My favorite Zoom backgrounds this year have been book shelves…libraries…beautiful spaces that would be perfect to hide in with a book. A lot of people did a LOT of reading in 2020, including me. I gravitated toward thrillers and mysteries this year, as well as some beautiful, difficult literary fiction, some young adult novels, and many simply lovely works of art.
My Absolute Favs of 2020
The Midnight Library — Matt Haig
"Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived." A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.
Hamnet — Maggie O'Farrell
In 1580's England, during the Black Plague, a young Latin tutor falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman. A luminous portrait of a marriage and a tender re-imagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten—and whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays of all time.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue — V.E. Schwab
"A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget." France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Where the Forest Meets the Stars — Glendy Vanderah
A mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again. Joanna Teale's solitary research routine is disrupted by the appearance of a barefoot girl who calls herself Ursa and claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles.
Daddy — Emma Cline *Short Story Collection
From the bestselling author of The Girls, ten remarkable stories portraying moments when the ordinary is disturbed, when daily life buckles, revealing the perversity and violence pulsing under the surface.
Writers & Lovers — Lily King
Follows Casey—a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist—in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with humor, heart, and intelligence.
Sea Wife — Amity Gaige
A smart, sophisticated literary page-turner about a young family who escape suburbia for a yearlong sailing trip that upends all of their lives. Told in gripping dual perspectives.
Dear Edward — Ann Napolitano
Twelve-year-old Edward Adler boards a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor. A transcendent coming-of-age story.
The Wind Is Not a River — Brian Payton
A gripping tale of survival and an epic love story in which a husband and wife—separated by the only battle of World War II to take place on American soil—fight to reunite in Alaska's starkly beautiful Aleutian Islands.
Mystery / Thriller
Home Before Dark — Riley Sager
A woman returns to the house made famous by her father's bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed?
The Guest List — Lucy Foley *Recommend the audio of this book! Accents are fantastic…
A wedding celebration on an island off the coast of Ireland turns dark and deadly. The bride. The plus one. The best man. The wedding planner. The bridesmaid. The body…
The Sun Down Motel — Simone St. James
Something hasn't been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why.
The Searcher — Tana French
Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat.
The Better Liar — Tanen Jones
When a woman conceals her sister's death to claim their joint inheritance, her deception exposes a web of dangerous secrets.
Some More Quality Choices
The Vanishing Half — Brit Bennett · Shuggie Bain — Douglas Stuart · Long Bright River — Liz Moore · American Dirt — Jeanine Cummins · Blacktop Wasteland — S.A. Cosby · If I Had Your Face — Frances Cha · The Paris Hours — Alex George · Girl, Woman, Other — Bernardine Evaristo · Apeirogon — Colum McCann · The Book of Lost Friends — Lisa Wingate · If the Creek Don't Rise — Leah Weiss · Call Your Daughter Home — Deb Spera · The Cutting Season — Attica Locke · Normal People — Sally Rooney · The Boy from the Woods — Harlan Coben · The Jetsetters — Amanda Eyre Ward · Actress — Anne Enright · The Glass Hotel — Emily St. John Mandel · Oona Out of Order — Margarita Montimore · Once Upon a River — Diane Setterfield · Pride of Eden — Taylor Brown
Young Adult
The Spirit Legacy: The Gateway Trilogy Book 1 — E.E. Holmes
The Spirit Prophecy: The Gateway Trilogy Book 2 — E.E. Holmes
Saint Anything — Sarah Dessen