2020 Books List: Mid-Year Review

At the end of each year I publish a list of my favorite books from the previous twelve months. With the COVID pandemic hitting in March, I have been reading more than usual and have decided to post this mid-year review of a few of the 28 books I have read between January 1st and June 30th, 2020. Although I’m featuring 6 of the 28 books, I will include a list of “honorable mentions” at the end of this post.

My reading genres tend to flex over time, and during the pandemic I’ve been less interested in the personal productivity genre than I have been in years past. I’ve read more fiction than normal these past six months, which I’m happy about. I was a bit underweight on fiction over the past couple of years and there’s no better time to dive into great storytelling than now.

As always, please check out my Great Books List for a far more extensive list of books you might enjoy.

Happy Reading!

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles — This work of fiction about a wealthy count who is imprisoned in a Moscow hotel by the Bolsheviks in the 1930s is a gem. It’s hard to imagine being entertained by a story in which the aging protagonist is confined to a hotel throughout the book, but you will. The story chronicles his interactions with guests of the hotel, his observations of the changing world he can only view through hotel windows, and how he changes the life of charming young girl while she is changing his. Beautifully written and destined to be a classic in the years to come.

Devotions: The Selected Poems by Mary Oliver — An anthology of the works of Mary Oliver, who passed away in 2019. The collection works its way backwards through her fifty years of verse. As always with poetry, some poems will sail harmlessly over your head while others will knock you over. Enjoy the ride.

The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change, and Where We Go From Here by Hope Jahren — I confess to being, for the most part, ignorant of the science of climate change. This book is part science, part anthropology, and part personal reflection. The author – who hails from Minnesota but is on the faculty of a University in Oslo, Norway – blends approachable writing with smart insights and midwestern humor. I enjoyed it immensely and learned a lot in the process.

The Boys In The Boat by Daniel James Brown — I had heard great things about this book for some time, but finally took some time to read it. It chronicles the story of a group of Depression-era college students from the University of Washington who band together to form the best crew team in America (when crew was a Big Deal) and go on to compete in Berlin during the 1936 Olympics. This book is filled with compelling personal stories set amidst the sort of poverty and challenges that can humble the modern reader.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins — This is a work of fiction about a mother and her young son whose family are gunned down in their Mexican town by drug cartel members and are forced to flee, joining the mass of migrants heading toward the American border. With cartel members still in pursuit, and cruelty and grace seemingly around every corner, this book is a page-turner. In the process of hooking the reader into a great story, it adds dimension to the people we see on the news, sitting atop trains and risking it all to become illegal in a new country. Other great books that shed insights into this migration phenomenon are “On The Plain of Snakes” by Paul Theroux and “The Tortilla Curtain” by T.C. Boyle.

The Children of Men by P.D. James — Published originally in 1992, this is a futuristic tale of a suddenly, and mysteriously, infertile human race – and how such a society might deal with their impending extinction. James’ ability to create  grace within a dystopian future (set, I’m sorry to tell you, in the far-distant future year of 2021) makes this a great, and thought-provoking, read.

Six-Month Honorable Mentions (no links)

• Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
• How Not to Diet by Michael Greger, MD
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee
• The Decadent Society by Ross Douthat
• My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok (re-read – already on my Great Books List)
• The Last Juror by John Grisham (a re-read – I forgot how funny Grisham can be)
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Stillness Is The Key by Ryan Holiday
• The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson, translated by Michael Meyer
• With Burning Hearts by Henri Nouwen (re-read)
• The Judgement of Paris by Ross King
• Dirt by Bill Buford
• If It Bleeds by Stephen King
• Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer Eberhardt, PhD