Here it is, the last day of 2020, and I think it’s safe to say that most people are looking forward to a fresh start in 2021. But for now, apart from the healthcare sector, grocery clerks, and restauranteurs, we will probably be stuck at home for a few more months yet. I’m viewing it as an opportunity to get started on my reading goal for next year: seventeen books—five more than this year.
When I sat down to tally the books I’d read over the past twelve months, the number surprised me. I wasn’t expecting it to be so high, considering all the distractions 2020 came with. Like so many people, I was glued to the TV and internet in the early days of the pandemic, hungry for news about case numbers, prevention, grocery shortages, death tolls, and what to expect next. Then the BLM movement came along, the US election shenanigans, and news that a vaccine might take years, not months, to be discovered. To get away from the chaos of this world, it appears some of my time was spent exploring other ones, at a rate of one per month. It’s not a prolific list by any means, but more than I expected amidst a crumbling civilization.
Anyway, I’m starting a thing here on my blog…an annual post of the books I’ve read. It was a good exercise reacquainting myself with these books, some of which I’d forgotten I’d even read. As you will see, my reading taste is all over the board, so with any luck, you’ll find something on this list that resonates with you. In the interest of keeping you awake, I’ve provided a super short micro-review for each, in no particular order.
Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane
Contemporary Urban Fiction
I enjoyed this story for its tenderness and simultaneous grit. It begins in 1973 when two rookie police officers and their families become neighbors in the small, fictional town of Gillam outside of New York City. One family seems to have it all together, the other is plagued with mental health issues, alcoholism, verbal abuse, and abandonment.
While rife with emotional triggers, a good portion of the story centers around two young hearts yearning to reconnect with each other after tragedy separates them. Fasten your seatbelt for an emotional read.
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
Contemporary Literary/Coming of Age Fiction/Murder Mystery – you name the genre, this book has it.
The story opens with two boys discovering a body in a North Carolina marsh. It quickly pivots to a fanciful tale of Kya, a little girl whose unique relationship with nature helps her deal with weighty issues of abuse, neglect, and eventually abandonment.
When other reviewers criticized the author’s lack of research on the setting and the far-fetched idea that a 6-year-old could raise herself in an isolated shack in the middle of a marsh, I almost took a pass on this book. I’m glad I didn’t. Admittedly, the Southern dialect was tedious at first, but the neighboring prose was so rich and poetic that it turned me around after a few short pages for its themes of love, loss, and loyalty.
I would recommend Where the Crawdads Sing to anyone who might enjoy a sweet coming-of-age story that highlights nature and the importance of simplicity in a world obsessed with status and materialism.
The Institute – Stephen King
Psychological Thriller / Horror Suspense
Only the master of horror could get away with a story where innocent parents are murdered and their children stolen then squirreled away in a secret laboratory for brutal experimental testing. If this premise sounds much too disturbing, this might not be the best book for you. But if you’re an uber-fan of King like I am, you wouldn’t dare miss this one!
The Husband’s Secret – Liane Moriarty
Women’s Psychological Fiction / Crime Fiction
I picked this one up because I enjoyed Big Little Lies by this author and was looking for a similar experience. In this, Moriarty delivered the goods. The story centers on a successful businesswoman, good mom, and all-around upstanding member of her community coming across a note in the attic from her husband that she wasn’t supposed to find until he was dead and gone. One thing, though. He’s still very much alive.
Without giving too much of the plot away, the story is chock-full of Moriarty-style lies, deceit, and general assholery. It was a fun read and just the type of distraction I craved in the early days of a worldwide health crisis.
Into the Water: A Novel – Paula Hawkins
Women’s Psychological Fiction / Crime Fiction
Here was another novel I was excited to read based on a previous book by the same author. Sadly, it didn’t deliver the same punch as Girl on the Train.
The story revolves around a mysterious river in a small English town where many women have drowned over many years. Jules Abbot’s sister, Nel, is the most recent victim, and now Jules has been called in to care for Nel’s surviving teenage daughter while the police investigate the death.
For me, there were too many characters to keep track of, which distracted me from the story because I was constantly flipping back to figure out who the heck character six or seven or nine was. Granted, I do a lot of reading in short sprints, sometimes with days in between, so the story may have been easier to piece together with my more sustained attention. But that’s the thing. It didn’t beg me to keep reading into the wee hours and was easy to put down.
All in all, it was an interesting premise that needed more focus and fewer characters.
The Testaments: A Novel – Margaret Atwood
Dystopian Fiction / Women’s Literary Fiction
Praise be, Atwood has done it again.
The story takes up roughly fifteen years after The Handmaid’s Tale’s events. Through a written record, the infamous, detestable Aunt Lydia shines new light on the increasingly monstrous, power-obsessed citizens of Gilead. The story also chronicles two witnesses—first-generation Gileadites—one, Witness 369A, a Commander’s daughter living in Gilead; the other, Witness 369B, who grew up in Canada, far from the clutches of the Gilead regime but still affected by its reach.
Without spoiling the story, I will say that it tied up some loose ends where The Handmaid’s Tale left off. It was no less chilling. No less squirm-worthy. In true Atwood style. There’s talk of an upcoming Hulu series, and if that’s true, I will find a way to watch it.
This is How it Ends – Eva Dolan
Contemporary Urban Fiction / Psychological Thriller
Not one to gravitate to politically-driven stories, this one hooked me right from the first page. It chronicles a derelict apartment building slated for redevelopment and the subsequent eviction of its downtrodden inhabitants. The story is told from the perspectives of two tenants who decided to stay and stand up against the developers. Ella is a would-be journalist looking for purpose in her life; Molly is an activist from way back. Both are hiding something from each other. When Ella finds a body in the apartment building, the women become increasingly suspicious of each other, and eventually their narratives (Molly’s in present day; Ella’s in the past leading up to the present) converge.
It’s a fresh take on the age-old problem of gentrification. On the whole, This is How it Ends is a smart read with an ending that knocked my socks off.
An Ocean of Minutes – Thea Lim
Metaphysical Fiction / Time Travel Romance
For a book released a year and a half before the first diagnosed case of the coronavirus, Lim delivers a poignant, profoundly emotional account of the sacrifices one would make in the name of love. It’s eerily similar to what’s going on in the world right now, minus the time-travel element, of course. And even if I didn’t love time travel stories and even if the world weren’t in the grips of a horrible virus, I would still love this book.
The story follows Polly, who agrees to travel to the future to save her beloved Frank, who has contracted the deadly virus. In the future, Polly will work to pay off the debt for Frank’s life-saving treatment and meet up with her beloved at a predetermined spot. Unfortunately, the plan goes off the rails when Polly is accidentally re-routed twelve years past the scheduled date, and now it is up to her to find her way back to Frank.
An Ocean of Minutes is a grim, eerily prophetic tale about the horrors of a worldwide health crisis that is simultaneously a beautiful testament to the power of love. It made me wonder: If I were given the same chance—a mission fraught with risk and uncertainty and maybe even death—to save my loved one’s life, would I do it? Would you?
I Can’t Sleep – J.E. Rowney
Psychological Thriller
J.E. Rowney is a fellow self-published author whose book, I Can’t Sleep, was admittedly a reconnaissance operation for me. As an indie writer, I’m always on the lookout for how my novel might measure up to other books in a similar category, and I’ve certainly discovered some tough competition in this one. The story follows Becky Braithwaite, a young woman plagued with insomnia who goes off to college for a fresh start after her brother’s death two years previously.
I Can’t Sleep is thoroughly engaging right out of the gate. We are immediately immersed in Becky’s head as she hints at her previous trauma and begins having paranoid thoughts that someone might be following her. Rowney has admirable skill for expressing her protagonist’s internal struggles in such a way that isn’t overly whiny or self-absorbed, which couldn’t have been easy with a grieving, sleep-deprived young woman as the central character.
While this story had me guessing all the way through and I was excited to find out where Becky would end up, the ending fell short. I think the author meant to throw a curveball at the reader, but instead it felt as though she led me to the edge of a cliff and then turned around and walked away.
Despite the somewhat abrupt and unfulfilling ending, I would still recommend this book if you’re looking for a quick, uncomplicated psychological thriller that will keep you turning pages. And if you’re a fellow indie author looking for a superb example of first-person character building, this book has it in spades.
Comrade Corner:
The following books were written by friends of mine. I read all three at the beginning of the year and would be remiss to exclude them from this article. The genres are as disparate as could be, none of which I would have chosen had I not known the authors personally. I look forward to reading more from them someday.
Vermin 2.0: Hunger Pains – Lee Gabel
Horror Suspense
This is the first book in Gabel’s Detest-A-Pest series that follows ex-con Sam as he simultaneously battles a horde of killer rats in his New York apartment building while attempting to build a relationship with his estranged son. Gabel’s depiction of the small but menacing blood-hungry creatures is so vivid that I’ll be skipping the second book in this series, Arachnid 2.0: Darkness Crawls, due to my morbid fear of spiders. Instead, I’ll be sure to check out Gabel’s third installment, Molerat 2.0: Terror Burrows, which released earlier this year.
The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt – Nick Tooke
Historical / Literary Fiction
Nick Tooke’s debut novel, The Ballad of Samuel Hewitt is an artfully crafted historical coming-of-age tale set against the rugged beauty of the British Columbia Interior.
The story follows 17-year-old Samuel and his friend, Charleyboy, who steal a horse and set off on an adventure to not only to avoid being caught with the precious steed but also to escape their problems at home. Their journey is as rough-and-tumble as the landscape they traverse and puts their friendship and will to survive to the test.
Across the Wire – Stella Telleria
Dystopian Fiction / War and Military Action Fiction
I connected with this author through an online writer’s group when I found out she lives right here in my city. Her book, Across the Wire, is another one of those genres I wouldn’t normally pick up, but I’m glad I did. It blew me away!
The main character, Mia, a tough-shelled former Marine, accepts an assignment like no other. Instead of being sent to some hot, dry war-torn country, she’s transported to Gaia, a strange parallel dimension much like Earth. But unlike Earth, women rule the land and men are oppressed, and Mia’s mission is to train a secret band of escaped male slaves to fight the ultimate battle and win back their freedom.
This author has a sequel in the works, and I for one can’t wait to get my hands on it.
And there you have it, my mishmashy reading list of 2020.
I’m off to a roaring start on 2021’s list with a juicy psychological thriller I got for Christmas, The Guest List by Lucy Foley. It’s the story of a dazzling, high-profile wedding that takes place on a remote island off the coast of Ireland where one of the guests turns up dead. Sounds a little like Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, but it remains to be seen.
Now it’s your turn…
What were some of the books you read this year? What was your favorite? Did you come across any lesser-known titles that are destined to become bestsellers? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Here’s wishing you happy reading and good health in 2021 and beyond.
