Best of 2020

[Mlle. Zabzie]

I didn't see this topic yet...  Please merge if duplicative.  Here are my 10 best 2020 reads in no particular order:

1.  Ruby - Nina Allen.  This is a wonderfully strange book, full of sort of 1/4 connected short stories and a semi-horror atmosphere.  LOVED it.

2.  Deadly Education - Naomi Novik.  This was such a fun take on the "magic school" sub genre.  I enjoyed the heck out of it.

3.  Once and Future Witches - Alix Harrow.  I really enjoyed the alternative history.  I thought the characters were marvelous and the story was fun.

4.  Return of the Thief - Megan Whalen Turner.  I can't believe I didn't discover this series until this year.  Thanks to all the folks who recommended it.  I'm forcing my girls to read it too. I haven't had so much fun with a series in ages.  I want to reread because I feel like this is a series that deserves to be enjoyed a second time to really appreciate the journey.

5.  The Tyrrany of Merit:  What's Become of the Common Good - Michael J. Sandel.  This is a really thought-provoking take on the concept of a "meritocracy".  I highly recommend it.

6.  Empire of Gold.  A. Chakraborty.  A satisfactory conclusion to an original and engaging series.

7.  A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking.  T. Kingfisher. Lord this was fun.   

8.  The Mirror and the Light.  Hilary Mantel.  She can just write.  And her Cromwell is superb.

9.  Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse.  There is a reason why it is on a lot of "Best Of" lists.  It's just great.

10.  The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - VE Schwab. So interesting and good.

Honorable mention: Half a Soul - Olivia Atwater.  Frothy, fun fairy tale.  Very little substance, but sort of what I needed this year.

[Xray the Enforcer]

For me, Harrow the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir, Cemetery Boys by Adrien Thomas, When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey, and A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher! Once and Future Witches was really good too. Also very much enjoyed Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark. I haven't been able to get into Black Sun yet, but I'll try again in 2021. 

Warning: I am going to add to this post as I remember other books I liked from 2020. Like Mexican Gothic by Silvia Morena-Garcia.

[kairparavel]

5 hours ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

4.  Return of the Thief - Megan Whalen Turner.  I can't believe I didn't discover this series until this year.  Thanks to all the folks who recommended it.  I'm forcing my girls to read it too. I haven't had so much fun with a series in ages.  I want to reread because I feel like this is a series that deserves to be enjoyed a second time to really appreciate the journey.

 

Return of the Thief was my top read of the year. Oh Eugenides! And Irene. And Helen. And Sophos. And Costis and Kamet. So so so (good). A series for all ages - the court intrigue and mythology are definitely grown-up. I want my nieces to read the series (15 and 12) but I worry the earlier parts of the second book may be too distressing. 

Return of the Thief 5 stars

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez, also 5 stars. I would listen to this on my lunch breaks walking around the warehouse at previous job and would return to the office just seething which wasn't a great idea given my overall frustration in a male-dominated environment. But important information to consider when developing EVERYTHING and how it traditionally centers on data from cishet and generally white males, either in raw data or general hypothesis. The clean stoves and indoor toilets in India and the apartment complexes built to relocate persons from favelas in Brazil were really eye opening. 

Other books I enjoyed this year:

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett. I was glad to finally finish the series. Man, I love Sigrud.

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield. A story about stories, and magic, and loss. It was everything I wanted to feel from The Starless Sea, but just couldn't for some reason.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. Intense creepy horror mixed with a thought provoking commentary on hunting, among other things. 

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust. This review sums it up: “Gorgeously written and quietly powerful, Bashardoust’s latest is an enthralling tale of family, monsters, and the things we do for love.” —S. A. Chakraborty, author of City of Brass

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I read Gideon in the before time (February) and Harrow in the bad place (after February, (September)) so I'll never know for sure how much that affected my perception of each but I LOVED Gideon after some initial Huh? and just never got that feeling in Harrow. I mean, I got plenty of Huh? Eh? The fuck? but not too much gigglesnort glee except for one pot of soup. 

Special shout out to the Beauty and the Beast retellings that got me out of my reading slump a few weeks ago. Thank you Eloisa James (When Beauty Tamed the Beast), Lisa Kleypas (The Devil in Winter), and Megan Spooner (Hunted).

[Plessiez]

I've only managed to finish about two dozen new books this year, which doesn't feel like enough for a top ten.  Top five then:

(1) Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott.

The rest of this list isn't in any special order, but I'm pretty sure this is the novel I enjoyed most this year.  

It’s been marketed (and described by the author) as “gender-swapped young Alexander the Great in space”, but while that might describe the genesis of the book well I’m not sure it captures what the experience of actually reading the book is like.  It’s a well-written, fast paced space opera with a fun setting, well-drawn characters and some clever tricks to establish the voices of the story’s two main narrators.  I liked it a lot (though, given the premise, I’m guessing that the conclusion of the trilogy is not going to be a very cheerful one).

(2) The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

I've seen people argue that this is a fairly conventional book by Hurley's standards, which I think is probably fair.  And it definitely owes a lot to earlier works, particularly Haldeman’s The Forever War.

But that said, I think the whole thing is really well crafted.  Despite being (on the surface) a story about time travelling soldiers fighting a war on Mars, it manages to both feel bleakly prescient and have a somewhat optimistic conclusion.  While I found bits of it to be (deliberately) hard to get through, I think that of all the books on my list it’s the one I’m most likely to reread.

(It’s full of spoilers if you’ve not read the book, but Hurley has an interesting blog post about the process of plotting out the events of the main narrative which I think is definitely worth reading.)

(3) The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty

I read and enjoyed the whole Daevabad trilogy this year, but I think the middle book was definitely the  strongest instalment.   We talked a bit about this in the dedicated (spoiler-heavy) thread on this board, but one particular aspect of the book I liked was the contrast between Ali’s POV chapters and the way that other characters interpreted his actions.  The book also did a good job of making all of the different factions seem relatable and potentially sympathetic (which isn’t necessarily true of the final volume).

(4) Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

It feels like I read nothing but the first books of unfinished trilogies during the autumn (honourable mentions to both Fonda Lee's Jade City and R. F. Kuang's The Poppy War, which would both have made my top ten if I had one). 

This was my favourite of the lot though, at least in part because  -- despite touching on some pretty depressing themes – it managed to be the most optimistic.  I liked Sancia and Clef and their interactions, and while the world building isn’t as detailed as Bennett’s earlier Divine Cities trilogy, I’m definitely interested to see where the story goes from here.

(Shorefall, the next book in the trilogy, is currently on my to-read list, and I might even have finished it before the end of the year.)

(5) The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Harrow’s first novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, was the first new fiction I read since lockdown started.  I liked it, but I wasn’t blown away by it.

I thought that this book – which I only finished last week -- was a big improvement on basically every front.  It certainly has some similar elements (both books are set in alternate North Americas near the start of the 20^th century , both books employ a narrative device where characters read or tell each other stories during breaks in the main action) and it explores similar themes, but I thought the whole thing felt a lot better realised this time around.  And the plot, in particular, moves forward at a much faster pace than it did in the first book.

 

And a final honourable mention to Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Tiger and The Wolf.  I’m not actually 100% sure I read this in 2020 (which is why it’s not on the list), but I definitely read it – and the rest of Tchaikovsky’s Echoes of the Fall trilogy – at some time between October 2019 and February 2020, and I think it was probably towards the end of that period.  I thought Maniye was a great protagonist and I liked the whole trilogy a lot, but the first book was my favourite.

[williamjm]

Books released in 2020:

“Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke

It's been a long wait for Clarke's second novel and while this isn't the sequel to Strange & Norrell that I might have wanted I thought this was a great book. I particularly liked how the protagonist managed to find so much wonder in his world despite being in a situation that should have been nightmarish.

“The Trouble with Peace” by Joe Abercrombie

Another good book in the First Law world, perhaps not quite his best but it still had plenty of highlights, particularly the battle that makes up most of the finale.

“Shorefall” by Robert Jackson Bennett

I'd probably say something to what @Plessiez said about the first book in this trilogy, the second volume continued to develop on the implications of the events in the first book.

“Utopia Avenue” by David Mitchell

I thought this did a great job of portraying its late-60s setting and had some well-developed characters. It must be really hard to write a book about making music but Mitchell made it work.

“The Saints of Salvation” by Peter F. Hamilton

After so many space opera novels I'm impressed Hamilton did still manage to find a few new twists on the old formula as the trilogy came to a spectacular finale.

Older books:

“The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman

A short and fairly simple book but I thought it was just about perfect.

“A Memory Called Empire” by Arkady Martine

A space opera set in a fascinating world. I thought it was very written, especially for a debut novel.

“Gideon the Ninth” by Tamsyn Muir

Another impressive debut that's not really like anything else I've read. The first section took a bit of getting used to but it once it got to the contest for lictor-hood I thought it become really compelling. I particularly like that it made the supporting characters interesting when they could just have been plot devices.

“The Crow Road” by Iain Banks

I've read all of Banks' SF but not his mainstream fiction. I thought it did a great job of capturing the feel of the time and place it was in.
 

“Under the Pendulum Sun” by Jeanette Ng

Yet another good debut. I liked the way it gradually introduced the bizarre setting of the faerie castle the protagonist had journeyed to before suddenly raising the stakes significantly.

Away from novels I'd also mention Lois McMaster Bujold's novella The Physicians of Vilnoc, a story about competent characters trying to stop a mysterious and deadly plague felt very timely.
 

[ljkeane]

I think I say this every year but I'm not great at either ranking how much I enjoyed books or remembering when I read them if it was more than a couple of months ago. Still, I'll give it a go.

Like a few other people I liked Gideon the Ninth, I preferred it to the second book which was also okay. I also enjoyed SA Chakraborty's Daevabad trilogy and I'd agree with Plessiez that The Kingdom of Copper was probably the best. I also read Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove for the first time which was very good. The same for Mark Lawrence's The Book of the Ancestors trilogy which I'll just treat as one as they've kind of blurred together in my mind.

One that hasn't been mentioned which I thought was excellent was MR Carey's The Book of Koli which was a really well done sort post apocalyptic sci fi novel.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

(BTW, I love this thread every year because I then aggregate my reading list from it for the next three months.  There were a lot of things on my "I should read" list, like Gideon the Ninth, Memory of Empire and Piranesi, which I guess I should just get to reading).

[TheLastWolf]

Obviously... 

[IlyaP]

3 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Obviously... 

Why obviously? 

[Teng Ai Hui]

My favorites this year were the first 3 books of Dennis E Taylor's Bobiverse series and Ali Wong's biography, Dear Girls.

[Gaston de Foix]

2020 was somewhat of a let-down for me in terms of anticipated books.  However this thread has gone some way to change my mind: I read a Deadly Education yesterday and enjoyed it thoroughly.  I'm going to read the first of the Queen's Thief series and a Wizard's Guide and will report back. 

[TheLastWolf]

5 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Why obviously? 

Health conscious 

[maarsen]

On 12/23/2020 at 8:44 AM, williamjm said:

Books released in 2020:

“Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke

 

It's been a long wait for Clarke's second novel and while this isn't the sequel to Strange & Norrell that I might have wanted I thought this was a great book. I particularly liked how the protagonist managed to find so much wonder in his world despite being in a situation that should have been nightmarish.

“The Trouble with Peace” by Joe Abercrombie

 

Another good book in the First Law world, perhaps not quite his best but it still had plenty of highlights, particularly the battle that makes up most of the finale.

“Shorefall” by Robert Jackson Bennett

 

I'd probably say something to what @Plessiez said about the first book in this trilogy, the second volume continued to develop on the implications of the events in the first book.

“Utopia Avenue” by David Mitchell

 

I thought this did a great job of portraying its late-60s setting and had some well-developed characters. It must be really hard to write a book about making music but Mitchell made it work.

“The Saints of Salvation” by Peter F. Hamilton

 

After so many space opera novels I'm impressed Hamilton did still manage to find a few new twists on the old formula as the trilogy came to a spectacular finale.

Older books:

“The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman

 

A short and fairly simple book but I thought it was just about perfect.

“A Memory Called Empire” by Arkady Martine

 

A space opera set in a fascinating world. I thought it was very written, especially for a debut novel.

“Gideon the Ninth” by Tamsyn Muir

 

Another impressive debut that's not really like anything else I've read. The first section took a bit of getting used to but it once it got to the contest for lictor-hood I thought it become really compelling. I particularly like that it made the supporting characters interesting when they could just have been plot devices.

“The Crow Road” by Iain Banks

 

I've read all of Banks' SF but not his mainstream fiction. I thought it did a great job of capturing the feel of the time and place it was in.
 

“Under the Pendulum Sun” by Jeanette Ng

 

Yet another good debut. I liked the way it gradually introduced the bizarre setting of the faerie castle the protagonist had journeyed to before suddenly raising the stakes significantly.

Away from novels I'd also mention Lois McMaster Bujold's novella The Physicians of Vilnoc, a story about competent characters trying to stop a mysterious and deadly plague felt very timely.
 

Being somewhat OCD, after discovering Iain Banks through his SF, I then read all his non SF I could get my hands on. Enjoy!

[C.T. Phipps]

I strongly recommend "Of Honey and Wildfires" by Sarah Chorn (Seraphina's Lament) as that was just a fantastic steampunk novel set in a mining town on the edge of civilization.

Lots of great LGBT representation and fantastic low stakes fantasy.

I also really enjoyed "A Wizard's Sacrifice" by A.M. Justice that is the sequel to "A Wizard's Forge". That was a book that really hit me in the feels.

[TheLastWolf]

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, Booker 2020

A Burning by Megha Majumdar 

Apeirogon by Colum McCann

Red Pill by Hari Kunzru

Chosen Spirits by Samit Basu 

Sex and Vanity by.... Kevin Kwan

 

Non Fiction 

If then by Jill Lepore

The Battle of Belonging by Shashi Tharoor 

The Commonwealth of Cricket by Ramachandra Guha

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson 

A promised land By Barack Obama 

The End (by the last wolf) 

[Myshkin]

My top two reads of the year were both by Nigerian authors and I’m having a hard time choosing between them, so I’ll list them as 1 and 1a.

1) An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma 

1a) Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

3) Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau

4) The Sellout by Paul Beatty 

5) Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul 

6) The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead 

7) Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

8) The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar

9) The Vegetarian by Han Kang

10) The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh

This list excludes rereads, otherwise DeLillo’s Libra and Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh would be on it.

[Underfoot]

I read more (new) books this year than I have in a long time, and found a lot of good ones. 

(1) The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin - if I had to pick one from the trilogy, it'd probably be book 1, but what a fantastic read. As someone who studied geology in school, it was really cool to learn more and more about the magic system.

(2) Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay - I hadn't read a GGK book since high school and doubt I appreciated them as much then as I would've now. Anyways, this book stayed with me for a long time; beautiful, poetic, bittersweet. 

(3) Uprooted by Naomi Novik - I was on a fairytale streak in late 2019, finishing up the Bear and the Nightingale trilogy, then read Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente and Ash by Malinda Lo, so was looking for something similar. I read Spinning Silver first (which I enjoyed), but Uprooted really brought the malevolence of the forest to life, so much so that I stopped taking walks in the woods for awhile. Anything that can affect me like that deserves to be near the top of the list. 

(4) The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold - I love the Penric and Desdemona novellas, and this one didn't disappoint. Despite the infectious disease-related plot, it was a wonderful escape. 

(5) A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik - There's some recency bias here as I just finished the book a couple of hours ago, but this was so fun, I could barely put it down. Can't wait for the next installment!

(6) The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow - A fun, light read that sparked my imagination more than any book recently. 

Overall, a good year for books!

 

[Starkess]

Copying from the reading thread:

My favorites this year were The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Power by Naomi Alderman, and A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. Those were the only 3 books I gave 5 stars to on GR, but there were loads of 4 stars and I'm too lazy to go through them to compile a top 10.

I think my least favorite (of books I completed) was Finale by Stephanie Garber. My DNFs were Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler and The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.

[Galactus]

On 12/22/2020 at 11:26 PM, Mlle. Zabzie said:

 

Honorable mention: Half a Soul - Olivia Atwater.  Frothy, fun fairy tale.  Very little substance, but sort of what I needed this year.

What does "frothy" mean in this context? I have seen it used for various stuff but I never quite figured out what is meant by it. 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

12 hours ago, Galactus said:

What does "frothy" mean in this context? I have seen it used for various stuff but I never quite figured out what is meant by it. 

Fluffy, without substance, full of air, and

fun