The 100 must-read books of 2020

KEY

Fiction

REALISTIC FICTION

SHORT STORIES

SUSPENSE + ALTERED WORLDS

Nonfiction

HISTORY + POLITICS

MEMOIR + ESSAYS

SOCIETY + SCIENCE

Actress

ANNE ENRIGHT

A daughter attempts to untangle the past of her mother, a revered star of the stage and screen. Enright undercuts the glamour of postwar Hollywood with the darkness of 1970s Dublin winters to explore the ugly side of fame.

Afterlife

JULIA ALVAREZ

Retired and recently widowed, a woman is haunted by loss. But her life takes another dramatic turn when the pregnant, undocumented girlfriend of a Mexican laborer who works on a neighboring farm knocks on her door, in need of help.

Agency

WILLIAM GIBSON

Gibson’s sequel to The Peripheral takes place in both the near future and a distant one, where all of what modern society fears—climate change, pandemics, wars over resources—has slowly wiped out 80% of humanity.

The City We Became

N.K. JEMISIN

New York City is under attack from the Enemy, a representation of white supremacy. Avatars for the five boroughs must bond together to fight, making their diversity their strength in the face of sinister forces.

Cleanness

GARTH GREENWELL

A gay American teacher navigates life in the capital of Bulgaria, a place still unaccepting of the love he seeks. Greenwell precisely details the physicality and power at play in S&M and the questions that linger after abuse.

Crooked Hallelujah

KELLI JO FORD

Ford follows four generations of Cherokee women through decades of hardship, lingering on poignant moments to show how the family perseveres in a world that seems determined to destroy them.

Days of Distraction

ALEXANDRA CHANG

Between an isolating cross-country move with her white boyfriend and a disappointing visit with her father in China, Jing Jing searches for a place where her identity isn’t subsumed by someone else’s.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

DEEPA ANAPPARA

When a classmate goes missing from their neighborhood outside an unnamed city in India, 9-year-old Jai does what the police refuse to, even when bribed: he goes “detectiving”