My Top 8 Books for 2020: 5 Novels and 3 Nonfiction

Following the pattern I established a few years ago,
I’m sharing my favorite books of 2020.

This year, eight books stood out for me out of all of those I read. Keep in mind: I’m no book reviewer, so you won’t find reviews here. Instead, I give a few comments on what I liked about each one, along with the book description and link in case you’re interested in finding more information.

If you’d like to see more book recommendations, you’ll find them at the following links:

• My Top 6 Books for 2019
• My Top 10 Books for 2018
• My Top 10 Books for 2017

Happy reading, and if you have some favorites you’d like to share, please add them to the comments. I’m always looking for my next great read!

5 Stand-Out Novels

1. Darling Rose Gold, by Stephanie Wrobel

I read the first page of Darling Rose Gold and was so excited I wanted to order it right away. I can’t remember when I’ve read a more stunning first page. The characterization seizes you by the throat and you can’t help but want to read more.

Go ahead. I dare you to read the first page and not buy this book!

After that, it doesn’t disappoint, but keeps you turning all the way through in a plot filled with psychological suspense. I’m most amazed by Wrobel’s ability to paint her characters so realistically and uniquely. I’ll be keeping this book nearby for my own education.

Oh, and by the way, this is her first novel. That’s fine. Perfectly fine. I could do just as well. Not! Ha.

Synopsis:

4. Taft, by Ann Patchett

Okay this is going to sound like sacrilege but I’ve read a lot of Ann Patchett’s work and I’ve gotten bored with most of them about halfway through. (Shocking, I know.)

Taft I loved, which is interesting as it’s not one of her more popular novels. It’s shorter than most, too, but that’s not why I liked it (though maybe it helped?).

Instead I loved how Patchett put this story together, weaving the main character’s desire to be a good father with the story of a couple young kids who desperately need better guidance. It was such a cool way to explore the father’s feelings, and it illustrated something I’ve rarely seen done so well in a novel—the very human desire to rewrite our own stories.

Synopsis:

An ex-jazz drummer wants nothing more than to be a good father in this moving family novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Dutch House.

When his lover takes away his son, he’s left only with his Beale Street, Memphis bar. He hires a young waitress named Fay Taft who brings with her a desperate, dangerous brother, Carl, and the possibility of new intimacy. Nickel finds himself consumed with Fay and Carl’s dead father—Taft—obsessing over and reconstructing the life of a man he never met.

A stunning artistic achievement, Taft confirms Ann Pathcett’s standing as one of the most gifted writers of her generation and reminds us of our deepest instincts to protect the people we love.

5. That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo

I’ve listed Russo’s books in previous lists (Bridge of Sighs was one of my favorites), but when I first started reading That Old Cape Magic, I didn’t think I’d be adding another.

Until I got to the end. That changed everything.

At first I wasn’t taken in by the characters’ problems. Marriage troubles and empty nests aren’t usually topics that draw me in.

But Russo is such a master at—again—characterization. Like Dubus, he gradually draws you into these people’s lives. But where he really shines in this book is in the final climactic scene, which is hilarious.

It takes place at a family wedding where each member of the main couple, now separated, shows up with a new love interest. That, along with the other various flawed members of the extended family who are present, creates a disaster that only Russo could write. Meanwhile, the main character hears his judgmental dead mother regularly commenting on the event throughout, which had me laughing out loud.

Russo then brings the book to a close in a very touching and hopeful way, wrapping this one up with a perfectly satisfying bow.

Synopsis:

For Griffin, all paths, all memories, converge at Cape Cod.  The Cape is where he took his childhood summer vacations, where he and his wife, Joy, honeymooned, where they decided he’d leave his LA screenwriting job to become a college professor, and where they celebrated the marriage of their daughter Laura’s best friend. But when their beloved Laura’s wedding takes place a year later, Griffin is caught between chauffeuring his mother’s and father’s ashes in two urns and contending with Joy and her large, unruly family. Both he and she have also brought dates along. How in the world could this have happened?

By turns hilarious, rueful, and uplifting, That Old Cape Magic is a profoundly involving novel about marriage, family, and all the other ties that bind.

3 Outstanding Non-Fiction Books

6. Sgt. Reckless: America’s War Horse, by Robin Hutton

Oh my gosh Sgt. Reckless is sooooooooo good. If you like horses (as I do) you will love this book. It’s also a wonderful war story for you military and history buffs.

This book is an amazing feat of research and writing combined. Hutton has filled it with pictures of the brave little horse that carried ammunition in the Korean War, along with facts of when and where all the battles took place, but she weaves these together with the heartwarming interactions between Reckless and the soldiers that make you want to read more and more.

You’d think the story would end with the war, but that’s not the case. Reckless was a true Marine, a war hero that was welcomed home with all the honors she deserve and went on to inspire military members for decades. She was bred, had babies, attended ceremonies, accompanied the men on long marches, and lived as a symbol of the bravery and loyalty of our troops.

I was most impressed with the author’s concluding story of how she raised the money and secured the approvals to have a monument built in Reckless’s honor. She’s an author, and she did all that! Check it out—you’ll be impressed too.

Synopsis:

She wasn’t a horse—she was a Marine.

She might not have been much to look at—a small “Mongolian mare,” they called her—but she came from racing stock, and had the blood of a champion. Much more than that, Reckless became a war hero—in fact, she became a combat Marine, earning staff sergeant’s stripes before her retirement to Camp Pendleton. This once famous horse, recognized as late as 1997 by Life Magazine as one of America’s greatest heroes—the greatest war horse in American history, in fact—has unfortunately now been largely forgotten. But author Robin Hutton is set to change all that. Not only has she been the force behind recognizing Reckless with a monument at the National Museum of the Marine Corps and at Camp Pendleton, but she has now recorded the full story of this four-legged war hero who hauled ammunition to embattled Marines and inspired them with her relentless, and reckless, courage.

7. Introvert Power, by Laurie Helgoe, Ph.D.

A lot of books about introversion have been published over the past decade or so, and I’ve read most of them.

My copy of Introvert Power has multiple corners turned because it’s so relatable. Though the concepts it presents aren’t necessarily new, Helgoe writes about them in a way that had me nodding and sharing snippets with the other introverts in my life.

Helgoe’s superpower in this book is helping introverts to accept themselves as they are, and to change their thinking and behaviors to reflect that acceptance.

In one chapter, for instance, she talks about “unlearning the habit of apologizing for introversion,” and learning to “accept as true what you really think.”

If you’re an introvert, you understand how difficult that can be.

This is just one example of the many wonderful ways that Helgoe helps introverts better understand themselves, but more than that, accept and nurture themselves unapologetically.

I’ll be keeping this one around to re-read when needed!

Synopsis:

ntroverts gain energy and power through reflection and solitude. Our culture, however, tends to celebrate extroversion. The pressure to get out there and get happier can lead people to think that an inward orientation is a problem instead of an opportunity.

Helgoe shows that the exact opposite is true: introverts can capitalize on this inner source of power. If you’re looking for books on self-confidence and introversion, Introvert Power is a blueprint for how introverts can take full advantage of this hidden strength in daily life and move more confidently in the world.

Revolutionary and invaluable, Introvert Power includes ideas for how introverts can learn to:

• Claim private space
• Bring a slower tempo into daily life
• Deal effectively with parties, interruptions, and crowds

Quiet is might. Solitude is strength. Introversion is power.

8. My Grandfather’s Blessings, by Rachel Naomi Remen, Ph.D.

I don’t usually go for sentimental short stories, but I got My Grandfather’s Blessings as a gift, so I had to give it a try.

Was I ever surprised. These aren’t syrupy sweet short stories of “inspiration.” These are real stories about real people written by a master storyteller. I have found myself profoundly moved by several of them, and I haven’t finished the book yet.

This it the perfect gift for anyone who enjoys reading, or grab a copy for yourself and then read a story a day. I dare you not to look forward to it.

Synopsis:

In My Grandfather’s Blessings, Rachel Naomi Remen, a cancer physician and master storyteller, uses her luminous stories to remind us of the power of our kindness and the joy of being alive.

Dr. Remen’s grandfather, an orthodox rabbi and scholar of the Kabbalah, saw life as a web of connection and knew that everyone belonged to him, and that he belonged to everyone. He taught her that blessing one another is what fills our emptiness, heals our loneliness, and connects us more deeply to life.

Life has given us many more blessings than we have allowed ourselves to receive. My Grandfather’s Blessings is about how we can recognize and receive our blessings and bless the life in others. Serving others heals us. Through our service we will discover our own wholeness—and the way to restore hidden wholeness in the world.