And the Award Goes to...

A reviewer on goodreads sums up 2020 in this way: this was a trashy year but I’ve read some pretty good books. My sentiments exactly. It’s been a pretty sweet literary year and it’s about time I dish out some end-of-the-year awards to the most deserving!

Most Shippable Couple 

Monty & Percy in The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (2017)

My first choice was Frederica and Alverstoke but that would be unfair since they are the couple that I will always ship. So the 2020 most shippable couple goes to Monty & Percy. I didn’t expect them to be THAT cute.

Most Likely to Give Me Laughing Fits

Triangle (2017)

I need to get my hands on this book. Pure literary narcotics. 

Favourite Reformed Rake

Alverstoke in Frederica (1965)

I guess this is nepotism as Alverstoke will always—and never cease to be—my favourite reformed rake.

Most Wanted BFF

 Patty in Just Patty (1911)

I know Daddy-Long-Legs is Jean Webster’s more famous work, but I maintain Patty is the better heroine! She is the penultimate bff material--you never know whether she’s about to die for your or throw you under the bus—and frankly, you’d do the same to her. So there.

Most Unforgettable

Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives (2019)

I’ll have you know it’s not always that fantasy stuff that rewires my brain. This time it was Liquid Rules. Seriously, ever since I finished this book, every time I wash the dishes, I find myself marvelling endlessly over soapy water. This is some powerful book! Read at your own peril!

Most Disappointing 

Scholomance (2020)

I wanted to like this book. I really did. But everything about the book proved disastrously unremarkable. NEXT!

Most Expectation-Defying

Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Vol. 1 (1977)

I grew up watching the animated series so I thought the Moomins were the epitome of Scandinavian hygge but nah. You get a dose of scathing satirical commentary on Western capitalism but then there’s also unabashed sentimentality…and I did not expect either!

Finally, the big one...

Book of the Year

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures (2020)

I've always been fascinated by fungi. You know. They're houses for the little folk.

But here is where it truly gets funky, as Merlin Sheldrake takes us on a psychedelic mind trip.

Also, a book on mushrooms by someone named Merlin?! How can you NOT want to read it?

What are some of your favourite books of 2020? Lemme know!