Favorite Books of 2020

5 January, 20214 January, 2021 / austinfey / Leave a comment

I do not completely understand why people write their “best of 2020” lists in December. On the one hand, it’s the last month of the year and things are wrapping up. On the other hand, it’s still 2020, and what if you read something great right at the end of the year? It’s too late to include that amazing read from Christmas break if your “best things I read” list was published on December 15th!

So here are my ten favorite reads from this year, in no particular order (except for my favorite, which I’ve noted):

A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles

Lovely writing, an interesting set-up (a man is sentenced to life imprisonment…in a fiver-star hotel), and the importance of human connection. Interesting to read about someone stuck in one place for an extended period of time, though he did have the advantage of many humans to interact with (and I have the advantage of a vaccine coming to restore interaction)!

Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah

I don’t read a lot of memoirs, because I’m always worried they’ll be a bit self-indulgent. But this audio version, read by the author, was highly entertaining, interesting, and horrifying without going too in-depth about life in apartheid South Africa.

A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine

A court intrigue story…in spaaace. Interesting plot and characters, and a mystery to unravel while the protagonist raced against the clock trying to find her place in an unfamiliar world. Plus the goofy naming convention of the court (everyone’s name is a number plus a noun, for example: Nine Seagrass) was highly entertaining.

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, by Austin Channing Brown

Challenging and eye-opening very personal look at race and the American church.

The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien

A tough year calls for some re-reads, and escaping into Middle Earth was just what I needed this summer. A classic adventure story that sets up the larger events of The Lord of the Rings and is great fun in itself. I forgot how funny Tolkien can be and a straightforward adventure is great.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V. E. Schwab

There were parts I liked and parts I wanted to skip past, but the “girl makes a deal with the devil” premise was great and it went in directions I didn’t expect. I found the parts from Henry’s perspective were my least favorite, but I liked Addie and her clever determination to stay alive and outwit her antagonist.

My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier

A twisty story about an infatuated young man, a mysterious woman, and the way unchecked speculation can really go awry. It’s not as popular as Rebecca, but I thought it was just as good.

Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

A lonely man, Piranesi, is almost alone in the world—a house full of statues and strange tides. But the house provides for him, so he is cared for and loved. But he starts digging into his story a bit and finds all is not as it seems. A perfect little seashell of a book.

North & South, by Elizabeth Gaskell

A re-read, but still great. Gaskell and Jane Austen definitely have some overlap, but Gaskell is a little less witty and a little more concerned with the plight of the working-class. Still great.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

Yes, she’s on the list twice, because she’s that good. A 21st century book about English magicians written in a 19th century style. Excellent writing, magnificent world-building, sprawling storyline, great characters, amazing footnotes. It’s nice and long, and I love sinking into a good book, so this was basically everything I love rolled together. This was my favorite read of the year.

An Acceptable Time Review

4 January, 20214 January, 2021 / austinfey / Leave a comment

An Acceptable Time, by Madeleine L’Engle (published 1989) is sometimes counted as the fifth book in the series about the Murry-O’Keefe family. Apparently there are more books about the O’Keefes and their adventures as a separate series, so I’m sure there are references to those that I missed. Or rather, I could tell there was elaboration on those adventures elsewhere that I just haven’t read, but this story was ok as a standalone (I think anyway—I don’t know otherwise as I haven’t read them!).

Polly O’Keefe, daughter of Meg, is staying with her Murry grandparents (who get names! Alex and Kate) after…something happened? I think a close family friend and mentor to Polly died, but it isn’t super clear to me.

Anyway, Polly stumbles back in time 3,000 years, but only for a moment, and meets two druids who tell her that the time gate is open. Then she spends many pages of the book mostly in her own time with her grandparents worried about what’s happening and forbidding her from going on adventures. While I’m sure it’s more realistic that the adults would be concerned that she might get trapped 3,000 years in the past, especially as they are just her temporary guardians, I see who most kid-goes-on-crazy-adventure books just have the kid go off without any input from the guardians: it’s boring to read all the objections, and it stops the story in its tracks.

Polly also has a friend, Zachary, who drags her back into time for the longer actual adventure part, and while I was grateful that he really kickstarted things, he gives a bad name to Zacharies everywhere.

He’s selfish, gaslights Polly, takes no responsibility for his actions, and in the end is treated far more kindly by the characters than he deserves (though that’s part of the point, but still…). He’s supposed to be charming, but I don’t see a lot of evidence of that—the “charm” seems to be confined to compliments to Polly, politeness to adults, and a bit of emotional manipulation. Clearly, I was not a fan.

The bits about people from the present and past crossing to each other’s time were interesting, and the characters from the past were good, but while it was interesting to imagine what culture might have been like 3,000 years ago, we don’t get enough time there to go much beyond stereotypes, and spent too much time in the lead-up. An ok book, but not one I think I’ll feel the need to revisit.

This was the last book I finished in 2020, though I ended the year 2/3 of the way through some Susanna Clarke short stories, so I ended on a better note than this.

★ ★ ★

Many Waters Review

4 January, 20213 January, 2021 / austinfey / Leave a comment

Many Waters, by Madeleine L’Engle, was published in 1986 and is the fourth book in a series about the exceedingly strange adventures of the Murry children.

Somehow, though I read and loved the first three books in the series growing up, I missed reading book four, so I thought it was time to rectify that mistake.

This story follows twins Sandy and Dennys (which I think is just an alternate spelling of “Dennis”? I have never been 100% sure). They are the most “normal” presenting of the brilliant Murry children, and did not go on the adventures that their siblings Meg and Charles Wallace went on in the first three books.

Sandy and Dennys, arriving home one winter afternoon, don’t see the sign on the door of their parents’ lab/ garage that says “experiment in progress” and are flung back in time—all the way back to the time of Biblical Noah.

It’s an interesting look at what things might have been like in a strange time in a strange story. I have lots of questions about unicorns and mammoths now, but also, it’s weird to include unicorns and mammoths in a pre-flood culture—did they just go extinct? I have mixed feelings about the success of the story which, while interesting, seemed very far removed from any story set on Earth.

I kind of wish Sandy & Dennys had traveled to a different planet instead of being flung back in Earth history, because thinking that this was supposed to just be primitive Earth brought up so many more questions than otherwise.

In general, I think the first three stories in this set are stronger, though that could also be that I experienced those stories as a child. There’s no nostalgia for this story for me, and that might be a contributing factor.