A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Crowning Our Best Books Of 2020
We read 26 books we found absorbing enough to distract us from 2020! If you can believe it! Here are the ones that earned newsletter endorsements over the past 12 months (shop ‘em all from Bookshop.org!), and if you’re looking to go deeper, well, how about podcast interviews with the authors of some of our very faves: This Is Big, Big Friendship, Big Macs & Burgundy, and Black Futures? (Apparently, having “big” in the title really won us over.) If you’re all caught up, how about tuning into our latest podcast episode featuring the amply bookish founder of Girls’ Night In, Alisha Ramos?
things we read
Highly endorsing both the novel Doxology and its companion read: The New Yorker profile of Nell Zink, the book’s compellingly kooky author.
Falling hard for two kids who spontaneously combust on the reg, along with their insanely likeable caretaker, in Nothing to See Here, one of the best books we’ve read in a good long while.
Consuming Midnight Chicken more like an essay collection than a cookbook—and wondering if there’s a non-pretentious way to incorporate the Britishism faff into our vocabulary.
Devouring our first non-binary coming-out story and romance ℅ I Wish You All the Best.
Feeling relieved to have finished the outstanding Such a Fun Age after staying up way too late reading it.
Setting aside four half-finished books to dive into this, which is sort of a mature, noir Harriet the Spy...but also something uniquely its own. Utterly absorbing, which is the best compliment we can give to any entertainment right now.
Determining that now is definitely the moment to get into romance novels, and The Idea of You truly delivers: boy bands, art gallerists, and all kinds of good L.A. references.
Giving much thought to what it’s like to be a person with a body through the lens of this spectacular book.
Giving Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers our highest literary compliment...which is actually a question: “Who should be cast in the movie version?”
Dispatching a copy of Kimberly Drew’s activism-oriented This Is What I Know About Art to the most creative teen we know.
Burying oursleves in a romcom plot that’s got a male lead who loves romance novels and rugby and a female one who's committed exclusively to academia and casual sex.
Basking in the cautious optimism, weirdness, and love of this book, which set the tone for a Saturday morning.
Remembering all of the angst, confusion, and longing of the high- school years, filtered through the lens of a non-binary Black teen in Felix Ever After.
Predicting the future (an especially daring move in 2020, we know): This is the book you’re going to be hearing about everywhere come fall.
Highlighting passage after passage of Raven Leilani’s debut, which is a bit Little Fires Everywhere, a smidge Such a Fun Age, a dash Fleabag, and plenty something totally its own.
Rediscovering a favorite tome: the amazing Macmillan Visual Dictionary.
Singing our praises of this field guide to any NYC birding newbies. It delivers with that predictably charming cover, too.
Leaning into the campus novel during a very, eh, Bizarro World back-to-school season. Highly endorse this one, about a Black, queer biochem grad student finding his way.
Answering the question, what do eighties pop culture, witches, and field hockey have in common? This book.
Feeling not at all surprised that Yaa Gyasi’s second book is every bit as beautiful and absorbing as her first.
Marveling at how adeptly Melissa Faliveno weaves together gender, sexuality, and the American Midwest in her essay collection Tomboyland (yes, great title).
Doing that thing where we search out every possible podcast, article, and review related to the author after finishing The Death of Vivek Oji.
Learning fitting wine pairings for Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked, Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi, and Sour Patch Kids. Finally.
Getting our Paris fix with Margot instead of Emily.
Flagging passage after passage of this book, which, honestly, is more validating than dread-inducing (which was a fear going in!).
Getting drawn into Major Arcana’s portraits of and statements from self-identified witches from across the U.S. in ways we did not expect.
