Last year’s thread: Your Top Ten books of 2020
Doesn’t matter when they were published, but you read 'em and loved 'em in 2020. And please tell us, in a sentence or two, why you liked 'em.
I’ll post mine a little later.
OK, so here it is again.
Reading the New York Times every day and The Economist every week sort of slows down the book-reading. Nonetheless, here it is:
1 The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone
An easy read on a very interesting topic.
2 The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War (Gladwell) Thought-provoking
3 Peril (Woodward)|Important but not fun
4 Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
Important to understand what really happened.
5 Technician Class 2018-2022: Pass Your Amateur Radio Technician Class Test - The Easy Way
I got my Ham license
6 Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service
Both chatty and important
7 My Memoirs (Volumes I & II) Alfred von Tirpitz
Not for amateurs.
8 Harry: A Study of Teenage Mass Murderers
Disturbing
9 The Age of Fighting Sail: The Story of the Naval War of 1812 (C. S. Forester)
A counterpoint to Teddy’s account.
10 Conclave: A novel (Robert Harris)
Novel of the year. A procedural of how they elect the Pope.
11 An Officer and a Spy: A novel (Robert Harris)
A fine novel that explains the Dreyfus affair
12 The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence
This is the story of how they rebuilt the White House. Technically interesting.
13 Essays in Persuasion (John Maynard Keynes)
He wrote well.
14 Germania: A Novel of Nazi Berlin
A murder mystery set in Berlin in 1944
15 MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman
Important
16 Seattle Justice: The Rise and Fall of the Police Payoff System in Seattle
A fascinating look at a very troubled police department. Worth your time.|
That’s 16, by my count, Paul. 
I finished 55 books this year. My Top Ten, in no particular order:
Firestarter by Stephen King - A gripping novel about a little girl and her father, both of whom have unusual talents, on the run from ruthless government agents.
Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother by Barry Sonnenfeld - A very funny autobiography by the noted director and cinematographer.
Crossing on Time by David Macaulay - A beautifully-illustrated book on ocean travel and the development and evolution of steamships.
The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis - An orphan girl becomes an international chess champion in this engrossing novel (very different from the Netflix miniseries).
The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman - I re-read this, one of my favorite sf novels, about a Hemingway scholar and a con artist who decide to fake Papa’s early, lost short stories.
How to Astronaut by Terry Virts - A former Air Force fighter pilot and NASA space shuttle pilot discusses training, teamwork, mission prep, food, zero G, health and death in space, orbital sex and much, much more.
Moriarty by Anthony Horwitz - An excellent crime novel set just after the apparent deaths of Sherlock Holmes and Prof. James Moriarty in Switzerland.
The Commodore by Patrick O’Brian - “Lucky Jack” Aubrey commands a Royal Navy squadron trying to put down the 1810s African slave trade.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - Charming, hilarious romcom novel about an awkward Australian scientific genius and his plan to find the perfect wife.
The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy - Four friends, cadets at a Southern military academy during the Vietnam War, deal with bullying, desegregation, a secret society, lost love and betrayal.
Honorable mentions: Lenin’s Tomb by David Remnick, Inside Lincoln’s White House ed. by Michael Burlingame and John R. Turner, The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag by Robert A. Heinlein, The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi, Playmates by Robert B. Parker, Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger and The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins.
107 works (some very short, some big honking doorstops). In no order:
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The Year of Magical Thinking, Didion, Joan
Re-read, a wonderful, wrenching, honest portrait of grief. -
A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1), Brennan, Marie
The first in the series; surprisingly erudite sort-of fantasy about a Victorianish female natural historian. -
Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku, Goldberg, Natalie
An account of the author’s haiku-writing and pilgrimage to Japan. -
Narrow Road to the Interior, Matsuo Bashō
The classic Japanese pilgrimage tale, in haibun style -
Sontag: Her Life, Moser, Benjamin
An enormous biography, but very engaging. -
Tastes of the Camino, Martinez, Yosmar Monique
A wonderful cookbook with good photos, organized by region of Spain. -
The Ministry for the Future, Robinson, Kim Stanley
The most psychological and interior of his novels, engaging, plausible, characters much less flat and interchangeable than his norm. -
Six Walks in the Fictional Woods, Eco, Umberto
Talks/essays on writing, repetitive at times but engrossing -
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1), Chambers, Becky
A delightful and sweet tale by the author of the Wayfarers series. -
Café Neandertal: Excavating Our Past in One of Europe’s Most Ancient Places, Bahrami, Beebe
Informative, narrative, and personal–a wonderful genre-defying account of the author’s work and leisure in the Dordogne.
Out of 184 books, I decided to list my top ten fiction and nonfiction.
Fiction:
- The Space Between Worlds, by Micaiah Johnson. Because of the brilliant character development, world building, and plot twists.
- John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead. Excellent, sprawling plot about what a legend meant to people.
- The Man Who Ended History, by Ken Liu. Devastating novella about evil and people’s reactions to it.
- A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. Great world building and plot about politics.
- Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison. Stunning use of setting and metaphor.
- Sun of Suns, by Karl Schroeder. Fun, action-packed plot and interesting world building.
- The Rambling, by Jimmy Cajoleas. Fun, original fantasy plot and good use of setting.
- The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo. Fantasy novella with excellent dialogue and plot.
- Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir. Fun plot, great twists.
- The Disappeared, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Good characters, interesting plot.
Nonfiction:
- Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Overall, best book I read this year. Fascinating history and biography combo.
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Fascinating information about botany.
- The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power, by Deirdre Mask. Thought-provoking information on a subject I’d never considered.
- The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth and Other Curiosities of Medicine, by Thomas Morris. Funniest book I read all year.
- How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Real-World Problems, by Randall Munroe. Funny and thought-provoking.
- Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway, by Michael Riedel. Great anecdotes.
- Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider’s Guide to Jeopardy, by Claire McNear. More great anecdotes.
- Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini’s Colditz, by Mark Felton. Excellent account of POWs (all officers, and did rank ever have its privileges) in WWII.
- The Book of Animal Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong, by John Mitchinson and John Lloyd. Fascinating facts.
- The Moth: All That Glitters, edited by Catherine Burns. Excellent essays.
I’ve read 37 books in 2021.
Top 10:
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The World Beneath Their Feet: The British, The Americans, The Nazis and the Race to Summit the Himalayas - Scott Ellsworth - This book is my the best I’ve read in 2021 because anyone who loves the thrill of mountaineering will enjoy the great tales and fantastic research behind the missions set out to conquer the summit as well as learn a lot about the history, politics and personalities of the era when the world was on the brink of war.
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Eastern Horizons: Hitchhiking the Silk Road - Levison Wood - A very fun and eye-opening story of a 22 year old attempting to make the journey from his comfortable home in London all the way to India by hitchhiking through Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan on the way. Full of mystique of new cultures, an insight into human nature, learning history that never gets taught in the west, the dangers of war zones, relying on the good will of strangers, and the coming of age nature of a young man who now can see the world from another point of view.
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One By One - Ruth Ware - Those of you who read my contributions to the book threads might be aware I am a huge fan of locked room themed mysteries and this is a very good one.
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The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides - This psychological thriller had won the Goodreads best thriller book in 2019 but I only picked it up in 2021. Definitely worth the hype.
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The Red House Mystery - A.A. Milne - A short mystery book by and the only mystery book written by a man who later became famous for creating Winnie The Pooh. A very gripping murder mystery in which our main character is an amateur sleuth who is jovial and thoughtful in his approach to solving this case as if it is a brain teaser.
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Centuries of Change: Which century saw the most change and why it matters to us - Ian Mortimer - Very well written historical analysis of each century from the 10th onwards. Every chapter covers the main transformative events and figures behind it and concludes with an essay rounding up the various different points of interest to ultimately crown the defining change within each century and the biggest influencer of change in terms of a lasting legacy.
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Bryant and May: Hall of Mirrors - Christopher Fowler - This is another locked room mystery in the style of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians where a bunch of guests are all invited to a country house for a purpose for which they are not entirely sure and then people start dying off. Except it’s as much a comedic parody of that theme because we have two bumbling detectives on the scene who try to get to the bottom of it.
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The Guest List - Lucy Foley - Another kind of locked room theme which I read in one sitting so have to put in for that reason alone. It was thrilling, gripping and the plot twists quite shocking. All make for a great thriller.
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The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton - This was an exciting murder mystery except we have twists of mind warping complexities. Something unique and I enjoyed it for that reason.
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The Earth Gazers: On Seeing Ourselves - Christopher Potter - One of the last books I read in 2021 and a wonderfully researched historical book on space exploration, the people who set in motion the chance to turn science fiction fantasy into reality, the astronauts who went up there, and thought-provoking analysis of what it all meant.
In the order I read 'em:
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The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne - Jonathan Stroud; new Young Adult series from the author of the Bartimaeus series and Lockwood & Co. Entertaining and light.
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How To Become Extinct - Will Cuppy; I read this and other animal books by Cuppy to Madame P. this year; delightfully snarky.
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The Queen’s Gambit - Walter Tevis; not surprisingly, I liked the book better than the TV series. My problem’s finding someone at home to play chess with me after I read it.
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1968 in America - Charles Kaiser; I discovered a lot of books this year that I’d somehow missed; this one has me interested in the history of the U.S. that I lived through.
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1960 - David Pietrusza; big fan of his work; deeply investigated history, though a somewhat conservative bias.
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The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion; I discovered Joan just this year, and then she died. Where was I? She deserves all praise she’s received. This one’s about the loss of her husband and how she didn’t deal with it.
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The Horologicon - Mark Forsyth; I love obscure words, and dictionaries of obscure words. This one’s even better: Forsyth takes us through our day and peppers it with fun obscurities, many of which are quite useful. An example: “guggle” - One guggles one’s food the way one guzzles one’s drink. Lots of fun.
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Sacre Bleu - Christopher Moore; I discovered Moore last year thanks to the SDMB recommendations, and read several this year. Sacre Bleu isn’t his funniest, but it is well-researched and about the Impressionists, my favorite type of art.
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The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide - James L. Charlesworth; a review of the various attempts and schools of thought of the search for the Historical Jesus, with an eye to each school’s strengths and foibles. Charlesworth is one of the most highly regarded scholars regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nammadi Library and Pseudepigrapha, and this work benefits from his years of experience. Not for the beginner, but still quite accessible.
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The Pun Also Rises - John Pollack; my daughter got me this one for Father’s Day. Not just a book of puns, this relatively thin tome manages to deal with such areas as the history of literary criticism of puns, the physiochemistry of the brain that occurs when one is making a pun, and the sociopolitical ramifications of puns in history. But it’s not at all a hard read, Pollack has a deft hand.
I read 103 books last year, or nearly 2 a week. Not bad. It helps that I’m retired.
My favorite of all his books.
As usual, these are in no particular order because that sounds hard.
The Last House on Needless Street, Catriona Ward
Okay, I said they weren’t going to be in order, but this is the first book that leapt to mind when considering my top ten. There’s been a lot of hype about this book already, so I’ll just say it really worked for me.
The Fisherman, John Langan
Cyclopean, batrachian, tenebrous, eldritch…you know, that sort of thing. Also a pretty interesting story about a regular guy grieving the loss of his wife.
Rainbow in the Dark, Sean McGinty
YA. A teenager trapped in a video game world must solve a quest to escape to reality.
Doors of Sleep, Tim Pratt
Sci-fi about a man who wakes up in a new world every time he falls asleep. Book one of a series.
The Library of the Dead, T.L. Huchu
A girl surviving a hardscrabble life in Edinburgh due to her talent of communicating with ghosts. Book one of a series.
Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
Science fiction about a man on a space mission to save the earth…who does something even cooler than that.
The Fall of Babel, Josiah Bancroft
The end of a four-book fantasy series. Now I can die in peace, especially if I’ve talked a few more people into reading it.
Minor Mage, T. Kingfisher
YA. Sweet and funny kid’s adventure story, plus the parts that are way too scary for kids, so whatever age you are, go right ahead.
Near the Bone, Christina Henry
A woman is trapped on a snowy mountain with a controlling asshole husband, plus a bonus monster.
Later, Stephen King
Can you believe Mr. King wrote two books this year and I only put one on the list? Maybe they both belong here, but I liked the main character in this one better.
ETA: Since others are mentioning their total read count, I will as well. These top ten were selected from a total of 70 books read this year.
I did go ahead and actually rank them this year, as opposed to just listing five. The ranking is a combination of several different factors: (a) how much I enjoyed reading it at the time, (b) how memorable it was, (c) how much it changed my perspective or behavior, (d) how impressed I was with the way in which it was written, and (e) how impressed I was with the depth of research presented (for non-fiction books).
Fiction top five:
- My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell - The author captures all the confusion, desire, and anxiety of a high school student being pursued by her teacher.
- Passage by Connie Willis - The author pulls off an insanely ambitious story about near-death experiences. It’s hilarious, relatable, tragic, and outrageous.
- Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren - It was great to read a romance centered around conversation, acceptance, and support rather than flirting and sexual tension.
- Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld - I loved reading the fictionalized romance and imagined alternate trajectory of Hilary Rodham Clinton’s life. She made for a thoughtful and quietly independent protagonist.
- Julia’s Chocolates by Cathy Lamb - It was great to read a book focused on so many different kinds of love: love for your friend, your neighbor, your family, your romantic partner, and strangers.
Non-fiction:
- How to Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price - This book presented research on how your phone usage behavior can affect your overall mental health, and shows you how to develop healthier habits. It changed my life.
- The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good for You, and How to Get Good At It by Kelly McGonigal - This one might be cheating, because it was a re-read. But I read this book right as my manager got fired and I absorbed some of his previous responsibilities, and this book was so comforting and encouraging to listen to on my commute to and from work.
- Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez - As a woman, I was astonished by the depth and extent of the statistics and research on how women are neglected and forgotten worldwide. I had no idea the extent of my ignorance until I read this.
- Parkland by Dave Cullen - The story of a group of grieving high school students changing the national gun control conversation is a powerful one, and Cullen does a tremendous job of graciously telling a sensitive and politically charged story.
- Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body by Jo Marchant - The most researched and data-backed account I’ve come across on the ways in which the placebo effect, the nocebo effect, and other thoughts and mental states affect our physical biology.
I also really like The Great Santini and My Losing Season, but yes, it’s my favorite, too.
Top five, in no particular order:
- Carter Beats the Devil, by Glen David Gold - A wonderful, satisfying magic show of a novel. Highly recommended.
- The Humans, by Matt Haig - A literary novel with a science fiction premise. Well-written, poignant, and funny.
- The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt. My favorite non-fiction of the year. Full of insights and food for thought about how conservatives and liberals see the world, and what their/our moral feelings are based on.
- End of Watch, by Stephen King - the final, and Stephen King-iest, of his Bill Hodges trilogy. These books are King’s attempt at the Crime Thriller genre, and they definitely worked for me, though they might not for someone who either doesn’t like that genre or who loves it so much they’re already thoroughly familiar with all its tropes and cliches.
- Watership Down, by Richard Adams - This was a re-read for me, this time as an audiobook (the version narrated by Peter Capaldi), and it still holds up, as a great book with at least one, and possibly several, Crowning Moments of Awesome.
Five more, again in no particular order but a bit below the ones above:
- The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas - Going in, I was afraid I was going to be too old for this one, and I kind of am, but it I still found it well worth reading.
- The Long Way To a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers - A good example of the “starship full of assorted people/beings” subgenre of science fiction (like Star Trek, Firefly, or The Orville).
- The Creeping Shadow, by Jonathan Stroud - book 4 of his “Lockwood & Co.” series. My best Halloween read for this year.
- Assassin’s Quest, by Robin Hobb - the conclusion of her “Farseer” trilogy. I probably would have preferred it shorter and with less misery, but it was still the best fantasy I read last year.
- The Wonder Worker, by Susan Howatch - a followup to her six-book “Starbridge” series, and, like them, a literary psychologocal potboiler with plenty of religion and sex.
Honorable mention to the best popular math books I read last year, which might have made it into my Top Ten if I had a better idea how to compare them against the other books I’ve read:
- The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life, by Alex Bellos
- Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World, by Matt Parker (really good as an audiobook, narrated by the author)
- Math Girls 2: Fermat’s Last Theorem, by Hiroshi Yuki
I read 85 books though a couple are rereads so In no particular order:
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The Relic Series by Maz Maddox. Dino shifters, nuff said. Wildly improbable but funny, sexy, exciting, I love this series to pieces.
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Secrets and Scrabble series by Josh Lanyon. Sweet, cozy mystery series, main character is a former child actor living on a New England island running a bookstore. Series is my potato chip palette cleanser after reading something emotional.
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A Share in Death the first Duncan Kincaid myster by Deborah Crombie. English mystery series written by an American and done well. I’m not sure what I expected but what I found was a surprisingly sweet story with characters I could be friends with.
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Murder Aforethought Book 2 of the Cabrini Law Collective series by Parker St. John. I read this twice last year on audio in the car while working. The characters are well written, the plotting smooth and the action steering wheel grippingly tense.
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Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu. Originally a web comic about love in a small New England college hockey team, the book is funny, endearing and a bit tear jerking.
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Pretty Pretty Boys by Gregory Ashe. Ashe’s books are NOT for the faint of heart, but if you like a good mystery, intense situations, UST, and small town politics, you’ll like these.
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Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. The book was very much wish fulfillment, but it was a fun read with good characterizations, a bit of suspense and while the murder plot line was a tad thin, it was still interesting to watch it unfold.
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The San Andreas Shifter series by G. L. Carriger. My go to comfort reads, not too deep or emotional, but her characters are like hanging with your closest friends.
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Murderbot series by Martha Wells. Wow, crazy, bloody, exciting and all from the POV of an android gone rogue.
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The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman. Another of the books I read as a kid revisited last year and surprisingly enjoyed. The series is, of course, wildly improbable, but Mrs. Pollifax’s grit determination and wits sell the series. I call them potato chip spy novels
I’m a Mrs. Pollifax fan, too. My favorite is The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax.
If this was your favorite non-fiction of the year, then I can’t recommend Haidt’s follow-on book highly enough. The Coddling of the American Mind absolutely changed my world view. It’s becoming harder for people who disagree with one another politically to have civil conversations and listen to one another, and this book really delves into the psychology behind this phenomena – how certain things like cancel culture, online echo chambers, and a tendency to interpret words as threats rather than an opening for dialogue are making things worse.
I consider myself a reader. I read an actual newspaper every day, but I also read a portion of a book every day. On relaxing vacations, I tend to read a lot more. However, I only make it through about 24 books per year. I see one of the responders is retired, but how are folks plowing through so many books? Maybe once I’m retired, my numbers will go up, but I have other hobbies and will probably increase the time on those (mainly, getting outside for biking and hiking).
I don’t have my spreadsheet of the books I read available so I can’t list ten. I did read the Murderbot Diaries books and enjoyed those. And I guess if you count those as actual books, I read more than 24 this year. 
Life will definitely squeeze the fun stuff out of my schedule if I let it!
I get up an hour earlier than necessary every workday, go to work, and read until I have to clock in. So that’s about 45 minutes, 5 days a week. And I carry my book with me anywhere, just in case I get a chance to read a little more.
I do the same things. I wake up early enough to drink coffee and read the entire newspaper. I always have an ebook on my phone and typically read a bit while I wolf down my lunch at work. I typically only get an hour or so of book reading at night. Maybe I’m just a slow reader?
Or reading harder books!
I read in the tub and to fall asleep at night. I read when other people might watch television or videos. I listen to audiobooks when I walk or drive. It adds up.