In 2020, I set my goal on Goodreads to read 50 books for the year, just two books more than I read in 2019. I beat that goal by a hair, finishing the year at 52 books. In this post, I’m going to highlight some of my favorites.

Writing Craft Books

The Poetry Home Repair Manual

Ted Kooser was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2004-2006 and he is the Presidential Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska where he taught the craft of writing poetry. I’ve found there are two important elements involved when learning the craft from someone. The first is whether they’re any good at it themselves. The second is whether they can teach the craft. There are a number of wonderful poets in the U.S. alone, but that doesn’t mean they can teach you a single thing about writing.

Ted calls this book Practical Advice for Beginning Poets. Despite publishing a poetry collection in 2020, I feel I am still very young in the craft. However, I will note, that I have recommended this book to many poets since I’ve read it including poets who have been writing poetry for decades. I’ve heard from even well-seasoned poets that this is a good poetry craft book, if for no other reason than to feel refreshed about the craft and be reminded of areas that could use a little more attention. I attended several online workshops last year, and heard this book recommended in just about every one of them.

The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers

I enjoy reading writing advice from editors because they’re in the middle of the publishing industry. They see so many manuscripts and can pinpoint common pitfalls of writers. For that reason, the title of this book really caught my attention. However, this wasn’t one of my favorite books of the year for the writing advice. I think it has great advice for novice writers, but I don’t quite fit into that category anymore. The part I enjoyed was the way Betsy described different types of writers. And she really nails some of the personality types of writers, to the point where I could identify writers I know who fit the descriptions she gave. Some of her points even exposed my own writing personality. It’s fun to know that you’re not the only one out there that has your same tendencies.

I also felt encouraged when she discussed the insecurities that even well-known, successful authors have grappled with. The reality of knowing that success doesn’t take away your doubt coupled with the cautionary tales about famous authors who let their self-doubt derail their careers made me realize I have to keep pushing through those fears. Maybe I’ll even get to the point where I can set them aside altogether. If an author doesn’t learn how to manage their fears and work despite them, the fear in itself is enough to put an end to their greatest passion.

Poetry

Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction

I first read this book at the end of 2019 and it made my list of favorites that year as well. I enjoyed it so much that I had to reread it in 2020. I was just as pleased with it the second time through. I became familiar with the poems and was able to pull more from them on the second reading.

Jared covers so many topics in this book from engineering, music, love, depression, suicide, prejudices, grief, obesity, and everything in between. It’s a life boiled down to this beautiful and powerful collection of poems.

Since I included this book in last year’s list, I’ll keep it brief. If you’d like to hear more about this book, check out the listing in the 2019 Reads.

of honey & heartbreak

Kelsi Rose’s of honey & heartbreak held the same impact for me as Jared Singer’s Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction. I was surprised by how much I loved this poetry collection. After reading Jared’s book, I thought it would be a long time before I came across another poetry book that I was so moved and intrigued by.

I read this particular poet because Kelsi is also published by Winter Goose Publishing (my publisher) and I wanted to see the work of some of the poets I was joining. Although, this particular book is not published by Winter Goose. I’ve since read another poetry collection by Kelsi called Paperback Wings and Patchwork Eyes, which is published by Winter Goose.

Kelsi hooked me with the very first poem in this collection and I raced through the pieces unable to slow down and alarmed by how quick the pages flew by. I have only experienced that with three poetry books, Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction by Jared Singer, Helium by Rudy Francisco, and Kelsi’s of honey & heartbreak.

Surprise Favorites

There were a few books in genres I don’t read very often and they turned out to be some of my favorite books for the year.

Whipping Boy

I once had the opportunity to sit at the same table as Allen Kurzweil during a writing workshop where he was one of two presenters. He writes middle-grade fiction but wrote this memoir based on his search for the bully who terrorized him when he was 12 years old.

During his presentation at this writing workshop, Allen spoke about his experience at a Swiss boarding school where he was tormented by a boy named Cesar Augustus. The experience left Allen with such deep emotional scars, he began searching for Cesar as an adult to try to put the old wounds to rest. Allen then spoke of his experience getting the book published. His editor left sticky notes with suggested revisions throughout his manuscript. Allen later tacked all those notes together. He presented the stack that stood a few inches tall. The presentation was encouraging and insightful. The story of the search for his 12-year-old bully never left me.

Then, one day while I was scanning the books at Goodwill, I found a copy from someone who was clever enough to pick up a copy when Allen was here. And lucky for me, several years later, they were ready to part with it.

Across the Winding River

I wrote about this book in last week’s 2020 Local Reads, so I won’t go into much detail about the story here, but I thought it was worth noting that it was one of my favorite from the year and in a different genre than I normally read.

Also worth noting is that Aimie K. Runyan’s historical fiction Across the Winding River is well written. I enjoy complex stories that follow different storylines that eventually tie together.

Another thing that stood out to me was that this book was very well edited. While I enjoy reading and supporting local authors, one thing that I see quite often is the lack of attention to the copyediting phase.

Horror

Duma Key

I like a very specific type of horror, probably in the sub-genres of psychological and supernatural. I don’t prefer a lot of gore and I don’t find a lot of horror novels quite as frightening as I once did when I was younger. My plan is to try to find more horror that I do enjoy, I’m sure it’s out there, I just have to find it.

Stephen King has been one of those authors who is a hit or miss for me. But he’s written some of my favorites including The Shining, The Langoliers, and Duma Key is right up there.

The protagonist, Edgar, loses his right arm in a construction site accident that nearly kills him. The recovery tears apart his life, leaving him unable to continue in his line of work. His depression and anger ruins his marriage. He moves to Florida to get a fresh start and begins painting, a hobby he once dabbled in when he was younger. It turns out he has a remarkable gift that attracts the attention of an art gallery. But his paintings are…a little more than normal paintings.

And if you need more book suggestions to add to your reading list this year, check out my favorite books in the 2019 Reads.