Best Reads of 2020

Here are my best reads in English during 2020. The total was 57 books of which 39% were e-books. Find me at Goodreads! Dear Reader, what were your best reads of the year?

The Essential Guide to Being Polish. Anna Spysz & Marta Turek 2013.
Going Postal. Terry Pratchett 2004.
Polish: the Ultimate Beginners Learning Guide. Piotr Młynarski 2019.
The Raven and the Reindeer. T. Kingfisher = Ursula Vernon 2016.
Viking-Age Transformations: Trade, Craft and Resources in Western Scandinavia. Eds Zanette T. Glørstad & Kjetil Loftsgarden 2017.
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Douglas Adams 1987.
Mythago Wood. Robert Holdstock 1984.
Moonglow. Michael Chabon 2016.
Silver, Butter, Cloth: Monetary and Social Economies in the Viking Age. Eds Kershaw & Williams 2019. (My review in Antiquity here, paywalled.)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain 1875.
Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day: And Other Tales of the Necromancer. Jonathan Howard. (The title actually refers to an audiobook. I bought each story as a separate little e-book.)
Lost At Sea. Jon Ronson 2012.
Theatre. W. Somerset Maugham 1937.
Jurgen. A Comedy of Justice. James Branch Cabell 1919.
Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1). James S.A. Corey 2011.
A Face Like Glass. Frances Hardinge 2012.
Lavinia. Ursula K. LeGuin 2008.
Cat’s Cradle. Kurt Vonnegut 1963.
Where Eagles Dare. Alistair MacLean 1967.
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Mary Roach 2005.
Tour de Lovecraft – The Destinations. Kenneth Hite 2020.
The Book of Koli. M.R. Carey 2020.
Shards of Honour. Lois McMaster Bujold 1986.
The Avram Davidson Science Fiction & Fantasy Megapack. (20 largely excellent stories, all except one from 1955-64.)
In Patagonia. Bruce Chatwin 1977.
Ring the Hill. Tom Cox 2019.
The Big Time. Fritz Leiber 1958.
First Footsteps in East Africa, or an Exploration of Harar. Richard Francis Burton 1856.
Rag and Bone: a Family History of What We’ve Thrown Away. Lisa Woollett 2020.
The Wee Free Men. Terry Pratchett 2003.
Dead Rock 7. Gareth Hanrahan 2011. (Four scenarios for the Ashen Stars space opera RPG.)

Here’s my list for 2019.

Author: Martin R

Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, boardgamer, geocacher and father of two. View all posts by Martin R

One thought on “Best Reads of 2020”

Late to the party, just wanted to say I see plenty of good books I have read and generally enjoyed. Pratchett, Adams, Bujold…

Where Eagles Dare. Alistair MacLean. Very good book and movie. The bad guys are quite competent, not just the named guys but also the mooks.
Meh. In the French translation that I read, someone at the edition decided a pun-based title was the way to go. Except that it was an horrible spoiler. And not that fun.
It was literally, “a triple is worth three doubles” (as in double agent).

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