I only read 21 books this strange and terrible year. But looking back at my list, none of them were a disappointment, I’d recommend them all. Well, except for Jaws – just watch the movie. Below are the books that lingered, that left a mark. Note: If you purchase any of these books with the Amazon links I may earn a commission. Thank you!
FICTION
- How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper (Funny and true. Okay, depressing as well, but hopeful. Note: I just googled and they renamed it to Something to Live For. Ha.) https://amzn.to/3yXJfv7
- The Invisibility Cloak by Ge Fei (Dark, funny, surprising, weird and great.) https://amzn.to/3i7UYBk
- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (Fantastic mix of sci-fi, romance, parallel universes and the power of love.) https://amzn.to/3fIvVmE
- Adèle by Leïla Slimani (Adèle is privileged, bored, restless and destructive. The ending was perfect.) https://amzn.to/3vLIhjn
- Holes by Louis Sachar (Loved it then I watched the movie and loved that too.) https://amzn.to/3vKHIq8
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (Inspired my first blog post, it’s perfect. Pulitzer Prize perfect.) https://amzn.to/3fMq4g0
- The End of October by Lawrence Wright (Excellent, timely, scary. If you’re the type to read a pandemic novel during a pandemic read it!) (Oh, he won a Pulitzer for another book, The Looming Tower.) https://amzn.to/3ieV6PA
- The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter (She nailed it; she’s at the top of her game; her writing is on another level – all the clichés are true, this is her best.) https://amzn.to/3phi36g
- The Searcher by Tana French (It’s a modern western set in Ireland with a retired Chicago cop. It’s beautiful and her best work. Read it slowly.) https://amzn.to/2TDEGWH
- If It Bleeds by Stephen King (Four novellas, I guarantee you’ll enjoy at least one of them) https://amzn.to/2SVUUdu
NON-FICTION / MEMOIR
- Dark Mirror by Barton Gellman (Incredible. Gellman was one of the journalists who broke the Edward Snowden story. It’s a thriller, a biography, a journalism 101 class and a cautionary tale.) https://amzn.to/3yZbwBh
- Good Talk by Mira Jacobs. (Graphic novel memoir about the Trump era, a child’s questions and racial reckoning. I loved it for it’s humor, warmth and intelligence.) https://amzn.to/3fGrYyR
bookthrasher 