The Books of 2020

Warning: this is a very long post.

Before I do anything, I want to wish my parents happy TWENTYTH anniversary! You guys are awesome. It’s been such a blessing to see your relationship grow and blossom over the years. ❤

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Hey guys! I love reading and it is an awesome pass time! I decided to share all of the books that I’ve read so far in 2020 (hence the warning at the beginning of this post XD). This is a great list of books if you’re looking for some new ones to buy! 😉 I have a wide variety of taste!

Fantasy

Beyond Narnia, I hadn’t read a ton of fantasy books. But this year *grins* well, I discovered a whole new world (several, actually XD).

Kingdom’s Dawn (book one) by Chuck Black

Kingdom’s Hope (book two) by Chuck Black

Kingdom’s Edge (book three) by Chuck Black

Book of the King (book one) by Chris Fabry & Jerry B. Jenkins

The Sword of the Wormling (book two) by Chris Fabry & Jerry B. Jenkins

The Changeling (book three) by Chris Fabry & Jerry B. Jenkins

The Prince Warriors Series by Priscilla Shirer

Rose of Night by Hope Ann

Rose of Oath by Hope Ann

Song of the Sword by Hope Ann

The Green Ember (book one) by S.D Smith

Passages by Paul McCusker

The Lost Medallion by Bill Muir & Alex Kendrick

Bell mountain (book one) by Lee Duigon

On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (book one) by Andrew Peterson

North! Or Be Eaten (book two) by Andrew Peterson

Monster in the Hallows (book three) by Andrew Peterson

The Warden and the Wolf King (book four) by Andrew Peterson

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

The Fellowship of the ring by JRR Tolkien

The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien

The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien

Favorite: Oh man, guys. This is SO hard. I loved so many of these books. Most of them are so well written and so though provoking. My favorite series was the Lord of the Rings. I fell in love with all of the characters. The storyline was amazing as well.

 Least Favorite: Passages was pretty bad. In my humble opinion, it made a mockery of the bible and the people in it. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the Wormling series. I found Owen, the main character, very annoying and unrealistic. I was disappointed, because I’d really liked the Red Rock Mysteries series by the same authors.

Fiction

Wow, I just realized that a lot of these of these are movie novelizations. XD I just loved the movies so much that I wanted to read the books, too. XD

Flywheel by Eric Wilson

Fireproof by Eric Wilson

Facing the Giants by Eric Wilson

October baby by Eric Wilson

War Room by Chris Fabry

Courageous by Randy Alcorn

God’s Not Dead 2 by Travis Thrasher

Do You Believe by Travis Thrasher

Indivisible by Travis Thrasher

A Robertson Family Christmas by Kay Robertson

Life Just Got Real by Sadie Robertson

Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Luroux

Phantom Writer (Red Rock Mysteries, book six) by Chris Fabry & Jerry B. Jenkins

Canyon Echoes (Red Rock Mysteries, book eight) by Chris Fabry & Jerry B. Jenkins

Instant Menace (Red Rock mysteries, book nine) by Chris Fabry & Jerry B. Jenkins

Escaping Darkness (Red Rock Mysteries, book ten) by Chris Fabry & Jerry B. Jenkins

Hollywood Holdup (Red Rock Mysteries, book twelve) by Chris Fabry & Jerry B. Jenkins

The Call by Macy Lee

Clash by Rick Bundschuh

Mom’s Night Out by Tricia Goyer

Metanoia by Rae Calkins

Toy Story (book one)

Despicable Me (book one)

Despicable Me (book two)

Favorite: Either Courageous or A Robertson Family Christmas. Both were really good stories with powerful points.

Least favorite: As far as storyline, Facing the Giants – it was a lot like the movie in that everything went perfectly for the characters as soon as they turned their lives around.

Judging only by writing style, the unrealistic dialog in Indivisible drove me CRAZY the entire book. *sighs* Otherwise, the storyline was okay. The same with Mom’s Night Out. I learned from that book that copying movie dialog makes a book sound really, really bad.

Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs

This is a category that a lot of teens don’t seem to love, but that I do. XD For most of my life, I rarely read anything besides biographies/autobiographies, so I have a deep love for this genre.

I Still Believe by Jeremy Camp

I Will Love You Forever by Cori Salchert

I Can Only Imagine by Bart Millard

Unashamed by Lecrae

Hiding in the Light by Rifqa Bary

Blessed, Blessed…Blessed by Missy Robertson

The Reason by Lacey Sturm

The Good, the Bad and the Grace of God by Jep & Jessica Robertson

Gifted Hands by Ben Carson

Joni by Joni Eareckson Tada

Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton

Passport Through Darkness by Kimberly L Smith

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Felwiler

As Soon As I Fell by Kay Bruner

Need You Now by Plumb

 Favorite: Ah man, I loved so many books in this category, but I’d say that my favorite was either Hiding in the Light, I Will Love You Forever or Need You Now. All three  were really powerful stories of faith and hope. (And very heartbreaking).

Least Favorite: Probably Gifted Hands, but I really enjoyed it as well.

Instructional/Self-Help

Radiant by Priscilla Shirer

Love Does by Bob Goff (not exactly sure what category this one and the one below belong in XD)

A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson

Looking for Lovely by Annie Downs

Backwards Beauty by Jessie Minassian

Unashamed by Jessie Minassian

Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure

Perfectly Unique by Annie Downs

I Am Not Broken by Christina Demara

Not So Fast by Anne Kroeker

Forgiveness by Matthew West

Becoming Us by Beth and Jeff McCord

How to Write a Christian Novel by Allan Dale Dickinson

Debunking the Myths of Forgive and Forget by Kay Bruner

Favorite: Adorning the Dark was sooo good!

Least Favorite: How to Write a Christian Novel.

Classics/Epic Poems

I enjoyed reading most of these! My favorite was the Aeneid. I didn’t care for the Metamorphosis.

The Iliad by Homer

The Odyssey by Homer

The Aeneid by Virgil

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Beowulf

The Metamorphosis by Ovid

Greek Plays/Poetry

Greek Tragedies were…tragic to say the least. XD Although I did like them better than the couple comedies that I read. XD (Yep, I’m weird.)

Agamemnon

Libation bearers

Eumenides

Oedipus the King

Oedipus at Colonus

Antigone

Trojan Women

Medea

The Frogs

The Clouds

The Fall of Troy

Favorite: I really liked Trojan Women and Antigone.

Least favorite: I did not like Medea at all. There was so much death, revenge, hate and anger in it. I also really disliked The Frogs.

History

Again, this is another category that a lot of teens don’t love. But I enjoyed these books and I’d encourage you to read them as well. There’s a lot we can learn from the older writings of the past. I think on the whole, past writing has much more depth than the modern writing.

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede

Life of Charlemagne by Einhard

Life of Alfred by Asser

Life of St. Columba by St. Adomnan

The Confession of St. Patrick

Rule of St. Benedict

History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours

Book of Pastoral Rule by Pope Gregory I

The Voyage of Brendanm

History of the Kings of Britton by Geoffrey of Monmouth

The Histories by Herodotus

Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Anabasis by Xenaphon

The Apology of Socrates by Plato

Favorite: The Peloponnesian War was very interesting. Long, but interesting. I also enjoyed the Anabasis and The Apology of Socrates.

Least Favorite: Rule of St. Benedict

Poetry

These were all AMAAAZING!

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Fifteen by Amie Woleslagle

Beautifully Broken Together by Rae Calkins

Historical Fiction

I used to like historical fiction, but I don’t love it so much anymore because it’s hard to find stories that are accurate to history. 😦 Fourth of July Spies proved my point perfectly.

Beric The Briton by G.A. Henty

The 4^th of July Spies by Stanley Harris

Health/Miscellaneous

I am a person who finds health books very interesting. XD

Crepes by Carme Sevenster

Emergency Childbirth by Gregory J White

Migraine Headache Relief by Jerry L Rankin

Get Your Fats Straight by Sarah Pope

33 Ingredient Substitutions

100 Days of Real Food by Lisa Leake

Healing Foods by Naya Lizardo

The Art of Frugal by Kaylee Cole

Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel

Another 81 Money Saving Tips by Blake Dresden

Favorite: I found the Emergency Childbirth Guide very interesting, especially since I will likely be going into doula/midwifery work.

Least Favorite: Eh, all of them were pretty interesting in their own ways.

Phew! That was a lot of books! If you read to the end of this, CONGRATS. I send you virtual chocolate chip cookies.

~Hattush

Have you read any of the books that I mentioned? What are your favorite books? What is your favorite genre? What are your reading goals for 2021?