My Top Ten Books Of 2020

In the beginning of the pandemic I was scattered and couldn’t really concentrate on any sustained reading. However, as the year went on and I reached saturation in my viewing capacity, I turned to books, aided by the discovery that I could easily borrow books online from the Public library, via Overdrive (Los Angeles Public Library) or Libby (Santa Monica Public Library). Since then, I’ve been reading up a storm. Here are my favorites from the year (not all were published in 2020).

Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry. This was my favorite book of the year, best described as “Waiting for Godot” meets “Trainspotting” – Two old sods, who were themselves in the business of drug smuggling, are sitting in Algeciras Spain watching people come off the ferry from Tangier. They are looking for the 23 year-old daughter of one of the men, with whom he hasn’t spoken or seen in three years, and it’s possible that the other man is really her father. 

The Overstory by Richard Powers. The first half of this novel does something truly different: It makes the natural world as much characters in the book as its humans. The novel’s disparate characters’ lives eventually intersect among themselves and with the natural world. The second half fell off a bit (it’s a hard act to sustain), but still The Overstory is a memorable and considerable literary achievement — a novel that feels unique and original. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and the National Book Award.

Circe by Madeline Miller. I very much enjoyed this retelling of the Greek Myths and the Odyssey from Circe’s point of view. Miller, a classicist, delineates the complicated relations among Greek Gods, demi-Gods and humans. However, she also makes of Circe’s tale a bildungsroman, a search for self that feels true even in this fantastical setting.

Nobody Will Tell You this But Me by Bess Kalb. Bess Kalb’s twitter posts (@bessbell ) have been a tonic during this year. This memoir of the author’s grandmother who, without question, can be described as “a character” was a unique personality, determined, opinionated and to whom Kalb was devoted. In Kalb’s telling, which is both heartfelt and comic, her grandmother is not just a member of her family, she becomes part of all of ours.

The Only Way to Play It by Peter Alson. Reading a good friend’s book is always fraught, filled with the fear that it won’t be good and one won’t know what to say. But, here, with Peter Alson’s new novel, I was continually surprised by Alson’s deftness in making the poker world dramatic yet relatable; and the character’s struggles, failures and little victories enthralling. The novel continued to surprise with its rhythms, it use of language, and its descriptions of corners of New York many of us don’t see. After about a third of the way in, I couldn’t put the book down until I got to the end; and when I did, it was with a feeling satisfaction of having read a fresh tale of love and loss, well told.

Evening by Nessa Rapoport. Sisters, secrets, and a shiva — what more can you ask for in a novel? This is a tale of the particular, the specific, the domestic even – in the lives of three generations of women. Rendered in numinous prose, one well-crafted sentence builds on another into a novel that is as much about love as it is about the privilege of beauty and intelligence, and the safe harbors and impenetrable depths of marriage.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, this YA novel in verse is a window into a world I might not otherwise have access to, of poetry slams, of religion and family, and the romantic dramas of teenagers in East Harlem in New York City. It’s a quick read but one that stays with you long after the story is done.

Doxology by Nell Zink. If you have never read Zink, this is a good introduction to her world of quirky characters whose lives are destined to explode each other’s well held beliefs about music, politics, and religion and even – gasp — about having money. Zink does so in ways that are comic yet often sting with the ring of truth as they inch closer to home.

Miles: The Autobiography by Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe – Over the years when I have asked musicians I admire such as Herbie Hancock or Larry Klein about what is the best book written by or about a musician they have read, the answer is always the same: Miles’ book, co-authored by Quincy Troupe. I finally read it this year, and it really does provide unfiltered insight into how iconic Jazz great Miles Davis saw the world. The racism Davis experienced and the hatred that grew in him, his struggles with drugs and alcohol, his personal life, and the musicians he knew and worked with — he does not hold back. Quincy Troupe delivers a blistering solo in Miles’ vernacular — so much so that we really do feel like he is telling us his story. The book takes us to just a few years before Davis’ death and so provides a compelling portrait of Davis, as well as of American music and Jazz of the second half of the 20th Century.

Robicheaux by James Lee Burke. If I haven’t said this enough, let me say it again: James Lee Burke is one of America’s finest writers, and certainly one of the best writing in the detective genre, and his Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux is a man beset by ghosts, honor, and his extreme sense of place and of justice. Burke has returned to Robicheaux in a late career blaze of glory, writing at the top of his game. It is beautiful to behold and a joy to read. In fact, I am right now reading his latest Robicheaux mystery “A Private Cathedral.” So don’t call, I’ll be busy the next few days……..