For the past year, I have been using an amazing, completely free app called Libby. All you need is a local library card and they have several free books, many that are brand new, available on Audiobook or e-book format. I mostly listen to audiobooks (on 3x speed sometimes, haha) but will get the e-book format if the audio version is not available.


Coupling Speechify with Libby
Bonus! I use Speechify with the e-reader versions. It is free, but I suggest getting the Premium version ($140/year). First, you get the book from Libby. Then click "Read with Kindle". Then, open Speechify, click Kindle, and open the book you have on loan from the library. It is that simple! Speechify is also what I use to read news articles and research studies—it is perfect for students!

Also, the AI voices are pretty good, and you can even save your voice so you are reading a book to yourself. It is weird, but a quirk worth checking out. Use my Speechify link above to get $60 off and 1 month free (for Premium). Below are some screenshots of both apps from my phone.

While not all of these books were published in 2020, they were among my reading list for the year. The books I read this year sprung out of the major events, particularly and obviously COVID-19 (my pandemic activity was spice mix-making and improving my cooking) and national demonstrations for social justice (which led me to try and better understand racism and how to fight it).

As I mention in a previous post, Caste (2020) was by far the best non-fiction book I have read this year, and in a very long time.

The #1 book I read, however, was Black Leopard, Red Wolf. From the time when I was a child, I was always fascinated with Africa, specifically West Africa. After years of courses on African ethnography, living in Ghana for over two years, and reading mostly non-fiction books that take place in West African countries, reading  Black Leopard, Red Wolf made me feel giddy reliving African humor, ideas, fabrics, smells and taste  vernacular, colors, dangers, and stories. I've never read Marlon James, but I am eyeing his other books. I think he will be writing more to expand the stories of Tracker (the protagonist), and there might be a TV series in the works based on this book, with Michael B. Jordan playing the lead role. My god I can't wait.

For those who enjoy horror (me), Paul Tremblay's Growing Things is one of those books where every short story was excellent, and I even went back and re-read a few. I cannot recommend this book enough! I also read Survivor Song, which is another novel by Tremblay, about an outbreak of a fast-spreading strain of rabies. This came out around the time that the world was introduced to the realities of COVID-19, so strange timing but excellent reading as well.

As for the other books, Montessori Toddler is a must-have for anyone who has a new born, a toddler, or teaches children. It really helped me understand our toddler.

Negative Self-Talk is an excellent book if you are too harsh with yourself or end the day unhappy with conversations or the traps of bad habits.

Sandcastle caught my eye because it looks like it is being adapted into an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Normally I don't read too much graphic novels, but this story is pretty intriguing.

Tiny Crimes was something I started in 2018, but with so many short stories, I picked it up, read a quick two- or five-page short story, and carried on with whatever else I was doing. I finally finished it about a week ago, but I really enjoyed the book.

Flavor Matrix is a beautiful book with creative recipes. Spice Mix Recipes is great for making mason jars with ready-to-go flavor for the kitchen.

Is Everyone Really Equal? is another book educators should read about equity and equality.

All in all, great readings this crazy year. Let me know what your top books are.

Driving from DC to Kentucky and back, we managed to finish the audiobook version of this. Out of all the books on history, racism, and current events, this by far is one of the best books on the subject of racism in America. Again and again, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson hammers home that racism is far from over in the U.S., and how it is throughly embedded in current society today. I did not feel like any of the chapters or messages were repetitive, and the examples drive home that America does indeed have a caste system that disadvantages entire swaths of the population.

She mostly draws from WWII and the Indian caste system, as well as current events and her own experiences. Her story with the plumber at the end- a perfect way to begin closing out the book.

As a former educator and current education policy analyst, I would say that if I had to choose one book for every teacher and pre-service teacher to read, it would be this book. Once they put it down, I think it would be impossible for anyone to worm out of the argument that there is a caste system in the U.S., and everyone needs to do there part to completely buck it.

The Office of Historical Corrections is a book recommended on the Kojo Nnamdi Show, and what was appealing was both that the author is a Washingtonian, and her description of how the book came to be written. the audio version of this is just fine, and reads like the short stories featured in The New Yorker. So far, nothing too profound, but that's not to say I am not enjoying the stories- they are enjoyable and easy to follow (however bleak going into the first three stories). I am looking forward to the short story with the title's namesake, as described by the author during her interview. Despite the short story that makes up the book' title, my favorite short story was "Anything Could Disappear"- this could have made for a great novel on its own.

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy was mentioned in a NY Times article back in April 2019, and while this sat on my Kindle's virtual bookshelf, having a week of no work or dissertation allows me to also just enjoy avoiding screens as much as possible- aside from writing this post. I highly recommend the book- it is not a preachy self-help book on turning off Facebook. Instead, you hear from an artist's perspective the history of doing nothing, with great insight into what that means for the average Joe/Jane and how to thoroughly enjoy life with the most mundane of activities.
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