The Top 15 of 2020 – as read by me!

A not so quick look at my faves from 2020

Why oh why are we hearing about 2020 when it is 2023? Well, I have been keeping these crazy notes in my phone about all of the books I’ve read since 2019, and dammit, I am going to use them! How it only just occurred to me to do something with them, is anyone’s guess. We will eventually catch up to the present day. Bear with me! I was going to apologise for the length of this week’s piece, but you know what? These books are all worthy of a bit of depth.

In 2020, I read 31 books, and I managed to narrow it down to a top 15. Here we go!

In no particular order:

The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne. If you have read any John Boyne (he of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas fame), you will know that Boyne novels are really easy to read and the character development is just beautiful. This is a story following the life of Cyril Avery, a gay man who grows up in conservative Ireland. Some parts are extremely funny and others, extremely sad.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stephenson. (There is a young adults’ version of this book as well as the original version). This one is also now a movie. This is a true story “renowned lawyer and social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson offers a glimpse into the lives of the wrongfully imprisoned and his efforts to fight for their freedom as the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative”. This book is heavy in terms of subject matter – systemic racism, the prison system, social justice. It is very well written. If you like confronting non-fiction, this one is for you.

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer. This is a book about World War II inspired by the authors own family history. This still has a 4.5/5 rating on Good Reads after a good few years now, so I am not the only one who enjoyed this book! Add it to your list if you are into WWII romance novels.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. This is Ng’s debut novel. It won so many awards when published and was a New York Times Bestseller, and turned into a TV miniseries. It was also an Oprah’s Book Club Book. If you happened to miss the hype, now is the time to read this one!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Celia Owen. It was on the New York Times Bestsellers list for over 2 years – enough said. I would say 90% of my subscribers have read this so I won’t elaborate further – if you haven’t read it, please do so. You won’t be disappointed.

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker. This is one of those non-fiction books written like fiction that I love. This is also an Oprah’s Book Club book. A heart wrenching story of an American family where six of the twelve children are diagnosed with schizophrenia. They were one of the first families to be studied to try to understand the disease. It is really hard to describe this to sound interesting but it was unputdownable – one of those books I had to stop reading and tell my husband all about each paragraph.

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. For someone who said I don’t really read Jodi Picoult anymore, her books keep popping up on my lists! This book is about the main character Sage, whose grandmother is a holocaust survivor. Sage befriends Josef who, as it turns out, was a Nazi SS guard (this isn’t really a spoiler as it says it on the back of the book). What I really appreciated about the book was the way it made me question what is right, what is wrong, and who gets to decide? What does redemption look like? What does justice look like? It really made me challenge some of my assumptions and the way in which I see the world. A good book for the deep thinkers among us

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Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris. This is the sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz which I have previously talked about. I will say again, Heather Morris is a New Zealand author – please buy her books.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. This is another Oprah’s Book Club book (I wonder where I got my inspiration from in 2020?!) This is the story of Lydia and Luca and their journey as they flee Mexico and try to cross the border into the US. This book was quite controversial at the time – I will let you google that and see for yourself if you wish to read it. I thought it was written in a very empathetic way, and opened my eyes into an experience that I am (fortunate) not to know a lot about, and therein lies the beauty of books!

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. This is Michaelides’ debut novel and is a psychological thriller. If you like a thriller, add this to your list – so full of suspense and many twists and turns with excellent character development. My lovely friend Susi, who LOVES LOVES LOVES this genre, is a big fan, so it has to be good!

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara is a true story - a true crime book about the investigation to uncover the Golden State Killer, a serial killer. Not my usual genre, but I could not put this down! This is also now a docu-series.

When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. This is a sob on the couch type of book. A memoir written by a doctor as he finds out he has terminal cancer. Beautifully written with a fascinating perspective from someone who is usually on the other side of the medical system. Read it and weep! (I gave this to my Dad to read, and he did not weep, so you might not.. let me know.)

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. This book has won lots of awards. Rightly so! This is a book about Nora Seed who has the ability at night to go to the midnight library – a place that holds all of the possible stories of her life, depending on the different decisions she makes. Nora gets to choose a book, and see how her decisions impact on her life. Such a clever book! (Side note: when I googled this to find the publisher, it is under the category “women’s fiction” – my husband read this and he also really enjoyed this. I think it is a book that nearly everyone will enjoy so don’t let that put you off).

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. I really enjoy Kate Quinn’s books. If you enjoy World War II books with a focus on strong women, I think you will too! This book is about a network of female spies, and is a Reese’s Book Club book.

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. I have written about this book before. You can read that here.

Phew! We did it! Did you stay until the end? I would love to know which of these you love or which you are going to add to your TBR list.. because life is too short to read bad books!