The Terror of Knowing

If you know me at all, you know I love a good to-do list. The only way I semi-function at work at the moment is because my work diary is just a to-do list for each day and nothing is more satisfying than ticking a box once you’ve finished something. A colleague at my previous job even put tick boxes on my ‘sorry you’re leaving’ card because they reminded her so much of me.

It therefore stands to reason that I quite like a good ‘to read’ list too. Except, here’s the thing – I don’t do great with monthly TBRs, unless it’s for a readathon that has specific challenges, because it’s simply too much restriction and my brain is oddly stubborn and goes ‘well let’s read the exact opposite of that instead!!’. (Really helpful, thanks brain.) But, longer term ‘to read’ lists? Those I can do… which brings me onto the theme of today’s blog post…

Is it a really a nice round number of a year if you don’t take advantage of it by putting together a numerically-matching list of books to read in the next twelve months? I don’t think so, so with that in mind I have put together 20 books that I want to read in 2020. These are backlist primarily and a mix of some of the longest-standing books on my TBR and the ones that I just really feel I will be in the mood for in 2020.

1. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
3. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
4. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
6. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
7. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
8. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
9. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
10. The Diviners by Libba Bray
11. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
12. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
13. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
14. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
15. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
16. The Prestige by Christopher Priest
17. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
18. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
19. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
20. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Yes, I am really going to hate myself later considering the amount of books of 500+ pages on this list but we are starting off 2020 with reckless positivity! We shall see how long that lasts…

Do you have a similar lists of book you want to read this year? Do share it below in the comments, I’d love to hear what books you’ve got on the docket for your reading year!

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