It’s that time of the year when newspapers and magazines publish their ‘Best of 2020’ lists. These are the books that we would have been talking about around the water-cooler, had we not been working from home.
Lists usually begin appearing early November and keep going until the end of the year – I will keep adding as they are published.
The Best of 2020 According to #ALLTHELISTS will be coming soon – stay tuned! (See previous lists here).
Publishers Weekly – short lists for various genres (fiction includes some excellent translated picks).
New York Times Notable Books 2020 – heavy on the nonfiction this year. See the NYT top ten here.
ABC Australia Best Books of 2020 – your summer reading, sorted.
Vulture Best Books of 2020 (So Far) – a list compiled over the course of the year.
Slate’s Best Books of 2020 – five fiction and five nonfiction picks.
Glamour Best Books of 2020 – a list 54 books long.
Buzzfeed’s Best Books We Read in 2020 – good descriptions to whet the appetite.
USA Today Best Books of 2020 – a trim list of 13 titles.
AV Club’s Best Books of 2020 – 15 favourites.
Vox Best of 2020 – choices with commentary.
People Picks the Top Ten Books of 2020 – no surprises.
Esquire – 44 books to ‘elevate’ your reading list
Harper’s Bazaar 43 Best Books of 2020 – lots of summer reading on this list.
Refinery 29 Best Books of 2020 – good mix of mainstream and offbeat.
Indigo’s Best Books of 2020 – lots of titles on this list that aren’t appearing anywhere else.
Washington Post’s Best Books of 2020 – concise list of ten books (plus 50 notable fiction titles here)
Readings The Best Books of 2020 – categories for Australian and international authors (plus nonfiction and crime).
The New York Public Library Best Books of 2020 – top tens by genre.
Financial Times Best Books of 2020 Fiction – pay-walled….
TIME 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 – something for everyone
Kirkus Reviews Best of 2020 – lots of translated fiction in this collection
Amazon Best Books of 2020 – a neat top 20.
The Telegraph’s 50 Best Books of 2020 – pay-walled…
Real Simple’s The Best Books of 2020 – a long list (59) that has a bit of everything.
Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books 2020 – mix of fiction and non-fiction, sorted into lists for adults, teens and kids.
O Magazine Best Books of 2020 – twenty Oprah book club favourites for 2020.
The Guardian Best Books of 2020 – commentary on various categories (the fiction bit is here).
The Week’s Best Books of 2020 – reliably different.
Book Riot Best Books of 2020 – list by genre.
Elle’s 48 Best Books to Read in 2020 – last year their list was 29 books long… must have got more reading done in 2020
Marie Claire Best Books of 2020 – they’ve cast the net very, very wide (and caught a lot of chick-lit).
Town and Country Best Books to Read in 2020 – mix of 23 fiction and nonfiction titles.
Shelf Awareness Best Books of 2020 – ten fiction and ten nonfiction books.
Library Journal Best Books of 2020 – 144 titles across 15 categories..
The Times 37 Best Books of 2020 – paywalled (but you can have a free trial if you’re busting for this British list).
New York Public Library Best Books of 2020 – top tens for adults, teens and kids.
BBC Best Books of the Year – some excellent British picks included.
The New Yorker Best Books of 2020 – has titles other lists don’t.
Chicago Tribune 10 Best Books of 2020 – with a little political commentary on the side…
Australian Book Review 2020 Books of the Year – authors do the nominating.
GH The 56 Best Books of 2020 – mostly of the lighter reading variety.
Thrillist Best Books of 2020 – 42 on the thrilling list (crammed with some great translated picks).
NPR’s Favourite Books of 2020 – use the filters to wade through this 383-strong list (a top ten here).
Book Page Best Books of 2020 – 20 in the fiction category
SheReads Best Books of 2020 – lists for all sorts of different categories.
The Economist Our Books of the Year – paywalled…
Parade Best Books of 2020 – 40 titles across various genres.
EW The Best Books of 2020 – no surprises but a solid list.
Lithub Our 65 Favourite Books of the Year – with a lot of commentary.
Australian Financial Review Best Books of 2020 – nice categories (e.g. coffee table books).
Smithsonian The Best Books of 2020 – top tens for various categories.
Concrete Playground The 11 Best Books of 2020 – lots of Aussie picks.
Apartment Therapy’s Must-Read Books of 2020 – no surprises in this list of 16.
Vanity Fair The 15 Best Books of 2020 – interesting mix.
InStyle Best of 2020 – a mix of predictable and interesting.
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Bravo! plenty to dip into. Thanks very much for doing the hard yards.
Not that us readers are usually pressed for ideas!
Thank you, Kate. Much appreciated!
The best bit is still to come… Some surprises there!
That cartoon captures 2020 perfectly. I will be sending it to various people.
Also thanks for finding all these ‘Best of Year’ sites. I just wrote my ‘Best of Year’, and will be publishing it next Monday morning.
Love the cartoon!
Very apt I thought 🙂
Always look forward to this list. Thanks for putting it together each year.
Will keep you busy 🙂
This year’s lists are going to be interesting given that so many books had publication dates postponed or cancelled.
Yes, although still plenty there (particularly from the beginning of the year).
Aaagh, I hate doing this Best of list at this time of the year… and your post suggests that it’s not at all necessary anyway because there’s already so many of them!
You’re released from a Best of list 🙂
Oh I love this time of year so much Kate! Your list of lists is worth waiting for.
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