Year archive
Books selected by independent literary juries and editorial teams in 2020, gathered into one transparent, source-linked reading list. The chronology uses the award year for prizes and list year for editorial recommendations.
Showing 1–48 of 399
100 Cookies: The Baking Book For Every Kitchen by Sarah Kieffer appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around cookbooks & food, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
13th Balloon by Mark Bibbins appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around short stories, essays & poetry, identity & culture, love & romance, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Burning: A Novel by Megha Majumdar appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, fiction, tales from around the world, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Castle In The Clouds by Kerstin Gier, translated by Romy Fursland appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around funny stuff, mysteries & thrillers, fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Children's Bible: A Novel by Lydia Millet appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, seriously great writing, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Game Of Fox & Squirrels by Jenn Reese appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around kids’ books, seriously great writing, family matters, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Good Neighborhood: A Novel by Therese Anne Fowler appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, fiction, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives at the center of the Teixcalaanli Empire after her predecessor dies under suspicious circumstances. Carrying an outdated memory copy of that predecessor, she must investigate the death while navigating court politics and her attraction to imperial culture.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, nonfiction, biography & memoir, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Shadow Intelligence by Oliver Harris appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, mysteries & thrillers, the dark side, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Silenced Voice: The Life Of Journalist Kim Wall by Ingrid Wall and Joachim Wall appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around nonfiction, biography & memoir, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Song Below Water: A Novel by Bethany C. Morrow appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around young adult, the states we’re in, identity & culture, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, And The Meaning Of Sex by Angela Chen appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, nonfiction, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Agency by William Gibson appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, the dark side, tales from around the world, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Alien Oceans: The Search For Life In The Depths Of Space by Kevin Hand appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, science!, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
All Because You Matter by Tami Charles, illustrated by Bryan Collier appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around kids’ books, identity & culture, for art lovers, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
All The Way To The Tigers: A Memoir by Mary Morris appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around biography & memoir, nonfiction, tales from around the world, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir by Robin Ha appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, nonfiction, biography & memoir, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps, And The Marriage Of Money And Power by Andrea Bernstein appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, biography & memoir, nonfiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Amnesty: A Novel by Aravind Adiga appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, fiction, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
An Incomplete List Of Names by Michael Torres appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, short stories, essays & poetry, identity & culture, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
And I Do Not Forgive You: Stories And Other Revenges by Amber Sparks appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around funny stuff, short stories, essays & poetry, seriously great writing, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, young adult, family matters, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Antkind: A Novel by Charlie Kaufman appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, rather long, no biz like show biz, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Anxious People: A Novel by Fredrik Backman, translated by Niel Smith appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, book club ideas, seriously great writing, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Apple: (Skin To The Core) by Eric Gansworth appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around biography & memoir, young adult, identity & culture, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Apsara Engine by Bishakh Som appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around comics & graphic novels, book club ideas, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
At Night All Blood Is Black: A Novel by David Diop, translated by Anna Moschovakis appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around eye-opening reads, rather short, tales from around the world, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada, illustrated by Ko Hyung-Ju appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around biography & memoir, comics & graphic novels, young adult, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Barn 8: A Novel by Deb Olin Unferth appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, funny stuff, fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs Of A Neurotic Filmmaker by Barry Sonnenfeld appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, nonfiction, biography & memoir, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Beach Read by Emily Henry appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, love & romance, fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Before The Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around kids’ books, young adult, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, seriously great writing, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Bestiary: A Novel by K-Ming Chang appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around eye-opening reads, family matters, identity & culture, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, And Compromise In Putin's Russia by Joshua Yaffa appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, nonfiction, tales from around the world, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, nonfiction, biography & memoir, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Black Bottom Saints: A Novel by Alice Randall appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, historical fiction, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Black Heroes Of The Wild West by James Otis Smith appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around comics & graphic novels, kids’ books, nonfiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around seriously great writing, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Black Sunday: A Novel by Tola Rotimi Abraham appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around identity & culture, family matters, tales from around the world, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Blacktop Wasteland: A Novel by S.A. Cosby appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around identity & culture, mysteries & thrillers, the states we’re in, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Blackwood by Michael Farris Smith appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around the dark side, mysteries & thrillers, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Blood On The River: A Chronicle Of Mutiny And Freedom On The Wild Coast by Marjoleine Kars appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around nonfiction, for history lovers, tales from around the world, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Born To Be Public by Greg Mania appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around biography & memoir, book club ideas, funny stuff, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Breath: The New Science Of A Lost Art by James Nestor appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, nonfiction, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Broken Faith: Inside The Word Of Faith Fellowship, One Of America's Most Dangerous Cults by Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, nonfiction, eye-opening reads, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Burnt Sugar: A Novel by Avni Doshi appears in NPR’s 2020 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, fiction, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
