Best books of 2020

 This list is not of the 2020 released books but only of books, I read for the first time this year. I enjoyed most of the books I read this year but I will include here the ones I absolutely loved, it was very hard to narrow it down.

Top 5 favorite books, this are in no particular order but are my favorite read of the year.

The First Law trilogy. This is a grimdark fantasy story following a few characters who are fighting in a war with different countries but also internal fights amongst their own people. You fall for the characters, they are not very good people but still, you care about them and their struggles. We follow Logan Ninefingers and his view of the world is very peculiar, a brute in many's standards but with loyalty to a fault. We have Glotka, a character either you love or care for even in his weird moral sense. so many things to catch your eye but so little time to express it! A very character-driven book, slow to get through but very worthy of investing the time. Be aware of dark themes, torture gore, among other few things so f you might be triggered by violence might be best to look into the warnings before diving in. Otherwise please go ahead and jump into it blind. Believe me, it's almost certain ou will enjoy the ride.

The YA Sci-Fi book Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. This follows Spensa a young girl who wants to become a pilot. Pilots are the most prestigious people in the community. They have lived fighting a hoard of enemy spaceships for as long as they can remember so the fighters are highly steemed. She has been looked down on because her father is very famous. He was a pilot and in the last battle, he cowardly ran from the fight and let his team down. Now her family is ostracized as the worst possible thing anyone can be is a coward. She is determined to become a pilot and restore her family honor. She manages to get into flight school and things are not as she had assumed from the start. She is not perfect, she is prejudiced and stubborn and she must do a lot of growing before she becomes a good pilot.  This is the start of a trilogy but it seems very very promising. 

The other series I highly enjoyed was by Robin Hobb the Farseer trilogy. This follows Fitz, a bastard child of the King in waiting. This world is very hard to get into as we don't know much. Everything is given only through his eye. It starts when he is very young and follows only his POV. Fitz is raised by the master of the stables, as his father abdicated the throne even before meeting him. Fitz is trained to become the king's assassin. When the boy accepts this task he can't grasp what he is choosing and he comes to regret his decision. This is a slow-paced story but the whole ride is amazing. Highly recommend it for everyone to read it.

The best short story collection this year was Exhalation stories by Ted Chiang. This is a collection of sci-fi/futuristic stories featuring artificial intelligence or technology in some sort. It's hard to describe as each features unrelated stories but they are a very good time and easy to get through. Thanks to this I am discovering that I actually enjoy short story collections and will go out of my way to read collections in other genres as well. This is very unique in the way he explores his ideas, and you just fall for each and every one of them. The writing style is very accessible and eye-catching. You might not every character but it's sure to grip your interests and explore very interesting premises. 

The other very powerful short story collection was Everything inside by Edwidge Danticat. I am unable to put into words just why this is so touching. We have eight different stories all very emotional and heart wrenching on their own. We see a wide ranging in scope, superb in their exploration of the complex nature of relationships, familial, personal and friendships, of love, loss, grief, trauma, and heartbreak. At the heart of the stories are primarily Haitians, in Little Haiti in Florida and in Haiti itself, capturing the nature of being a migrant. you do not have to be part of this demographic but you feel it so relatable. Highly recommend this book.  Here is the original description that caught my interest: In these eight powerful, emotionally absorbing stories, a romance unexpectedly sparks between two wounded friends; a marriage ends for what seem like noble reasons, but with irreparable consequences; a young woman holds on to an impossible dream even as she fights for her survival; two lovers reunite after an unimaginable tragedy, both for their country and in their lives; a baby's christening brings three generations of a family to a precarious dance between old and new; a man falls to his death in slow motion, reliving the defining moments of the life he is about to lose. 

As mentioned before I have such a wide range of reading that is difficult to narrow down what to recommend. If others like me wish to read a bit of everything I hope this helps you find a good place to start.

That is it for me at the moment. Let me know which were your best books so I might be able to find possible favorites books/series to get to. 

Stay safe, stay healthy!