2020 Book List - Top Picks
American Dirt by Jeannine Cummins. [Ed: Yes, we realize we're not the first to tell you about this novel, but so many of you raved, we couldn't NOT include it as a top pick!] "Could not put it down. I stayed up ridiculously late to read it, and didn't regret it one bit, despite my bleary-eyed state the next day." "Best book I have read all year. Despite the controversy about the author's qualifications to write this book, I found it to be a compelling story. The story follows Lydia, a bookstore owner and widow of a slain journalist, and her 8 year-old son, Luca, who are forced to leave everything and flee Mexico after a drug cartel kills their entire family at her niece's quinceanera. More than anything, it is a reminder of how fleeting life can be and that we are all just one bad circumstance away from desperation." "I read a lot of the critical reviews of this novel, and I was frankly baffled by them. It's not their argument that not enough Latinx writers are published. They might be right about that. That doesn't speak to the book itself, though. What baffled me was the idea that this novel would delight immigration opponents. I don't see how anyone could read this novel and not emerge with more compassion for the plight of those who are so desperate to reach this country."
Beach Read by Emily Henry. Right in our sweet spot, no? The instant bestseller appeared on all the "anticipated books of summer"-type lists. "Chick lit, kind of, but not *ugh* chick lit." "Beach Reads tells the story of January Andrews, a romance writer who needs to finish her fifth novel, but whose faith in romance has been shaken. January flees to a Michigan lake for the summer, only to find that her next-door neighbor is her former college writing rival, Augustus Everett. Gus, a writer of (terribly serious and unredemptive) literary fiction, is also suffering from writer's block. The polar opposites (but ARE THEY?) agree to a genre-swapping contest: January will write a lit fic novel, and Gus will pen a genre romance. Whoever writes the better novel wins. The loser will have to write a blurb and help promote it. It's definitely got the 'Hating Game' vibe, but with more mature characters and emotional layering." "I really enjoyed this novel. The author made a big effort at establishing the chemistry between the characters. Deeper story than I expected."
The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes. “Based on a true story of the Pack Horse Library initiative, a WPA project promoted by Eleanor Roosevelt to bring books to the Appalachian Mountains post Depression. Alice Wright escapes her life in England when she marries a rich American from small town Kentucky. Becoming a member of the Pack Horse team fulfills all that was missing in Alice’s life.”
A Good Neighborhood by Therese Ann Fowler. “This is a timely novel, one that had me by the throat from the very beginning. It's not a happy story, but while it'll break your heart, it's also searing and well-paced, and beautifully written. A Good Neighborhood tells the story of a widow named Valerie, who lives with her teenage son Xavier. Valerie, who is black, loves Oak Knoll, her neighborhood in western North Carolina, and while her house is far from grand, in her backyard is a very grand and very old oak tree. When self-made HVAC millionaire Brad Whitman purchases the lot behind Valerie and Xavier, he razes the house and builds a much larger one, damaging the roots of the oak in the process. Things get complicated when Xavier and Brad's stepdaughter Juniper get romantically involved, and when Valerie decides to sue. The novel is narrated by Valerie's neighbors ('we'), a device that lent an ominous Greek Chorus-style tone, and gave voice to the fellow residents of Oak Knoll, the pseudonymous 'good neighborhood.'"
The Guest List by Lucy Foley. One of Today Show's anticipated novels for this summer. "Agatha Christy with a modern twist." "A wedding weekend on an isolated Irish island provides the wonderfully ominous setting for this psychological thriller. On the night of the wedding, someone is murdered, and the whodunit is unwound via the perspectives of six different characters. A storm, a bridezilla, a power outage, and loads of interpersonal tension ratchet up the tension. The novel takes place over two days, but it took me less time than that to read the entire thing." "I started this one night (during a power outage - not very strategic, given this novel's eeriness) and finished it less than twenty-four hours later. Super propulsive, cool setting, heart thumpingly good read. Multiple POVs, but the only time I lost the thread was when I stopped reading in the middle of a chapter."
This is Happiness by Niall Williams. "The Irishest of Irish fiction, Williams tells the tale of Noel, a Dublin teenager, who goes to live for a while with his grandparents in their 200-year-old house in Faha, a small community in County Clare. Noel has experienced a traumatic event, which he needs to process, and Faha seems the right place to do so - a placid village, relatively untouched by the hands of time. Of course, there are ripples below the surface of this placid community, and Williams treats it all with great tenderness and Irish humor." "Okay, so it's not a 'beach read' in the 'propulsive, racing heart, skim the language to find out what happens' sense, but this author's beautiful, lyrical prose and wonderful story captured my heart, and while I didn't read it on a beach, I certainly could have."
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. [ed: sold out in hardcover!] "An instant and timely bestseller, this novel tells the story of identical, light-skinned African American twins, Stella and Desiree Vignes. Traumatized by something they witnessed, the twins fled Mallard, their small Louisiana town at age sixteen, and headed to New Orleans. While Desiree eventually returns to Mallard, Stella takes another path and builds a new life on a lie. This novel is not just about race and unconscious biases (though it is about that). It's also about the meaning of family and home, and the way the consequences of actions can ripple through generations."
Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur. “A memoir that reads like a novel, about the complexities of an unusually co-dependent mother-daughter relationship, the particularities of WASP culture, Cape Cod summers, and delicious food. Beautifully written, with can't-tear-yourself-away storytelling.”