Our Favorite Books of 2020
Despite such a terrible year, thankfully it was an amazing year of reading. With the help of some of our interns and writers from this past year, here are Write or Die Tribe’s favorite books of 2020!
Kailey Brennan
Godshot by Chelsea Bieker
If you know me at all, you know I love this book. Gold God glitter falling from church ceilings, the pain of mother loss, baptisms with soda instead of water, and a grandmother who loves taxidermied mice, Godshot is a dazzling debut from a gifted writer who can weave poetic, sparkling language with the pain of family, the beauty and strangeness of girlhood, the power of grief and the mysteries of God. I can’t wait to read more from Chelsea. For me, she is a writer to WATCH.
Read our interview with Chelsea here.
The Lightness by Emily Temple
Buddhism, levitating girls, and summer camp were all I needed to know about this majestic debut novel to get me interested. What starts as sixteen-year-old Olivia’s quest to find her missing father at a Levitation center becomes the setting for a refreshing coming of age story that explores female rage, the body, desire, and female friendships. I read The Lightness TWICE this year just so I could reenter Emily’s world and bask in her lyrical, stylish prose once again.
Read our interview with Emily here.
Luster by Raven Leilani
I know I’m not alone putting this fantastic debut on my top books of 2020 list. Raven won the Center for Fiction novel prize, was on the New York Times Bestsellers list, among many other strong reviews and positive accolades. With sharp humor and searing prose, Luster follows twenty-something-year-old Edie, as she stumbled her way through admin jobs, her crappy Bushwich apartment, inappropriate sexual encounters, and a unique relationship with her lover’s wife. Searching for intimacy and validation in a removed, lonely world, Edie struggles to pursue her art and find connection. Infused with the “examination of the intersection of Blackness, class, sexuality, and power,” Luster is a magnetic novel that I couldn’t put down.
Read our interview with Raven here.
Daddy by Emma Cline
I fell in love with Emma’s writing when I read her debut novel, The Girls, which was released in 2016. I anxiously awaited her collection of short stories, Daddy, which did not disappoint. Emma is such an observant writer, penning compelling, yet sometimes quiet stories that showcase emotions and human desires in the rawest and truest way. I will be using this as writing inspiration for myself for years to come, I’m sure.
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
While this novel sparked some controversy this year, I want it to be remembered for Kate’s incredible gift for storytelling. While you may have read many stories that explore the naive teenager and the old, magnetic man, you haven’t read one like My Dark Vanessa. Kate also explores the aftermath of such an experience, the traumatic repercussions as well as the excitement of girlhood, of discovering the power of the body. I felt so close to Vanessa within this intimate and powerful novel. A must read.
Being Lolita by Alisson Wood
I read Alisson Wood’s Being Lolita in what felt like one single breath. The power behind these prose left me emotionally spent, in the best way possible, as I learned of Wood’s deeply abusive relationship with her high school English teacher, Mr. North. While this book also touches on critical issues such as power, consent, vulnerability, control, and the way abuse can take multiple types of forms, it is also about how one woman reclaims her own narrative and rewrites her story with bravery and strength. This memoir is one I will be recommending for a long time.
Read our interview with Alisson here.
How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang
The first word that comes to mind when trying to describe this novel is gorgeous. It is simply a gorgeous novel with a captivating plot and lyrical, sharp prose. Set in the time of the American gold rush, we follow newly orphaned children of Chinese immigrants, Lucy and Sam, as flew their town to bury their father. This haunting adventure story explores race, memory, gender, and the bonds of family. C Pam crafts an intimate story that left me thinking about to for days after reading.
Creatures by Crissy Van Meter
Crissy Van Meter’s debut novel, Creatures, captivated me from the first page. Set on a fictional island off the coast of Southern California, brimming with fisherman and life long islanders, the novel opens with Evangeline, a woman soon to be married, whose husband-to-be has not returned from a recent boating expedition. We follow the tides of Evie’s life, moving forward and backward in time as she grows up with a distant mother, who comes and goes as she pleases. A father, who despite his love and fierce loyalty to his daughter, can only provide for her through his drug dealing and charm, which leaves them homeless on and off through Evie’s life. Crissy displays a true gift for creating complex characters as she writes such with empathy and skill. In the midst of the stormy and broken lives they lead on the island, these characters are bursting with life, with heartache, with sorrow, with the desire to be needed, to be loved. This was one of my all time favorite books of the year!
Read our interview with Crissy here.
Shelby Hinte
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Brit Bennett may be one of my favorite living writers. I was lucky enough to have finally read her debut The Mothers this year so I only had to wait a couple of months to read her second novel (I don’t know how her other fans made it 4 Years). The Vanishing Half is a multigenerational family saga about sisterhood, racial passing and violence, and identity as performance. Though the book was set 20+ years ago, it felt more timely than ever. At its heart, The Vanishing Half asks the question, what price must we pay to be who we want to be in the world?
Pale by Edward A. Farmer
Pale is Edward A. Farmer’s debut novel about circumstance and choice. Set on a Mississippi cotton plantation in 1966, it is an atmospheric and lyrical exploration of freedom and burden that reads like a dream, (or maybe a nightmare) in the middle of summer. Farmer’s prose is subtle and each sentence feels loaded with danger, much like the plot, which follows a vengeful white plantation owner interacting with her black servants as though they are pawns in a game of chess where the stakes are life and death.
Unearth [The Flowers] by Thea Matthew
Matthew’s debut collection of poetry explores issues around feminity, childhood sexual trauma, incest, colonization, and race. The poems are lyrical, unflinching, and poignant. Matthews has a keen ability to write about issues that many choose to look away from with compassion and honesty. This collection felt like a battlecry in a world where oppressed people are too often subjected to silence.
Read our interview with Thea here.
Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum
I am a total sucker for books about writing and craft. Before and After the Book Deal, while definitely an addition to the long list of books on writing, felt wholly unlike anything else in the genre. It delves into the many questions writers must face, like whether they should get an MFA and when it’s ok to refer to themselves as writers (spoiler: the answer is highly personal). This book is less about craft and more about the logistical details of creating a writerly life and surviving the painful realities that make up a writer’s life (like rejection and unpaid labor). Similar to Manjula Martin’s anthology Scratch, Maum called on many other authors for quotes about writing and the book is filled with inspirational remarks from writers of all different sorts. Maum’s honest and hilarious voice reads like a friend navigating you through dark waters.
Read our interview with Courtney here.
All Adults Here by Emma Straub
All Adults Here is a hilarious, wise, and truly 21st century take on what it means to be an adult and a child in our modern times. Central to this book is the truth that “The hardest part of parenthood [is] figuring out how to do the right thing twenty-four hours a day, forever, and surviving all the times you failed.” This entertaining family saga provided me a great reprieve during quarantine and though it served as a commentary on blended families, infidelity, gender identity, sexuality, and more, it seemed always to remember that sometimes in the face of difficult shit the only choice you have is to laugh until you cry.
Elaine Mead
A Room Called Earth by Madeleine Ryan
Madeline Ryan’s debut novel, A Room Called Earth (2020), takes us on the journey of a single night as a young autistic woman navigates the experience of attending a party. Through a series of brief conversations and deeper exchanges, Ryan introduces us to the complex prism of the narrator’s inner world and explores the meaning of connection and relationships. Ryan has been an outspoken advocate of neurodiversity for a few years, A Room Called Earth is a witty, effervescent and joyful account of one woman’s journey through life and her capacity to find true moments of living within it.
Read our interview with Madeline here.
The Invention of Love by Sara Schaff
Across fourteen short stories, deftly touching a wide variety of themes centred on love, Schaff calls our attention to the unexpected ways love can show up in our lives. This was a collection I couldn’t wait to return to, as soon as I finished one story, I was eager for the next. Schaff has a sublime mastery of prose, and the language she uses has the perfect touch of brevity, while still drumming up strong evocative emotions for the experiences her characters face. Every single character felt real for me, and I immediately felt connected to their story.
Intimations by Zadie Smith
This was such a marvel of a little read. In a year of persistent fatigue, these six short essays, these are vignettes of the writer moving through the year that is. With her gorgeous knack for natural story-telling and drawing you into a much bigger world through minuscule moments, these essays highlight the looming themes the pandemic has served up onto our dinner plate in beautiful and heartfelt ways.
Sebastian Murdoch
Beach Read by Emily Henry
When I was stuck in a reading slump, this book pulled me back out by the hair. It's story at times heartbreakingly sweet and poignant led me from cover to cover until I was at the end and wishing it would never be over.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
This was a good year for horror, exemplified by none other than this book, which expertly tackles both the genre and the societal issues surrounding Native American culture. This tale is gripping, terrifying, and one I wish I could erase from my brain so I could have the pleasure of reading it for the first time again.
The City We Became by NK Jemisin
Jemisin really showed in this book that she can not only do high fantasy but is also adept at contemporary fantasy. The modern characters and setting crackle with life and wit, and the story itself pulled me taut with excitement and anticipation the entire time I was reading.
