The Best Books of 2020 So Far...

[@PostBlueHaze]

Oh, I listened to "Unicorn" based on your recommendation, it definitely became one of my favourites this year!

[@JeansThoughts]

Oh I'm so pleased!

[@wallacejames221]

Weird note but THANK YOU for saying autistic and not "person with autism". I get really tired of allistic people ignoring autistic people when we say it's "autistic" not "person with autism". That was just something I really enjoyed about this video.

[@JeansThoughts]

Oh I'm glad - I've definitely said it wrong in the past but have seen the discussions online around why autistic person is preferred and have actively made sure to correct myself if I do say it wrong now.

[@achristianandhercamera]

AHHHH I wrote a whole research paper on Burns and some of his works my second year in college! Loved that paper so much

[@katarinakidd9450]

Okay, I really do need to pick up Truly Devious, because I loved hearing you talk about it when I watched your reading vlog when you first read it, and this top 10 list just affirms that it's held up!

[@SavidgeReads]

I loooooooove these videos it’s one of my favourite times on Booktube. Hooray for The Five, my favourite non fiction of 2020. Inside This Place, Not of It sounds really horrifying yet powerful and important. I need to get to Unicorn in the second half of this year. As I might The Strange Case of the Alchemists Daughter.

[@MLLatUtube]

I loved both the Incorrigible Children series, and the series beginning with The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. I need to read Truly Devious! Thank you for sharing your list with us

[@Annie_kb]

I absolutely loved The Five, I listened to it as an audio book and have revisited it already The audiobook is wonderful, Louise Brealey, the narrator, really gives more life to the women. It was a great listen, very well researched and written. It's a very interesting and sad look at life for women at that time.

[@SantReads]

So... I should be reading. But I'm on my phone. And I'm listening to someone talking about books. So not that bad right? Also, yay! Love your book recommendations. :)

[@jd9720]

I seem to spend more time watching and listening to people talk about books than reading at the mo aswell!

[@lukem118]

No need to be so hard on yourself. It's okay not to be reading as much. Booktube is helping me through a reading slump rn although I am not reading as much.

[@jd9720]

@@lukem118 it's okay ive started the Dark Tower by Stephen King! It's always when I just pick up a book to read a few pages that I get hooked and finish it. If I think about it too much I procrastinate.

[@maryabdel3036]

That's me these days. I watch booktubers more than reading my TBR books 😂😂😂

[@Elizabeth-xo4vh]

I love the Incorrigible Children! We started listening to the audiobooks to help us fall asleep and can't get enough.

[@JeansThoughts]

Yes! They're my favourite bedtime read too ^_^

[@KeepCalmwithBooksandCoffee]

Hearing you talk about The Five it reminded me of the The Six. I’m glad we finally get to hear stories about the victims and not just the murderer.

[@heyitslori]

I read the whole series of The Incorrigible Children based on your suggestion and it was all just delightful. I'm sad that it's over! Really loved the whole series. Can you think of any other books/series that might be similar?

[@sakshi2897]

Jen, thank you for another round of stellar recommendations. I read The Alchemist daughter after you raved on GD, IG and here. I loved it 💕 I am leaning towards Giant days now.

[@christinacampbellbooks]

Truly Devious sounds great! Don't think I've ever read a young adult mystery. Definitely adding to my Goodreads TBR :)

[@thetbrdiaries]

I've added a good half of these to my TBR! The Madness if Lord Ian Mackenzie sounds great, and The Strange Case of the Alchemists Daughter too.

[@laurasalgarolo4276]

Thanks for another great video! One of my favorites of the year so far is "The Lost Queen" by Signe Pike. It has been compared to Juliet Marillier's books (which doesn't happen to often) so I had to jump on it.

[@JeansThoughts]

Oh I'm so glad to hear you say that was a favourite - it's on my TBR and I've hyped it up so much in my head because of that comparison aha.

[@laurasalgarolo4276]

@@JeansThoughts I'll be interested to see what you think! In terms of atmosphere, it is the closest anything has ever come to a Marillier book that I've found.

[@SarahAsYouWish]

I am so happy to see The Incorrigible Children series getting some of the ❤️ it deserves. It is such a clever, funny, adventurous series. I’ll need to pick up The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter. It sounds wonderful.

[@johnhunt8388]

Unicorn by Amrou-Al-Kadhi is one of the best books I have ever read. It is emotive and I cried reading it. Such a brilliant account of the struggle to be accepted in a world where you do not fit in. Amazing book.

[@emmanovella]

I really need to pick up The Five! I'm really interested in the Jack the Ripper case as it is but I adore that this book changes the narrative and has made it about these women and their lives, not this (presumed) man who took that from them. I definitely need to pick up the Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales book! I actually have a book on folk tales from my county and I'm so excited to pick it up soon! Ok I've been meaning to read more middle grade because I love it so much but I spent a long time looking for YA books with the type of stories I wanted when MG was right there with the stories I wanted! Long story short, Ashton Place sounds exactly like my thing so you know I've just added it to my wishlist! OH AND they're illustrated by Jon Klassen! I'm honestly so glad you took one for the team and read the Highlander romances because I've always wondered if they were actually good or if they'd make me cringe and the fact one made your favourites is just iconic. Not my type of book at all but I'm tempted haha

[@reading_with_k]

The Five is at the top of my list for this year as well!

[@artjournalstories7313]

Definitely getting the Alchemist's Daughter and the governess book! Thanks a lot for the recos. I'd like to recommend you a couple of middle grades you might enjoy according to what you've read. A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison is a story of a witch family focusing of 3 witch sisters, don't want to give away any more of the plot :) Another is Emma Carroll's Strange Star, in which Mary Shelly is a side character, and the story of the book actually fictionalizes how she was inspired to write Frankenstein. It's a great historical middle grade with lots of atmosphere, science and a mystery. I'm sure you'll enjoy it :)

[@leticiatoraci9855]

Theodora Goss is an author in my radar since I read her "Snow White Learns Witchcraft" short story collection.

[@KittyAndTheBooks]

My best books so far were the Winternight Trilogy - can't stop thinking about that one - and Wundersmith. I had a really good start this year, but in the last couple of weeks I have read way more 3-star-books...

[@JeansThoughts]

I really need to start that series - I hear such good things!

[@JeansThoughts]

Also agreed Wundersmith was great!

[@armsofsnow]

Thanks for yet another great video! :) Re: the book on Scottish folkore, I was just wondering if there's a difference between "fairies/faeries" and "fae"?

[@JeansThoughts]

Not that I’m aware of ☺️

[@armsofsnow]

@@JeansThoughts OK, great! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, very kind :)

[@katarinarundgren7968]

I’ve not read the original Decameron but I have read The Women’s Decameron by Julia Voznesenskaya. I read it before you were born probably so don’t remember many details but remember liking it. Not nearly as long as Decameron and perhaps interesting to juxtaposition them against each other.

[@ReadwithStefani]

The original is one of my all time faves. The women's one... I couldn't finish reading but that just me.

[@katarinarundgren7968]

Curious Daisy - I was very young when I read it and I think perhaps it was quite explicit in some parts because I remember feeling a little shocked / embarrassed reading it, but I felt it gave me insights from lives that were so different from mine. Perhaps I’d feel differently today. 🙂 I will see if I can find a copy of the original.

[@storiesofwonderland8900]

Defenitely one of my favourites from this year will be Miracle Creek by Angie Kim, I listened to the audiobook and it's A+! It's a courtroom drama, but so much more than that.

[@DrinkingByMyShelf]

Ooh Inside This Place Not Of It sounds amazing!

[@ryanvale6066]

Great video! I've added Unicorn to my tbr based on your review I'd say the best book I've read this year so far was the first book I finished this year: Reaper Man by Sir Terry Pratchett If you're interested in other historical romance with autism rep, I'd suggest giving An Unseen Attraction by K.J. Charles a try

[@laurenhelgerson5821]

May I suggest a book?

[@lyadmilo]

We do Burns Night on Canada too!

[@Gagging4Lit]

Books I've like so far are Cat's Eye by Atwood, Outline by Cusk, Orlando by Woolf, and We have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I think you'd like the Shirley Jackson!

[@JeansThoughts]

You are 100% correct - We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of my absolute favourites!!!

[@Gagging4Lit]

@@JeansThoughts wow lush xoxo

[@mohankashyap3534]

The Mysterious Howling book.👍i'll read it.

[@TheBookishMom]

I've been wanting to pick up the strange case of the alchemist daughter

[@JeansThoughts]

It's definitely worth giving a read ^_^

[@ClassPunkOnRumbleAndSubstack]

Lacie is struggling with loneliness, depression, and anxiety.. flying buildings, floating donuts, eternal night-- the transformation of her eyes into small microscope end-pieces, an old witch who is hunting her, a Scottish alcoholic who picks on her, unsupervised children who are committing acts of vandalism, a gothic couple involved in the planning of a Haunted Cheese Party, the cloudy wit of my dear Uncle Herbert, a homicidal man with a toothbrush, a war between buildings and trees, a talking skeleton having an existential crisis, and the total loss of her sanity within a few or five hours as she searches for a kidnapped donut girl. www.amazon.com/dp/B01C66C8X2

[@cathiealdridge2016]

Are going to show us what you got rid of?