The twelve days of Christmas are now part of Christmas past, but I’d like to make another list of twelves by highlighting my favorite reads of the year. 2020 may have socked it to us, so to speak, but it couldn’t stop us from reading and enjoying books; in fact, it was just the opposite. I don’t have hard numbers, but anecdotally, I’ve heard from people who say they spent more time reading than ever before because they were forced to shelter in place. I take comfort in knowing that even in difficult, often tragic times, books can offer solace and escape.
The end of the year prompts a flurry of lists — best, worst, most popular, etc. — so I feel justified in creating and sharing yet another one. I hope you aren’t completely burned out by all the list-mania because here is one from a grateful-we’re-leaving-2020-cautiously-optimistic-about-2021 librarian. My list is a mix of new and older titles, fiction, nonfiction, and of course, several delightful picture books.
Here’s to reading, and a very happy New Year to all!
• “Brooklyn” by Colm Toibin.
• “The Dinky Donkey” written by Craig Smith, illustrated by Katz Cowley.
• “The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy” by Anne De Courcy.
• “Kitties on Dinosaurs” written and illustrated by Michael Slack.
• “The Lost Child” (Book Four of the Neopolitan Quartet) by Elena Ferrante.
• “Miss D & Me: Life with the Invincible Bette Davis” by Kathryn Sermak.
• “On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes” by Alexandra Horowitz.
• “Rants from the Hill: On Packrats, Bobcats, Wildfires, Curmudgeons, a Drunken Mary Kay Lady & Other Encounters with the Wild in the High Desert” by Michael Branch.
