2020 Books
Here’s the list of books I read in 2020. I put ** next to what I consider “Best in Show,” for each category and K next to the ones that we read out loud with the boys.
Fiction
Heaven, My Home, by Attica Locke
Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
K – Street Shadows, by Claire Gilcrest
K – Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
The Couple Next Door, by Shari Lapena
Valentine, by Elizabeth Wetmore
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O’Farrell
K – The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
**A Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende
K – The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
After You’d Gone, by Maggie O’Farrell
Einstein’s Dreams, by Alan Lightman
The Things We Cannot Say, by Kelly Rimmer
On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan
Conscience, by Alice Mattison
Abide with Me, by Elizabeth Strout
Amy & Isabelle, by Elizabeth Strout
Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid
Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman
NonFiction
Trick Mirror, by Jia Tolentino
How to Do Nothing, by Jenny Odell
**Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematorium, by Caitlin Doughty
Confessions of a Funeral Director, by Caleb Wilde
Wearing God, by Lauren Winner
Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life, by Barbara J. Fields and Karen Elise Fields
Poetry
**The Crown Ain’t Worth Much, by Hanif Abdurraqib
**Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God (Barrows and Macy translation)
The Tradition, by Jericho Brown
American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin, by Terrance Hayes
Short Stories
The Darling, by Anton Chekov
Exhalation: Stories, by Ted Chiang
Olive Kitteridge (a novel in stories), by Elizabeth Strout
**Olive, Again (a novel in stories), by Elizabeth Strout
.
.
Memoir
Thick: And Other Essays, by Tressie McMillan Cottom
In the Dream House, by Carmen Maria Machado
Untamed, by Glennon Melton
**I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell
How We Fight for Our Lives, by Saeed Jones
**Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss, by Margaret Renkl
YA
**We’ll Fly Away, by Bryan Bliss
Bone Gap, by Laura Ruby
Story of a Girl, by Sara Zarr
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
All the Bright Places, by Jennifer Niven
We are Okay, by Nina LaCour
The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo
Mystery
Find Me, by Anne Frasier
The Loyal Wife, by Natalie Barelli
**The Guest List, by Lucy Foley
Then She was Gone, by Lisa Jewell
.
.
On Writing
Story Genius, by Lisa Cron
On Writing Well, by William Zinsser
**Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Art of Fiction, by John Gardiner
The Kite & the String, by Alice Mattison
.
I would love to hear what you read last year and what you would recommend. During the Fall I tried something different and planned out my reading for the season ahead of time. I really enjoyed it and I’m solidifying my winter ’21 list now. I’ll post it soon. Have a great week, all. Happy reading.