The 5 best books I read in 2020
(Plus superlatives!)
Welcome to So Relatable, a bi-weekly newsletter featuring conversations about the creative process, suggestions for nourishing yourself, and inspiring links. I’m glad you’re here!
Welcome to the last So Relatable of the year! We made it, y’all.
A few days ago I found a list I started back when I thought the pandemic would be a short-lived novelty. It was titled “Things I Did During Quarantine” and included now banal items like “Attended an Instagram Live comedy show,” “Did a home workout,” and “Zoom hangout!” Sometime after “Made pasta from scratch” (day 17 lol) I stopped keeping the list. It had become clear, finally, that this was not a novelty or a break from my regular routine. It was just life, at least for the foreseeable future - no daily “what I did” list necessary.
And it wasn’t all bad. Thanks to reading and writing, a lot of my 2020 was actually pretty good. Not only did I write a decent first draft of a brand new novel, but I also read a ton of great books, and I suspect these two things are related. After all, the best way to become a better writer is to be a better reader.
I spent three years in an MFA program, and while I have some complicated feelings about that, it was a good experience overall. But it wasn’t until the year after I graduated, when I read purely for pleasure, that I understood what kind of writer I wanted to be. It wasn’t until even more recently that I started to become her.
And so, for our last issue of 2020, it seems right to share the best of the books that got me through the year. Let’s hope 2021 is even better - for reading, for writing, for all of us.
My Top 5 Books of 2020
In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado. A memoir of queer domestic abuse. Inventive, horrifying, and absolutely haunting. I read this in January, but I think about it at least once a week.
Know My Name, Chanel Miller. A searing memoir of sexual assault, grief, and our fucked up justice system, and also beautifully written. Chanel is an American hero.
Disappearing Earth, Julia Phillips. Two sisters are kidnapped in the middle of a Russian winter. A cast of characters tell the story by circling it. My book club discussed this via Zoom at the beginning of the pandemic, and it felt like an appropriately disturbing book for a very disturbing time.
The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett. Twin sisters pursue very different lives, as one chooses to pass as white and the other lives as black. A beautiful and fascinating exploration of identity, race, family, and all the things we give up as we grow.
Rodham, Curtis Sittenfeld. What if Hillary didn't marry Bill? I was completely consumed by this sliding doors version of Hillary’s life. Such an enthralling and bold retelling of a person’s life and what might have been.
2020 Superlatives:
Class Clown: Nothing to See Here, Kevin Wilson. Two children burst into flames whenever they are angry or upset. Funny and absurd, but so much heart. Another great early quarantine read.
Best Ensemble: Girl, Woman, Other, Bernadine Evaristo. I didn’t like this one at first, but it grew on me and then it wouldn’t let me go. Less a book and more a series of character studies, each one more mesmerizing than the last.
Most Horrifying: My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell. Lolita but for the #MeToo era. This book was so disturbing I basically had to read it in one sitting and then agree to never think about it again.
Best Atmosphere: The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel. A book about a Ponzi scheme gone wrong that does thrilling things with atmosphere. A great one if you want to feel completely transported.
Most Delightful: All Adults Here, Emma Straub. I love a family drama in which everyone is essentially good, despite the fact that they keep hurting each other. I smiled so much as I read this.
Best Dialogue: Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid. I had mixed feelings about this one, but I really liked the dialogue. It was timely and contemporary, even if the characters were mostly insufferable.
Most Eye-Opening: Uncanny Valley, Anna Weiner. A beautifully written and incisive memoir of being a woman in Silicon Valley. As someone who work for a tech company, this was essential reading.
Most Instructive: The Last Draft, Sandra Scofield. This book on the craft of writing and the art of revision completely transformed the way I approach drafts.
Best Poetry: Hypochondria, Least Powerful of the Greek Gods, Emily Paige Wilson. I really enjoyed this collection that weaves together mythology with the anxieties of the body. Bonus: it was written by a fellow UNCW MFA-er!
Most Dreamlike: The Beautiful Bureaucrat, by Helen Phillips. On the surface, it’s about a terrible desk job. Just below the surface, it’s about life and death, quite literally. A short, strange, and haunting book felt like a bad dream, but in a good way.
PS: If you want to see every book I’ve read since 2013, good news! I have a spreadsheet for that.
Snack of the Week
Do you like crackers? Do you like trail mix? Does your snacking life need a little salty-sweet goodness? If so, you’ll love these Trader Joe’s Trail Mix Crackers. Sometimes I eat them by the handful, straight from the bag. Other times, I add a lil’ bit of cheese and turn them into an actual meal. Either way, they’re crunchy, perfect, and have given me a newfound appreciation for mung beans. 2020 truly has been a year of growth.
Relatable Reads
Keeping the Holiday Season Bright, New York Times. “In a year like this one, it’s the smaller rituals that may actually be the ones worth salvaging.” All my holiday plans got canceled, so I’ve been leaning hard into smaller celebrations and tiny moments of cheer. Apparently I’m not the only one. 🎄
Our Shared Unsharing, The Cut. “Some people said they began to pull away from Instagram because the pandemic had made them question whether they wanted to participate in the self-promotion economy at all.” This was an interesting exploration of our changing relationship to social media. I’ve definitely noticed myself posting less, even though I continue to scroll way too much for my own good. 📱
What If You Could Do It All Over? The New Yorker. “Most of us aren’t haunted so acutely by the people we might have been. But, perhaps for a morning or a month, our lives can still thrum with the knowledge that it could have been otherwise.” This is a long but lovely read about parallel lives, regret, and the stories we have to give up for the ones we choose to live. 👻
To Do List
The next issue I send will arrive on January 3, at which point I plan to share my goals, dreams, and general to-do’s for 2021. The problem is that I currently have no idea what I want to do with the year, which is very unlike me! My goal between now and then is to figure it out. If you have resolutions ready to go, feel free to reply and tell me all about them! I could use the inspiration. And if you’re in the same boat when it comes to goals—IE, totally floundering—let’s swim to the shore together.
Coffee Club
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