Your Top Ten books of 2020

Cafe Society
21

Gotcha - thanks!

22

And also The History of Ancient Israel.


I read 166 books last year – a vast improvement over the 54 of the previous year. Most were dead-tree versions, but I did download a few (as PDFs) from the Gutenbeerg Project. The first three listed here are the ones I picked as the best three of the year. The others are in no particular order.

  1. A Study in Sable, by Mercedes Lackey
    An excellent combination of her “Elemental Magic” series and Sherlock Holmes, set during the period when Holmes is in hiding after “The Final Problem”. Four sequels thus far; I hope she writes more.
  2. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North
    An interesting take on the “man dies, is reborn, dies, is reborn, &c” story.
  3. Ashley’s War, by Gayle Tzamach Lemmon
    Non-fiction, about the first Cultural Support Team: Female soldiers trained to accompany US troops and interact with female civilians in Afghanistan. Interesting concept, interesting story, brought tears to my eyes near the end.
  4. The Old Man, by Thomas Perry
    Good story about a former secret agent hiding from his former employers, who think he has turned traitor.
  5. Metzger’s Dog, by Thomas Perry
    A comedy/thriller about a group of small-time crooks who take on the CIA. At least the fourth time I’ve read it. I read eight other books by Perry last year; he always has interesting characters and suitably tangled plots, and he throws in some interesting twists here and there.
  6. Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, by Lois McMaster Bujold
    Part of Bujold’s SF Vorkosigan Saga. Good plotting, with humour mixed in – “Ivan, You Idiot,” is the main character in this one.
  7. The Pursuit of the Pankera, by Robert A Heinlein
    A revised version of The Number of the Beast, which was apparently written at the same time – I personally think the wrong one got published originally. :slight_smile: The first 150 pages of the two books are almost identical, but then this one goes off in a different direction. And Lazarus Long stays almost completely out of the way, which is A Good Thing.

That’s only seven, but I’m going to stop here.

23

On your recommendation just went to my library’s Libby app and downloaded it. Always glad for a good lead.

24

Really enjoyed that one!