The Best Books of 2020

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  • Опубліковано 12 вер 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 97

  • @annah7648
    @annah7648 3 роки тому +77

    While I don’t like to comment on people’s appearances, even positively, I cannot stop myself because your hair looks utterly gorgeous!!

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому +16

      Honestly I’ll take it aha cause I tried really hard with those curlers ;)

  • @chantellewhite4597
    @chantellewhite4597 3 роки тому +27

    Can honestly say your my most watched UA-camr of 2020, you put so much effort into your videos and your so passionate about books as someone that suffers with anxiety and depression you have truly helped me get back into reading last year and it has helped me soo much to just take time for my self and enter different worlds through reading your going to smash 2021 girl!!!

  • @vesch5083
    @vesch5083 3 роки тому +7

    Happy New Year. I bought my 12 yr old son your mythology book for Christmas. I showed him one of your videos and told him you wrote the book. I told him that you are only 28 and yet had already written that book, and that was pretty amazing for someone so young. He said, "well, actually that's kinda old. Not really old but kinda old."
    I guess I forget that for a 12 yr old anyone over 16 is old. 😉

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому +5

      Ahahaha I can imagine reacting exactly the same - when I was 12 I was convinced I would publish a novel by 16... I really hope he loves learning more about Greek myths though!

    • @vesch5083
      @vesch5083 3 роки тому +2

      @@JeansThoughts He loves mythology and has been on a Greek mythology kick lately. He will love your book.

  • @booksandbrews8906
    @booksandbrews8906 3 роки тому +10

    The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet was one of my absolute favorites this year. The characters were amazing!

  • @Larissa_KD
    @Larissa_KD 3 роки тому +18

    Ohh how fun, I also read 113 books in 2020 haha! My favourites were:
    1. The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon
    2. Girl, Women, Other - Bernadine Evaristo
    3. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
    4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
    5. Wild - Cheryl Strayed
    6. Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel, adaptation by Mariah Marsden, illustrated by Brenna Thummler
    7. A Thousand Ships - Natalie Haynes
    8. Mr. Loverman - Bernadine Evaristo
    9. The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa
    10. The Switch - Beth O'Leary
    11. 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
    12. Spring - Ali Smith
    13. The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yoko Ogawa
    14. Don't Call Us Dead - Danez Smith
    15. On a Sunbeam - Tillie Walden

    • @chloemansfield4119
      @chloemansfield4119 3 роки тому +1

      I want to read The Priory of the Orange Tree so bad. But I've seen so many mixed reviews about it, and it's soo long 😂

    • @Larissa_KD
      @Larissa_KD 3 роки тому

      @@chloemansfield4119 Ohh really, all my friends loved it! I read it super quick even though it's so long (and I'm not a fast reader), so maybe that helps!

    • @chloemansfield4119
      @chloemansfield4119 3 роки тому +1

      @@Larissa_KD It does seem really interesting, it sounds worth the time. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

    • @anishamahanty2034
      @anishamahanty2034 3 роки тому

      Hey it would be awesome if u can write about these books may be a line or two what are they about so that I can pick what to read.

  • @VelvetLibrary
    @VelvetLibrary 3 роки тому +4

    This is honestly my favourite "best of 2020" video I've seen, because your choices were so varied! My TBR is crying because of all the books I've just added 😂

  • @halochromatium4485
    @halochromatium4485 3 роки тому +8

    For fairy tales I would recommend Nelson Mandels Favourite African Folktales. The illustrations are beautiful too.

  • @elizabethh9950
    @elizabethh9950 3 роки тому +3

    I bought the mysterious howling after seeing you mention it quite a few times and I have now read all 6! Love the series so much, and have also bought the first one for two people as presents already. So thank you for the recommendation!

  • @McGinest
    @McGinest 3 роки тому +4

    I always look forward to this video. I have to read Mexican Gothic now! My favorite book this year was Ohio by Stephen Markley. It says so much about the American Midwest that's true and yet it's not demeaning or looking down on anyone. I'm from Ohio and it felt so authentic to me. Love your videos! Happy New Year!!!

  • @louiselangton
    @louiselangton 3 роки тому +3

    Non-fiction was by far my favourite genre this year. The Five and The New Jim Crow were on my list, too.
    Jean, thank-you so much for a year of lovely videos that I have truly looked forward to more than ever during this bonkers time. Love your vlogs, love your wrap ups, love it all. Happy New Year hun :)

  • @HeathersBookReview
    @HeathersBookReview 3 роки тому +2

    I agree, it’s my favorite video to film all year and I LOVE seeing what made everyone’s top! I want to get around to reading Mexican Gothic!

  • @zoe7257
    @zoe7257 3 роки тому

    This is the first video I've seen of yours and I subscribed when you said The Five as your first pick. It's SO SO brilliant.

  • @pagesandscreens4321
    @pagesandscreens4321 3 роки тому

    I am currently reading The Five and already feel like it's going to become a new favourite. Hearing you speak about it has just made me love it more! :D

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому

      Yay I’m please - I convinced my mum to read it at the moment and she feels exactly the same way!

  • @Naomi-dm4nw
    @Naomi-dm4nw 3 роки тому +3

    Read Mexican Gothic on your recommendation & delighted to hear its being turned into a TV Series. Loved the Alchemist’s Daughter & have the last 2 in the series on my TBR for 2021

  • @junpi8562
    @junpi8562 3 роки тому +2

    Something I remember reading about female prisoners in the UK is that a wing in Styal mens prison was shut down because the inmates were suicidal and it was considered inhuman to keep them there. Shortly afterwards it was quietly re-opened as a women's prison, without any changes to the environment. Not only were the women expected to live in the same conditions, but they also had to eat meals that had been prepared for them by male prisoners in the main building.

  • @reading_with_k
    @reading_with_k 3 роки тому +4

    Loved The Five. Such a great and different true crime novel. Loved the focus on the victims. The New Jim Crow also made it to my top list of 2020, I wish I could make everyone read it.

  • @Maren617
    @Maren617 3 роки тому +3

    This was so much fun to watch, thank you for the recommendations! My favorites in 2020 were:
    1. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (murder mystery, ghost story and love story set in 19th century New Zealand, won the Booker prize)
    2. Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir - so absolutely unique, fresh, funny, scary, heart-breaking: unlike everything else I've ever read.
    3. Oathbringer and Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
    4. The Color Purple - modern classic and so, so good
    5. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin: my new favorite classic. Just imagine: he surpassed Jane Austen and the Brontes on my list! So funny and smart (v. important to read the new translation).
    6. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry: beautiful, multi-layered, loved it. Occasionally a bit slow, though, and with a more episodic structure.
    7. Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs - I always read her novels the very day they are released
    8. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - so heartwarming! Looking forward to the rest of the series!
    9. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - so brilliant!
    10. Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky - cannot describe it concisely but if you want something that's funny and lovable but also a bit dark and super inventive and weird and a mix of SF/fantasy/literary fiction, then this is just perfect.
    Honorable mentions: The City We Became, Red Sister, Grey Sister, Holy Sister, Empress of Salt and Fortune, A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking.

  • @jessielisaa
    @jessielisaa 3 роки тому

    Loved to see your favorites! 😊
    Some of my favorites this year were:
    -How to break up with fast fashion by Lauren Bravo
    -Felix ever after by Kacen Callender
    -A bad day for sunshine by Darynda Jones
    -The simple wild by K.A. Tucker

  • @melodiesandmemories7739
    @melodiesandmemories7739 3 роки тому +3

    My favorites this year were Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden (memoir), Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi (YA fiction), and Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson (adult fiction)!

  • @RovingReader
    @RovingReader 2 роки тому

    I just met Sylvia Moreno-Garcia last night! So cool to see one of hers on your favorites list.

  • @LeanneRose
    @LeanneRose 3 роки тому +2

    Loved hearing your thoughts on these! You read so many amazing books 😊 happy new year!

  • @jesskathan
    @jesskathan 3 роки тому +2

    I really loved Searching for Sylvie Lee and The Other Americans-- highly recommend both. Jean, you should definitely check out Anna Burke's writing. I read three of her books basically in a row because I really enjoyed them. I recommend Compass Rose and Nottingham. :) As soon as you mentioned The Long Way, I had to order it. I keep hearing how good it is. Thanks for the recs!

  • @adrienne_reads
    @adrienne_reads 3 роки тому +2

    Love this, your 2020 favorites are now my 2021 reading list!

  • @SavidgeReads
    @SavidgeReads 3 роки тому

    Loved The Five was my fav non fiction of 2019 and Unicorn which was my favourite non fiction of 2020. Both incredible. I must head to The Majesties this year. Must, must, must. It’s been on my shelf since I was sent it by a friend in the US. The Strange Case of the Alchemists Daughter sounds brilliant too. Fab list! Happy New Year!

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому

      I think you’d really like The Majesties!!! Happy New Year my love ❤️

  • @alyslim5234
    @alyslim5234 3 роки тому +1

    MY TBR JUST GOT LONGER AHHHH you and lucy are my favourite booktubers

  • @storiesofwonderland8900
    @storiesofwonderland8900 3 роки тому +3

    The Ashton Place books are on my radar and it's been described as kind of like Lemony Snicket and they're on Scribd. Hope to read them soon, I've been looking for a great middle grade series to delve into. Mexican Gothic has been on my TBR for a short while and I hope to get to it as well.

  • @KathyTrithardt
    @KathyTrithardt 3 роки тому

    I've added _The Majesties_ to my library audiobook TBR 🥰

  • @jacquelinemcmenamin8204
    @jacquelinemcmenamin8204 3 роки тому +3

    I’m currently listening to Mexican Gothic via audio. My best nonfiction of 2020 are
    Humankind by Rutger Bergman
    Say Nothing by Patrick Raden Keefe
    All That Remains by Professor Sue Black
    The Erratics by Vicki Laveau Harvie
    Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
    Fiction?
    Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
    Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
    The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
    All the Lives We Never Lived by Arundati Roy
    Mussolini’s Island by Susan Day
    The Great Offshore Grounds by Vanessa Veleskia
    The Weekend by Charolette Wood
    Flames by Robbie Arnott
    The Death of Noah Glass
    The Death of Vivek Oji
    Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gasai
    After The Silence by Louise O’Neill
    Home Stretch by Graham Norton
    The Less Dead by Denise Mina 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
    Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
    I finished a book on audio last night that I don’t know what to feel about. Piranesi which I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
    Happy New Year Jean 🎉🤩🥳👋☘️📖☕️🦋📚⛄️🎄❄️

  • @handmeanotherbook7640
    @handmeanotherbook7640 3 роки тому +10

    i love your crescent moon earring!:) 🌙🌙

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому +3

      Aw thanks my mum got them for my Christmas.

  • @caenerys
    @caenerys 3 роки тому

    The Five is on my TBR and I am so excited to read it! Glad you enjoyed so many awesome books this year!

  • @FreyaJeffries
    @FreyaJeffries 3 роки тому +1

    Really enjoyed this! Definitely going to add Long Way to a Small Angry Planet to my TBR for this year!

  • @justdeb6091
    @justdeb6091 3 роки тому

    I purchased the book of Scottish fairytales after hearing you speak about it in a previous video. It arrived this week. Thank you.

  • @acrimsondaisy5513
    @acrimsondaisy5513 3 роки тому +7

    have you read In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado? It's my favorite book of last year and such an important read. It's a memoir of the author and deals with themes of queerness, abuse, and community

  • @chiming_
    @chiming_ 3 роки тому +2

    So glad that the long way to a small angry planet is on your best reads list

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому

      I want to reread it already aha

    • @chiming_
      @chiming_ 3 роки тому

      @@JeansThoughts i know that feel!

  • @AnniesBookNook
    @AnniesBookNook 3 роки тому +1

    I love Becky Chambers

  • @AWitchAndACat
    @AWitchAndACat 3 роки тому

    Inside this place not of it was one of the best books I read last year. The five looks really good. And a long way to a small angry planet was the best book I read in 2019.

  • @anna-mariecollins8502
    @anna-mariecollins8502 3 роки тому

    I love how you read so widely across genres and that you don’t just read books that are popular!

  • @alec-vo9uj
    @alec-vo9uj 3 роки тому

    so shocked u mentioned the long way to a small angry planet cause that's the book i'm reading rn !!!!!! i'm enjoying it so much too, it definitely feels like it's going to be a comfort book for me

  • @FaeryLaume
    @FaeryLaume 3 роки тому +1

    Mexican Gothic was one of my most anticipated new reads last year and there was a lot I did like about it. However, I really never got over how thin the character development was, in particular the cousin who Noemí is trying to help/save. I really enjoyed The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, which I read in 2019. If you liked that, you might like a book I read in 2020 that was similar, in the sense that it was sort of a Sherlock/Jack the Ripper retelling but it was also a story unto itself, The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison.

  • @conniest.germain260
    @conniest.germain260 3 роки тому

    I bought my friend who is a classics major your book because she loves children’s books and the take on explaining the mythos. She adores it and reads it to her godchildren constantly. They said to tell you they think you’re very smart and pretty haha

  • @christinacampbellbooks
    @christinacampbellbooks 3 роки тому

    I'm planning to read The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet next month. I'm really looking forward to it! The Majesties sounds absolutely wonderful! What an interesting premise. Definitely adding it to my TBR :)

  • @booksandbargains
    @booksandbargains 3 роки тому +2

    I LOVE how your voice got higher and higher talking about mexican gothic!

  • @literarydiversions
    @literarydiversions 3 роки тому +7

    Right. Well. First video to make me want to cry about my book buying ban goes to YOU 🏆 😂 SHOCK. SUCH SHOCK. (Actually I already bought half of these or you BOUGHT THEM FOR ME but could not miss an opportunity to whinge about not buying shit.)

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому +2

      WHY WOULD YOU GO ON A BOOK BUYING BAN ME NO REGISTER

  • @rosemannering
    @rosemannering 3 роки тому

    I love the sound of The Majesties! I need to look that one up x

  • @angelamccollister
    @angelamccollister 3 роки тому +2

    I've put Strange Case on my wishlist because of your recommendation.

  • @Gagging4Lit
    @Gagging4Lit 3 роки тому +1

    I also loved Mexican Gothic!!! Are you going to read Shuggie Bain? I wonder how you would find that novel...

  • @conniest.germain260
    @conniest.germain260 3 роки тому

    I don’t know if it’s necessarily up your alley but Pedro Paramo is a classic Mexican novel that’s under 200 pages I believe and it deals with what is left after colonialism occurs. It’s also a bit of a ghost story and love story with this air of mystery and self discovery. I’ve read quite a bit of Mexican novels due to my comparative lit degree and am always happy to pass on recommendations. Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera is also a great take on immigration, police brutality, and a mix of the Mayan underworld

  • @silkemaria7339
    @silkemaria7339 3 роки тому

    Loved this video so many varied choices and so much to add to my "want to read list" thank you - and I agree, I thoroughly enjoyed the Strange Case of the Alchemist Daugther without having read any of the originals (apart from Holmes) - though I do know the basics about them

  •  3 роки тому

    Love the background in this video 😍
    I normally do not like gothic novels but you made Mexican Gothic so amazing that I'm considering buying it 😅
    Of your list I only read The long way to a small angry planet. But unfortunately it was just an okay read to me.
    Can't wait what the year 2021 will bring readingwise (:

  • @ChrisDailyReading
    @ChrisDailyReading 3 роки тому

    I really want to read Mexican Gothic! Sounds very interesting. Also, love your earrings!

  • @racheldemain1940
    @racheldemain1940 3 роки тому +2

    Forensics, An Anatomy of Crime. Val McDermid. It's a bit grim but very interesting.

  • @mariebrunelm4370
    @mariebrunelm4370 3 роки тому

    The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was also one of my favourites from 2020! It's right at the top next to The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. I need to continue both series in 2021.

  • @timetoread1795
    @timetoread1795 3 роки тому

    Adding Unicorn to my list, that sounds like a must read!

  • @clockworkgirl268
    @clockworkgirl268 3 роки тому +3

    I recommend the audio books in the Alchemist’s daughter series by Theodora Goss. All three audiobooks are on scribd ^_^

    • @AWitchAndACat
      @AWitchAndACat 3 роки тому

      I love these books. They are amazing. And the audio makes it even better.

  • @StillAlicia
    @StillAlicia 3 роки тому

    The Majesties sounds so interesting, but also maybe inspired by We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson?

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому

      I definitely felt the poisoning aspect was similar so I'd love to know if the author has mentioned Shirley Jackson anywhere but aside from that I can promise you it's very different!

  • @jaimieduncan7249
    @jaimieduncan7249 3 роки тому

    This year I finally discovered Tessa Dare, Helen Hoang and Olivia Dade. Somehow I've been converted to reading romance. Dade and Hoang in particular had some reasonable (?) diversity of character and representation. I think all three have new books out in 2021.

  • @MLLatUtube
    @MLLatUtube 3 роки тому

    I also love The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series!

  • @mishca5116
    @mishca5116 3 роки тому

    Ooh, would love to buy these books and support yourself and your local bookshops - is there a source for non UK residents? ( I tried to check out but I don't believe Canadians can buy from that site). Thanks. (Sorry for this question, thanks for your time!)

  • @freshparchment
    @freshparchment 3 роки тому

    If you loved The Five, I would recommend The Scandalous Lady W/The Lady in Red, also by Hallie Rubenhold. It details the first sort-of feminist divorce case in the eighteenth century.

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому

      Oooooh this sounds really interesting!

    • @freshparchment
      @freshparchment 3 роки тому

      @@JeansThoughts It seems it's gone by a couple of titles now. My US edition is called The Lady in Red, but on Waterstone's website it is called The Scandalous Lady W or Lady Worsley's Whim. I found it so gripping that I read it in almost one day on the beach.

  • @Twiniiix3
    @Twiniiix3 3 роки тому

    Any chance your mum told you where she found your earrings ? They are beautiful🤩😍

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому +2

      Ah she did ☺️ t k Maxx but I don’t know the brand sorry!

  • @mohankashyap3534
    @mohankashyap3534 3 роки тому +2

    Nice Video 👌

  • @frogmicrowave
    @frogmicrowave 3 роки тому

    Ignore am just making a note
    Mysterious howling

  • @caoilo6812
    @caoilo6812 3 роки тому

    I think you will love The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec.

  • @gee111.
    @gee111. 3 роки тому

    trust that I would click to watch this video after the fact ive been searching for Scottish folktales lol

    • @JeansThoughts
      @JeansThoughts  3 роки тому

      Aha perfect timing, I actually have a video about all of fairy tale collections going up this week!

  • @deeeebbbbbbbbb
    @deeeebbbbbbbbb 3 роки тому

    Where did you get the earrings from?

  • @moot3052
    @moot3052 3 роки тому

    I appear to be the only person on Earth who hated A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet!

  • @lmariona4568
    @lmariona4568 3 роки тому

    You remind me a lot of Isla Fisher.

  • @theannaliviams
    @theannaliviams 3 роки тому

    There are a lot of really great Brazilian books about the prison system here (also very very bad and racist - look up Carandiru Massacre if interested) with voices from people inside, both women’s and men’s prisons. They are, unfortunately, not translated to English, I don’t think :(

  • @thebookwitch5575
    @thebookwitch5575 3 роки тому

    ❤️

  • @karenmiddlebrook8215
    @karenmiddlebrook8215 3 роки тому

    Here the world entire; Girl, Woman, Other; Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race; and my absolute favourite which I read in a day was Hamnet

  • @olawaleogundare9151
    @olawaleogundare9151 3 роки тому

    The pastoral rugby splenomegaly fade because hat ultimately kiss absent a whole libra. youthful, better helicopter