The best five books I read in 2020, highlighted by Greenlights

December 20, 2020 Travis Mewhirter

I’m a reader. If you’re reading this blog, you probably already knew that. My love for writing was preceded, as it goes with most writers, by my love for reading books. As a kid, so engrossed was I in Harry Potter that, when my mom would turn the lights off around 9:30 or 10, I’d sneak to the bathroom, turn the light on, hop back in bed, and use the light from the bathroom to read until my mom, exasperated — how do you punish a child for breaking a curfew…reading? — would turn the light back off and tell me to get some sleep.

Sometimes I still catch that can’t-put-it-down book. It happened earlier this year, with C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. I picked that up for a number of reasons, one of them being that I love Lewis’ work, the other that it put me in the right frame of mind to write a youth book of my own: Volleyball for Milkshakes. I had never written anything for that age group before, so I did my best to emulate one of the greatest to do it.

Thirty years later, reading is still preceding my writing.

This year, I read roughly 30 books. Some were fiction — Chronicles of Narnia! — many were non-fiction. Some were short — God bless Jocko Willink’s Way of the Warrior Kid — and some were brutally long and rich in detail — hello, Shantaram.

Here are the best five I read this year.

1. Greenlights, Matthew McConaughey

I fully admit that there could be recency bias here, seeing as I just finished it about 15 minutes before writing this. But Greenlights was one of those can’t-put-it-down types. I’ve been a fan of McConaughey’s work on the Big Screen for a long time, but the stories he tells, and the way in which he tells them in Greenlights would make a phenomenal movie in and of itself. Floating down the Amazon, living with a bizarre family in Australia, wrestling a tribesman in Africa, going on a retreat with monks for three weeks, giving up romantic comedies for good — they’re all good. And they’re all wonderfully told in Greenlights.

2. On Writing: A memoir of the craft, Stephen King

Unlike McConaughey, I am actually not a fan of any of King’s work, save for this one. I’m sure they’re well-written and interesting storylines; you cannot become Stephen King if they’re not. Scary stuff just isn’t my thing. But this memoir, recommended on the Joe Rogan podcast, is one of the best I’ve ever read. King’s story is fascinating, and his tips and advice to writers of all ages are practical, useful, and memorable. Even if you’re not a writer, I think you’d find this interesting, to peek behind the curtains at one of the best at their craft.

3. Molly’s Game, Molly Bloom

I’d heard of Molly’s Game before I took a week-long trip to New Orleans to run some lefty-lefty magic with my boy Matt Blanke. It rained — imagine that — a lot while I was there, so we spent a lot of time inside, watching movies, watching the AVP Champions Cup, chatting about whatever. He mentioned that one of his favorites was Molly’s Game, a memoir from Molly Bloom that had been made into a major motion picture, directed by Aaron Sorkin. I have a firm rule that reading the book is a must prior to watching the movie, and I really wanted to watch the movie.

I read the book in two sittings, in one day.

On a flight to Cincinnati, I read the entire time. The book was so good, so enthralling, that I was kinda bummed the flight was over. As soon as Kevin Villela and I settled into our bunk beds in Chris Luers’ home, I read until I was finished, around 2 in the morning.

It was worth the five hours of sleep I got.

Even if you don’t like poker — I’m not a huge poker fan — this is a wild ride of a book. And if you do like poker, this is required reading, and watching.

4. Educated, Tara Westover

I saw this book in the back of the trunk of my good friend, Jon Mesko. Like me, he’s a reader of literature of all types. We think similar, and enjoy mostly the same types of, well, everything in life, from food to entertainment. If he liked it, I probably would, too. I was not wrong. Westover’s story, growing up in the mountains of Idaho with a deeply religious family — didn’t believe in modern medicine, conspiracy theories abound, etc. — to teaching herself how to read, write, do math, enrolling in BYU as a high school junior, thriving in college despite no formal education prior, getting a master’s, doctorate — it’s a masterpiece of a story, and so well-written it made me sad, because I just can’t write like that yet.

It reminded be a bit of Hillbilly Elegy, just better, and I’d expect a movie or TV show to be made of it at some point in the not too distant future. If you’re looking for a beautiful story, written and told incredibly well, this is an easy pick for you.

5. Born to run, Chris McDougall

I became familiar with McDougall’s work when he edited my favorite annual book, Best American Sports Writing. Still, I hadn’t read much, but I stumbled across this one via a story in The Athletic, so I bought it. It more than delivered. A story about a tribe of Indians living in Mexico’s Copper Mine Canyons, and their supernatural ability to run for miles and miles on end without breaking, it was fascinating to me as an athlete, writer, and journalist living the topic about which he writes. McDougall takes you inside the Copper Canyons to run with these Indians, but he also provides a detailed history of their tribe, features of other ultra-runners you may recognize, and the science behind running. It’s a sublime blend of elements that had me saying “just one more page…” over and over and over again.

Honorable Mention: The Richest Man in Babylon

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2020 was to read one book on finance — any type or sector — per month. The Richest Man in Babylon can be read by anyone of any age, and the lessons in it, while fundamentally simple, are also the bedrock of what seems to be a financially stable life. This was the first financial book I read and, 11 books later, is still the one that has helped me the most. It’s not boring, either, but filled with little stories and fables that make it a good, quick read.