Best Books of 2020
2020… We spent 9 months of the year basically in quarantine in our house. Besides getting to spend a lot of great quality time as a family, I read a lot of books. A big year for me before this was 80, but in 2020, I finished 114 books. According to Goodreads, I read 37,188 pages this year, and my average star rating was 3.8.
I tried to narrow it down to just 10 books, but I finally settled on a top 12 list.
Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. by Joyce Carol Oates
The patriarch of a family dies after trying to help an Indian man stopped by the police because they believe he is Black. A son fights to try to find justice, and a widow just attempts to live.
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Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees
At the end of WWII, Edith Graham is recruited by her cousin to go to Germany to spy on someone from her past. While there, she uses her alter ego as a newspaper food critic and recipe author to send hidden messages back to her friends
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Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams
When photojournalist Janey Everett finds and confronts a long assumed missing pilot, Irene Lindquist, hiding in Hawaii, wanting to ask her questions about the man who taught her how to fly, Sam Mallory, we find ourselves in the story of Irene and Sam and the secrets Janey uncovers.
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The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
A sweet, heart-warming book about 85-year-old Eudora Honeysett is making plans to die in Switzerland when a new family moves in next door with a 10-year-old girl who decides to adopt her.
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Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland
A bittersweet story about two sisters — Fanny and Florence — and what their mother Esther will do to protect Fanny’s high-risk pregnancy after Florence dies in a freak accident.
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All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono by David Sheff
This year was the 40th anniversary of Lennon’s assassination with a new introduction by David Sheff, made much more poignant because of the focus on Lennon’s relationship with his son, Sean.
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Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
The newest addition to the Practical Magic series, we learn about why Maria Owens puts a curse against anyone who falls in love with future generations of Owens women.
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The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult
After surviving a plane crash, Dawn Edelstein’s story splits into one where she immediately flies to Egypt (where she once was an Egyptologist) to find her first love. and another where she flies back home to her career as a death doula and her husband and daughter in Boston.
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The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
Hannie Gossett is a freed slave, still working for her former master, when she witnesses the kidnapping of his daughters. She follows them into the deep South, hoping to rescue them, while putting herself and her freedom at risk if she’s caught.
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Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
A young man takes a job at the Flying Leap dude ranch in Reno, where wealthy socialites can stay to establish residency to divorce their husbands. He grows particularly close with two of them, and the book really focuses on the relationship between the three of them.
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The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan
Liza, Maggie, and Tricia Sweeney are sisters dealing not only with the unexpected death of their famous author father but also with the discovery of a secret fourth sister.
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The Last Flight by Julie Clark
When Claire makes a plan to flee her abusive and very wealthy husband, she takes a chance on switching identities with another woman she meets at the airport bar. When her original flight crashes, she thinks she might have really gotten away, until she realizes that she doesn’t really know the person whose life she just took over.
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