Top 10 Books of 2020

     Here are my favorites from the last year. A pretty good year in books (the rest of the year, not so great). I read 80 books this year, averaging 1.54 books a week. This was a full 15 more than the goal of 65 I had set for myself. Chalk this totally up to the pandemic, half a year of not working increased my output quite a bit. A tip of the hat to YA author Andrew Smith whose recommendations led me to Memorial and A Children's Bible. He had those 2 along with Earthlings on his Top 10 list for the year.

 

1. Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. I have never read any of David Mitchell's books before, but I may check some out after reading this novel. Utopia Avenue is the name of a psychedelic folk rock group that forms in late 1960s England. The book kind of meanders through the next three years as the group starts hitting it bigger and bigger. I loved  the wandering storyline, but could see that some people might not enjoy it as much. There is a lot of name dropping in the book with cameos from people I was familiar with (David Bowie, the Stones) and others I wasn't (Sandy Denny). I found that my Echo was a great reference, having it play artists or songs that I was not as familiar with.Every member of the band was a fascinating character and I came to really care for them and the band overall. Utopia Avenue is all about the journey and not so much the conclusion. 

2. Memorial by Bryan Washington. As the NPR review of this book says "Memorial is a debut novel that feels like the work of a master." It's the story of Benson and Mike, a troubled couple living in Houston's Third Ward. Their relationship is filled with fights and a reluctance to figure out what their relationship truly is. Everything is truly thrown upside down when Mike leaves to take care of his dying father in Japan the day after his mother arrives in Houston for a prolonged visit. Benson is left to keep an eye on, and share a one bedroom apartment with, a woman he's never met. Both Mike and Benson struggle spending time with people that don't want to be around them, but eventually small breakthroughs are made. This book has some of the most honest looks at relationships, both familial and romantic, that I have ever read. Memorial is just an amazing read and will make you feel pretty much all the emotions. Washington published a collection of short stories that was on Barack Obama's 2019 favorite books list, I plan on checking that out also.

3. Earthlings by Sayake Murata. "Deep in the mountains of Akishima where Granny and Grandpa live, fragments of night linger at midday." That's how Eathlings starts, one of my favorite first lines ever. I absolutely loved Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata's previous book, and I was excited to try this one. I wrote my first mini-review of it 12 hours after I finished it and wasn't sure how I really felt about it. At that point I wasn't sure it would even make my top 10 for the year, but I found myself thinking about it almost every day - wanting to return to that meadow in the Akishima mountain. When I sat down to compile this list I realized that it belonged here and should be high on the list. Earthlings may the most fucked up book I have read since I finished Geek Love some 30 years ago. It is at turns devastating, joyous, enlightening, and repulsive. It's a hard book to recommend, but I am sure a few friends will love it. It's a very different book from his first, but so worth your time. It's the story of Natsuki, a young girl that doesn't feel she fits in with anyone. She and her cousin both think they may be aliens abandoned on Earth, and she has been bestowed special powers by a stuffed animal she carries everywhere. Then it starts getting really weird.

4. A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet. This is another odd book that really appealed to me. A group of friends from college still get together every summer along with their families in a huge old mansion. The adults spend their time sampling booze, drugs, and sex. The teens try to find ways to entertain themselves cut off from most of the things they enjoy doing. The book's narrator is Evie, one of these teens and tweens that are contemptuous of their parent's carousing. After a hurricane hits nearby and they are completely cut off from civilization, the parents continue to ignore all around them while the kids decide to run away, leading them into a near apocalyptic environment. It was fascinating to see the adults essentially become the children and the teens step up and look for solutions.

5. To Sleep In a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini. Another bestselling author that is new to me. This is an epic science fiction story of discovery of ancient alien relics and first contact. Kira is a planetary scientist who stumbles over alien tech that fuses with her body and becomes symbiotic. The problem is that at least 2 previously unknown alien races are looking for this tech and it draws the human collection of planets into it. This is Paolini's first foray into adult fiction and he hits a home run with it. "Stars" is a complete stand alone story, but does leave itself open to a possible sequel. This is easily the longest and most fun book I read this year.

6. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. Much like her last novel, "Station Eleven", St. John Mandel's "The Glass Hotel" defies easy description. It's told through the lives of two characters; Vincent, a beautiful, tough punk/bartender/ship worker, and Johnathan, a Bernie Madoff type conman investor. As the book skips back and forth through time, the lives of these two and friends/family/victims intersect. This is the second book on this list that keeps calling me. I wasn't sure I loved it when I finished it, but I just keep thinking about it more than 6 months later. Two quotes that I love and seem apropos for this year - 

"Do you find yourself sort of secretly hoping that civilization collapses just so that something will happen?"

"I've always had a weakness for places where it seems like time slows down."

7. The Searcher by Tana French. I haven't read any of Tana French's works before, but the reviews on this one intrigued me. Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago cop wants to get away from it all, so he moves to a small village in Ireland. He buys a dilapidated house and works on repairing it. One day a boy shows up and starts to hang around. Eventually the boy asks Hooper to see if he can find his missing brother, a teenager no one else cares about. He puts his detective skills to work, but no one seems to want him to find out anything. The book has a good story and characters, but it is French's writing style that made me love this book. Her words transported me to the Irish countryside and made me want to visit, if not just move there myself. A beautifully written work.

8. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. The best non-fiction I read this year. Larson brings to life Churchill, his advisors, and his family during World War II. It brings a more human look at how Winnie helped save England from the Nazis, from scheming to get the USA involved to dangerous midnight walks through London during the bombing in order to survey damage and raise morale. In my opinion, a fascinating look at this part of history.

9. Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles. This is Jiles' follow-up to her near perfect "News of the World" from 2016. It takes Simon, a minor character from that book, and tells his story. It ranges from one of the last battles of the Civil War on the Mexican border, to post war Galveston, and settlements in central and North Texas. This isn't an action filled story, it's slow moving at times, but I still enjoyed it all. I loved watching Simon grow as a person, making friends and falling in love.

10. A Pale Light In The Black by K. B. Wagers. This is the first in a series described as The Expanse meets the battle room of Ender's Game. Maxine Carmichael is assigned to Zuma's Ghost, a military spaceship that patrols the solar system. It also fields one of the top teams in the Boarding Games, an annual competition featuring teams from top military infiltration teams. Nothing heavy here, just good fun. I look forward to future books in the series.

   Here are a few other books that I really enjoyed, but didn't make the list: A Cosmology of Monsters - Shaun Hamill, Two Girls Down - Louisa Luna, Eight Perfect Murders - Peter Swanson, The Best Cook In the Whole Word - Rick Bragg, All Things Left Wild - James Wade, and Recursion - Blake Crouch. And the worst book I read this year was Scavenger Hunt by Dani Lamia. PW actually gave it a decent review, but it was simply stupid and dreadful!

  

Top 10 Books of 2019

     Here are my favorites from the last year. A so-so year for me, only a couple of what I would consider great books, but lots of good ones. I read 65 books this year, averaging 1.25 books a week. This was 7 titles less than the goal of 72 I had set for myself. I put this firmly on the head of Zaidah - somehow a 1 year old eats up a lot of your time.

1. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. This novel got great reviews and is on several Best Of lists for the year (including Barack Obama's). It is not an easy read, but definitely the most powerful book I read this year. Told in flashbacks, it is the story of one young man's experiences at a dangerous reform school for boys in the 1960s. It is based on a real school for boys in Florida that existed for 100 years. Elwood, a young African American, is sent to the school for a crime he did not commit. While there, he meets another young man, who helps him to survive and get along in this brutal environment. This is a powerful look at inequality that is still an enjoyable read. Whitehead is an amazing writer and I will be going back to look at some of his previous books. 

2. Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield. While "The Nickel Boys" was the best written book I read this year, this is the book that has stuck with me the most. I keep replaying scenes in my head almost a year later. "River" is part historical mystery and part fairy tale with a big dose of magical realism thrown in. It worked completely for me. It all takes place along a river in England in the 1800s and involves a long missing girl returned to her parents, a stolen pig, and an ancient inn along the banks of a river with many mysteries under the surface. The writing is mystical and beautiful, nothing moves quickly, but at exactly the right pace. “It was better to tell such stories close to the river than in a drawing room. Words accumulate indoors, trapped by walls and ceilings. The weight of what has been said can lie heavily on what might yet be said and suffocate it. By the river the air carries the story on a journey: one sentence drifts away and makes way for the next.”

3. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The Six is rock band that is rapidly moving to the top of the charts and Daisy Jones is the young singer that joins them in this novel told mostly in excerpts of interviews. A highly fictionalized account of the group Fleetwood Mac, it follows the rise to the top and then breakup of a 1970's rock band. I found the story fascinating and it kept me turning pages from beginning to end. This one finished on several Best Of lists also. I finished it and immediately spent the next hour listening to the music of and researching the history of Fleetwood Mac.   

4. Full Throttle by Joe Hill. A collection of horror/fantasy stories by Stephen King's son. I continue to enjoy just about everything Hill releases. There are 2 collaborations with King here, but they were probably my least favorite entries. Some of my favorites - "Late Returns" about a haunted bookmobile, "By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain" a very Bradburyesque story about a lake monster, and "Dark Carousel" about a vengeful merry-g-round. 

5. Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson. From the author of "The Family Fang" comes this story about a woman hired to bee a nanny to two children who catch on fire when angry. Wilson has written 3 novels now, all of them strange and all of them compelling. The narrator is not a likable person, but you are soon rooting for her and the these bizarre twins. Not as good as "The Family Fang", which I loved, but still very good.  

6. Sol Majestic by Ferrett Steinmetz. A wonderfully humorous science fiction novel about the greatest restaurant in the Galaxy. A destitute teen guru wins a meal at The Sol Majestic, the most renown and expensive restaurant in known space. The owner and chef change his life, setting him off down a very different road. This novel is good science fiction and displays a love of food not often found in fiction. This one made me cry and laugh out loud.

7. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. The first in a planned trilogy of alternate history novels, it won the 2018 Hugo and Nebula for Best Novel. in 1952, a meteorite strike wipes out most of the East Coast of the US and triggers climate change that will end life on Earth in the near future. This speeds up the space race and the US starts using female astronauts in the 1960s. This story is told by a mathematician that becomes one of the first. I also very much enjoyed "The Fated Sky", the second book in the series. The third one is due out in 2020.

8. Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson. I have read everyone of Joshilyn Jackson's books and they have all been very good. My favorite is still "The Almost Sisters", but this one is excellent too. "Never Ever Have I Ever" is Jackson's first true thriller and she knocks it out of the park. Amy Whey is happy with her normal life in a nice neighborhood. Then one might, a new person intrudes on the local book club and she seems to know things about Amy that no one else does. Filled with twists and turns and SCUBA diving, it was a fun read.

9. The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker. "The Age of Miracles" by Walker was one of the most original post-apocalyptic novels I have read. Her new novel has been on several Best Of lists for this year. A small community in California is decimated by a mysterious illness that causes people to go to sleep and not wake up. Walker's novels are elevated by her beautiful writing, I very much look forward to more books from her.  

10. The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion. This is the final book in a trilogy that started with "The Rosie Project". It follows the improbable romantic and family life of Don, a college professor who is very high on the spectrum. While the second book was a bit of a disappointment, Simsion came roaring back with this finale. Don is trying to deal with his 11 year old son who is having trouble fitting in at school. It is very fulfilling to see this character grow so much from a beginning where he could barely deal with other people.    

     The first two books on my list are the 2 that will stick with me for a long time. Honorable mentions to "Where the Crawdads Sing", "The River", "Orange World", "The Chain", and "Lost and Found". My favorite non-fiction book of the year was "The Five" by Hallie Rubenhold. It is the story of the 5 women killed by Jack the Ripper, but it is also the story of life for the very poor in Victorian London. It is gut wrenching at times, none of the 5 women are quite as portrayed in Ripper books. 

.    And the worst book I read this year was "48 Hours" by William Fortschen, an apocalyptic story about how people react to a coming electrical storm. It wasn't horrible, just really boring.