So many books, so little time—part 14.
My son started keeping a reading list in third grade, so I did too. This is the 14th year we’ve done this.
2020 was such a weird year for everything, including reading. I’m usually a very avid reader, but once the pandemic hit and everything shut down I really couldn’t concentrate on books for the first few months. I felt like I was reading the same line over and over again. It made me so sad that on top of everything else, losing one of my favorite leisure activities was heartbreaking—especially when it was one of the few things we were still able to do. I’m not really sure when I started being able to read again, but when it kicked back in I had more time to read than probably ever before. Thank goodness. Traveling with my favorite authors was the only way I could escape this year.
My favorite books of 2020 were Trust Exercise by Susan Choi, Writers & Lovers by Lily King, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, All Adults Here by Emma Straub, Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout, and The Guest List by Lucy Foley. I’d love to hear what else people loved.
Here’s the 2020 list.
The Female Persuasion | Meg | Wolitzer |
Country | Danielle | Steel |
Trust Exercise | Susan | Choi |
The Liar | Nora | Roberts |
Every Day | David | Levithan |
Beyond Ever After | Catherine A. | Weissenberg & Jocelyn Montanaro |
Ask Again, Yes | Mary Beth | Keane |
Manhattan Beach | Jennifer | Egan |
My Reading Life | Pat | Conroy |
The Whisper Network | Chandler | Baker |
Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person |
Shonda | Rimes |
Saint Anything | Sarah | Dessen |
My Ex-Life | Stephen | McCauley |
Skeletons at the Feast | Chris | Bohjalian |
Such a Fun Age | Kiley | Reid |
The Proposal | Jasmine | Guillory |
Delicate Edible Birds | Lauren | Groff |
First Star I See Tonight | Susan Elizabeth | Phillips |
Homegoing | Yaa | Gyasi |
Food Whore: A Novel of Dining and Deceit | Jessica | Tom |
Come Sundown | Nora | Roberts |
Lost and Wanted | Nell | Freudenberger |
Home Front | Kristin | Hannah |
Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia | Owens |
How Hard Can it Be | Alison | Pearson |
Sophia of Silcon Valley | Anna | Yen |
Three Women | Lisa | Taddeo |
The Broom of the System | David | Foster Wallace |
The Last Black Unicorn | Tiffany | Haddish |
The Dinner List | Rebecca | Searle |
The Perfectionists | Sara | Shepherd |
Stranger in Paradise | Eileen | Goudge |
Writers & Lovers | Lily | King |
Station Eleven | Emily | St. John Mandel |
Up and In | Deborah | Disney |
Yes, And (The One) | Kristi | Coulter |
Second Glance | Jodi | Picoult |
All Adults Here | Emma | Straub |
Secrets of Eden | Chris | Bojhalian |
Sisters First | Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce | Bush |
Olive, Again | Elizabeth | Strout |
Small Great Things | Jodi | Picoult |
The Guest List | Lucy | Foley |
Oona Out of Order | Margarita | Montimore |
Under Currents | Nora | Roberts |
The Bride Test | Helen | Hoang |
Big Summer | Jennifer | Weiner |
Celestial Bodies | Jokha | Alharthi |
Stars of Fortune | Nora | Roberts |
The Assistants | Camille | Perri |
Bay of Sighs | Nora | Roberts |
Island of Glass | Nora | Roberts |
Good & Mad | Rebecca | Traister |
Saving Grace | Jane | Green |
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and our Lives Revealed | Lori | Gottlieb |
This is Happiness | Niall | Williams |
House Rules | Jodi | Picoult |
Fame Adjacent | Sarah | Skilton |
The Book With No Pictures | BJ | Novak |
Wildflower | Drew | Barrymore |
Vinegar Girl | Anne | Tyler |
The Floating Feldmans | Elyssa | Friedland |
Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing | Allison Winn | Scotch |
I Almost Forgot About You | Terry | McMillan |
Modern Romance | Aziz | Ansari |
If You Were Here | Jen | Lancaster |
Followers | Megan | Angelo |
The Vanishing Half | Britt | Bennett |
Nothing Like I Imagined | Mindy | Kaling |
The Plus One | Sarah | Archer |
The Complete Persepolis | Marjane | Satrapi |
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett | Annie | Lyons |
The Girl He Used to Know | Tracey | Garvis Graves |
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill | Abbi | Waxman |
An Anonymous Girl | Greer | Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen |
The Identicals | Elin | Hilderbrand |
American Dirt | Jeanine | Cummins |
How to Walk Away | Katherine | Center |
The Undoing Project | Michael | Lewis |
The Honey Don’t List | Christina | Lauren |
Island Visions | Pedal Born Pictures | |
The Wedding Party | Jasmine | Guillory |
The Editor | Steven | Rowley |
Bridal Boot Camp | Meg | Cabot |
Half-Truths and Semi-Miracles | Anne | Tyler |