Best Books of 2020: Top 20Like this list

20 items

• A Burning

  Majumdar, Megha,

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  Majumdar's searing, timely debut tells the story of Jivan, a Muslim shop-girl who lives with her parents in Kolabagan, a slum of Kolkata, India. When Jivan witnesses a train being set on fire at the railway station near her home, and then…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Caste

  the Origins of Our Discontents

  Wilkerson, Isabel,

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  Isabel Wilkerson's latest (after the One Book One Chicago selection The Warmth of Other Suns) blends research, hard-won insight, and the kind of first-hand anecdotal evidence that makes big ideas relatable into a work of rare acuity. Her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The City We Became

  Jemisin, N. K.,

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  Every city in the world has a heartbeat, a pulse, a rhythm all its own. But what keeps that city moving and breathing? What protects it from threats, both existential and physical? In NK Jemisin's latest, New York City is finally taking…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Cold Millions

  a Novel

  Walter, Jess, 1965-

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  After the death of his mother, teenager Rye Dolan heads west to tramp along the rails and find work with his older brother Gig, an idealistic and well-read committeeman in the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World). Rye is swept up into…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Deacon King Kong

  McBride, James, 1957-

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  James McBride (author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird) has hit it out of the park with this multi-layered novel centered on a housing project in Brooklyn as the 60s wind down. A neighborhood rummy shoots a drug dealer…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Finna

  Poems

  Marshall, Nate (Poet)

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  A rising star of the poetry scene with roots in Chicago, Nate Marshall explores language, identity and place with exciting artistry and a powerful blend of emotion and intelligence. In one series of poems included here, he reflects on the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hamnet

  a Novel of the Plague

  O'Farrell, Maggie, 1972-

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  Inspired by the life of Shakespeare and his family (and brilliantly inspired by what little is known about it), this domestic drama centers on an unforgettable character, Agnes. A folk healer with a streak of clairvoyance, she is wooed by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hidden Valley Road

  Inside the Mind of An American Family

  Kolker, Robert,

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  Mimi and Don Galvin parented 12 children between 1945 and 1965, which spanned the baby boom generation years. This fact would be extraordinary enough on its own, but six of the ten Galvin boys suffered from schizophrenia. While this…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Homeland Elegies

  a Novel

  Akhtar, Ayad,

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  Homeland Elegies is a novel that reflects episodes from the author's experiences in life, including characters such as a father who is a Pakistani immigrant doctor, a mother who is a critic of American culture, and a son who is a Pulitzer…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Interior Chinatown

  a Novel

  Yu, Charles, 1976-

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  Willis Wu works as an extra in a TV police drama called Black and White, as Generic Asian Man. Even in his personal life, he sees himself as Generic Asian Man. His career goal is to become Kung Fu Guy, which he considers to be the pinnacle…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Leave the World Behind

  a Novel

  Alam, Rumaan,

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  In Alam's latest, two upwardly-mobile, middle-class New Yorkers and their adolescent children are heading to an Airbnb in Long Island for a family getaway. Through conversations, descriptions of their high-end rental (marble counters, a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Luster

  Leilani, Raven,

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  In this darkly funny, wholly original debut, desperate circumstances lead a young black woman to move in with her married boyfriend, his wife and their adopted daughter. The underemployed, singularly observant and self-destructive Edie is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Memorial Drive

  a Daughter's Memoir

  Trethewey, Natasha D., 1966-

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  In this compact memoir, Trethewey (a two-term United States Poet Laureate) revisits the harrowing circumstances of her mother's murder. Threthewey was raised in Mississippi, the daughter of civil rights-era activists, and her mother's…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mexican Gothic

  Moreno-Garcia, Silvia,

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  Noemí is a carefree university student and socialite in 1950s Mexico City when she receives an urgent letter from her newlywed cousin, Catalina. Catalina claims she is being poisoned by her new husband and that the family's manor house is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Mirror & the Light

  Mantel, Hilary, 1952-2022

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  May 1536. Henry VIII has just rid himself of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, with the help of his faithful secretary, Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell has been managing Henry's personal and private affairs for ten years and has smoothed the way for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Shuggie Bain

  a Novel

  Stuart, Douglas, 1976-

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  This intense, beautifully-written, Booker-nominated novel set mostly in 1980s Glasgow tells the story of the Bain family. Two-timed by her husband Hugh, who plays a diminishing role in the family's life, Agnes is a proud woman who can…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Transcendent Kingdom

  Gyasi, Yaa,

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  The author of the breakout hit Homecoming returns with a very different but also excellent novel. The story centers on Gifty, a Stanford University graduate student in neuroscience, a daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, who struggles between…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Vanishing Half

  Bennett, Brit,

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  In Bennett's excellent latest (after her celebrated debut, The Mothers), two identical twin sisters hail from Mallard, a rural Lousiana town of light-skinned African Americans that takes on an almost mythical quality. Restless Desiree…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Vesper Flights

  New and Collected Essays

  Macdonald, Helen, 1970-

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  The author of H is for Hawk returns with a magnificent collection of essays (most of them quite short) about nature, the environment and humanity's relationship to animals and the natural world. Whereas her previous book delved deep into a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Writers & Lovers

  a Novel

  King, Lily,

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  Saddled with debt, grieving her mother, disappointed in love, and experiencing medical troubles, 31-year-old Casey's life is certainly at a low ebb. A former athlete who is hard at work on a novel, she spend long hours waiting tables to…Read moreRead more of this annotation