Stephany Writes

Categories: Best Of

Best of 2021 | My Favorite Podcasts

Happy Monday, friends! It’s time to start my favorite series I do every year: recapping my year with “Best of…” posts. Today, I’m kicking things off by discussing my favorite podcasts this year. I listen to podcasts constantly: in the car, when I’m cleaning, when I’m doing my skincare routine, when I’m going on long walks, and even during some work tasks. I’ve been listening to some of these podcasts for nearly 8 years now and the hosts truly feel like friends of mine. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have these little conversations to listen to throughout my day; I may be a lot more lonely, that’s for sure!

I’ve broken this post into two sections: my overall favorite podcasts of 2021 and my favorite short-form podcast series of 2021.

My Top 12 Podcasts of 2021

(In alphabetical order)

1) Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata – This podcast makes me laugh and want to hug my best friends and tell them how much I love them. Nicole and Sasheer who are, obviously, best friends spend time just chatting and catching up on their lives (but in their signature hilarious way!) as well as doing silly Buzzfeed-esque quizzes and answering listener questions about friendship.

2) Currently Reading – On this podcast, two bookish best friends talk about the books they’ve read recently (three each) and then do a deep dive on a bookish topic. I love that they are not afraid to give a negative opinion about what they’ve read—that was something that really seemed to be missing from bookish discourse. While I don’t always stick around for the bookish deep dive, I do love hearing their opinions about the books they’re reading. I’ve gotten a ton of great book recommendations from this podcast!

3) The Girl Next Door Podcast – I sometimes wonder why I love this podcast so much because it’s very parenting-focused, but there’s just something about the soothing voices of Kelsey and Erica that just make me feel good. This is a biweekly podcast, each episode focused on a specific topic, such as how to say no, current home organization and disorganization, practicing gratitude, etc. I don’t listen to every episode, but I can usually find a nugget of usefulness whenever I do listen.

4) Good Christian Fun – If you were deep into Christian pop culture of the 90s/early aughts, then this podcast is for you. It’s also for anyone interested in the wacky world of Christian pop culture and/or hearing about people’s personal faith journeys. Every episode touches on a specific part of Christian pop culture, maybe a song or a movie or a singer, that they have an in-depth discussion about. In each episode, there is a guest who will talk about their own faith journey, which has been really helpful to me as I’ve deconstructed my faith and come to terms with my religious upbringing. There are similarities and dissimilarities in everyone’s experience with faith and religion, and it’s comforting to know I’m not alone in my deconstruction.

5) Lovett or Leave It – I just love this podcast that takes a lighthearted look at the news. The news can be super, super depressing but sometimes, you really just have to laugh at how insane Republicans sound or the latest stupid headline. This show, which is hosted by Jon Lovett, went through a lot of changes once when the pandemic hit (it used to be a live show) but they have been slowly getting back to live audiences/guests once again! It’s really fun to be back to that format, as I didn’t love the “at home” edition of the show and found myself fast-forwarding through a lot of the segments. Anyway, if you like to learn about the news in a way that’s a little less “everything is terrible and democracy is in the dumpster,” this is the show for you.

6) Office Ladies – I really have a love/hate relationship with Office Ladies, but it’s one of the podcasts I faithfully listen to every week and I love hearing behind-the-scenes tidbits about how a show is filmed and produced. This show is hosted by Jenna Fischer (“Pam”) and Angela Kinsey (“Angela”) who discuss one episode of The Office each week. (Currently, they’re nearing the end of season 5.) Each podcast episode is filled with so many interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits, such as how the episode was written, location details for any on-location shoots (outside of The Office set), finding the right props for each scene, and how each scene was filmed. It’s fascinating and I have learned so much about the acting life and life on a TV show from this podcast.

There are a few issues I have with this podcast, though. First, I think the “deep dives” they do on random topics brought up in the show are really silly and not very useful. I usually fast-forward through them. Second, I wish they would address the problematic aspects of the show. The Office has not aged very well and can be very fatphobic, ableist, and sexist. I understand that it’s harder for them to be critical of a show, as they are friends with the writers and producers, but I think there’s a way to address the problematic elements without denigrating the writing.

7) Pod Save America – The second political podcast on my list! What can I say? It’s a huge interest of mine. I have listened to this podcast since the beginning of the Trump presidency and it has been a true balm to my soul. It’s kept me informed, calmed me down when the headlines are crazy, and given me tangible actions to take. It’s hosted by four former Obama staffers—Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, Jon Lovett, and Dan Pfieffer—and it keeps me sane.

8) The Popcast – I just started listening to The Popcast this year and it might be my favorite podcast of all. It’s the one I get most excited about when it downloads to my feed! Hosted by Jamie Golden and Knox McCoy, The Popcast is a pop culture podcast but it approaches pop culture in a way that’s a lot different than other podcasts in this vein. They do deep dives on popular movies, talk about the “no’s” about certain things (like parenting, Halloween costumes, school, etc.), and have themed discussions about any number of topics (fictional jobs, wealth in pop culture, season passes, etc.) It’s fun and funny and the best podcast I downloaded to my feed this year. (I’ve also subscribed to their Patreon, which I highly recommend!)

9) Sarah’s Bookshelves Live – I love this bookish podcast! Sarah has a mix of author interviews (she’s an amazing interviewer!) and recurring series with other bookish guests (like seasonal book previews), and I always love it when a new episode is downloaded to my feed. While our opinions on books are usually very different, I still always appreciate her perspective.

10) Strange Bedfellows – The Baby-Sitter’s Club Club was my favorite podcast for a really long time (two men in their thirties reviewed The Baby-Sitter’s Club books). Eventually, they ran out of BSC books to review so they started a new podcast called Strange Bedfellows, in which they review romance books! They couldn’t have transitioned to a better series if they tried! This podcast is everything I want. They have been doing an amazing job, too, at reviewing diverse books—books by Black authors, queer romances, etc. My favorite part of each episode is when they take a steamy scene and make it less steamy (they call it “Two Prude Dudes”). Their humor is not for everyone, but it works for me and I have such fondness for Jack and Tanner. (I also belong to their Patreon, where they are currently reviewing the Sweet Valley Twins books along with the second season of The Baby-Sitter’s Club Netflix show.)

11) Stuff You Should Know – I’ve been listening to Chuck and Josh at SYSK for so long! They were one of the first podcasts I started listening to. This podcast delves deep into every subject you can think of. Here are just some of their most recent topics: kidney stones, palm trees, the blue people of Kentucky, flood myths, the gut, the history of dentistry, pythons, the Apache Wars, DC statehood, and hot dogs. An eclectic mix, no? Chuck and Josh do so much research into each episode and they always make whatever they are talking about so interesting, even if it’s a topic I originally didn’t think I had any interest in!

12) Throughline – I am so very glad I found this podcast because it has given me so much worthwhile information to help me better expand my worldview. The tagline for this podcast, which is from NPR and hosted by two journalists, is “Where we go back in time to understand the present.” Each episode takes on a newsworthy story and looks at its impact through the lens of history. They did a really interesting and thought-provoking series in September all about Afghanistan, right after U.S. troops withdrew from the region. I always learn something new from this podcast!

My Top Short-Form Podcasts of 2021

(in alphabetical order)

1) EDITH! – I think this might be the one and only story-based podcast I’ve listened to, and it was outstanding! The podcast details the days after President Woodrow Wilson had a severe stroke and how First Lady Edith Wilson assumed his role, covertly. It’s filled with a great cast of actors voicing different characters (including Rosamund Pike as Edith), and I was enthralled from beginning to end.

2) Heaven Bent – This podcast series is for anyone who grew up evangelical in the 90s/early aughts—or anyone interested in the weird, wacky world of revivalist churches. In the first season, host Tara Jean Stevens revisits a time in her life when her tiny church in Canada had a revival that had tourists flocking from all over to receive healing. My own church went through a similar revival when I was in middle school, and it was just wild how similar our experiences were and it brought back so many crazy memories for me. The second season of Heaven Bent is all about Bethel Church and their School of Supernatural Ministry, and it’s just as fascinating. I’m hoping Tara Jean is working on a third season of this podcast!

3) Over My Dead Body: Fox Lake – The third season of Over My Dead Body was such a good one, and the conclusion was so very unexpected. Fox Lake followed the investigation into the death of a revered police officer in a small town, and there were so many twists and turns that it was like listening to a really sensational thriller.

4) Running from COPS – Out of all of the short-form podcasts on my list, this is the one I want everyone to listen to the most. This is about the TV show, COPS. It’s about the people who are featured on the show (many of them signing consent forms without knowing what they mean), the police departments that participate, and the deeply dark production company at the heart of the show. It has really opened my eyes up to COPS and what it’s like for the people who are really just having a really bad day and don’t need that filmed for our entertainment.

5) The Vaping Fix – Laura Beil is such a consistent podcast producer! I’ve loved everything she’s put out (she’s behind Dr. Death and Bad Batch) and this podcast series was just as fascinating. In this series, Beil traces the history of Juul, vaping culture, and how it got incredibly out of hand among teenagers. What started as a way to get rid of cigarette smoking became a catastrophe quickly. It’s frustrating and appalling, but I’m glad Laura Beil told this story because it’s a super important one.

Recommend a podcast to me! 🙂

Categories: Best Of

Best of 2020 | Blogging Stats

Happy Wednesday, friends! I’m concluding my “Best of 2020” series with a look back on the blog in 2020. The only time I ever look at my blogging stats is to pull together some numbers for this post. For the most part, I don’t really pay attention to how many people are coming to my blog. I don’t feel any pressure to grow this space because it’s something I do purely for fun and pleasure, and I love the little community that’s here. 🙂 Most of this post is comprised of my favorite blog posts from the past month, but let’s start off with some numbers:

  • Number of views: 40,228 (+4,263)
  • Number of visitors: 12,516 (-36)
  • Number of posts: 150 (+8)
  • Number of subscribers: 160 (+10)

Top Posts from 2020

The following five posts were the most popular of the ones I published in 2020. I’m surprised that three of the five posts were published fairly recently!

  1. Thirty-three. Apparently, you guys enjoy it when I write 1,800 words about myself! I was surprised to see that this post ended up being my most popular of 2020. I love writing my annual birthday post, reflecting on my year and what my life looks like at this point in time. I’m glad you guys enjoyed it, too!
  2. Three Things Thursday (v. 3). Another surprise! I can’t believe this was my second-most viewed post for 2020. I typically don’t post on Thursdays (I stick to a M/W/F posting schedule) but maybe I’ll build in a few Three Things Thursday posts into my editorial calendar. (<– That sounds much fancier than my process, which is just randomly adding topics to my Google calendar, lol.)
  3. Settling In. After my big move in September, I wrote this post detailing my move and how I’m settling into my new place. I also discussed how the cats handled the move. I love how excited you guys were for my move—almost as much as I was!
  4. Stephany’s Christmas Wonderland. I had so much fun decorating my apartment for Christmas this year. With a bigger space, I was able to get a larger tree and had many more places to put decorations. I gave a little peek into my decorated home, which I dubbed “Stephany’s Christmas Wonderland,” right before Christmas.
  5. My Christmas Wish List. Every year, I share my Christmas wish list and 2020 was no different. It’s always hard to make my wish list, as I’m at a point in my life where I can buy just about anything I want, but I can always find a few fun things to add to my list.

Top Posts of All Time

Not much changed in 2020 with my all-time most-viewed posts. These were the same posts that made the list last year, although “10 Things I Like About Myself” and “Rules for Living with a Dachshund” swapped places this year!

  1. I’m 27 and Scared to Move Out, published Sept. 9th, 2015
  2. On Being a Socially Anxious Introvert, published Feb. 12th, 2014
  3. 10 Things I Like About Myself, published Mar. 26th, 2014
  4. “What is meant for me is already mine.”, published May 24, 2016
  5. Rules for Living with a Dachshund, published Jun. 18th, 2014

Other Favorite Posts

  1. The Coronavirus Diaries. I started this series of posts in March, around the time I started working from home full-time. I recently read through these posts while compiling my month-by-month recap and was immediately brought back to the scary early days of the pandemic where everything was so uncertain and my anxiety was high. Oof.
  2. Black Lives Matter: What I’m Reading and Recommending. After the murder of George Floyd that caused many white people to reckon with their privilege, I wrote this post about some of the books I want to read to educate myself on my own inherent biases as well as some books I’ve read about racial injustice that I recommend.
  3. Seven Things I Learned During Poll Worker Training. After going through poll worker training, I wrote about my experience and everything I learned. There was so much about the polling process I didn’t know, like that you can request another ballot if you messed up on yours and the whole process of voting by provisional ballot.
  4. My Experience as a Poll Worker During the 2020 General Election. I loved discussing my day as a poll worker during the 2020 general election! It was such a great experience and I couldn’t have asked for a better “first day on the job.”
  5. What I’ve Learned After 18 Months of Regular Therapy. Oh, therapy. What a life-changer for me! Therapy grew me in ways I could not have predicted and gave me an entire toolkit to return to when my anxiety is high or I’m having obsessive thoughts. It helped me when I was actively in crisis and also helped me when I was not.

Blogging Goals for 2021

Last year, I set some small blogging goals and I achieved most of them. I updated my blog design, completed Week in the Life, wrote lots of personal essays, and connected with new people. I have two small blogging goals for 2021:

> Update my PHP. Every time I log into WordPress, it lets me know that I need to update my PHP. I tried to do it on my own, but apparently, I have to contact my blog host and it’s this whole entire thing that I don’t want to deal with. But I also don’t want to be running on an outdated version of PHP! So I need to figure this out.

> Respond to emails quicker. I am always so impressed by bloggers who respond quickly to emails. I am always behind, and there’s always a long list of emails in my inbox, just taunting me. I feel better when I respond quickly so I just need to make it more of a priority to not let emails languish in my inbox for days and days.

Categories: Best Of, Books

Best of 2020 | Reading Stats

I’m continuing my “Best of 2020” posts with my favorite one to compile: my reading stats for 2020! As a reminder, I keep track of my reading using a spreadsheet. I fill in the book title, author, publication year, reading dates, rating, where I got the book from, etc. because I love keeping track of my stats and sharing them on the blog! Let’s take a look at what 2020 looked like in my reading life:

Nitty-Gritty Details

  • Number of books read: 153 (+23 from 2019)
  • Number of pages read: 51,219 (+5,871 from 2019)
  • Money spent on books I read this year: $472.41 (+39.25). This amounts to $3.09 per book.
  • Percentage of books by and about BIPOC and the LGBTQIA+ community: 45, or 29% (+11% from 2019)
  • Number of books abandoned: 11 (+1 from 2019)

Format Breakdown

E-book reading was up and audiobooks were down—seems par for the course for 2020! Print was down by 5% from 2019, e-books were up by 9% (!), and audiobooks were down by 7%.

Genre Breakdown

 

No surprise here! Romance was my most-read genre for another year in a row, although my romance reading was down by 2% from 2019. I read the exact same number of contemporary fiction and nonfiction books in 2020—crazy! My fiction reading was down by 12% from 2019 while nonfiction was up by 7%. I read more historical fiction (+3%), mystery/thrillers (+4%), and YA (+.9%) this year.

Source Breakdown

As always, the library leads the way in where most of my books came from in 2020—61%, which is identical to last year! This year, I read slightly more books from Libby (ebooks, +4%) and slightly less from the library (print books, -4%). I’m going to go out on a limb and say that discrepancy is due to the library being closed/at limited capacity for most of the year. As far as non-library reading goes, Amazon comes in first (-2% from 2019), followed by bookstores (no change from 2019) and Book of the Month (+1% from 2019). Rounding out the list are books that were gifted to me, books won in giveaways, and the Serial Reader app.

Month Breakdown

Pretty steady across the board! I never read less than 11 books in a month and my biggest month of reading was in June when I read 15 (!) books.

Ratings Breakdown

I rated 62% of my books 4 or 5 stars, which is down slightly from 2019 by 4%. My 3-star ratings stayed about the same, my 2-star ratings rose by 4% (maybe I was more comfortable rating something 2 stars this year?), and my 1-star ratings stayed about the same.

Days to Read

This was just something fun I like to track—how long it takes me to finish books! Since I’m often reading multiple books at once, it wasn’t too surprising that most books take me 3-8 days to finish. It’s rare for me to finish a book within 1-2 days, but it happens!

New Releases vs Backlist

For the first time, I started tracking how many new releases I read vs backlist titles, and this seems pretty typical for me! I do not shy away from backlist (a lot of the romances I read are backlist) and it shows in this chart.

Publishing Years

I read a ton of books published in 2019 and 2020—comprised almost half my reading! I guess I’m a sucker for the new titles everyone is talking about, heh.

Odds and Ends

  • Oldest book (by pub date): Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1877)
  • Newest book (by pub date): Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas (October 6, 2020)
  • Author I read the most: Tessa Dare (6 books)
  • Book I spent the most money on: How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi ($24.30)
  • Time spent listening to audiobooks: 72 hours, 58 minutes (but since I listen at 1.5x or 1.75x speed, my actual listening time is much less than that!)
  • Longest book: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (864 pages)
  • Shortest book: Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott (102 pages)
  • Book that took me the longest to read: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (162 days)
Categories: Best Of, Books

Best of 2020 | My Favorite Reads

Happy Wednesday, friends! My next two “Best of 2020” posts are some of my favorites to compile because I’m talking all about reading! I finished 2020 with a staggering 153 books read, a number I didn’t even think was possible. (I remember following a Bookstagrammer who was trying to hit 150 books a few years ago and thought she was CRAZY.) This year, instead of listing out my top 10 books of the year, I thought I would do things a little differently. On the year-end podcast episode for Sarah’s Bookshelves Live, Sarah and a guest discussed some of their favorite reads by listing out their overall favorites, their favorites by category, and some fun superlatives. I couldn’t help but play along myself! I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did compiling all of my favorites. 🙂

OVERALL FAVORITES

Favorite Overall Book

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

It was difficult to name my favorite book of the year because I read so many great books, but I kept coming back to The Dearly Beloved. It was a book that took me by surprise at how much I loved it. I went through a major book slump after I finished it because it was a book that perfectly met my reading needs at a time when I needed the escape (I read it early on in the pandemic). I loved the exploration of faith, and how differently each character came to think about religion. I loved the time period of the novel—the 50s through the 80s—and the writing. I will read everything Cara Wall writes!

Favorite Fiction

Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova

This book wrecked me. It’s about Joe, a father of four who is diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. All of his children have a 50/50 chance of having the disease themselves and they have to decide whether or not to get tested. The book mainly follows the youngest child, Katie, as she tries to deal with this new reality and considers the benefits and drawbacks of getting tested for Huntington’s. And it follows Joe as his symptoms get worse and worse and how that affects his marriage, his children, and the way he sees himself.

Favorite Nonfiction

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

I loved the way this book broke down common racial issues, such as micro-aggressions, the “N” word, affirmative action, and the model minority myth. Oluo has a frank, accessible writing style, and this is a book I would confidently place in the hands of anyone. I think we could all learn a lot from her.

Favorite Romance

Headliners by Lucy Parker

Lucy Parker is an auto-buy romance author for me. Her books are perfect in every way, and this book was no different. It had witty dialogue, a super sexy buildup to the relationship, and a fun mystery thrown into the mix. I also loved that there was no dark moment—every time the characters were close to a miscommunication, they simply talked to each other and cleared everything up. I really liked that!

FAVORITES BY CATEGORY

Favorite Literary Fiction

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

This was one of the first books I finished in 2020, and it was excellent. It provides a clear look into the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and the way its effects reverberated throughout family lines in the years since. A difficult read, but an important one.

Runner-up: Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Favorite Contemporary Fiction

Beyond the Point by Claire Gibson

I loved this book so very much! It follows three women who meet at West Point and how their lives diverged afterward. There’s a twist near the end that shattered me (it’s alluded to in the first chapter, so I don’t think this is spoiler-y), and I can’t stop thinking about this book and the way it made me feel, even nearly a year later!

Runner-up: Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

Favorite Historical Fiction

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Just like everyone else in the world, I loved this novel and went through a huge reading slump after finishing it. Nothing else could compare to it! It was such a fun look at Old Hollywood and I loved the twist at the end.

Runner-up: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Favorite Contemporary Romance

Applied Electromagnetism by Susannah Nix

Susannah Nix is a hit-or-miss author for me (I read two other books of hers in 2020 and gave them 3 stars), but this one was SUCH a hit! It’s an enemies-to-lovers romance that has witty banter, great chemistry, and beautiful vulnerability. I loved this one!

Runner-up: Love on Lexington Avenue by Lauren Layne

Favorite Historical Romance

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

Sarah MacLean is always someone I can count on for a well-written, feminist historical romance. While they may not be totally realistic about time and place, they are still super fun to read. And the scenes between the two main characters in this novel just delighted me to no end.

Runner-up: The Governess Game by Tessa Dare

Favorite YA

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Perhaps this is recency bias, as this was the last book I finished in 2020 and it gave me all of the happy, mushy feels, but this was such an excellent YA novel. It deals with hard themes—grief, death of loved ones, overdose—but at the heart of the novel is a sweet love story between two teenagers. I read this in less than 24 hours and adored every page!

Runner-up: The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Favorite Mystery/Thriller

Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone

We read this thriller for book club (one of the few book club meetings we had all year!), and it was excellent. I loved being in the mind of a female sociopath and the way Jane exacted her revenge. So, so good!

Runner-up: Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas

Favorite Memoir/Essay Collection

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton

What a brilliant memoir of something that never should have happened. It’s heartbreaking to recognize how unjust our justice system is for people of color. Anthony Ray Hinton’s story is no different, documenting the 30 years he spent in prison and his exoneration thanks to the work of Bryan Stevenson.

Runner-up: We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union

Favorite Graphic Novel

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob

Whether or not you consider yourself a graphic novel person (I certainly do not!), this one is a must-read. Mira discusses her life growing up as a child of immigrants, the tough conversations about race she has with her young son, and the difficulty of dealing with her in-laws who voted for Trump in 2016.

Runner-up: March: Book 1 by John Lewis

SUPERLATIVES

The Most Disappointing DNF

Anxious People by Fredrick Backman. I had such high hopes for this book and even selected it as a Book of the Month pick. I abandoned it around page 100 because I was so annoyed by the characters.

The Most Disappointing Book I Read

Pride by Ibi Zoboi. I wanted to like this modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, featuring Black characters and taking on the issue of gentrification in a Brooklyn neighborhood, so much! But it just did not work for me at all, and I found Zuri (aka, the Elizabeth Bennett of the novel) to be wildly unlikable.

The Book I Was Most Surprised to Love

Deacon King Kong by James McBride. I figured this was the kind of literary fiction that wouldn’t hold my attention, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! I loved this book so much, and still think of those characters today.

The Book I Thought I Would Love More Than I Did

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb. This book has gotten so much buzz and rave reviews, but it just didn’t impact me the way it did for so many others. I found it hard to really learn anything from the client examples since she (understandably!) had to change many details of the stories to protect client confidentiality. Maybe it would have worked better as a novel? But perhaps not, since I am definitely in the minority in my opinion!

Most Deserving of the Hype

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I am a Brit Bennett superfan, after reading and loving both of her books. I was worried about a sophomore slump with this book, but Bennett delivers an incredible story about race, culture, family, and acceptance. It’s a must-read, in my opinion.

Least Deserving of the Hype

The Guest List by Lucy Foley. Ughhhh, this book. It was such a good example of when thrillers go wrong. I had high hopes for it, as several people highly recommended it to me, but it just did not work for me at all. The characters were so unlikable, the plot was over-the-top, and the reveal at the end was incredibly unrealistic. I basically hate reading this book and will side-eye anyone who recommends it.

The Book I Loved That Other People Hated

The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren. This book has a 3.51 average on Goodreads, which is a very low rating for that site. I gave it 4 stars and enjoyed it! I think most people wanted more character development and/or didn’t love the HGTV angle, but it all really worked for me. (Also, I didn’t see the HGTV couple in this novel as Chip and Joanna Gaines, but rather as Rachel and Dave Hollis.) Anyway, I can understand why it’s not a favorite for most Christina Lauren fans, but it’s one I remember fondly.

The Book I Hated That Other People Loved

Get a Life, Chloe Brown! by Talia Hibbert. This book got so much love around Bookstagram, and while I did love the body diversity and exploration of chronic illness, I found the actual writing to be disjointed and, well, a bit boring. This is just a good example that what’s great for one reader does not always work for another!

The Underrated Gem of the Year

You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe – In selecting a book for this category, I looked for a book published this year with under 10,000 ratings on Goodreads. This one has just under 6,400 ratings and that was surprising to me! I felt like I was seeing this book everywhere, but perhaps it was just in my little corner of the Interwebs. I loved this biography—it was filled with infographics and charts and gave an in-depth look into George Washington’s life in under 300 pages. (Much more manageable than Chernow’s 900+ page Washington biography.) It was super accessible and I learned so much!

What was the best book you read in 2020? And let’s get snarky—what book was least deserving of the hype, in your opinion?

Categories: Best Of, Goals

Best of 2020 | Reviewing My 2020 Goals

Happy 2021! I hope all of you had a lovely New Year’s Eve and rang in 2021 in a safe, happy manner.

I’m continuing my “Best of 2020” series with a review of the goals I set at the end of 2019. Many of these goals were hard to achieve with the raging pandemic, but I did the best I could and that’s all I ever ask for myself. Let’s review!

1) Move to a new apartment. Complete! My biggest goal for 2020, and I am so glad to be in a new space.

2) Pay off my credit card – and keep it paid off. Complete! I paid off the balance early in 2020, and have been keeping it paid off all year. Go, me!

3) Complete 12 monthly health challenges. Not complete. Once the pandemic hit, healthy living went out the window.

4) Do one new thing every month. Not complete. See above.

5) Go on 24 first dates. Not complete.

6) Make at least three “green” changes to my living environment. Complete!

  • I eliminated one-use makeup wipes and now use micellar water and a reusable cloth to take off my makeup.
  • I got rid of the disposable cotton pads I would use to apply toner and now use reusable cotton pads.
  • I changed my mop from a Swiffer that uses disposable cleaning pads to this brand that has a reusable cleaning pad that I can throw in the washer.

7) Work out 150 times. Not complete. I only logged 87 workouts in 2020. Eeeeeks.

8) Finish my novel and get through one round of revisions. Not complete. I thought perhaps this would be the year I finally finished that dang novel, but my priorities shifted dramatically this year.

9) Complete the 2020 Unread Shelf Challenge. Complete! I had so much fun with this goal, and I’m definitely going to attempt the 2021 challenge.

  • January: any book on your unread shelf (Nasty Women, DNF)
  • February: a book that’s been gifted to you (The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, ★★★★☆)
  • March: the book that’s been on your unread shelf the longest (Every Wild Heart by Meg Donohue, ★★★☆☆)
  • April: most recently acquired (Long Bright River by Liz Moore, ★★★★☆)
  • May: a backlist title (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, ★★★★★)
  • June: from a series (March: Book 1 by John Lewis, ★★★★★)
  • July: voted for you by bookstagram (Circe by Madeleine Miller, DNF)
  • August: a buddy read (The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, ★★★★★)
  • September: forgot where or why you got it (All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda, DNF)
  • October: a book that scares or intimidates you (The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell, ★★★☆☆)
  • November: a book from your favorite genre (Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, ★★★★★)
  • December: the shortest book on your shelf (I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron, ★★★★☆)

10) Get my third tattoo. Not complete. I just didn’t feel comfortable visiting a tattoo shop this year.

***

Four goals completed out of 10. That’s not the best average, but in a year as messy and crazy as 2020 was, I’m choosing to be pleased with it. Moving to a new apartment, keeping my credit card paid off, making some green living changes to my environment, and completing the Unread Shelf Project are all great goals to have achieved this year.

And while I am not sure what 2021 is going to look like (I can’t see normal life resuming in any sort of fashion until late fall at the earliest), I am still planning on setting some goals because what can I say? I’m a sucker for yearly goals. 🙂

How did you do with your 2020 goals (if you set any)? What’s one thing you’re proud you achieved this year?