One of the taglines for The Book Owl Podcast is, “Everything Books, Minus the Reviews,” but as this wacky year is winding down, I thought I’d make an exception and share with you my absolute top book picks I found during the extra reading time 2020 has provided.

Links Mentioned in This Episode

• Thanks to Jonny Pongratz of the Jaunts & Haunts blog for some super kind words about the most recent episodes and for supporting the show by purchasing several of my short stories. https://jonathanpongratz.com


• Thanks to Anne Lawson for including the show in her newsletter. Check out Anne’s beautiful art over at her website at https://annelawson.wordpress.com


• And last, but definitely not least, BIG thanks to Tierney of TierneyCreates.com for giving me the extra boost I need sometimes.

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Transcript (or Roughly So)

Hey everyone, this is Tammie Painter and you’re listening to the Book Owl Podcast, the podcast where I entertain your inner book nerd with tales of quirky books and literary lore.

Introduction

As I mentioned last time when we were chatting about the history of cookbooks, this episode is going to be a little different. When coming up with the concept of this podcast I wanted to steer clear of turning it into a review show because there’s already a gob of those types of podcasts being created by people far cleverer than me.

But since it’s nearing time to wrap up the year, I figured why not share with you my favorite books I read this year. Plus, I’d already written this as a post for my main blog over at Tammie Painter.com, so recycling that content is saving me a little work during this crazy busy time of year.

Saying Thanks

Before we jump into things, I just want to shout out a ginormous, triple dose of thanks first to Jonny Pongratz of the Jaunts and Haunts blog for not only leaving some terrific comments on The Book Owl blog, but also for sharing Episode 17 on his blog AND for helping support the show by purchasing several of my stories from my Payhip Bookstore after listening to the Bram Stoker episode, which I think was episode 16.

Jonny is also a writer and he’s proving himself quite talented so I encourage you to check out his story Conscience if you like sci-fi, or his book Reaper if you’re a horror fan.

The second round of thanks goes to Anne Lawson for sharing the podcast in her newsletter. Anne’s an Australian artist who has been doing some amazing stuff lately with watercolor collages that are just stunningly eye-catching, so be sure to check her stuff out using the link in the show notes.

And as ever, thank you to Tierney of TierneyCreates for her profusion of kind comments about the show. Tierney, sometimes I swear your words are what keeps me producing this show on the days I dread doing so.

Let’s Get On With It

Alright enough gushy good feelings, let’s get on with the show.

So, I think we can agree 2020 has been a pretty crap year. But as far as reading goes, it hasn’t been all that awful. And for me at least, the extra book time has meant the discovery of some amazing tomes. 

When the pandemic first seemed utterly overwhelming and super duper scary (now it’s just normal scary), I needed something to lighten the mood. So I rushed to my library’s ebook lending app, went immediately to the humor fiction category, and added tons of titles to my to-read list. I even managed to read several of them, and some of those happily became some of my favorite books of 2020.

As the year progressed, I moved back into more of my favorite genres of mystery, paranormal fantasy, and historical fiction. Really, I’ll read just about anything and can’t fathom how people only read a single genre. Anyway, all that is to say, I spent a lot of time reading this year.

And yes, that extra reading (and listening since I love my audiobooks) has introduced me to some horrible pieces of “literature” but since there’s already been enough negativity this year I won’t torment you with those. I did however make a promise to myself this year to review every book I read, so if you scroll through my Goodreads or Bookbub reviews, you’ll find those lumps of literary coal. 

But let’s end 2020 on a bright note as I share with you the absolute best books I read during this wacky year. And just to be clear, while some of these books were published in 2020, many of them aren’t necessarily new, they were just new to me. 

And of course, I want to know if you’ve read any of these or if you have any top picks for 2020, so be sure to use the link in the show notes to either contact me or to leave a note on the blog post that goes along with this episode.

Okay Onto the Best Books of 2020

So, yeah picking this this was a challenge because, looking over my review tally, it looks like I read over 100 books this year.

Now before you think I lounge around with a book in my hands all day, at least half of that 100 were audiobooks which I gobble up while poking around in the garden, running, and doing exciting things like cleaning the cat box.

Still, I thought it would help things and help organize my if I break the list down a bit into novels, series, etc. And then I’ll wrap up with my absolute top pick of 2020. Ooh, suspense!!!

Alrighty then, so under each category, I’m listing the books in order of favorite-ness. And yes, that’s a word now.

Favorite Novels….

Note: Because of the rules regarding the use of affiliate links, if you’d like to discover my list of favorite books for 2020, please continue reading at https://thebookowlpodcast.com/the-tiptop-books-of-2020/

Update Time

So just some quick updates

The podcast will be back in 2021. As ever, I have gobs of ideas, but if there’s a book- library- or author-related topic that you want me to explore, please drop me a line and let me know. 

As for writing, this has been a tough month. I’ve hit a wall of absolute doubt about my writing, about my sales, about my ability to get the word out about my books, and I’ve been kind of wondering what’s the point.

I’m still working on the Cassie Black books because that’s the kind of see-a-project-through person I am, but I’m feeling really uncertain about publishing the books because after sending a pretty big sample