So excited to share my top 10 favorite books I read in 2020 with all of you! Once again I read a ton of books, which means this is really the cream of the crop - basically the top 5-6% of what I read - and was super, super hard to narrow down to 10. This year there were 4 books which I gave a 5 star rating to, and 17 books which I gave 4.5 stars to. And that doesn't even include the tremendous amount of books which I gave 4 stars to and would still heartily recommend to you.
Here's my list for 2020, in alphabetical order by author's last name.
Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
The Searcher by Tana French
The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing by Allison Winn Scotch
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
Read on for more about these books!
Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum - This young adult novel alternates between two perspectives - Abbi, who was in a (fictional) famous 9/11 photo as a baby being rescued from the World Trade Center, and Noah, who was also a baby at the time and whose dad died that day. But more than just the 9/11 story (which was very well done), it’s also about family, friendship, love, secrets, etc. And features Julie Buxbaum’s trademark ability to bring characters to such real and sympathetic life. I was going to say it’s one of her best, but really all of her books are great - she’s one of my favorite must read authors for a reason.
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave - This historical novel is set during World War II - in London before and during the Blitz and on the war front in France and Malta. Told from multiple perspectives, primarily Mary, a privileged young woman in London who volunteers to help with the war effort; Tom, a school administrator who doesn’t join the army; Alistair, Tom’s roommate who volunteers for the army on the first day of the war; and Zachary, a young boy whose path crosses with Mary. There are many excellent World War II novels out there (including more that I've read in the few years since I wrote this post) and this is another great addition to that list, with an engrossing story, characters you care for, and beautiful writing, though also a sad book that made me cry multiple times.
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins - This novel starts with Lydia and her young son Luca being the only two survivors of a massacre of their whole family by a drug cartel in Acapulco, driving them from the middle class life they had previously enjoyed in Mexico to a life they never imagined as migrants, just trying to survive and to escape to America. This book grabbed me from the first page, and didn't let go until I finished. Literally the entire time I was reading this book, I felt a strained feeling in my chest - so incredibly emotionally affecting. It's well-written and incredibly powerful. Note that this is a controversial book - despite being an Oprah pick, this author received a lot of criticism for being a non-Mexican to write about Mexicans. Indeed, I accidentally stumbled into a corner of the internet where I was excoriated for READING this book in the first place, let alone liking it. (Interestingly, by a group of people who primarily had not read it themselves.) I am not a fan of censorship, nor do I believe only people have personally experienced something can write fiction about it, and the fact remains that this is one of the best books I read this year. This is one of my 5 star books of this year, and you can read my slightly longer review here.
A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler - This is a novel about what happens when a new rich family moves in behind the house of a single mother and her teenage son, told partially from the 3rd party perspective of the individual characters, and partially from a sort of Greek chorus “we” of the neighborhood. And so much more going on than just a domestic drama, with themes of power, race, class, justice, and more. Like American Dirt, this was another one that was not a relaxing read at all - it hooked me right away and made me feel anxious for most of the book - but was so good though also disturbing. I read this with my book club, and opinions varied - I think I liked it more than anyone else - but we had a great discussion about it. This was another of my 5 star books this year, and you can find my longer review here.
The Searcher by Tana French - Tana French is one of my must read authors, my favorite mystery writer, and writer of one of my favorite series of all time. This is her second stand alone novel, and a bit of a departure for her. Not only is this not part of her Dublin Murder Squad series (she’s written one other standalone novel as well), but it’s not even clear at first if this book is a mystery - it’s really a character-driven novel and the mystery isn’t even introduced until around a quarter of the way in. The main character of the book is Cal, who at the start of the novel has recently retired from the Chicago PD, and somewhat on a whim bought a dilapidated house in rural Ireland and moved there to fix it up, hoping to enjoy a different kind of life in a small village, though eventually he gets drawn into looking for a missing person. As is typical for Tana French, the writing and the character work was just terrific. With everything going on in the world, I’ve had some trouble concentrating on reading these days, but I couldn’t put this one down and tore through it in less than 2 days despite its length.
The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez - I adored this chick lit book. Indeed, is it possible to have a crush on a book? Because I think I had one on this book. When this book starts, Sloan is basically mired in grief and depression, but her life takes a turn when a dog jumps into her sun roof and pulls her out of herself. Just when she thinks she’ll keep the dog, his owner Jason finally surfaces - and of course sparks fly between them. Laughs, tears, charm, chemistry - pretty much everything you could look for in a chick lit/contemporary women’s fiction book. Note that this is a sequel to “The Friend Zone” - I loved that one too though this one is even better - so definitely go read that one first and then come back and read this one.
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano - My 5 star books often involve copious amounts of tears, and this one is no exception. This novel is about 12 year old Edward, the only survivor of a plane crash that kills his mother, father, brother, and almost 200 other people. The book alternates between progressing scenes on the plane from the point of view of various of the passengers, and of Edward after the crash as he is taken in by his aunt and uncle. Just an absolute beautiful book with such humanity, and I finished the book literally in a puddle of tears. You can read my longer 5 star review of this book here.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - This is a fantasy novel that is part historical, part set in modern times. In the 1700s, desperate to escape from a wedding she doesn’t want, Addie makes a wish for freedom that turns into a deal with the devil of sorts - she can live forever without aging, but she passes through the world without leaving a mark - people forget her the instant she leaves their sight. The book alternates between her in the past, and 2014, when her life takes an unexpected turn when she finally meets someone who can remember her. A touch slow at times, but so well-written, interesting, and moving.
Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing by Allison Winn Scotch - The main character of this novel, Cleo (of the title) is a young senator and single mother thinking about running for President, when her former best friend from high school writes a nasty op-ed about her. Cleo has always kept a list of regrets, so at the suggestion of her chief of staff she starts addressing some of them, publicly. Cleo is a prickly character but I really came to care for her, as she is brought vividly to life. Lots of interesting and thought-provoking stuff in this book as well, from the dilemma of “likeability” and ambition for female politicians to stuff with friendship, family, the me too movement, and more. Allison Winn Scotch has long been a must read author for me, and this is one of her best.
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld - The main character of this novel is Hilary Rodham, but though she meets Bill Clinton and dates him in law school and beyond, she ultimately doesn't marry him. So the book both imagines their relationship, but also offers an imagined rendering of what would have happened to Hilary - and the world - if they had not gotten married. You definitely don't have to be a Hilary super-fan to read this one, though I think it would be hard to read it and not come out with more appreciation at least for this fictional rendering of her. In Sittenfeld's hands, she is certainly not portrayed as unflawed, but she comes across as so deeply human and emotionally relatable. And the portrayal of sexism - both overt and unconscious - is searing. Just a really compelling read, engaging both intellectually and emotionally. Especially towards the end I laughed and I cried, and I dare you to read the ending without choking up a bit. Sittenfeld is another of my must read authors This is another of my 5 star reads this year, and you can find my full review here. This also would make a great double feature on women in politics with Allison Winn Scotch's "Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing"!
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A few other notes on these books:Genres - This might be the only year ever that only one historical novel has made my list (Everyone Brave is Forgiven). We also have one young adult book (Hope and Other Punchlines), one mystery (The Searcher), one fantasy (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue), and one chick lit (The Happy Ever After Playlist). The others all fall somewhere on the spectrum between contemporary women's fiction and literary fiction, I suppose.
Repeat authors - Tana French has made A LOT of appearances on my top 10 lists - this is the 6th of her 8 books to make one of my top 10 lists (see a double on 2010, plus 2011, 2014, and 2016), and is the only author on this list who made it onto my Top 20 of 20 Years. This is Julie Buxbaum's 4th time on one of my top 10 lists, following 2009, 2010, and 2017. This is Allison Winn Scotch's 3rd time on my top 10 after 2008 and 2013. And this is the second appearance of Curtis Sittenfeld (2018) and Chris Cleave (2010).
Book club - I read A Good Neighborhood with my regular book club, and Dear Edward with my 2 person book club with my friend Sarah.
Other random statistics - Everyone Brave is Forgiven was published in 2016, and Hope and Other Punchlines was published in 2019 - the rest of the books were all published in 2020.
I got Everyone Brave is Forgiven and Cleo McDougal for free from Netgalley, though that did not affect my reviews in any way. The rest of the books were all borrowed from the library.
The most read of these books on Goodreads is American Dirt with more than 212,000 ratings; the least read was Hope and Other Punchlines with a little over 5,000 ratings. The highest rated on Goodreads was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue with an average rating of 4.39, while the lowest rated is Everyone Brave Is Forgiven with a still very solid 3.77.
None of these books won any major awards, though a number of them were Goodreads choice nominees for their various genres but didn't win - somehow my favorites rarely win!
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Note that I give all these posts the tag "Top 10," so you should be able to click on the label "Top 10" at the bottom of the post and see all my other Top 10 posts. (If you are reading this on your phone and can't see labels, you can switch to web view instead of mobile view and you should be able to see them.) And if you just want to see all my old Top 10 lists, you can also click through to my Goodreads profile - I have a separate shelf for each of my old lists.
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