2020 was a less than stellar experience in a lot of ways but in terms of reading, for me it was a very good one. Here’s my ten favorite reads of the past year:
- Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu - I thought his How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe was a work of genius. Well his second book is at least as brilliant.
- Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith - Arguably the best of the Cormoran Strike books to date.
- V. by Thomas Pynchon - I read a number of Pynchon books, this was the earliest, the best, and most influential.
- Green Lantern: Earth One, Vol. 2 by Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko - The best new comic book material I read this year, as much a revelation as its preceding volume.
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - Her long-awaited next book is certainly shorter than Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell but equally imaginative.
- Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - The author of The Time Traveler’s Wife produces a miracle of a book nearly its equal as her follow up.
- Cesare by Jerome Charyn - I have read and admired many books by Charyn, but this incredible true story of wartime Germany is perhaps the book he was born to write.
- The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen Carter - What in later years seems unthinkable to most Americans was certainly probable in Lincoln’s own lifetime. This is the story of an alternate history where he survived the assassination, didn’t become overnight a beloved national hero, and instead faced the response to his controversial wartime policies.
- Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Matthias Énard - A brilliant short historic novel focusing on a little-remembered anecdote from the career of Michelangelo.
- The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling - Obviously I listed both of her books published last fall despite the massive backlash she faced online, all of which was informed by a total misunderstanding and inability to remember what it is she actually writes, much less what she actually wrote. Well.
