List
2020 Staff Picks: Fiction
Our expert staff members look back at the year and share their favorite titles.
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Transcendent Kingdom
2020 by Gyasi, YaaGet this itemThe first words that come to mind about this book are heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and emotional. A powerful story about a young woman trying to understand her brother's addiction and her mother's mental illness through the lens of neuroscience and religion. So much to identify with and so much to appreciate through the power of transcendent storytelling. Recommended by Megan and Maridsa.
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The Only Good Indians
2020 by Jones, Stephen GrahamGet this itemLyrical, super scary, and just plain terrific, this was the horror novel to read this year. Dread kept mounting as characters who deserved better fell to an unstoppable supernatural vengeance on Montana's Blackfeet Reservation, seemingly regardless of what choices they made (pretty sure there was a metaphor in there). Recommended by Lynnanne and Andrew.
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Interior Chinatown
2020 by Yu, CharlesGet this itemOne of the funniest, most creative, and deliciously clever books I read this year. Its own brand of metafiction (it’s written as a screenplay), its tightrope work of conceptualism never falters. It is also a trenchant exploration of what it means (and doesn’t mean) to be Asian-American. One you want to share with others. Recommended by Chris.
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A Children's Bible
2020 by Millet, LydiaGet this itemIt's the perfect collision of allegory and harsh reality. Recommended by Adam.
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Saving Ruby King
2020 by West, Catherine AdelGet this itemA beautiful book that expertly balances complicated themes of secrets, family, love, and forgiveness as well as the weight of generational pain and suffering. I loved the multiple points of view, including one from the Calvary Hope Christian Church, and thought this unique structure added layers of nuance and richness to an already incredible narrative. Recommended by Lynnanne.
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Afterlife
2020 by Alvarez, JuliaGet this itemDominican-American Antonia is grieving the recent death of her husband when other challenges come her way. Falling back on her years of teaching literature, she references the wisdom of poets as she tries to figure out how to be a responsible, compassionate person in the world and care for herself at the same time. The story really resonated with me. Alvarez’s writing is emotional and engrossing, but with a measured tone that allowed me to absorb its profundity. Recommended by Lukie.
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The Girl with the Louding Voice
2020 by Daré, AbiGet this itemI loved everything about this book, especially the main character Adunni, who is a light in the darkness. This was written in her dialect of English that, to a native speaker, would not sound correct, but it shows how much she has learned already as a young Nigerian girl with high hopes to continue her education, despite the forces that are blocking her. In a tale that was both powerful and moving, this story and the complex characters still resonate with me. Recommended by Maridsa.
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The Night Watchman
2020 by Erdrich, LouiseGet this itemFrom the first page, I was totally immersed in this beautiful book. The fact that the author based this moving story on her grandfather’s letters to thwart Congress' effort to remove Native Americans from their reservation on Turtle Mountain is a tribute to her imagination and her incomparable writing skills. Recommended by Terry.
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Migrations
2020 by McConaghy, CharlotteGet this itemCould we deal, emotionally, with a story that takes place in the future when 80% of the earth's creatures are extinct? It is melancholy, for sure, but a powerful, adventurous story that ends with a glimmer of hope. We found it hard to put down this poignant and gripping commentary on current events. Recommended by Lukie and Terry.
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Enter the Aardvark
2020 by Anthony, JessicaGet this itemThis story jumps between two stories in two time periods: a modern Republican congressman and a Victorian taxidermist. It is political satire unlike anything I've read before. I think Kirkus described this title perfectly when they wrote, "Weirdly compelling and compellingly weird." Recommended by Becca.
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Mercy House
2020 by Dillon, AlenaGet this itemAs Catholic, I loved this story that featured a very unconventional nun, Sister Eleanor. Sister Eleanor is a one-of-a-kind creation, achingly real, funny, and flawed. I found Mercy House to be a stirring indictment of the Catholic Church, a respective portrayal of faith as well as a beautifully written story of women recovering from great trauma. Recommended by Lynnanne.
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Rodham
2020 by Sittenfeld, CurtisGet this itemLoved this. I’m always curious about alternate timelines and which decisions change our life trajectory, and this book was a fascinating consideration of what Hillary Rodham’s life would’ve been like if she hadn’t married Bill. Cool mix of actual events with fictionalized ones, and the ultimate ending made my heart hurt. Recommended by Tiffany.
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Such a Fun Age
2019 by Reid, KileyGet this itemOkay. This one is a little bit of a cheat because it came out on 12/31/19 but you'll let that slide, right? I really loved this book. It was one of the first books I read in 2020 and I'm still thinking about it. Reid is a master of dialogue and character-building as well as the slow burn. Recommended by Becca.
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The Great Concert of the Night
2020 by Buckley, JonathanGet this itemJonathan Buckley’s memory novel is an elegant, perfectly polished work of art. Written by a man of high culture with a well-stocked mind, it gives pleasure and provokes admiration on every page as its storyline gently advances through a series of brief vignettes, each worth lingering over. A truly uncanny novel. It pairs remarkably well with another 2020 title, Weather by Jenny Offill. Recommended by Steven and Adam.
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Weather
2020 by Offill, JennyGet this itemA staff favorite (mostly). This one touched me so profoundly that I read it twice this year. Recommended by Becca.
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The Vanishing Half
2020 by Bennett, BritGet this itemThis is easily the best book I've read all year, and it will forever be the book that made me realize that my favorite kind of story is an intergenerational family saga involving characters with deeply held secrets. Recommended by Laurel.
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The Pull of the Stars
2020 by Donoghue, EmmaGet this itemDark, yes. But for me, this was a phenomenal story of women and of one woman in particular. Julia is a tenacious character, vividly written and brought to life on the page. The detail and the specifics of her work and patients boggled my mind and, at times, caused to me lose sleep as I stayed up finishing her story. Recommended by Cecilia.
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The Regrets
2020 by Bonnaffons, AmyGet this itemThis is everything I love in a book. Literary but still readable. Kind of bananas. A little dark and a little bit of romance. Judge this book by its cover because that's great too. Recommended by Becca.
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The Silence
2020 by DeLillo, DonGet this itemDeLillo has once again handed us the future. Recommended by Adam.
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What Are You Going Through
2020 by Nunez, SigridGet this itemA novel of ideas. Wisdom distilled into 200 pages. A story about death that’s funny. Or was it a story about friendship and euthanasia that’s funny? What sounds bleak is anything but. The protagonist is outlandishly curious, intelligent, and fully alive to the trials and tribulations of living. Coy and clear-eyed and it rang me like a bell. Recommended by Chris.
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Writers & Lovers
2020 by King, LilyGet this itemThere's nothing extraordinary about the plot of this novel, yet it felt extraordinary. The day-to-day details and strong emotions made it feel very alive and present. I can't remember being so submerged in a novel in a long time. Recommended by Lukie.
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Gun Island
2019 by Ghosh, AmitavGet this itemAmitav Ghosh is one of my favorite writers; this may be his masterpiece. A fussy rare book dealer encounters people and events somehow connected to a Bengali folktale. This premise is the cornerstone of an epic that moves from India's Sundarbans to an increasingly apocalyptic California to a Venice on the verge of being swallowed by rising seas. People are on the move, and nature is out of balance. Reminiscent of Salman Rushdie, Mohsin Hamid, and Umberto Eco, yet original. Another title that is from late 2019 but worth noting. Recommended by Andrew.
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Temporary
2020 by Leichter, HilaryGet this item"Eighteen boyfriends, twenty-three jobs, and one ghost who occasionally pops in to give advice: Temporary casts a hilarious and tender eye toward the struggle for happiness under late capitalism." The back of the book sums it up better than I ever could. Great for fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation. Recommended by Becca.
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