As a close to the year, Mia & I decided to share a year-end wrap-up of our favorite books read in 2020 from our own personal libraries.
This list of 13 books includes a good mix of reads: global, indie, hidden gems, & LGBTQIAP+ along with some popular books. In addition, the list is nicely comprised of a number of different genres sure to suit any tastes: nonfiction, thriller, memoir, urban fantasy, poetry, literature, a twist on noir, sci fi, cookbook, historical fiction, personal growth, fantasy, & psychological literature.
Happy reading & stay tuned for our most anticipated reads of 2021!
Beth’s Favorite Books in 2020
Written by an poet from Poland
“Both plain-spoken and luminous…Szymborska’s skepticism, her merry, mischievous irreverence and her thirst for the surprise of fresh perception make her the enemy of all tyrannical certainties. Hers is the best of the Western mind—free, restless, questioning.” —NY Times Book Review
One of Europe’s greatest recent poets is also its wisest, wittiest, and most accessible. Nobel Prize–winner Wislawa Szymborska draws us in with her unexpected, unassuming humor. Her elegant, precise poems pose questions we never thought to ask.
Carefully edited by her longtime, award-winning translator, the poems in Map trace Szymborska’s work until her death. Of the approximately 250 poems included, nearly 40 are newly translated.
“Nobel laureate Szymborska’s gorgeous posthumous collection interweaves insights into the suffering experienced during WWII and the Cold War brutalities of Stalin with catchy, realistic, colloquial musings. Her poems are revelatory yet rooted in the everyday. She writes about living with horrors, and about ordinary lives: people in love, at work, enjoying a meal. This is a brilliant and important collection.” —Booklist
"Szymborska has her impressive poetic repertoire on full display in this volume [which] reveals her development over seven decades, including a gradual departure from end rhyme and the sharpening of her wit. As multitudinous as Whitman, she conveyed deep feeling through vivid, surreal imagery and is able to revive clichéd language by reconnecting it in startling ways. Odes, critiques, and persona poems are just a few of the forms her writing took. Yet, despite their diversity, the constants of her poems were nuance and observational humor. Also apparent is Szymborska’s rare ability to present an epiphany in a single line.” —Publishers Weekly
Lambda Literary Award-winning author Klune’s bestselling, breakout contemporary fantasy which also happens to be LGBTQIAP+ friendly
One of Book Riot’s “20 Must-Read Feel-Good Fantasies”, a USA Today Bestseller, an Indie Next Pick, an Amazon Best Books of the Year, & a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year
Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.
Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
"It will renew your faith in humanity.” ―Terry Brooks, NY Times bestselling author
“Sweet, comforting, and kind, this book is very close to perfect. I cannot recommend it highly enough.” ―Seanan McGuire, NY bestselling author
Gloriously filled with 180 delectable recipes as well as tantalizing photos alongside the history & customs of Syrian Jews.
When the Aleppian Jewish community migrated from the ancient city of Aleppo in historic Syria and settled in New York and Latin American cities in the early 20th century, it brought its rich cuisine and vibrant culture. Most Syrian recipes and traditions, however, were not written down and existed only in the minds of older generations. Poopa Dweck, a first generation Syrian–Jewish American, has devoted much of her life to preserving and celebrating her community's centuries–old legacy.
Dweck relates the history and culture of her community through its extraordinary cuisine, offering more than 180 exciting ethnic recipes with tantalizing photos and describing the unique customs that the Aleppian Jewish community observes during holidays and lifecycle events.
Like mainstream Middle Eastern cuisines, Aleppian Jewish dishes are alive with flavor and healthful ingredients—featuring whole grains, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil–but with their own distinct cultural influences.
“The intriguing recipes inspired me to head for my kitchen, but the story kept me in my chair, riveted.” —The NY Times
“As enticing to read through as to cook from.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Displays such wit, style, and versatility that there's no doubt about it; Bujold is one of the best writers of sci fi adventure.” —Locus
Discharged from the Barrarayan academy after flunking the physical, a discouraged Miles Vorkosigan takes possession of a jumpship and becomes the leader of a mercenary force that expands to a fleet of treasonous proportions.
”The pace is breathless, the characterization thoughtful and emotionally powerful, and the author's narrative technique and command of language compelling. Highly recommended.” —Booklist
“Work well as the introduction to the series as a whole. I suspect that anybody who reads this will be as charmed as I was and want to pick up the rest.” —SF Site
“If you love solid space opera rooted in strong character, you can't go wrong. . . . The Warrior's Apprentice already displays the craft and the heart which would soon make Lois McMaster Bujold one of the most feted talents in SF.” —SF Reviews
“Bujold is adept at world-building and provides a witty, character-centered plot, full of exquisite grace notes. . . fans will be thoroughly gripped and likely to finish the book in a single sitting.” —Publishers Weekly
Note: Also great on audio! Also, if you read this book & enjoy it, make sure to look at the recommended reading order before reading any others.
An independently-published urban fantasy series for fans of Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, & Richard Kadrey
My name is King Henry Price.
Yes, really. Don’t blame Mom, she was already a little anime mad by the time I was born. See, the world ain’t as simple as you mundanes think it is. Whole lot more complicated, whole lot more messy, whole lot more foul.
Got your vampires, not the sparkly pretty boys you’re expecting from romance covers, but blood parasites living in a human shell just waiting to cut your skin open and suck you dry from the inside out. Got your weres, not a hunk among them and gangsters and thugs every one. Transform into whatever the idiot first decided to sacrifice, be it coyote, wolf, tiger or even your momma’s Shih Tzu. Last, you got your mancers. That’s my group of misfits and malcontents. I first heard of the Mancy when I was fourteen. Smiling blond woman came to recruit me and I was insistent I was going nowhere. But when she walked on through my locked bedroom door like it wasn’t there, even a jaded, pugnacious, teenage punk like King Henry Price had to give the sales pitch a second thought.
Got trained, seven years at the Institution of Elements, or the Asylum as the student body calls it. I’m a geomancer, a special kind of geomancer called an artificer even. After graduation, I made a deal with that same recruiter and opened my own artificer shop, making magical items of power for all comers, be they were, vampire, or mancer.
What I didn’t sign up for was a vampire named Annie B coming into my shop and kidnapping me.
Note: To really relish this book, you need to enjoy (or at least well tolerate) foul language, some gutter humor, & a conversational writing tone.
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In the first novel in the #1 NY Times bestselling Dresden Files series, Harry Dresden’s investigation of a double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago…
As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he’s the best at what he does. Technically, he’s the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business—to put it mildly—stinks.
So when the Chicago P.D. bring him in to consult on a double homicide committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name…
“A great series—fast-paced, vividly realized with a hero/narrator who’s excellent company. One of the most enjoyable marriages of the fantasy and mystery genres on the shelves.” —Cinescape
“Superlative series.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Butcher…spins an excellent noirish detective yarn in a well-crafted, supernaturally-charged setting. The supporting cast in this series is fantastic, and Harry’s wit continues to fly in the face of a peril-fraught plot.”—Booklist (starred review)
Note: The fav I read in 2020 was actually Ghost Story (View on Amazon), but that’s book 13 so included above is book 1. Some people don’t enjoy book 1 or 2 of this series, but if you push through, you’ll adore the series. I promise! It’s one of my top series of all time. Also, great on audio.
Written by an Australian author
Myfanwy Thomas awakens in a London park surrounded by dead bodies. With her memory gone, she must trust the instructions left by her former self in order to survive. She quickly learns that she is a Rook, a high-level operative in a secret agency that protects the world from supernatural threats. But there is a mole inside the organization, and this person wants her dead.
Battling to save herself, Myfanwy will encounter a person with four bodies, a woman who can enter her dreams, children transformed into deadly fighters, and terrifyingly vast conspiracy.
Suspenseful and hilarious, The Rook is an outrageously imaginative thriller for readers who like their espionage with a dollop of purple slime.
“Utterly convincing, engrossing, and frequently hilarious….Even this aging, jaded, attention-deficit-disordered critic was blown away.” —Time
“A near-perfect supernatural thriller...Don't start this book unless you've got lots of time, because you won't want to put it down. It's that good.” —Library Journal
"Kick off my Best Books of the Year list. The opening page alone is a gem, and the narrative just keeps getting better...wonderful entertainment.” —Charlaine Harris
“The Rook has got it all: secret powers, mysterious organizations, dark corners...twisted scientists, and a duck that can see the future...Hands down I have not enjoyed a good supernatural novel this much for quite some time...It's just that good.” —Wired
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MIA’s Favorite Books in 2020
LA Times bestseller & winner of the Nautilus Book Award
“In a world full of spiritual seekers, Griswold is an undisputed all-star. What a delightful journey!” —Elizabeth Gilbert, #1 NY Times bestselling author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love
The Book of Help traces one woman’s life-long quest for love, connection, and peace of mind. A heartbreakingly vulnerable and tragically funny memoir-in-remedies, Megan Griswold’s narrative spans four decades and six continents—from the glaciers of Patagonia and the psycho-tropics of Brazil, to academia, the Ivy League, and the study of Eastern medicine.
Megan was born into a family who enthusiastically embraced the offerings of New Age California culture—at seven she asked Santa for her first mantra and by twelve she was taking weekend workshops on personal growth. But later, when her newly-wedded husband calls in the middle of the night to say he’s landed in jail, Megan must accept that her many certificates, degrees and licenses had not been the finish line she’d once imagined them to be, but instead the preliminary training for what would prove to be the wildest, most growth-insisting journey of her life.
“Griswold’s fantastic memoir is part-medicine for our time, part-balm for our collective wounds, part-instruction manual. Unexpectedly hilarious, self-deprecating, moving, and a story for all women in this time, I couldn’t put it down. It’s the book that makes you jog the elbow of the person sitting next to you and say, ‘You’ve GOT to read this.’ Megan is in touch with where the rest of us may have limped off course.”—Alexandra Fuller, NY Times bestselling author of Leaving Before the Rains Come
Written by an author from Italy
Giovanna’s pretty face has changed: it’s turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Into which mirror must she look to find herself and save herself?
She is searching for a new face in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, which professes to be a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves between these two cities, disoriented by the fact that, whether high or low, the city seems to offer no answer and no escape.
“Two years before leaving home my father said to my mother that I was very ugly. The sentence was uttered under his breath, in the apartment that my parents, newly married, had bought in Rione Alto, at the top of Via San Giacomo dei Capri. Everything—the spaces of Naples, the blue light of a very cold February, those words—remained fixed. But I slipped away, and am still slipping away, within these lines that are intended to give me a story, while in fact I am nothing, nothing of my own, nothing that has really begun or really been brought to completion: only a tangled knot, and nobody, not even the one who at this moment is writing, knows if it contains the right thread for a story or is merely a snarled confusion of suffering, without redemption.”
“[The Lying Life of Adults] is highly addictive.”—Elle (Italy)
“In a story where truths are revealed and constantly overturned and characters inspire in equal measure love and hatred, Ferrante’s voice is at once reassuring, unsettling, mesmerizing.”—La Stampa
“In her signature way, Ferrante captivates the reader body and soul with a complex, layered, at times brutal novel, where once again the experience of womanhood is at the center of the story.” —Players Magazine
Editors’ Choice from The NY Times Book Review, #1 Indie Next Pick for February, January 2020 Library Reads Pick, Oprah's Book Club, Amazon & Boston Globe Best Books of the Year
“Extraordinary." —Stephen King
Lydia Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.
Even though she knows they'll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over. When Lydia's husband's tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.
Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca find themselves worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, they ride la bestia—trains that make their way north toward the US—the only place Javier's reach doesn't extend. As they join countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone’s running from something. But what are they running to?
Already being hailed as “a Grapes of Wrath for our times” and “a new American classic,” American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope.
Note: There’s been controversy about this novel which is written by a non-immigrant, non-Mexican author & includes some errors in the descriptions of Mexico. Nonetheless, it is a book beloved by many. But if you’re looking for a book about Mexico written by someone Mexican, here’s our Mexico list.
“Every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself…truly a beautiful book.” —Elizabeth Gilbert
“May writes beautifully….A contemplative, hopeful, consoling book.” —NPR
An intimate, revelatory book exploring the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down.
Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.
A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May’s story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.
Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.
“May brings a poet’s eye and unexpected comedy to this enthralling celebration of our fallow season.” —London Observer
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The beloved, bestselling author of The Birth House is back with her most beguiling novel yet, luring us deep inside the lives of a trio of remarkable young women navigating the glitz and grotesqueries of Gilded-Age New York by any means possible, including witchcraft...
The year is 1880. Two hundred years after the trials in Salem, Adelaide Thom has left her life in the sideshow to open a tea shop with another young woman who feels it's finally safe enough to describe herself as a witch: a former medical student and gardien de sorts (keeper of spells), Eleanor St. Clair. Together, they cater to Manhattan's high society ladies, specializing in cures, palmistry and potions. All is well until a young woman named Beatrice arrives at their door seeking employment.
Beatrice soon becomes indispensable as Eleanor's apprentice, but her new life with the witches is marred by strange occurrences. She sees things no one else can see. She hears voices no one else can hear. Objects appear out of thin air, as if gifts from the dead. Has she been touched by magic or is she simply losing her mind? Eleanor wants to tread lightly and respect the magic manifest in the girl, but Adelaide sees a business opportunity. Working with a talented alienist, she submits Beatrice to a series of tests to see if she truly can talk to spirits. Amidst the witches' tug-of-war over what's best, Beatrice disappears, leaving them to wonder whether it was by choice or by force.
As Adelaide and Eleanor begin the desperate search for Beatrice, they're confronted by accusations and spectres from their own pasts. In a time when women were corseted, confined and committed for merely speaking their minds, were any of them safe?
“Old New York shows its magic and its darkness…McKay has crafted a stunning work that bridges the gap between historical and contemporary women's issues.” —Kirkus
Longlisted for the National Book Award, named #1 Nonfiction Book of the Year by Time, & one of the Best Books of the Year by People, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, the NY Times Book Review. NPR, Kirkus, & more
“An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far.” —The NY Times
The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.
“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.”
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day.
Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.
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