THE TEN BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2020

For many people, one of the happier side effects of 2020 has been more time to read, and as the news has got bleaker and bleaker, retreating to a comfortable chair with a good book has become increasingly tempting.

Featuring perfect lockdown novels, lyrical escapes and enlightening non-fiction, in no particular order, here are ten of my favourite books I read this year.

1. A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles: The kind of book that makes you feel better about life and the people in it. In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced by the Bolsheviks to life under house arrest, to be spent in Moscow’s Hotel Metropol. The joys he constructs for himself within those capacious walls bounce energetically against reminiscences of Tsarist Russia and create a book that is simply a pleasure to spend time in. Possibly the perfect lockdown novel.

2. Under Heaven – Guy Gavriel Kay: A stunning, lyrical piece of historical fantasy writing from one of my favourite authors. To read my full review of Under Heaven, please click here.

3. The Testaments – Margaret Atwood: For my money, a better novel than its predecessor, Margaret Atwood’s Booker Prize-winning novel explores more about how Gilead took shape from the Ashes of the USA. Because of that, its horrors feel closer and more cloying than The Handmaid’s Tale.

4. Dominion – Tom Holland: This account of how Christianity and its ideas became indissoluble from even the most modern and secular philosophies and protocols of the western world is popular history at its very best. Exhaustive in its scholarship and clear in its central thesis, this erudite, absorbing and illuminating read will make you rethink the role of religion in the 21st Century.

5. Piranesi – Susanna Clarke: Labyrinthine in every way. To read my full review of Piranesi, please click here.

6. Circe – Madeleine Miller: Circe is a haunting, beautiful book from one of literature’s best stylists. Banished to an uninhabited island in the Mediterranean, the eponymous Circe nevertheless mixes with some of the most famous characters and stories in Greek myth. In her trademark elegiac prose, Miller turns the Odyssey’s renowned witch into a resilient, creative, feminist goddess. In doing so, she reminds us of the many gifts of mortality. Circe is more episodic and perhaps slightly less compelling than Miller’s previous foray into the classical world, The Song of Achilles, but it is still an exceptional piece of writing. The audiobook is beautifully read by Perdita Weeks.

7. Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me – Kate Clanchy: This collection of anecdotes, arguments and memories from poet and teacher extraordinaire Kate Clanchy is as much an essay on class and the social fabric of the UK as it is on its classrooms. On subjects ranging from the benefits of school uniform to homosexuality, poverty and poetry, Clanchy is endlessly engaging, informed, and never afraid of drawing a conclusion. Those not familiar with Clanchy and her students will find their twitter feeds, and their world, richer for her presence. This book should be required reading for politicians and parents.

8. A Man – Keiichiro Hirano: A striking book from Japanese author Keiichiro Hirano that explores themes of identity and individual responsibility. To read my full review of A Man, please click here.

9. Less – Andrew Sean Greer: This 2017 Pulitzer prize-winning novel tells the story of Arthur Less, a struggling novelist who resolves to accept the eclectic invitations in his inbox in an attempt to run away from his ex boyfriend’s wedding. Travelling the world via a series of obscure prize givings, literary festivals and exotic lecture series, the protagonist realises that he might not be a failure after all. Less is a heart-warming, funny and charming novel written in prose so mellifluous it is tempting to wonder if the author has robbed some long-lost vault of metaphors and similes.

10. The Instance of the Fingerpost – Ian Pears: This restoration era historical mystery novel narrates the murder of an Oxford don from four different points of view; a Venetian medical student; the son of a convicted traitor; a cryptographer; and an archivist. Each of the perspectives is entirely convincing, constantly prompting the reader to re-evaluate what they think they know. The result is an absorbing mystery that is as rich in historical texture and drama as it is in examining the dangers of perspective.

Honourable mentions.

A Rising Man – Abir Mukherjee

The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence – Scott Lynch

The Secret Commonwealth – Philip Pullman

The Help – Kathryn Stockett

Execution – S.J. Parris

Verdict of Twelve – Raymond Postgate