Top Ten Books I Read in 2020 (In No Particular Order)

This post is coming much later than I usually write my Top Ten Books I Read in [insert year] posts, but 2020 was a bitch. I think we can all agree on that. It’s taken me a while to get into anything resembling the swing of things, especially blogging. Truth be told, I had a really hard time reading anything besides comics, but I did manage a few novels that I really enjoyed. That said, not everything on this list is a novel, but they were all books that I truly enjoyed.

1.) The Enola Holmes Mysteries by Nancy Springer

(Published 2006 -2010 by Penguin Young Readers)

After I watched the Netflix movie, I needed more Enola Holmes in my life, so I delved into the six part series by Nancy Springer. This was a delightful series that seemed to straddle the line between middle grade and young adult. If I’d had these books when I was twelve, I would have devoured them (though let’s be honest, I’m 28 and I read four of them over the course of two days). There were some major differences between the books and the movie, though the spirit is the same through both. However, I liked the books’ portrayal of Sherlock Holmes better than the movie. He actually felt like Sherlock Holmes and I really appreciated the arc of the sibling relationship as Enola and Sherlock come to understand one another over the course of the series.

2.) Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings

(Published July 2020 by Picador Australia/Tor.com)

Set in a small town in the Queensland bush, Flyaway is a gothic tale weaving folklore and fairytale into a distinctly Australian setting. I loved this chilling story of self-discovery and small town secrets. Jennings weaves a tale suffused with marvelous dread with dazzling prose. I was transfixed by this novella.

3.) The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

(Published March 2020 by Titan Books)

I don’t know what it was about this year, but I really gravitated towards horror. I’ve been a fan of T. Kingfisher for a while now (The Clockwork Boys is one of my favorite books), so I was excited to read something with a little more connection to the real world and The Twisted Ones did not disappoint. For me, a good horror takes the everyday and ordinary and makes it terrifying. The Twisted Ones does just that, by placing the protagonist alone in a creepy hoarder house in the middle of the Appalachian woods and then heaping a healthy dose of the supernatural on top. There was also a great dog character whom I simply adored.

4.) Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

(Published June 2020 by Del Rey)

Like I said, horror appealed to me this year. Mexican Gothic is a sumptuous tale where the people are more terrifying than the horror elements. The story unfolds at a delectable pace, layering unease over unease as Mexican socialite Noemi leaves Mexico City to visit her cousin and her English in-laws deep in the Mexican countryside. This books speaks to privilege, colonialism, racism, and sexism all while being utterly terrifying and gorgeous. I could not put this down.

5.) Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson

(Published November 2020 by Tor)

The latest installment in Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, The Rhythm of War is my favorite to date. I felt that Sanderson did really well expressing the inner emotional journeys of the characters and the quiet moments alongside the epic scenes that he does so well. I highly recommend the Stormlight Archive to any fans of epic fantasy, though be warned, it does have a steep learning curve.

6.) Piranessi by Susanna Clarke

(Published September 2020 by Bloomsbury)

From the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell comes a very different story. Piranessi exists in a massive house filled by twisting passageways and giant statues, flooded by the sea. He has no memory of having ever lived anywhere else. There is only one other person who lives in the the House. But then Piranessi discovers evidence of another person in the House and everything he thought he knew about reality begins to crumble. I loved this book. I loved Clarke’s first book (though I still haven’t finished it cuz it’s just so gosh darn huge), but this felt more manageable, more digestible. I feel like Piranessi is a much more accessible story than Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

7.) Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

(Published November 2016 by Doubleday)

I’ve wanted to read Trevor Noah’s memoir for a while, as I’m not only a fan of his comedy, but I feel like he’s got a really interesting way of analyzing the world. I was not disappointed. Born a Crime is part memoir, part dissection of racism. It was funny and poignant, a love letter to Noah’s mother, and above all, a story that I as a white western reader don’t get exposed to very often. Born a Crime isn’t just another celebrity memoir, it told the story of a childhood that the vast majority of white readers could never experience. In the very best sense of the phrase, reading this memoir was like a privilege check.

8.) The Arrival by Shaun Tan

(Published October 2007 by Lothian Books)

This was my absolute favorite thing I read this year and it didn’t even have any words. Told entirely through beautiful pictures, The Arrival follows a man as he leaves his wife and daughter behind to journey to a strange new land, where he hopes to sew the seeds of a better life for himself and his family. The lack of words makes the story incredibly personal and Shaun Tan’s illustrations are mesmerizing.

9.) The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

(Published October 2013 by Little, Brown and Company)

This is the second time I read The Luminaries and I liked it just as much this time around as the last. Set in 1860s New Zealand on the goldfields, Catton unwinds a tale of mystery and murder through the eyes of a group of diverse men trying to solve the mysteries of a hidden cache of gold, a wealthy man’s disappearance, a sew worker’s apparent suicide attempt, and the sudden appearance of the widow of a man no one knew was married. I love the intricacies of this story, told through many points of view with beautiful prose and just a tinge of the inexplicable woven in.

10.) How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen

(Published November 2018 by Tachyon Publications)

At first I thought that this was simply a collection of short stories, but it is also a masterclass on how to deconstruct fairy tales and rearrange them into wholly original stories. This collection borrows from the traditional tales of many cultures and each new tale is as delightful as the last. This collection cemented by adoration of Jane Yolen as one of my favorite writers.