My favorite book of 2020
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman. This is a haunting story about the Holocaust that is mixed with Jewish mysticism. Who knew that a Golem would be the most endearing character I read about in 2020? I highly recommend this beautifully written novel.
My Other Favorites read in 2020
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. This was the first of two excellent books I read about the Kentucky Packhorse Librarians.
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer. This is a dual timeline story about a Polish refugee during World War II and her modern day granddaughter who has a child on the spectrum.
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. This novel unfolds two parallel narratives—one in 1987 involving a school teacher and the other set in the 19th century after slaves have been emancipated. The modern-day teacher learns the story of a former slave who kept a book to help other freed slaves locate their families.
Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland. The Adler family spends three months trying to hide Florence’s death from their other daughter who is hospitalized for a high-risk pregnancy.
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. After their entire family is killed at a party by a drug cartel, Lydia Quixano Pérez and her eight-year-old son, Luca escape to America by riding commercial freight trains heading north which are known as “La Bestia”.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. Another novel about the Pack Horse Librarians told from the perspective of one of the Kentucky Blue people.
The Arctic Fury by Greer McAllister. A legal thriller set in 1854 where the main character has been accused of murdering a member of an all-female Arctic exploration team.
Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly. This is a Civil War story told through the eyes of a civil war nurse, a greedy female plantation owner, and a slave. This novel will be released on March 20, 2021. Be sure to add it to your To Be Read list.
Honorable Mentions:
Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde. A lonely high school student befriends an elderly woman and helps her try to find her caregiver, Luis Velez, who mysteriously stopped showing up.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. an intimate look at a fictional 70’s rock band that truly lives up to the holy trinity of hedonism: Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell is an imaginative telling of the story of William Shakespeare’s family. One of the primary focuses of the story is the death of son Hamnet at age (11) eleven and the toll it takes on the family.
Dragonfly by Leila Meacham is a World War II espionage story about five young Americans who are sent on missions in occupied Paris for the Office of Strategic Services.
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles is historical fiction based upon many real-life people who worked at the American Library in Paris during World War II.
Big Lies In A Small Town by Diane Chamberlain. An inexperienced artist becomes involved in trying to uncover the mystery behind a 1940s mural that was supposed to be hung in a post office.
Two older books that I read and loved were Still Alice by Lisa Genova and City of Thieves by David Benioff. Rick Bragg’s Where I Come From: Stories of the Deep South was a fun book of short stories. The most popular books that I read Long Bright River by Liz Moore, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
And of course, don’t forget the books by my dear friend, Diane Kelly.
And now for my Recipe for Readers recommendation:
Wacky Cake
