We did it (in my Kamala Harris voice)! I completed yet another reading challenge. My 2020 reading challenge was to read 25 books in one year, and I surpassed that goal by reading 30 books. It’s safe to say that I had a little extra time on my hands this year and I needed an escape. I’m increasing my 2021 challenge by five books, and I hope to surpass that goal as well. Looking back at my list, I definitely read a lot of fiction and thrillers, which was probably to help escape the ongoing saga of 2020. Right now I am elbows deep in one of the most anticipated memoirs – A Promised Land by our forever President Barack Obama.

I really miss him.

Anyway, I enjoyed the mysteries and thrillers that I read last year, so I think I will add a few more of those to my list. The top books that I read were Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell, and The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey. And don’t forget my review of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere which was adapted into a mini-series on Hulu.

Are you reading A Promised Land as well? Let me know what you think of Obama’s storytelling and immaculate memory. If not, what books are you reading, and are excited to read this year?

1. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

2. Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

3. My Word by Gizelle Bryant

4. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

5. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

6. The Baddest Bitch in the Room by Sophia Chang

7. Tinaca Jones by Matt Boren & Stephanie Lemelin

8. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

9. Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

10. The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben

11. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

12. Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright, Bradley Hope

13. The Getaway by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen & Emily Bauer

14. The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

15. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

16. The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

17. Husband Material by Emily Belden & Piper Goodeve

18. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

19. I Invited Her In by Adele Parks

20. The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews

21. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

22. Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella

23. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

24. The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll

25. Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella

26. You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

27. The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey & Michaela Angela Davis (Cowriter)

28. Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

29. The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

30. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (not listed)