ALL THE BOOKS I READ in 2020
I read 56 books in 2020. Iâll begin with the three Iâve read in 2021:
After Claude, Iris Owens
Bitter and nasty
Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages, Phyllis Rose
This was wonderful â really sane and wise and made me think a lot about power in relationships. What kind of partnership do I want? Maybe none?
Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
I think a cold and rubbish January is a very nice time to be reading Barbara Pym â novels about quiet bat people, plain little nobodies who notice things and do good works. Theyâre comforting in an abstract way and also quite tragic. I do hate that they give Barbara Pym novels such awful and sexist front covers. Just because a book is written by a woman does not mean it should have a rubbish cover that makes it look like the kind of book people buy at the airport and then leave on holiday.
In 2020
(rereads in italics, best books in bold)
Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977-2002, David Sedaris
Convenience Store Woman, Sakaya Murata
Kudos, Rachel Cusk
this was good but I find all of her work so incredibly depressing that Iâm not sure Iâll read anymore. Her way of describing life sucks all of the joy from every possible experience.
Motherhood, Sheila Heti
Sheila Heti is one of my favourite writers â Women in Clothes is an incredible book. This was so good to read.
The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood
Gang Leader for A Day, Sudhir Venkatesh
How to argue with a racist, Adam Rutherford
Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater
Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
Attention, Joshua CohenÂ
Reading Attention was an experience that made me think; isnât it incredible that really intelligent people write things down and we get to read them and see how they think? What a joy and a privilege.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
I read a review of Ottessa Moshfeghâs latest novel in the LRB where the reviewer called her a high-functioning literary troll. I agree.
Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh
The Topeka School, Ben Lerner
Later, Paul Lisicky
Me and my friend Z love to read memoirs and this is a lovely memoir/book of thoughts by a writer living in Provincetown during the AIDS epidemic.
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan (I reread all 5 Percy Jackson books)
Between You & Me, Mary Norris
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
I canât believe I read all of War and Peace. I loved the Peace bits and skipped a few of the War parts. The Peace bits are like a good episode of Eastenders except where you just get the sense that the writer has the utmost love, care, and affection for their characters. It is as good as people say it is!
The Princess Diaries (Books 1-10) Meg Cabot
The Mediator (Books 1-6) Meg Cabot
Weather, Jenny Offill
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, William Finnegan
This is one of the best books Iâve read in ages â I wish I could read it again for the first time. I have never found writing about surfing (a sport my brother loves that I donât know that much about) so incredibly fascinating and beautiful. Astonishingly good.
Heimat, Nora Krug
Bunny, Mona Awad
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead
This is probably the most tragic book I have ever read â but not in a Little Life pain-porn suffering kind of way. Very good.
Girl, Woman, Other, Bernadine Evaristo
The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood
I think Margaret Atwood is a genius and this book is an excellent piece of evidence to back up my point of view.
All about love, bell hooks
How to Fail, Elizabeth Day
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
Why Iâm not longer talking to white people about race, Reni Eddo-Lodge
The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How itâs broken
Oryx & Crake, Margaret Atwood
El camino de Ida, Ricardo Piglia
I read this in Spanish for uni but it was great â all about the Unabomber (kind of).
In the Distance, Hernan Diaz
This fits into one of my favourite genres â it is a Western. Wonderful. I was reading it in the sitting room and kept reading out sentences to my flatmates because they were so good.
The Appointment, Katherina Volckmer
This is both good and short.
Index Cards, Moyra Davey
I read this in one afternoon in Ridley Road Social Club. They had an event in the evening and as I sat there reading it some drunk girls came and sat across from me and asked me how I could concentrate and read for so long. I was with a friend who was listening to records at Hidden Sounds. I loved it and it made me feel like I did when I read Joshua Cohenâs Attention â how nice to be able to see into other peopleâs brains and think more about what theyâve been thinking about.
The Mothers, Brit Bennett





















