Because I'm gonna read all of these.
Watch me!
Heyy guys it's Olivia from Olivia's
Catastrophe. Today I'm here to give you
the top 20 books I want to read in 2020. Now, last year I didn't do TBR videos but
this year I've decided to make a few
changes to my channel and one of them is
that I do want to make TBR videos. And
that's mostly because I do join in with
readathons and I think a great way for
showing support and getting other people
also excited about readathons is through
TBRs. So from now on I hope you'll be
ready to hear about TBR's on this
channel! But I also want to let you know that in my
TBR videos I'm not going to be sharing
the synopsis of the books that I intend
to read and that's because one of my
problems with TBR videos in the past
was that I felt like I was repeating
myself when I talked about the book on
my TBR and also my wrap-up. So I'll just
mention the book and the title and the
reason why I want to read them in my TBR
videos and then in my wrap-up you'll get
the full synopsis and my full thoughts
on the book. As well as that January TBR
is not going to be happening because you
get this one instead! Where I talk about
all the books I want to read in 2020. Now,
before I get to the 20 books that I want
to read in 2020 I do want to add nine
books to this list. But I'm not going to
tell you about them because these are my
5 star predictions. I filmed a 5 star
predictions video towards the end of the
year last year all in one take so it was
a hot mess. And you should definitely watch that. The
links to that up there and down below. But
those are the books that I want to get
to first because I want to do a
reflections on my 5 stars and see if I
actually rated them 5 stars. So to
quickly list off what books those are,
those are: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo,
Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha
Shannon, Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret
Rogerson, The Name of the Wind by
Patrick Rothfuss, The Martian by Andy
Weir, On the Come Up by Angie Thomas, Golden
Sun by Pierce Brown, The God of Small
Things by Arundhati Roy and An American
Marriage by T. Jones. Those are
nine books that I haven't read yet for
my five stars list but now let's get
back into the 2020 books.
I didn't choose books that I'm very very
excited for because needless to say,
I'm gonna pick those up off my own
account. Instead I decided to choose
books I was medium excited for because
that will push me to actually pick them
up this year as I am a completionist, and I
like to take off my to-do list and reach
my goals. So let's get down to it.
The first one is Rebel by Marie Lu and
this was a book that was kindly gifted
to me by Sydney's Stories. Thank you so
much to Sydney for sending it to me. I am
so excited to read this book because I
read the Legend trilogy back in 2018 and
I really loved it. I kind of binge read that
series and I can't wait to see this
spin-off continuation. I've also got
Clash of Kings by George RR Martin. And I
believe I started reading this book
three years ago. It's on my books I keep
procrastinating list and you'll see some
of those books featured here in this
video because I want to finish books
that I've started but I keep
procrastinating. I'm actually about
halfway through Clash of Kings but that
took me like, three years to read
half of the book. I just need to sit down
and dedicate some time and finish off
this book because I am enjoying it!
I'm just taking forever. I've also got
Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess
by Cassandra Clare. I need to decide once
and for all if I'm gonna continue
reading into the Shadowhunter universe or
if it's time over for me and the Mortal
Instruments was where my love started
and finished. I have read half of
Clockwork Prince and it's one of those
books I keep procrastinating and put on
pause, so I need to finish it. I also want
to finish Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin
Kwan. Now, I read half of this and I
wasn't really enjoying it. It was a bit
draggy, it was abit slow. I watched the film and
I thought it was okay. But I got far enough into the book that
I just want to quickly finish it off and
see if the ending gets better because
part two was noticeably better than part
one. Then we have When Dimple met Rishi
by Sandhya Menon and this is on this list
because I kept putting When Dimple Met Rishi
on TBRs for readathons last year and
then I never read it. So it's about time
that I get to it because if I don't get
to it this year, I know like I never will.
So it's about time I push that book to
the top of my list! Turtles All The Way
Down by John Green... I just kind of want
to wrap up and see if John Green's books
are gonna finally be for me or not. I
kind of give authors a three strikes
and you're out kind of method of reading
their books. So I try three of their
books and if I don't like
any of them I don't try anymore. John
Green's on his third and last chance. I
kinda just want to give him that last
chance and see where it goes. Then we
have the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon
Sanderson. I've been saying for ages that
I want to read a book by Brandon
Sanderson so I am going to read this
trilogy. And I know that Rachael Marie
from Rachael Marie's Book Journey is
kind of hosting a read along with some
other people for the series, so I kind of
need to read and see where that's gonna
go. Then we have Wicked by Gregory
Maguire. I am a huge fan of the musical
Wicked.
I have heard that the book itself is
quite different but my younger sister
absolutely loves the book. So I want to
try some more my younger sisters
favourites as she's always trying my
favourites. So it's about time I returned
the favour and see if I like some of the
books that she loves. I've got the Mythos
by Stephen Fry and that's because I
absolutely love listening to him read me
audiobooks. Last year he read me Sherlock
Holmes and he read me Harry Potter. And
while I didn't love all of those books
per se, I did love his narration and I
kind of want to read something that he
has written himself.
I like mythology. Mythos sounds like a
good one to start with. We've got Artemis Fowl series by Eoin
Colfer. And this is on my list mostly
because of Cara @ Wilde Book Garden and
also Stephanie from the blog book Bookfever. They both really really love this series.
I've also been trying to venture more
into midle grade and I do own this whole
series, so I might as well pick it up! We've got Blindness like Jose Saramago.
And this one is a classic. It has
to do with being blind. It's quite
science fictiony. I've heard it's a very
intense read but I always want to read
more classics as well so I had to put a
classic on this list. Then we've got
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and that
is by Susanna Clarke. It is a huge book
at over a thousand pages. This was gifted
to me by one of my friends. And I do want
to just read a bit more of my big books
because they've just been fermenting on
my TBR. And I'm always a bit intimidated
to pick them up. And usually once I do I
really really enjoy them. So I'm hoping
to kind of get into some of my bigger
books this year. We have If On A Winter's
Night by Italo Calvino and this one is a
bit of a laugh because again, like When Dimple Met Rishi, I kept putting it
on TBRs for readathons thinking I'm
gonna read this! And I even started.
I read seven pages. But I'm gonna--like--I
was enjoying those seven pages. I mean
Italo Calvino... like I rate all of his
books so far three stars... but they're kind
of weird...
but intriguing weird? And I just keep
reading though I don't know... sometimes I
have these books that I rate three stars
which is still a good rating from me! Which means they're good but not great.
But they intrigue me enough that I just
keep reading and that's that. Then we've
got The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro
Arakawa and this was gifted to me by a
lovely old lady from my church. When I
said I was moving to Australia for a
year, we just talked a lot in church and
she wanted to give me something. So she
gave me this book and I have to admit
it's not one that I would pick up by
myself. Because it's got cats in it and
I'm not... I'm not NOT an animal person but
I'm not the biggest animal lover. And if
a book features an animal I'm not hugely
about it. Like Charlotte's Web? Not really
for me. So when I see animals in books I
don't really feel like, a deep emotional
connection. Yet, she gifted this one to me
and I do want to be able to talk about it with
her. So I do want to read it this year and
go back to that church in The
Netherlands and be like, 'hey, I've read
this book and these are my thoughts.' Then
we have Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield
and I won this in a giveaway
from Bee frombeewithlove on Instagram. I
love her Instagram account and she's the
nicest so go and check that out. But I
did win this book and it did sound like
one that I was gonna be intrigued by. Adult
fiction. And I'm gonna try it because I
want to. Then have Molly's Game by
Molly Bloom. And this is a film and I
watched the film and it just blew my
mind! I'm someone who struggles a lot
with watching films. I find them to be
quite long and I get distracted. About
halfway through I get bored.
I'm more into watching 20 minute long TV
series and even then I'm not very
frequent. I'm just not watcher unless I'm
watching with friends. But I did watch
Molly's Bloom with my sister and I was on
my phone like, texting when it started.
But then the credits finished and the
movie started and I had to put my phone
down and give the film my full attention. And I was intrigued from beginning to
end. There was something about the way it
was filmed, how the storytelling was done,
the fact it was a true story, the
acting... everything rolled together and
really worked me in this movie. So I'm
very much intrigued by reading her like,
true autobiography about what was
happening. Because I want to know want to
know more. Then we have Milkman by Anna
Burns and this one is on the list
because it won an award. And it was the
Man Booker Prize winner and I'm always
intrigued by Prize winners even though I
don't always get round to them very
quickly. I do want to see what this one
is about. It sounds very magical. It's set
in a place that I don't really often
read books set in. And I won it in a
giveaway! And we have Half of A Yellow
Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. And I
read Americanah
I think, two years ago now? But I did have
some thoughts on it. I felt very mixed
and that's the thing about her book.
I was feeling a distinct separation
because I agreed with all her ideas in
the book when it came to black culture. And I found it very interesting
representation of being an immigrant, and
going to an African setting, an American
setting and the UK setting from an
immigrants perspective. And at the same
time I didn't really like the storyline. So I wanted to try not one of her
fiction works to see if I could like the
storylines and the themes it was handling
at the same time. Then we have A Mercy by
Toni Morrison. I just want to read
something by Toni Morrison. It's about time
I got around to that and I know  A Mercy
is one of her shorter works so it'd be
a very good introduction that's not
going to take me too long. And it'll be
nice to have a shorter book on this
2020 reading list. And last but not
least we also have The Power by Naomi
Alderman. This one is on there because of
my sisters. All of my sisters have read
this and said it was really really good. And my younger sister said it was one of
her favourite dystopians. So of course,
going for my sisters recommendations and
trying to read more of them. Let's see
what I think! There you have it. Those are
20 of the books on my 2020 TBR plus 9.
And I can't wait to do a reflection at
the end of the year because I'm gonna
read all of these. Watch me.
Please let me know in the comment
section down below what book are you
planning to read in 2020 or is top
priority on your list? Give this video a
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think I'm doing my outro wrong but either which way, I'll see you in the next one. Goodbye!
