What are the BEST BOOKS you've read in 2020?

[hermetic]

This is a traditional thread for you to use to list the most outstanding books you read during the year of 2020. They don't have to be books that were published in 2020, just whatever books you've read in 2020 that strike you as particularly noteworthy - the kind of book that will stick in your mind for a long time to come.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. It's only the 8th of January. I haven't finished one yet. Did you mean 2019

[hermetic]

3. No no

There has been a 2019 post pinned up here all along, now it has been moved down into the general flow. This one for 2020 will now stay up all year. This is just traditionally the way it has been done for a long time. When I volunteered to take over a few years back, I just kept doing it the same way.

I do appreciate your checking, though.

[CurtEastPoint]

4. Oh, apologies. I get it.

[dweller]

2. i started 1 during holidays

and finished in 2020... does that count? 🤔

The Black Ice by Michael Connelly
finished another since, but that was the better of 2

✌🏼

[hermetic]

6. Yeah

The purpose of this post is to keep a record of what the very best book of the year was, for you. And a Connelly could very well turn out to be that best book. Put whatever you like here. It just makes a handy place for people to find suggestions without having to search through hundreds of threads.

[CurtEastPoint]

5. Don't laugh, OK? I finished my first Harry Potter book (Sorcerer's Stone) and am watching

the movie now. I want to read them all. I find them pretty entertaining.

[hermetic]

7. That IS totally cool

Goodness knows, Harry Potter books are a great many people's favorites of all time. So you're in good company.

[CurtEastPoint]

8. At age 69.75!

[Cartoonist]

9. I've been meaning to check them out

I only hesitate because of the hype. While I may find them entertaining, there is no way they can compete with the great writers. It's like saying some AAA Baseball team is comparable to the Yankees.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. I'm almost 72 and have read the entire series 3 times. They

just draw you in.

[applegrove]

11. "Behind theBeautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity is a non-fiction book

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity is a non-fiction book written by the Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo in 2012. It won the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize among many others."

I learnt so much by reading this book but especially the massive crime that is corruption. I see things through its lense now.

[japple]

12. I started reading Virgil Wander by Leif Enger in December 2019. It is

a wonderful book. Enger's writing just snaps, crackles and pops off the page. What a way with words!

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. The Liar's Club by Mary Karr

It's a memoir. It's beautifully written, tells a mesmerizing tale, and I cannot put it down.

Much as enthralling and lovely as any of Rick Bragg's memoirs.

[HarlanPepper]

14. i've really enjoyed elton john's book 'Me'

[Ohiya]

15. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett...

So far...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. So far my best book is

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. A couple of weeks ago one of the librarians at my local library was reading it at the desk and highly recommended it. There was another copy on the shelf.

I've now got his book Magpie Murders checked out and in the stack of books I need to read.

[Oldem]

17. A Great Deliverance

by Elizabeth George. It's the 1st book in the Lynley series. I read it years ago and had forgotten how brilliant it is. I won't forgot it, again. Btw, I got it on my Kindle as a library loan, just in case you don't know that this is an available resource.

[hermetic]

18. Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore

To begin with, I had just watched an amazing DVD, Loving Vincent, the world’s first fully oil-painted feature film about the life of Vincent van Gogh. An hour later I opened Sacre Bleu and found quotes from Vincent and one of his self portraits. Quelle coincidence! I have always been fascinated by van Gogh and his art so I knew I was onto something good. This is a book about art and other artists who were van Gogh’s contemporaries and things that might well have transpired among them, back in the day. It’s also full of images and details of masterpieces interspersed throughout the narrative. An absolute delight to read and look at. It’s also a typical Moore novel, full of wit and demonry.

Then, after reading it, I found this terrific website, loaded with art and photographs and tales of Christopher’s experiences while writing the book. Highly recommended. https://guide.sacrebleu.info/

[hermetic]

22. No

At Eternity's Gate? Never even heard of it before but it sounds great. Dafoe sure has the look. I will definitely be on the lookout for this movie. Thanks!

[yellowdogintexas]

19. Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan

I read it early in the year

It is a WW II story, based on real events, about a young Italian mountaineer who is recruited by a priest to help smuggle Jews over the Italian Alps to safety. The priest's parish is a small mountain area with a hostel for travelers.

He ends up being hired as a driver by the Germans and eventually spies on them for the Americans.

His friends and some of his family ostracize him as a collaborator.

I really don't want to tell you much about it in detail because it is such a good story.

It is a good read about a very good man

It has been optioned as a movie and I do hope it happens.

[japple]

25. Very good book. I read it last year. n/t

[kelly97]

20. Thanks

Thanks for the suggestions. Some great ones here!

[llmart]

23. "American Dirt"

Author is Jeanine Cummins. The writing is superb!

The story will grab you from the start and pull you in, but it's fairly intense.

[Ohiya]

27. I loved it, but could not recommend it to my wife, due to the violence.

[Karma13612]

24. The Alan Gregory

Series of books by Stephen White.

He is a clinical psychologist who also writes about a fictional clinical psychologist named Alan Gregory who lives in Boulder CO.

I fell in love with his writing (1st person mostly). So I bought all 20 books with Christmas gift money in Dec 2019.
I am on #15 right now.
Plenty of intrigue, murder and plot twists to satisfy.
There are no more in the series as White has stopped writing I believe.
I got the whole series from Thrift books for $100 by selecting the books in good condition. Some are paperback and others are hardcover. Not disappointed at all.

[japple]

26. Adding to my list. Southernmost by Silas House.

Now I need to go back and read some of his earlier work.

[birdographer]

28. So many, as the year winds down..

From Sea to Shining Sea; One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow; What the Wind Knows all come to mind off the top of my head.

[TuxedoKat]

29. Follow the River

By James Alexander Thom. It’s historical fiction but it’s about actual people and events that did happen: a young woman who was kidnapped by Indians but escaped. It’s about her time with the Indians and finding her way home.

[birdographer]

36. LOVED this book!!

[japple]

30. Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway

[Oldem]

31. The Shipping News

by E. Annie Proulx--for the 2nd time. A close 2nd would be Tony Hillerman's Listening Woman, also for the 2nd time.

[Chalco]

32. The Overstory by Richard Powers nt

[Squinch]

33. Curfew by Phil Rickman. An oldie but a goodie!

[Number9Dream]

34. "The Last Odyssey" by James Rollins

Rollins has become just about my favorite author in the action, page-turner genre. This, his latest, is another great read... probably my favorite of this year. "In the frozen tundra of Greenland, a group of modern-day researchers stumbles on a shocking find: a medieval ship buried a half-mile below the ice. The ship’s hold contains a collection of even older artifacts—tools of war—dating back to the Bronze Age." It hooked me immediately, and it was a page turner from the beginning.

[hermetic]

35. Hey thanks

I'm always up for a good page turner and as your choice for year's best, I believe it will be most enjoyable.

[The King of Prussia]

37. My four top-rated books of 2020 are...

"All Creatures Great & Small" by James Herriot. Prompted by the new TV adaptation - which is wonderful and starting in the US this month.
"The Durrells of Corfu" a biography of the famous family by Michael Haag.
"A Genesis in my Bed" the autobiography of Steve Hackett.
"The 12.30 from Croydon" by Freeman Wills Crofts. A detective story from the Golden Age, but NOT a whodunnit.

[hermetic]

38. Hi, Happy New Year!

I love the All Creatures stories. Look forward to seeing the new show. Thanks. I will be moving this thread now to be replaced with a new one for 2021. This one will still exist, you'll just have to look further down for it.

[The King of Prussia]

39. Happy New Year to you too Hermetic

Let's hope it's a better one. When you watch the TV show look out for the railway scenes - it's the line that terminates in our village.