Books of the Year 2020

As part of the end-of-year round-up, I can once again present a list of books read in the past year.

Here is the list:

1. "Lethal White", by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
2. "Dragon of Icespire Peak", from Wizards of the Coast
3. "The Next Person You Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom
4. "Mythos", by Stephen Fry
5. "The Red Tent", by Anita Diamant *
6. "The Stiehl Assassin", by Terry Brooks
7. "Sharpe's Rifles", by Bernard Cornwell
8. "Raw Spirit", by Iain Banks
9. "Fall on Your Knees", by Ann-Marie MacDonald *
10. "Firefly: Big Damn Hero", by James Lovegrove
11. "Sharpe's Havoc", by Bernard Cornwell
12. "Sharpe's Eagle", by Bernard Cornwell
13. "Heroes", by Stephen Fry
14. "The Stone Diaries", by Carol Shields *
15. "I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire", by P.N. Elrod **
16. "Sharpe's Gold", by Bernard Cornwell
17. "Further Tales of Little Grey Rabbit", by Denis Judd after Alison Uttley
18. "Skyward: Claim the Stars", by Brandon Sanderson
19. "I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin", by P.N. Elrod **
20. "Eberron: Rising from the Last War", by Wizards of the Coast
21. "Sharpe's Battle", by Bernard Cornwell
22. "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
23. "Centuries of Stories", edited by Wendy Cooling
24. "The Count of Monte Cristo", by Alexandre Dumas *
    
25. "Blindness", by Jose Saramago *
26. "Sword of Kings", by Bernard Cornwell
27. "Call for the Dead", by John Le Carré
28. "Sharpe's Company", by Bernard Cornwell
29. "50 Literature Ideas You Really Need to Know", by John Sutherland
30. "The Stone Angel", by Margaret Laurence *
31. "The Broken Sword", by Poul Anderson
32. "Sharpe's Sword", by Bernard Cornwell
33. "Carte Blanche", by Jeffery Deaver
34. "The Fall of Gondolin", by J.R.R. Tolkien
35. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", by Betty Smith *
36. "Throne of the Crescent Moon", by Saladin Ahmed
37. "Sharpe's Skirmish", by Bernard Cornwell
38. "A Suitable Boy", by Vikram Seth *
39. "Firefly: The Magnificent Nine", by James Lovegrove
40. "Sharpe's Enemy", by Bernard Cornwell
41. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", by Roald Dahl * **
42. "The Testaments", by Margaret Atwood
43. "Ulysses", by James Joyce *
44. "Whispers Under Ground", by Ben Aaronovitch
45. "Sharpe's Honour", by Bernard Cornwell
46. "The Last Wish", by Andrzej Sapkowski
47. "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" by Roald Dahl **
48. "The Lies of Locke Lamora", by Scott Lynch
49. "Fifth Business", by Robertson Davies *
50. "Fire and Blood", by George R.R. Martin
51. "Fantastic Mr Fox", by Roald Dahl
52. "I Know This Much Is True", by Wally Lamb *
53. "The Sword Saint", by C.F. Iggulden
54. "Sharpe's Regiment", by Bernard Cornwell
55. "The Long Tomorrow", by Leigh Brackett
56. "Faeries", by Brian Froud and Alan Lee
57. "Icewind Dale - Rime of the Icemaiden", from Wizards of the Coast
58. "Sharpe's Christmas", by Bernard Cornwell
59. "The Celestine Prophecy", by James Redfield *
    
60. "A Christmas Carol and other Christmas writings", by Charles Dickens * **
61. "The Pillars of the Earth", by Ken Follett *
    

So that's 61 books. That includes 15 books from The List. There are only 3 RPG books, and 5 re-reads. There are 5 books for Funsize.

There are a few candidates for book of the year, with "The Testaments", "The Next Person You Meet in Heaven", "Blindness" and "The Red Tent" all being very strong. But the win goes to "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", by Betty Smith. I also need to give an honourable mention to the Sharpe series, which has been excellent throughout, without there being any stand-out novel that could take the title in its own right.

Sadly, there have also been some stinkers this year - "I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin" and "Carte Blanche" were just a waste of time, and I just couldn't get into "The Lies of Locke Lamora" (though that may be my issue rather than Lynch's). "Ulysses" was just painful. But the runaway winner of worst book of the year is "The Celestine Prophecy", given its ability to make "The Da Vinci Code" look good.

And that's that. As I've mentioned, I'm not setting any formal goals for 2021, though I will keep track of my reading here. I would quite like to get Shakespeare read, and take a big bite out of the remaining books on The List, but we'll see how it goes.