My Top 5 Books of 2020

According to my book page, I've read 55 books this year. I'll probably finish 2 more before 2021 gets here. That's definitely the most I've read in a year in many years. In no particular order, my 5 favorites of the year.

A Song For a New Day by Sarah Pinkser

Sarah imagines a present day world where the US reacts to a spike in terrorism and a smallpox like virus pandemic by outlawing all gatherings of more than 30 people.

Wait, did I say imagines?

Then the book jumps ahead 20 years and the laws are still in place.

I read this book in February. It should be pretty obvious why it's on this list.

Solo by Kwame Alexander

If you had told me I'd read a YA book written entirely in free verse, song lyrics, and text messages and not only enjoy it but enjoy it so much I'd immediately read another book by the same author I'd have thought you were nuts.

2020 was nuts.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

I did this as an audio book as I did my daily 5 miles around the neighborhood back in the Spring shutdown. It's a great story that permanently changed how I think about immigrants in that I went from pro-immigration to open the fucking borders already.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

Narrative non-fiction that reads like a Pulitzer winning mystery, except that its all true. If you want to understand "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland this is the one book to read.

The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde

It answers a question nobody has ever asked. What if some animals, and particularly rabbits, developed speech and human like social culture in 1965?

Image by Gerd Altmann from <a href="https://pixabay.com/