If Oprah and Obama can put out a Best of 2020 Book List…then I have no business putting one out. But I’m going to, anyway.
Should you decide to purchase any of these books, I highly recommend ordering from somewhere on Refinery29’s list of Black-owned bookstores (I’ve linked all the books below to Semicolon, a Black woman-owned bookstore & gallery space in Chicago that I can recommend from personal shopping experience). I have found that the $5-$8 premium I pay to order from one of these local shops (instead of from Amazon) is well worth the experience of supporting a local, Black entrepreneur.
Here are my top books read during 2020, with my two-sentence praise for each book:
Nonfiction
The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias by Dr. Dolly Chugh
If I could point to a single book that effected the deepest change in me this year, it would be this one. Dr. Chugh manages to turn the mirror inward in the most generous, gracious, compassionate way possible, making it clear that there is room for all of us—regardless of our background—in the fight against bias and racism.
This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin
This was the book that singlehandedly inspired the Pandemigram project back in April. This book is not only for those in the marketing profession (I’m certainly not); it is for any person who has an idea they want to share with others—which is probably most of us.
The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin
While we’re on the topic of Seth Godin (we should always be on the topic of Seth Godin), this is his newest book, just released in November. I’m about halfway through it at this point, and so far, it is one of the most inspiring, uncomfortable books I’ve ever read. Inspiring, in that it has jumpstarted me to continue creating through the mud of the pandemic; uncomfortable, in that it has called out so many of the excuses I regularly use in order to hide my creative work.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
It’s a damn shame that this isn’t standard, required reading in high school literature classes. I learned more about the state of America from this 170-page book than I did from all my grade school American history classes combined.
The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
The performing arts often feel to me like a hustle, borne of scarcity—there are only so many gigs, only a handful of people can win the competitions, and if you’re not one of them, you might as well give up. The Infinite Game reminds us that to think in such terms is to focus on the outcome, the win, the finite game. Alternately, we may choose to approach our work as an infinite game, the end goals of which are to perpetuate the game and to advance the just cause.
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander
This is another book filled with generosity and grace. I shared an excerpt in a previous blog post, and I want to share it again here, because it reshaped how I think about contribution and service:
Strolling along the edge of the sea, a man catches sight of a young woman who appears to be engaged in a ritual dance. She stoops down, then straightens to her full height, casting her arm out in an arc. Drawing closer, he sees that the beach around her is littered with starfish, and she is throwing them one by one into the sea. He lightly mocks her: “There are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see, for miles up the beach. What difference can saving a few of them possibly make?” Smiling, she bends down and once more tosses a starfish out over the water, saying serenely, “It certainly makes a difference to this one.”
Fiction
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
I read it twice in the span of one month; the first time through took me approximately 48 hours. Funny, sexy, and deeply moving—at least for my little gay heart.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Twilight + witches – tween clichés = this series. I’ve only finished the first book of the trilogy so far, but I am completely sucked in and cannot wait to devour the next two (Shadow of Night is sitting on my book table at this very moment).
The Schwa Was Here by Neil Shusterman
I read this for the first time about ten years ago and picked it up again toward the beginning of the pandemic. This is a masterfully crafted, first-person narrative that manages to capture the profound insight and experiences that young people often carry with them.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Yes, okay, young adult fiction is my guilty pleasure. Again, I read this years ago when it was first released, but I am so glad I picked it up again—and yes, even the second time through, I full-on ugly cried.
(Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)