What your friends and neighbors have been reading in 2020
In recent weeks, newspapers, magazines and Facebook feeds have become flooded with the “best of” or “favorite of” 2020 lists. This year Reedsburg Public Library staff members have compiled a list of what they believe to have been the most popular titles of 2020 based on their observations of library checkouts and customer requests.
Most recently, avid fiction readers have been clamoring for Brit Bennett’s “The Vanishing Half.” Published in June, the novel chronicles the lives of two light-skinned African American sisters growing up in the sixties. As an adult, one of the sisters chooses to “pass” for white. The trajectories of their lives necessarily diverge until a random event causes them to intersect again. The author offers several insights on race relations with this very different plot.
“Hamnet “by Maggie O’Farrell, published in July, has garnered much critical acclaim and has been lauded as one of the New York Times best ten books of 2020. The book reimagines the life of William Shakespeare and his eccentric wife in Stratford-upon-Avon. “Hamnet” is the name of the son that is tragically lost to the couple but later resurrected as the title of a popular play.
Jeanine Cummins’ “American Dirt,” from February of this year, follows a mother and her young son on the run from the ruthless leader of a drug cartel, as they try to find their way to the United States and freedom. The book was a popular, if controversial “Oprah” book club selection, and offers a fast-paced, dramatic read.
In nonfiction,” The Splendid and the Vile” by Erik Larson, author of “The Devil in the White City,” may top the list in patron requests. The book chronicles the everyday life of Winston Churchill as he rallied Britons during the Blitz. Larson’s original research relied on diaries, archival documents and declassified intelligence reports.
JoJo Moyes’ “The Giver of Stars” and Tara Westover’s “Educated” remain extremely popular, although they were published in 2019 and 2018 respectively. “The Giver of Stars” is an historical fiction book about one of the “Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky,” Eleanor Roosevelt’s travelling library program of the 1930’s.
Westover’s autobiographical title details her youth in a fundamentalist/survivalist Mormon family in Idaho.
Though her efforts to go to school were thwarted at every turn by dysfunctional parents, she graduates from high school, and eventually earns a doctoral degree.
Other popular books at Reedsburg Public Library this year have included Emma Donoghue’s “The Pull of the Stars,” Jodi Picoult’s “The Book of Two Ways,” Nicholas Sparks’ “The Return,” Fredrik Bachman’s “Anxious People” and Michael Connelly’s” The Night Fire.”
All of the above books are part of Reedsburg Public Library’s “Lucky Day” collection. These are extra copies of bestselling books that cannot be reserved. If you are interested in reading one, contact the library to check on current availability. The library can be reached at 768-READ (7323) or via email at info@reedsburglibrary.org.
