2020 Reads 

Books

1. The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

   • Summary: "Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself."

   • 8/10 - A great book and how I found my love of Reid's work.

2. Normal People - Sally Rooney

   • Summary: "At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers—one they are determined to conceal."

   • ​10/10 - The best book on this list. While the summary may not be enticing, this book had so many relatable aspects as a college students and twists and turns that made me finish it in one day.

3. Camgirl - Isa Mazzei

   • Summary: "At twenty-three, Isa Mazzei was just like any other college graduate: broke, lacking purpose, and searching for an identity. She was also a compulsive seductress with a reputation as a slut and heartbreaker. One day, while working a low-paying retail job, she had a revelation: why not embrace her salacious image and make some money off of it?"

   • 9/10 - A great, different read that intrigued me as I saw it from the suggested shelf in my school's library. I'm also really glad that this is a true memoir from her experience as coming from the cam girl herself really shows the reader what her life was like.

4. Red at the Bone - Jacqueline Woodson

   • Summary: "As the book opens in 2001, it is the evening of sixteen-year-old Melody's coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' Brooklyn brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the music of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress. But the event is not without poignancy. Sixteen years earlier, that very dress was measured and sewn for a different wearer: Melody's mother, for her own ceremony-- a celebration that ultimately never took place."

   • 7/10 - While this is the highest rated book on this list as per Goodreads, I found it was the least intriguing. That doesn't meat the author isn't talented, as her use of words and effective storytelling was great.

5. Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid

   • Summary: "Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six: The band's album Aurora came to define the rock 'n' roll era of the late seventies, and an entire generation of girls wanted to grow up to be Daisy. But no one knows the reason behind the group's split on the night of their final concert at Chicago Stadium on July 12, 1979 . . . until now...."

   • 10/10 - This book portrays the world I wish I lived through, the 70s rock and roll era. I wish I was Daisy Jones, despite her drug addiction and alcoholism, I just love the free-spired vibes of the 70s.

6.  The Immoralists - Chloe Benjamin

   • Summary: "It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes."

   • 10/10 - I was not expecting the path this book took at all. The characters Simon and Klara were my favorites and their journey made this book for me. Each child is unique in their own ways and I highly suggest you reading this to see how their life journeys' unveil. 

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Graphic Novels

1. Today is the Last Day of the Rest of your Life - Ulli Lust

   • Summary: "Back in 1984, a rebellious,17-year-old, punked-out Ulli Lust set out for a wild hitchhiking trip across Italy, from Naples through Verona and Rome and ending up in Sicily. Twenty-five years later, this talented Austrian cartoonist has looked back at that tumultuous summer and delivered a long, dense, sensitive, and minutely observed autobiographical masterpiece."

   • 8/10 - I really enjoyed this graphic novel, the day-to-day life of runaway Ulli was to put it lightly, insane. But, it made for great stories through comics.

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