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Original poster

The best books you read in 2020?

132 replies

southeastdweller · 03/12/2020 09:16

They don't necessarily need to have been published this year.

I really loved these books:

  1. Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo
  2. Clothes and Other Things That Matter - Alexandra Shulman
  3. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
  4. Talking Heads - Alan Bennett
  5. Eating for England - Nigel Slater

What have been your favourite books this year?

OP posts:
HeadNorth · 06/12/2020 19:11

The Porpoise - Mark Haddon
The Island of the Sea Women - Lisa See
Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
Bass Rock - Evie Wyld

I think those have been my stand outs so far this year.

onemouseplace · 06/12/2020 19:03

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart was my standout read this year.

Honourable mentions go to:

Bring Up the Bodies (re-read in anticipation of The Mirror and the Light and far better IMO)
Unorthodox
Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze
The Dutch House
Redhead by the Side of the Road

BethHarmon · 06/12/2020 18:53

Woman of no Importance is 99p on the kindle!

Good tip, that definitely looks worth reading, I’ll add it to the virtual pile!

Timeforatincture · 06/12/2020 18:29

Piranesi by Susannah Clarke. Joyous.

ritzbiscuits · 06/12/2020 13:39

@BookWitch Thanks! Woman of no Importance is 99p on the kindle!

UnalliterativeGeorge · 05/12/2020 22:33

The long song

Magicbabywaves · 05/12/2020 22:29

Troubled Blood
The Weekend
The Most Fun We Ever Had
The Dutch House
Olive Kitteridge (both)
The Cockroach
Small pleasures
Book of Dust part 2
Ask Again, Yes

BestIsWest · 05/12/2020 19:46

Troubled Blood was very good.
I liked Girl, Woman, Other and Grown Ups a lot too.

BookWitch · 05/12/2020 17:14

For me Troubled Blood and Tombland (the last Shardlake) were the best page turners.

Also really enjoyed The Dutch House and The Alice Network.

Best non-fiction was A Woman of No Importance.

Cherrypi · 05/12/2020 15:26

The Harpy by Megan Hunter
Grown ups by Marian Keyes
Convenience store woman by Sayaka Murata

Audiobook
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton
The One by John Marrs
Maybe you should talk to someone by Lori Gottlieb

SlightDrizzle · 05/12/2020 15:16

Lily King, Writers and Lovers
Elaine Feeney, As You Were
Doireann Ní Ghríofa, A Ghost in the Throat

AethelsWhiteGoose · 05/12/2020 15:15

All the Light We Cannot See. This thread is good for ideas.

HidingInTheLight · 05/12/2020 15:09

I’ve read a wide variety of books but the ones that grabbed me this year and stayed with me have been either historical or sci-fi (or both)

The Love Child by Rachel Hore
The House on Silvermoor by Tracy Rees
To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
The Lady Astronaut of Mars series (three books so far) by Mary Robinette Kowal.

madmarchmare · 04/12/2020 19:41

I have read 46 books so far this year

Hamnet and Troubled Blood were the best by miles

RhinestoneCowgirl · 04/12/2020 18:56

I also loved Girl, Woman, Other as well as Hamnet and Mirror and the Light.

Also The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, it's inspired me to read Bel Canto.

CountFosco · 04/12/2020 18:53

I've read a few Japanese novels this year and loved them. The writing is so simple and yet they are so truthful on love and loss. I suspect it's a bit like the year I read nothing but Irish novels but I highly recommend all of these (and they are all short).

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami

Otherwise Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (wonderful graphic memoir) and the Children's Book by AS Byatt (beast of a book full of ideas and history).

Lalalatte · 04/12/2020 14:55

My favourites this year are Nora Webster by Colm Toibin (doesn't sound that great if you read the blurb on the back but is really good, brilliant characterisation),
Wych Elm by Tana French.

Both the above, as it happens, set in Ireland and by Irish authors .

Also Big Sky by Kate Atkinson.

roxyrocky · 04/12/2020 13:40

Mine was Olive Kitteridge. Second time of trying I really enjoyed it, First time I tried I didn't get past Chapter 2.

Also:
Olive Again
Rodham
The Brexit Chronicles (Fintan O'Toole)
Trio

I started a lot of books but if wasn't grabbing me I didn't continue with them.

BestIsWest · 04/12/2020 11:25

It’s not been a great year reading wise with no real standouts.

An unexpected joy which got me through a very sad week was
The Man Who Went Into the West: The Life of R.S.Thomas - Byron Rogers (recommended on the 50 bookers thread).

Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five was excellent.
I also read, for the umpteenth time, Rebecca, and it was still sublime.

CoronaCurls · 04/12/2020 09:50

For me it was the Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel and Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith.

TheTurnOfTheScrew · 04/12/2020 09:46

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner
Another Day in the Death of America by Gary Younge

MoChridhe · 04/12/2020 09:36

Clanlands by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish

HomerRoberts · 03/12/2020 20:06

My favourite read of the year was also
All the Light We Cannot See

babybythesea · 03/12/2020 19:53

Circe.

Panicmode1 · 03/12/2020 16:19

My highlights of the year have been:

The Night Circus
The Wild Silence
All the light we cannot see
The woman in the white kimono
Station Eleven
The True
Leaving Time

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