14 Favorite Books of 2020
It seemed an impossible task to cull a reading list of more than 70 books down to a handful of favorites from the year, but I’ve gone ahead with the exercise anyway. I hope you find something fresh to pick up!
Fiction
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
What if Jesus had a wife? That’s the premise behind Sue Monk Kidd’s sweeping novel chronicling the fictional love story of Jesus and Ana. She’s a force, a voice, and a courageous character navigating an era when women were often silenced, and at every turn her story was compelling, heartbreaking, tender, and fierce. I couldn’t read anything new for days after finishing—this is a novel that lingers.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Vanishing Half chronicles two twins whose lives diverged in vastly different ways. One sister realizes she can pass as a white woman and starts a new life in Boston, eventually moving to Los Angeles with her secret intact. Her sister flees an abusive marriage with her daughter in tow and returns to their small hometown after more than a decade away. I couldn’t stop turning pages, learning about identity, racism, family, love (and revisiting LA in the eighties). I immediately read Bennet’s first novel, The Mothers—I also highly recommend it!
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
I was quickly charmed by this story that’s a love letter to the writer’s life disguised as a novel. In interviews, Lily King has shared this was the book she needed to read twenty years ago, when she was struggling to build a career, find an agent, and navigate life’s ebbs and flows. Beautiful, observant, and intimate, I didn’t want this one to end.
The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
I read (and loved) a few royal-themed books this year (including American Royals, Majesty, and Finding Freedom), but if pressed to choose a favorite, it’d be The Heir Affair (the sequel to The Royal We). I appreciated getting swept up in another royal fantasy that had some real depth as we watch the future king and queen navigate fertility struggles while trying to keep it out of the public eye. A mysterious collection of journals and long-buried family secrets also emerge and keeps the story interesting.
Beach Read by Emily Henry
This book about two writers becoming neighbors in a Michigan small town was my summer book pick. He writes crime novels and she writes romance—and they’re both stuck—so the two agree to swap genres to see who can do it better. I thought the story might be more fluff than substance, but grew to love the characters, their flaws, and their budding romance.
Memoir
Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur
One ordinary summer night, Adrienne Brodeur went from daughter to confidant, and spent years helping her mother cover up an affair with a family friend. This memoir reads like a novel, and Brodeur’s detailed and rich scenes give you a front row seat to the Cape Cod landscape where much of the book takes place, including lavish dinner parties and the Atlantic shoreline.
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made For Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Austin Channing Brown’s memoir makes racial justice work personal. When she was seven, Brown learned her parents named her Austin so future employers would assume she was a white man. Raised in a middle-class, Evangelical family, she invites us into her world and makes the case that constant curiosity is required to dismantle racism in America. And she speaks the truth we (white people) must hear: “Sadly, most white people are more worried about being called racist than about whether or not their actions are in fact racist or harmful.” If you’re looking for something that will help you drop deeper into understanding racism from the inside out, read this book.
Stray by Stephanie Danler
After reading her essay in The Sewanee Review, I was eager to read Stephanie Danler’s memoir. She traces her personal history growing up in California while her parents struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, and the struggle to make a fresh start despite everything she’s overcome. Danler also writes beautifully about the topography of the state—its fault lines, desert vistas, and vast highway systems—which serves as a character.
The Haiku Apprentice: A Memoir of Writing Poetry in Japan
I can’t remember how I first head about this book, but I found the story of how an American diplomat in Japan discovered her voice through haiku so enjoyable to read. In addition to her personal experiences, The Haiku Apprentice also traces the history of Japanese haiku and offers tips for writing it yourself. It’s a welcome addition to other tomes on the subject like the The Essential Haiku, particularly for how the personal intersects with an ancient art form.
Personal Growth
The Wisdom of Anxiety by Sheryl Paul
I read this book early in the year, and it’s been such a help. If you’re someone who has experienced anxiety in any form, this compassionate book encourages a line of inquiry and supports the idea that anxiety isn’t a problem, but a clue. “You’re not broken. You’re not too much. You’re not wrong. In fact, it’s the very qualities that you’ve been shamed for that you now need to wrap up like a hurt animal and hug close to your heart. For it’s when you stop seeing your sensitivity as a burden and instead recognize it as the gift it is that you will begin to heal the hurt places inside you and bring your full presence into the world.”
It Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle
Not all of our phobias, fears, and anxieties are our own. It Didn’t Start With You combines psychology, science, and the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress to help us uncover emotional legacies that often remain hidden, silenced, or misunderstood.
Poetry
A few poetry collections I enjoyed this year as well:
