Best Reads of 2020
It has been a motherfucker of a year, hasn’t it?
I won’t lie, it hasn’t been the best year for book reviews on this site either. Couple reasons of that. A certain fatigue with fiction and the publishing game has settled in. It isn’t that I’m tired of reading. But the further I got into 2020, the more it steered me towards comic books and nonfiction. Because of that, I tend to explore the same authors over and over and that isn’t such a good deal for you guys, isn’t it? You’ll see that’ll show in my best reads of the year.
So, I’ve read less fiction in 2020. That is why I’m offering you only one year-end list. These are the ten only books which ranked over the mythical ranking of 8. Believe me, I struggled to get to count. Only eight are reviewed on the site, which you can access by clicking on the titles. There are two Max Booth novels because he wrote two novels this year and they’re both awesome. If it makes you uncomfortable, deal with it. Now, without further ado…
Oh! One last thing: remember these are books I’ve read this year and not necessarily books that were published this year. Important distinction.
Max Booth III - Touch The Night
For the rich, multifaceted portrait of nostalgia that doesn’t exist for its own sake. It will make you feel all the great and all the terrible aspects of being a child again.
Max Booth III - We Need To Do Something
For the searing and unforgettable exploration of confinement claustrophobia through cursed art revival. Its horror is supernatural, psychological and (most important) emotional.
Blake Butler - Alice Knott
Butler has challenged what it meant to write novels and create art throughout his entire career. This is the first time he explores what creating art means for others.
Don DeLillo - Libra
For its original and courageous exploration of unknowability. Not unlike DeLillo’s other novels, it is humane, complex and way, way before its time.
Brett Easton Ellis - White
For the kind-hearted provocation and desire to move social debates where they really matter and away from the people who co-opt them for their own gain.
Jennifer Hillier - Little Secrets
For the fearless fusion of cliché tropes that create something new and exciting. Hillier out-Gillian Flynn’ed Gillian Flynn with this thriller where no ordinary people are truly ordinary.
Michel Houellebecq - La Possibilité d’une Île
For its exploration of the last Great Social Taboo of the twenty-first century: the consequences and collateral damage of unbridled success.. immensely clever and nuanced.
Jessica Leonard - Antioch
For the subtle and pervasive exploration of sexual violence and psychological landscapes. Antioch is a novel that shines bright what is said and what is left unsaid.
Grant Morrison - Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth
For its temporary suspension of the entire Gotham City paradigm and moral reinvention of the caped crusader. For once, Batman is about survival more than he is about ideas.
Chuck Palahniuk - Consider This
For the raging passion, the kind-hearted openness and the eager desire to make writing in general better and more fun for the people brave enough to risk it.
