Here we are just days away from Christmas when the race to tick off your present list really hots up. We’re also, I’d venture, going to be looking back over at 2020 with a kind of deep scrutiny unlike any other year-end before. None of us are likely to forget this year, it’s probably left an indelible mark on most of us, but what were the things that got you through? What provided much-needed inspiration or escapism? Here’s a list of my top ten books of 2020, some fictional escapism and a good dose of non-fiction brainfood.

Please do reciprocate and share your recommendations to delight and enlighten the Women in PR members and the wider comms community this December.

1. Me and White Supremacy, Layla F Saad. An audio book for dog walks during summer, this is an arresting body of content, designed to go deep to the core, to unbundle your life influences and deeply held biases and privileges. It asks you to journal and ask searching questions of yourself as you go, to incite lasting action in the war against racism.
2. Triggers, Marshall Goldsmith. I actually read this over the last festive season. I don’t advocate going all in for New Year’s resolutions, that premise is typically a weak basis for life-changing goals however, this brilliant book by one of the planet’s pre-eminent life coaches, walks you through the rudiments of goal-setting, motivation and behaviour change.
3. Surrounded by Idiots, Thomas Erikson, a guide to the four types of human behaviour. Many of you might know, I typically begin most 1-2-1 or even team coaching with a psychometric profile based on these four main types, originally derived from Jung’s theory. I’ve recommended this so much this year I should be on commission, as a great way to deepen your understanding of your own behaviours and, how to work effectively with others. Warning, he opts to use the male pronoun throughout which did grate a tad.
4. How to Fail, by Elizabeth Day and the brilliant podcast series of the same name. Highly recommend both, shaking up many of our fundamental beliefs around risk-taking and ‘failing’ with humour and searing honesty. Part memoir, part manifesto, and including chapters on dating, work, sport, babies, families, anger and friendship, it is based on the simple premise that understanding why we fail ultimately makes us stronger.
5. Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez. Ok I’m late to the table with this one, published spring 2019 but this incredible body of research brings together for the first time an impressive range of case studies, stories and new research from across the world that illustrate the hidden ways in which women are forgotten, and the impact this has on their health and well-being. It takes your breath away in places and felt to me as if I was reading a book of historical not current day context. Caroline is well worth a follow on Twitter too!
6. How to Own the Room, Viv Groskop. A book about public speaking, overcoming anxiety and making an impact specifically for women. A pretty fast read, read it from back-to-front or dip into the modulised chapters and use it as a reference guide. Full of helpful tips and tricks, very practical.
7. How Women Rise, Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith. Second book on this list written by Marshall Goldsmith, a really inspiring read, I guarantee you’ll recognise some of yourself and/or other brilliant women in your lives in its pages. Inspiring and practical, it identifies 12 common habits that can prove an obstacle to future success and tells you how to overcome them.
8. And a few fictional treats now, The Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara. Wow. This 2015 award-winning 700-page novel will stop you in your tracks and move you (and probably disturb) you deeply. It is 100% a ‘can’t put down category’, an astonishing achievement for a book of this size. Follows the extraordinary intertwined lives of four college friends. Makes me feel emotional just writing this…
9. The Man I Think I Know, Mike Gayle. A very moving story of unlikely friendship, beautiful, tender, unexpected. Great bit of escapism, the first non-fiction I read in 2020.
10. Queenie, by Candace Carty-Williams. Sunday Times bestseller and on all sorts of lists, this is hugely humourous, but a very real fictional insight into what its life for young black women in today’s Britain. A story of love, friendship and personal identity for Queenie, a great read!

To round off, I also want to trail a book called Virtual Leadership by Penny Pullan. This is on my bedside table to read imminently but its relevance is pretty darn obvious in these COVID times. Penny, a leader with many years’ experience in leading high-performing virtual teams, delivered a cracking and thought-provoking session at a recent Management Today event.

I also want to give a shout out to the Amazing If team and their Squiggly Career podcast (and a book of the same name). Sarah and Helen, the powerhouse duo behind this franchise, have tonnes of experience in marketing and branding and dole out brilliant, practical counsel across the whole career spectrum.

Finally, a nod to A Promised Land, Barack Obama. Cheating a little here in that I’m still reading this. Purchased as a Christmas treat for myself, I couldn’t resist and took Barack in the bath with me last week. Like his wife’s book Becoming, it’s very easy to read, like he’s talking to you about the path that led him to the White House and those incredible eight years. I’m looking forward to 2021 and working through an equally brilliant list. I hope these suggestions inspire you and I look forward to getting some boomerang recommendations back from the well-informed membership of WIPR.

Have a happy, healthy and Christmas and here’s hoping for a less tumultuous 2021!