Presenting the 2020 Commonly-Agreed-by-the-People-Who-Publish-Best-of-2020-Book-Lists-Before-December-31 top 50 books.
(This is my annual community service to book-bloggers – a list of the books that appear most frequently on the 52 lists that I listed on Best Books of 2020 – A List of Lists – enjoy!).
Books that made seven lists –
His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
Perfect Tunes by Emily Gould
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
Books that made eight lists –
Just Us by Claudia Rankine
Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
Minor Feelings by Cathy Hong
Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-garcia
The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin
Books that made nine or ten lists –
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Wow No Thank You by Samantha Irby
What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez
Books that made 11 lists –
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
Jack by Marilynne Robinson
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Russell
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Books that made 12 or 13 lists –
A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
Cleanness by Garth Greenwell
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
Books that made 14 or 15 lists –
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang
Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
Books that made 16 or 17 lists –
A Burning by Megha Majumdar
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Weather by Jenny Offill
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Memorial by Brian Washington
The Glass Hotel by Emily Mandel
Books that made 18, 19 or 20 lists –
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Book that made 23 lists –
Luster by Raven Leilani
Book that made 30 lists –
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
I’ve read five (King, Offill, Sittenfeld, Ferrante, and Moore); have another three in the TBR stack (Stuart, Nunez and Cha) and I am busting to read another four (Kolker, Weiner, Irby, and Reid). Will I read the ‘winner’? I’m not sure… I was underwhelmed by The Mothers but surely thirty reviewers can’t be wrong?!
Do you agree with the critics – will any of these titles make your ‘Best of 2020’ list?