2020 in books: my top reads of the year
Hi and welcome to a special issue of The Storyteller!
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Many of you reached out to me after the last one expressing interest in a one-off issue where I share my favourite reads from the year, so here it is!
I've reviewed most of them on my Instagram account or over on the blog, so please click on the accompanying links to read the full reviews. For those of you in the US and UK, I've included individual affiliate links via Bookshop if you're interested in purchasing them via participating independent bookstores. I get a certain percentage of every sale when you buy through those links, which will help with the newsletter up-keep in the future as I develop the platform further.
Before we get to the reviews, I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting this little venture and for your continuing well wishes and readership. It means the world. I'm excited to keep bringing more to you in 2021.
My top reads of the year (in the order I read them):
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Very enjoyable read despite quibbles about its more detached fable-like narration, but I'd recommend it if you like these type of slow, steady narratives rooted in mythology. Definitely want to explore the author's other work.
Review
Buy link
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
Painful, brave, beautiful book that made me sob during a long bus journey (ah the pre-pandemic days). You won't want to miss this magnetic story about three misfit teenage friends navigating life and senior year in rural Tennessee.
Review
Buy link
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
My only regret about reading this book is that I didn't complement it with the audiobook which is narrated by Noah himself. Funny, thought-provoking, eye-opening, compassionate and infinitely compelling. This one's a keeper, like its author.
Review
Buy link
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Among many fine qualities (humor, engaging narration), Mayle has a keen observant eye for details bringing stories, people, places to life. I can only aspire to write something so delightful.
Review
Buy link
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe
Witty, keenly observed, very amusing, heartwarming. Nina Stibbe has a clear gift for writing engaging letters, having a unique voice & perspective, and for developing situations & characters when all we have of them are her words and some of theirs.
Review
Buy link
Spanish Lessons by Derek Lambert
Very different in tone and style to Peter Mayle's Provence books but equally enjoyable and immersive. Lambert has a talent for detail and character from his extensive journalism days and combines that with a dry wit and spontaneity.
Review
Buy link
Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
Backman is in top form with this heartwarming book about it being never too late to change your life.
Review
Buy link
Summer Solstice by Nina MacLaughlin
At just 55 pages, I want all of you to read this without me spoiling anything of its beauty, its sensitivity, or its all-round glory. This is everything an essay form is capable of and should be. I can't recommend it enough.
Review
Buy link
Mythos by Stephen Fry (I listened to the audiobook)
Fry at his sparkling, inventive, humorous best.
Buy link
The Magical Language of Others by EJ Koh
A powerful examination of language, identity, communication, personal and shared histories and stories, memory, intergenerational trauma - and the different ways in which we love.
Review
Buy link
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
This is where it all began for one of my now auto-buy authors and what a beginning it was. He's so insightful about the human condition but does it in a way that's funny, sensitive, and always first about the people he brings to life.
Buy link
The Great Library series by Rachel Caine (5 books)
A story about fighting for what we believe in even if it requires everything we have to give and more, about hope in a tomorrow that may not be perfect but is infinitely better and worth sacrificing for. Highly recommend!
Review:
Ink and Bone, book 1
The series as a whole
Buy links:
1) Ink and Bone
2) Paper and Fire
3) Ash and Quill
4) Smoke and Iron
5) Sword and Pen
The All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness
Multiple narrative threads, ancient & powerful supernatural beings, millenia-old vendettas & secrets, and forbidden love & magic. These books are as much about the love of knowledge as about the lives of these characters.
Buy links:
1) A Discovery of Witches
2) Shadow of Night
3) The Book of Life
The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende
A conversation between a mother, still feeling, groping through grief and the aftermath even as life goes on with its own trials, and the beloved daughter, who, though she can't answer, exists around all of them in spirit.
Review
Buy link
Lobizona by Romina Garber
Coming-of-age story with strong magic realism & contemporary fantasy influences (with an Argentine twist) that doesn't shy away from difficult topics - immigration, homophobia, alienation, the rigidity of social and gender norms.
Review
Buy link
Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Of mothers & daughters, stubbornness & power, magic & wisdom, dreams, and of love. About stories and the power of the words & deeds we leave as a trail for those who wish to follow, a link to those who will come. Book 3 about the Owens witches.
Review
Buy link
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
This whimsical and warm story acknowledges prejudice and hate, the fear of what is different and not always understood. But ultimately champions the possibility of redemption, the strength of found family, and unconditional love.
Review
Buy link
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Fredrik Backman has something for everyone - whether you're looking for prickly-on-the-outside-but-with-secret-soft-spaces-on-the-inside characters who learn and blossom and wrap their fingers around your heart as they do so; whimsical, imaginative, and humorous narration with an emotional core in a signature style; a keen observation of human nature with all its wonders and flaws and little seemingly unimportant things that are anything but; or even the searing power of raw, jagged emotions told with honesty and empathy no matter how complicated a situation or how weighty a subject.
Buy link
I also reread Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and they retained the same magic, albeit with newer insights, which is one of the best parts about rereading favourites for me.
Manderley and the places, people, and memories that haunt us, even as we willingly hand ourselves over to them
Unreliable narrators and the stories we tell about ourselves and others
Buy link
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If you enjoyed this and know someone who would, as well, please forward this to them! I'm also always up for a book (or general) chat so feel free to turn this into a conversation at any time by replying to the email, even if just to let me know your thoughts on an issue or if you have any feedback, but also if you must share with someone how awesome something is that you've recently read, watched, or listened to.
Thank you and until next time! Take care, stay safe, and happy holidays no matter where, how, and with whom you're able to (or not) celebrate this year. Hope you can find those pockets of peace before this year bows out.
Anu x
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If you felt like checking out some of my other recommendation lists on Bookshop, here's the link: https://bookshop.org/shop/anushreenande