My 20 Favourites of 2020

I can’t quite believe that 2020 is over! It’s been a strange year and I think we’re all hoping that 2021 brings better things and that we can soon get back to a new normal.

It was my second full year of blogging and once again I read more than I had even hoped to. I had set my Goodreads challenge at 120 and managed to read 177. That’s 27 more than in 2019.

As you can probably imagine, reading so many books made putting together my favourite twenty books of the year a difficult task. That last spot in particular had four other books that I really wanted to include and it was a real struggle to know which should make the final spot.

Here is my list in the order that I read the books:

1. Firewatching by Russ Thomas
2. The Foundling by Stacey Halls
3. Away with the Penguins by Hazel Prior
4. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
5. The Switch by Beth O’Leary
6. What’s Left Of Me Is Yours by Stephanie Scott
7. What Lies Between Us by John Marrs
8. Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten
9. The Waiting Rooms by Eve Smith
10. The Miseducation of Evie Epworth by Matson Taylor
11. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
12. All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle
13. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
14. Eudora Honeysett is Quite Well, Thank You by Annie Lyons
15. The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey
16. The Illustrated Child by Polly Crosby
17. The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor
18. The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside by Jessica Ryn
19. The Smallest Man by Frances Quinn
20. The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Out of the final twenty, sixteen are by new to me authors, nine of them debuts. I found that 2020 was a strong year in terms of fantastic debuts, with others such as The Phone Box at the Edge of the World, Pine, The Memory Wood, The Wreckage, The Holdout, If I Can’t Have You, Dear Child, The Missing Pieces of Nancy Moon, Shiver, The Push and The Thursday Murder Club standing out in particular.

So what almost made it? Contenders for this list included Three Hours, Pine, The Memory Wood, In Five Years, The Phone Box at the Edge of the World, If I Could Say Goodbye, The Push, Strangers, Dear Child, The Ice Cream Girls, All My Lies Are True and The Thursday Murder Club.

My favourite book of the year was not a difficult choice. Though there were many that were good enough to take the title, What’s Left Of Me Is Yours is the standout book of the year for me. I can honestly say that I’ve thought about this stunning debut every day since I read it in April. Do yourself a favour and read it if you haven’t already. I’m just hoping it’s not too long before I can read another book by the talented Stephanie Scott.

Did we have any of the same favourites? What was your book of the year? Let me know in the comments.

Keep an eye out for a post tomorrow with the top 20 lists of some other bloggers and which 2020 book we recommend most of all.

*Thank you to the tagged publishers for my #gifted ARCs.