50(ish) books I really liked in 2020
There was no way I could narrow it down to 10, sorry.
I couldn’t dare winnow it down to my favorite 10, or even my top 25.
So instead, here are 50(ish) books I really liked reading this year that you might consider picking up for a pandemic winter. (Not all of these were published in 2020, but who cares?)
They’re listed in no particular order, sorted by some common themes that appeared to me once I started making this list.
Fiction about…
…how fucked up Silicon Valley is: New Waves - Kevin Nguyen; Days of Distraction - Alexandra Chang
…how even more fucked up Silicon Valley can get if we don’t deal with it: Followers - Megan Angelo
…the consequences of how fucked up the internet already is: A Burning - Megha Majumdar
…how to be a Black woman in America: The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett; Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi; Such A Fun Age - Kiley Reid
…how fucked up celebrity culture is: The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes - Elissa R. Sloan
…how fucked up celebrity culture is, overlapping with how fucked up society treats Black women: Grown - Tiffany D. Jackson
…magic, witchcraft, women, and history: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab; Magic Lessons - Alice Hoffman
…women just trying to be their best, most authentic selves in this fucked up world (and finding love in all the wrong places): You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat; Writers & Lovers - Lily King
…women just trying to be their best, most authentic selves in this fucked up world (and finding love in all the right places): One to Watch - Kate Stayman-London; Big Summer - Jennifer Weiner
…murder (and other less life-ending crimes) among wealthy people: The Guest List - Lucy Foley; They Wish They Were Us - Jessica Goodman; Happy And You Know It - Laura Hankin
…the fucked up nature of white feminism in 2020: The Herd - Andrea Bartz; Self Care - Leigh Stein
…what happens to you when you die: Layoverland - Gabby Noone
…what happens when someone you love dies: Clap When You Land - Elizabeth Acevedo; Memorial - Bryan Washington
…how it feels when you’re just trying to make it and the stakes are high: Anna K - Jenny Lee; Head Over Heels - Hannah Orenstein
…women who don’t let the men in their lives define them, even when it’s really hard to resist the pull of patriarchy’s gravity: Rodham - Curtis Sittenfeld; The Daughters of Erietown - Connie Schultz
Hot romance novels about…
…Dukes and duchesses and love: The Bridgertons - Julia Quinn (all 8 of ‘em!)
…What happens when work and love overlap: The Worst Best Man - Mia Sosa; You Had Me At Hola - Alexis Daria
…What happens when work and love overlap, politics-edition: Queen Move - Kennedy Ryan
…Trying to write romance novels: Beach Read - Emily Henry
…Sex workers (but more importantly: women getting exactly what they want): The Roommate - Rosie Danan
…Small-town scandals: Fix Her Up/Love Her or Lose Her/Tools of Engagement - Tessa Bailey
…Opposites falling in love: Written In the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur
Non-fiction about…
…how it feels to try to make order out of chaos: Why Fish Don’t Exist - Lulu Miller
…why you’re so burnt-out, and why fixing it is more than just a bubble bath away: Can’t Even - Anne Helen Peterson
…the pros and cons of complicated relationships with our parents and grandparents: Nobody Will Tell You This But Me - Bess Kalb; Missed Translations - Sopan Deb
…love, depression, and embracing your inner cheetah: Untamed - Glennon Doyle
…love, depression, and pooping: Wow, No Thank You - Samantha Irby
…love, depression, and politics: Here For It - R. Eric Thomas
…Silicon Valley, in all its various forms: Billion Dollar Loser - Reeve Wiedeman; No Filter - Sarah Frier; Uncanny Valley - Anna Weiner
…the history of psychiatry & schizophrenia & family: Hidden Valley Road - Robert Kolker
…how broken the American political system is: Why We’re Polarized - Ezra Klein
…how America got this way, and more importantly, what it means for the people who live here: The Undocumented Americans - Karla Cornejo Villavicencio; Caste - Isabel Wilkerson
…how America got this way, from one of the people who made it this way: A Promised Land - Barack Obama
Every year I try and come up with a list of favorites and then in the final two weeks of December, when I’m off work, I binge-read like a maniac and come up with a bunch more I also love. Follow on Instagram or my spreadsheet for real-time recs!
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