Here are all the books I read in 2020 in the order in which I read them. Some I liked and some I didn’t. I’ve put an asterisk next to the ones that stood out and that I think might be worth your time.
The lockdown accounts for the greater number of books read this year.
I read all of Robin Steven’s ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ series, partly to inform my own writing for children and partly because the books gave me the same feeling as I had when I was a child and got lost in a series. I’ve only asterisked the first one but take that as a recommendation for the whole series.
Joan Bodger’s ‘How the Heather Looks’ was a charity shop buy but its a charming account of her family’s tour around the UK in the 1950s, visiting the places that inspired classics of children’s literature.
| Rhys | Thomas | The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway |
| Michelle | Paver | Wakenhyrst* |
| Andrew Michael | Hurley | Starve Acre* |
| Kate | Griffin | Kitty Peck and the The Child of Ill Fortune |
| Joe | Hill | Strange Weather |
| Hakan | Nesser | Hour of the Wolf |
| John | Irving | The Cider House Rules |
| Sue | Eaton (ed) | The Corona Book of Ghost Stories |
| Charles | Portis | True Grit* |
| Otto | Penzler (ed) | Pulp Fiction: The Villains |
| Ben | Aaronovitch | False Value |
| Adrian | McKinty | The Chain |
| Gilly | Macmillan | The Perfect Girl |
| Paul | Tremblay | Growing Things |
| David | Mitchell | Cloud Atlas |
| Jeffery | Deaver | The Kill Room |
| Esi | Edugyan | Half Blood Blues |
| Garth | Nix | Shade’s Children |
| John | Le Carre | The Mission Song |
| Jeffery | Deaver | The Cutting Edge |
| Patrick | Ness | The Crane Wife |
| Penelope | Lively | Moon Tiger |
| D.E. | Meredith | Devoured |
| Matt | Haig | The Humans* |
| Ramsey | Campbell | The Wise Friend |
| Matt | Haig | The Radleys |
| Sarah | Moss | Bodies of Light |
| Jeanette | Winterson | The Gap of Time |
| Patrick | Gale | Friendly Fire |
| Mendlesohn | and James | A Short History of Fantasy |
| Anthony | Bourdain | Kitchen Confidential |
| Joan | Bodger | How The Heather Looks* |
| Peter | Høeg | Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow |
| John | Lahr | Coward The Playwright |
| Kim | Newman | Life’s Lottery* |
| Andrew | Pyper | The Demonologist* |
| Joe R. | Lansdale | Lost Echoes |
| Shaun | Hamill | A Cosmology of Monsters |
| Matt | Haig | How to Stop Time |
| Andrew | Pyper | The Killing Circle |
| Stephen | King | If it Bleeds |
| Robin | Stevens | Murder Most Unladylike* |
| Robin | Stevens | Arsenic for Tea |
| Laurie R. | King | The Marriage of Mary Russell |
| Kate | Atkinson | Emotionally Weird |
| K.J. | Parker | How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It |
| Robin | Stevens | First Class Murder |
| Barbara | Hambly | The Rainbow Abyss |
| Laurie R. | King | A Monstrous Regiment of Women |
| Joan | Bodger | The Crack in the Teacup |
| Christopher | Isherwood | The World in the Evening |
| Barbara | Hambly | Magicians of the Night |
| Kate | Atkinson | Behind the Scenes at the Museum |
| Susanna | Clarke | Piranesi* |
| Robin | Stevens | Jolly Foul Play |
| Andrea | Stewart | The Bone Shard Daughter |
| Timothy | Parker Russell (ed) | Dark World – Ghost Stories |
| Connie | Willis | Blackout |
| Patrick | Ness | Burn |
| Robin | Stevens | Mistletoe and Murder |
| Nina | Stibbe | Reasons to be Cheerful |
| Helen | Oyeyemi | Gingerbread* |
| Grady | Hendrix | The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires |
| Tim | Lebbon | Eden |
| Jackson | Ford | The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind |
| Nina | Allan | The Doll Maker* |
| Robin | Stevens | Death in the Spotlight |
| Kelly | Link | Get in Trouble |
| Matt | Haig | The Midnight Library |
| Garth | Nix | The Left-Handed Booksellers of London |
| Robin | Stevens | Top Marks for Murder |
| Charles | Stross | The Atrocity Archives |
| Kelly | Link | Pretty Monsters* |
| Gregory | Maguire | Lost |
| Robin | Stevens | Death Sets Sail |
| Richard | Chizmar (ed) | The Best Of Cemetary Dance |
| Hope | Mirrlees | Lud-In-The-Mist* |
| Veronica | Roth | Chosen Ones |