow. However, the emotionally raw characters and incredibly relevant storyline had me hooked, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a thought-provoking read. Indeed, this work from the legendary Morrison might have landed higher on this list if it weren’t a required reading that I did for school (for that, however, it loses points.)
#6—Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
Let me just start by saying that this book is not one I would recommend for the majority of my readers because it was written for middle schoolers. That said, it is absolutely adorable and was a great, very lighthearted quarantine read. The concept is simple enough: a girl is head over heels for her neighbor, until she realizes he’s not the boy she thought he was… which is exactly when he starts to develop feelings for her that are very different from the annoyance he’s felt for years. The story is told from the main characters’ alternating perspectives, and while it’s not an intellectually challenging read it certainly made me smile. I also recommend the very true-to-the-book 2010 film!
#5—The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A classic you either read or pretended you read in high school, The Great Gatsby stimulated my imagination and entranced my mind. As one of American literature’s most famous works, Gatsby is a heart wrenching tale of love and loss, all in the shadow of glamorous life in 1920’s New York. I hate to risk my nerd status by admitting it, but the grandeur and glamour described in this novel make me desperate to attend a Gatsby party. Nevertheless, this novel has also been the center of some controversy and with good reason—throughout this novel, Fitzgerald solely emphasizes the rich white man’s American Dream, thus romanticizing the time period and country. And while I enjoyed Gatsby while reading it, looking back with an activist lens has shunted it pretty far down my list.
#4—When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
Another cheesy-but-delightful young adult romance, this book details the story of two Indian teenagers who parents are trying to set them up. The romantic, artistic boy is totally on board with this tradition, but the feisty coder girl is most definitely not. However, when the two become partners at coding camp, sparks start to fly and I start to squeal like a four-year-old on Christmas. Not only is this a sweet YA romance, but it also introduces a slew of realistic characters who are lovable because of, not in spite of, their flaws. I did, however, put this book down in 2019 and didn’t pick it up to finish it until the summer of 2020 if that tells you anything about the middle of the book.
#3—Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Here’s another classic I was happy to have read in 2020, but let me just say this: Little Women is looooooooooong. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I can expound on all the reasons I love this novel! To begin, the stubborn but lovable main heroines and those who surround them are some of the most vibrant, layered characters I’ve ever encountered. Alcott has a seemingly effortless voice which makes me feel like her characters are right there in the room with me: I can hear Jo’s boastful tone, see Amy wrinkling her nose, and feel the warmth of their family unit even though I’m merely reading words on a page. Little Women is a classic which filmmakers and playwrights have been adapting and re-adapting for ages, and now that I’ve finally finished the book I can see why. These characters and their impeccably illustrated relationships are a true masterpiece.
#2—I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Phew, okay. If you have not read this book, I implore you do so at some point in your life. Its pages are full of harrowing accounts of life in a war-torn country, the joys of learning and loving, and above all the powerful voice of a young woman named Malala Yousafzai. Best known as the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Prize, Malala Yousafzai (often called solely by her first name) is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to public speaking—and I can now confirm that her incredible power is present, if not amplified, on paper. This book is not just an explanation of how Malala was infamously shot by the Taliban because she fought for girls education; rather, it is an exposé of the country of Pakistan and its history, an exploration of what it means to be a young Muslim woman who adores learning, and a narrative of Malala, her family, and her perpetual desire to make the world a better place. I Am Malala is an exquisite autobiography and a powerful story, but be warned—it is at times an exhausting and heart-wrenching read.
#1—Paper Towns by John Green
While it may seem erroneous of me to place a young adult John Green novel above the classic works of Alcott and Fitzgerald, Paper Towns truly was the most enjoyable and intriguing book I read in 2020. This novel involves a convoluted mystery, unrequited love, and authentic friendships, but it also has one of the most captivating opening scenes of any young adult novel I’ve ever read. Green begins Paper Towns with a ridiculously entertaining slew of pranks and hi-jinx, carried out by the beautifully enigmatic Margo Roth Spiegelman and her hesitant but caring neighbor Quentin Jacobsen. The latter of these two characters is one of my favorite literary narrators of all time because he is hits-too-close-to-home realistic while also being the epitome of a lovable book boy. Overall, Paper Towns‘ charm lies in its layered characters, the increasing stakes as Green builds toward the solving of a mystery, and the perfect imperfectness of the story’s ending.