 Hi everyone and a big welcome back to my channel. So today I am coming at you with arguably the most exciting video I film all year, my best books of the year video. This will be my fourth best of the year video. I started my channel very close to Christmas in 2017, so if you're interested in seeing baby Jasmine talk about books she loves and growing in confidence, talking about books she loves, then please feel free to go back and check out my earlier best book of the year videos as well once you're done with this one. As always in this video I will be talking about the best books that I discovered this year. They're not necessarily new books this year but they are all new to me. So let's just start off by saying that I had a really good reading year this year. I know 2020 has affected all of our reading lives in various ways but for me I read more this past year than I ever have done before. I also read quite a few five star reads and the books that were five stars I absolutely fell in love with. I'm actually excited even just thinking about these books. Of my favorite books that I read this year we also have quite the range of genres as well which makes me very happy. We have literary fiction, we have some historical fiction, we have a classic, we have a poetry collection. I have managed to narrow down my favorite books of the year to eight. The struggle was real I could do no more. I have tried to put these books in somewhat of an order working up to my favorite favorite books of the year but really apart from the final two books which are definitely my top two the rest of these books could kind of go in any order. I love them all for different reasons they're all so amazing. So I think that is quite enough of an introduction. We all know the drill. Let's get into the good stuff. So the first book I'm going to talk about is The Family Tree by Saireesh Hussein. We haven't even started yet and I just want to gush about how much I love this book. This novel tells the story of a British Muslim family from the 1990s to present day. We follow Amjad the father who is left with two young children when his beloved wife passes away. Years later we follow Saar Hill and his best friend as they graduate from high school when they go on a celebratory night out that turns dangerous resulting in terrible consequences. And we also follow Zara who is trying to look after her father and bring her family back together again while also trying to figure out her own identity and her own path. This is the most well-rounded enjoyable affecting beautiful family focus novel. It just has everything and everything is pitched just right. Firstly the depiction of contemporary England in here is so spot on. From locations to characters mannerisms to conversations between father and daughter and between uni students. Everything was totally convincing and super insightful. The book explores a mix of timely and timeless themes including friendship and family and forgiveness as well as British politics and feminism. All explored in the most tender and generous yet unapologetic way. We also have an engaging, suspenseful as fuck plotline that will take your breath away. And the characters in here as well are just so brilliant. They are all so well drawn. I feel like I met them. I feel as though I know them. Zara in particular is such a fantastic character. She is so cool and strong and compassionate. She's trying to care for everybody around her as well as trying to figure out her own young adult shit like her own politics and her own activism. I cared about all of these characters so much seeing all of the different ways in which they were affected by the central tragedy that occurs in here was just heartbreaking. I cannot praise this novel highly enough. I just fell absolutely head over heels in love with it. It was one of the most emotional reading experiences I have had in a very long time and I loved it. For that tears were shed. More people need to read this book. I absolutely adore it. Next up is Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart. This is a coming of age literary novel set in 1980s Margaret Thatcher era Glasgow. It follows the childhood and adolescence of a young boy named Shuggie Bain as well as his relationship with his alcoholic mother. This book is one that is bound to be on so many people's lists this year and rightly so. I was rooting so hard for this book to win the Booker Prize this year. It deserved it by a mile. I was very pleased when the judges kindly delivered. Douglas Stewart is honestly such a talent. This book is like craftsmanship gold. It is one of the best, rawest, most sympathetic depictions of working class families and alcoholism that I have ever read. Like The Family Tree, actually this book captures a specific time and place so well. I was utterly transported to 1980s Glasgow while I read this novel. I was totally convinced by all of this and all of the characters in here as well are so well thought through. Shuggie and his mother in particular are incredible. So complex. I adored learning about them both individually and witnessing their relationship together. Accompanying them throughout their struggles and revelations and small triumphs was so fascinating and such a privilege. This book definitely choked me up at times but it also made me laugh aloud being injected with this wicked humour. I also need to highlight the writing in this novel because wow. This novel does not read like debut. The writing feels so honed and well accomplished. It feels very traditionally beautiful but also somehow unique. This book is just phenomenal. The talent and insight in here is unreal. I'm sure this book will continue to impress and be beloved for a very very long time. Next up is Hammonet by Maggie O'Farrell. Another one that is bound to be on so many people's lists. This is an incredibly popular new historical novel. It won the Women's Prize for Fiction this year. It follows the story of Shakespeare's family in the 1580s in Warwickshire and we primarily follow Shakespeare's wife Agnes who is somewhat feared in the community due to her unusual gifts as well as their two young children including Hammonet. This novel is truly worth the abundance of praise it has been receiving over the past six months. Maggie O'Farrell has created a masterpiece here. It is gorgeous. It is superbly crafted. It is incredibly touching. It's just everything. The characterisation in here is such a highlight. The novel primarily focuses on Agnes and her experiences and her family. Interestingly Shakespeare himself is not the focus. He is only ever referred to as the father or the husband or the man. This novel really is Agnes's novel and that was so delightful and so fresh. And as a character Agnes is exceptional. She feels so realistic. Grief is a major theme that is explored through Agnes's character and it is so incredibly powerful. By far one of the most powerful depictions of grief I have ever read. The writing in here is also beautiful. It is poetic and lyrical and descriptive. And the imagery in here especially when it comes to nature is everything in this novel just comes together so well to create the most rich all-encompassing reading experience. I can't quite put my finger on why this novel is so special but special this novel is. The next book I'm going to be gushing about today is Hold Your Own by Kay Tempest. A poetry book has made it onto my favourite books of the year video. I just love this for me. This is a contemporary poetry collection that came out a couple of years ago. It is based off of the myth of Tiresias, the collection being split into four sections mirroring Tiresias's journey from childhood to manhood to womanhood to profit. This is one of those poetry collections that I had heard amazing things about for the longest time. I just never picked it up. Finally I did pick it up this year and I am so pleased that I did. This poetry collection is just incredible. I have tabbed every single poem in the collection. The idea behind this collection is genius. In here we have a beautiful weave of classical myth elements, social commentary elements, and autobiographical elements, and this results in the collection as a whole feeling so fantastical and age-old while also feeling totally contemporary. The structuring of this collection means that we get to explore themes of youth and gender, sex and love, community and poverty. Kay Tempest explores all of these themes so beautifully and so perceptively. The poems in here really made me stop and think and reflect. And the poems are also just an utter delight to read. The collection has a mix of longer and shorter poems. They all have such a wonderful rhythm to them, such beautiful sounds, such stunning imagery. This collection is just a masterpiece. It is such a joy. One of the best contemporary poetry collections I have ever read. I will definitely be shoving this on people from now on. Next up is The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo. This is a pretty chunky, new, family-focused literary novel set over multiple generations in Chicago. The novel primarily follows one couple, 40 years into their marriage who are still madly in love, as well as their four grown-up children who are all very different from one another and all dealing with their own personal struggles, all the while a long-buried secret threatens to surface and shatter the lives they have all built. So this is probably the most typically me book on this list. I just loved everything about it. As you all probably know by now, I love me a chunky, litific book. I love it to be family and relationship focused. I love it to be set over multiple decades, focusing in on different characters' story threads, throw in a dash of drama and intrigue, and that book is all me. And this book is exactly what you would expect and hope for from its premise. It lived up in every single area. The characters are all wonderful. I loved following all of their different struggles, exploring themes of grief and adolescence and infidelity. The parents in particular were such a delight. I was honestly inspired by the central relationship in this book. It felt so genuine and flawed and earnest and loving. The interactions and dialogue in here were also particularly brilliant. You know when you have those moments while you're reading, when something just feels so perceptive and real, you feel as though it just must be written for you and your family. This book was full of those moments. I just love this book so much. It is such a gem. My next favourite book of the year was North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. 2020 was the year that I finally picked up my first Elizabeth Gaskell and thank fuck I did. Obviously, I loved this. Obviously, Elizabeth Gaskell is now one of my favourite and classic writers of all time. North and South follows a story of a young woman named Margaret Hale who is uprooted from her comfortable life in the south of England when her family moved to a northern industrial town. Here, Margaret is made aware of the poverty and suffering that is faced by the mill workers and she embarks on a complicated relationship with a wealthy mill owner. This book was just everything I could have wanted from a Victorian novel. It is coming of age, social and political commentary and romance all wrapped up into one delicious parcel, such a dream. The characters in here are amazing. Margaret is one of the best protagonists I have read about in a very long time. She is stubborn and selfless. I loved watching her learn and grow and develop this real sense of social justice which is often misplaced. So precious, so relatable. This is a very political novel. Elizabeth Gaskell's most political I have heard, but it wasn't off-putting at all. I found it to be so genuinely interesting and let's be honest, if I can understand the arguments in here surrounding industry and capitalism, then anyone can. The last thing that I will say about this one is just that I absolutely fell in love with Elizabeth Gaskell's prose. I found it to be so surprisingly readable, far more than I found The Brontes or even Jane Austen. For some reason, Elizabeth Gaskell's prose just made sense in my head. It was so easy and enjoyable to read. This is such a delightful accomplished novel, I absolutely love it. The penultimate book on this list is A Chunker, and that is The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. If you watched my favourite books of 2019 video, you probably won't be surprised at all to see this book on this list. This is the third and final instalment in the Dave Abad fantasy trilogy. I read the first two books last year and absolutely fell in love. The trilogy is set in an alternate 18th century Middle East. It primarily follows the story of a young woman named Nari who makes her money by tricking rich nobles. Before one day, she accidentally summons a gin warrior and is whisked away to the magical kingdom of Dave Abad. I won't talk too much about this specific book here because we don't want any spoilers, but generally suffice to say that this is my new favourite fantasy series of all time, no hesitation. This series just has everything I could ever want from a fantasy series. It is so delicious. Firstly, the world in here is so vast and rich. The history and the politics and all of the different tribes and their different languages are all so complex, totally convincing. The setting is gorgeous, really unique for a fantasy series, and so exquisitely imagined. I really felt while I was reading as though I could see the world shimmering in the Egyptian heat. I'm obsessed with all of the characters in here, the three main characters in particular. They are all so complicated and interesting and likable in their own ways. My allegiances switched around a fair few times while I was reading this series. As for this third and final book more specifically, though it was totally perfect, it didn't let me down in the slightest. Each book in the trilogy steps up its game and the whole thing just swells to the perfect level in this final installment. It's exciting, it's heartbreaking, things get epic. I just love this series and this book so incredibly much. It's immersive and challenging and totally entertaining. It is one that I will be treasuring and rereading time and time again in the future, I am sure. And the final book, my favorite read of 2020 was Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. This was by a mile my favorite book of 2020. It is now one of my favorite books of all time. I'm actually kind of getting emotional just thinking about this book. For those of you who don't know what Les Miserables is about, it is an epic French classic written and set in the early 1800s, primarily following an escaped convict named Jean Valjean, and consequently various different characters whom he crosses paths with. I don't even know how to begin talking about this book. It is just stunning, beyond words. I have never in my life had a reading experience like this one, to make an attempt at breaking it down into its various elements. Everything in this novel was pitched so perfectly and everything was exquisitely executed. The story is epic, it's the story of love and justice and heroism and poverty. It feels like the most powerful and insightful yet totally believable story. The characters are on another level. All of them are so well thought through, so complex, so full of shades of grey. I was absolutely fascinated by them. I was challenged by them. I really felt as though I witnessed their lives. The writing in here is some of the most stunning writing I have ever read. I have annotated and underlined this book to within an inch of its life. The amount of times while I was reading that I had to call Cameron through and just read him snippets of this book aloud, I was just constantly blown away while I read by how perceptive this book was and just how beautiful. Furthermore, this book is ridiculously long but somehow it just didn't feel it, which is mad. This book is like 1,300 pages long. It should have been the biggest slog of my life. The book is split into lots of little tiny sections which I really think helped. But overall it was honestly just so surprisingly readable and easy to understand. Every single time I picked up this book I became immersed all over again. It wasn't a chore at all. Honestly, this book is just art. Whilst I was reading, I just felt as though I was experiencing beautiful art, if that makes any sense. I can't say any more. I don't know what else to say. You all know what it's like to feel this way about a book. It's just the absolute best. So there we go. Those were my favorite reads of 2020, including at least two new favorite books of all time. I really hope you've enjoyed hearing me gush about these books. It was honestly such a delight to film. Please chat to me down below in the comments. Tell me if you've read any of these books or whether you want to. And obviously please let me know what your favorite read of 2020 was, even if that's the whole comment, just write the name. I cannot wait to find out what you guys have been loving. Before I go, I just want to say a big, big thank you to everyone who is watching, everyone who is subscribed and comments. It means so much to me. This little corner of the internet is honestly such a source of joy, so I really want to thank you. I hope you're all doing really, really well. I can't wait to chat to you down below, and I will hopefully see you really soon with another video. Bye, everyone.