I Read One Book Per Week in 2020. This Is Every Book I Finished.

I have a penchant for making ambitious annual commitments. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, I committed to running one mile per day of the year, or 365 miles per year. However, despite my best efforts, which included regular 10 to 13 mile Saturday morning runs, multiple half marathons and my first marathon in 2018, I came close but never quite made it across the finish line. My competitive spirit was inclined to keep going, but I was forced to take a break from persistent running to recover from an ankle injury.

This year, I made a new and exciting commitment: to read one book per week of the year. I am a voracious reader and was on pace at the end of January so the goal seemed aggressive yet achievable. My focus on reading wavered from month to month. Strangely enough, quarantine and a new work-from-home routine were the biggest help toward reaching my goal by opening up new pockets of reading time previously used for commuting and a social life. Virginia Gil’s invitation to join “The Boozy Book Club,” a charismatic group of Miami readers that pick and discuss a new book each month, was also a godsend for my sanity and maintaining reading momentum.

I reached my goal on December 23 when I finished my 53rd book on week 52 of 53. I finished a 54th and 55th book that same week for good measure after there was some contention about counting a 20-page picture book as book 52. Let no one say this challenge was unmet—it was unequivocally defeated! Below is the comprehensive list of every book I read in 2020, in order, for your peer review and reading pleasure in 2021. (While I loved most books, the ones that were life-changing are shown in bold.)

My reading list for 2020 varied widely in every sense. It constituted both fiction and non-fiction. The books ranged from witty quips, poetry and short stories to novellas and novels. I read stories in 20 pages and others in 800+. What I liked most about this year’s reading journey is that every author forced my already open mind to see the world from a brand new perspective, opening my eyes to real and imagined scenarios beyond the realm of what I thought possible. I learned A LOT from reading each and every one of these books. I hope you too will find a much needed lesson, outlook, or escape in their pages.

Every Book I Read in 2020 (in order of completion)
I marked those I recommend in an asterisk. I show in bold those I loved.

“Daring Greatly” by Brené Brown
“See Feliz Era Esto” by Eduardo Sacheri*
“Los Cuatro Acuerdos” by Don Miguel Ruiz*
“Normal People” by Sally Rooney*
“Such A Fun Age” by Kiley Reid*
“The Authenticity Project” by Clare Pooley*
“When” by Daniel H. Pink
“The Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes
“One of Us Is Lying” by Karen M. McManus*
“Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng*
“One of Us Is Next” by Karen M. McManus*
“American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins*
“Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki*
“Where The Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens*
“The Apology” by Eve Ensler
“The Last House Guest” by Megan Miranda*
“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid*
“In Five Years” by Rebecca Serle*
“Untamed” by Glennon Doyle
“Grit” by Angela Duckworth*
“Jaws” by Peter Benchley
“See Me” by Nicholas Sparks*
“Wild” by Cheryl Strayed*
“The Book of Longings” by Sue Monk Kidd*
“The Last Flight” by Julie Clark*
“The Giver of Stars” by Jojo Moyes*
“11/22/63” by Stephen King
“The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett (The Boozy Book Club, Pick 1)*
“Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer
“Dear Edward” by Anna Pollinate*
“The Last House Guest” by Megan Miranda*
“The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides*
“Permission to Screw Up” by Kristen Hadeed*
“The Jaded Kiwi” by Nick Spill*
“Clap When You Land” by Elizabeth Acevedo (The Boozy Book Club, Pick 2)
“The Loop” by Nicholas Evans*
“The Jaded Spy” by Nick Spill*
“The Nickel Boys” by (The Boozy Book Club, Pick 3)
“Beach Read” by Emily Henry
“The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity” by Esther Perel
“Strip Tease” by Carl Hiaasen*
“What’s Left of Me Is Yours” by Stephanie Scott (The Boozy Book Club, Pick 4)
“Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator” by Ryan Holiday*
“The Last Story of Mina Lee” by Nancy Jooysun Kim*
“Invisible Monsters (Remix)” by Chuck Palahniuk (The Boozy Book Club, Pick 5)
“Memorial” by Bryan Washington
“Verity” by Colleen Hoover*
“The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab (The Boozy Book Club, Pick 6)
“The Girl In The Mirror” by Rose Carlyle
“Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Morena Garcia*
“Men to Avoid in Art and Life” by Nicole Tersigni*
“The Office of Historical Corrections” by Danielle Evans
“Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell
“My Horizontal Life” by Chelsea Handler
“The Jaded Widow” by Nick Spill*