Readings 2020 - Fiction

I wonder how much the pandemic influenced my reading this year. I actually read less books this year than last year. According to my Good Reads app I read 84 books last year and 71 this year. I was barely able to make my goal in the Good Reads challenge. 44 were novels or collections of stories.

I read several novels about the black experience in America including books by Yaa Gyasi, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Colson Whitehead and Octavia Butler.

One of the surprise novels I loved was Walter Tevis' The Queen's Gambit from 1983. I read it after watching the TV series. Both were very good. I was sorry to see the death of John le Carre this year after reading his latest novel which was as good as anything he's written. He was a master.

Other wonderful novels from David Mitchell, Jonathan Lethem, Margaret Atwood, Sebastian Barry and Don Winslow made my reading list this year along with some science fiction as usual. I also read a collection of stories from H. G. Wells. I really like the weird sci-fi rock and roll novel by Mo Daviau. I was disappointed by the well written but plot restricted novel from Marilynne Robinson. This was the first in a series but I don't think I will be reading any of her other books.

And then there were the ongoing series. I read several detective mysteries from both John Sandford and Douglas Preston and also some of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series after watching the show on Netflix.

• Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi, 2016
• The Queen's Gambit - Walter Tevis, 1983
• Kindred - Octavia Butler, 1979
• Utopia Avenue - David Mitchell, 2020
• The Water Dancer - Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2019
• Slade House - David Mitchell, 2015
• The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead, 2019
• The Arrest - Jonathan Lethem, 2020
• Every Anxious Wave - Mo Daviau, 2016
• Wastelands: The New Apocalypse - John Joseph Adams, ed., 2019
• Westside - W. M. Aikers, 2019
• Dawn - Octavia Butler, 1987
• Anyone - Charles Soule, 2019
• The Testaments - Margaret Atwood, 2019
• Days Without End - Sebastian Barry, 2016
• Summer of '69 - Elin Hilderbrand, 2019
• Network Effect: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells, 2020
• Lovecraft Country - Matt Ruff, 2016
• The Cartel - Don Winslow, 2015
• The Country of the Blind and Other Stories - H. G. Wells, 1911
• Agent Running in the Field - John le Carre, 2019
• Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant, 2017
• The King at the Edge of the World - Arthur Phillips, 2020
• Adulthood Rites - Octavia Butler, 1988
• Future Home of the Living God - Louise Erdrich, 2017
• Gilead - Marilynne Robinson, 2004
• The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons, 1989
• Waking Gods - Sylvain Neuvel, 2017
• Imago - Octavia Butler, 1989
• River of Gods - Ian McDonald, 2004
• Dead Watch - John Sandford, 2006
• Fever Dream - Douglas Preston, 2010
• Cold Vengeance - Douglas Preston, 2011
• Two Graves - Douglas Preston, 2012
• Chosen Prey - John Sandford, 2001
• Mortal Prey - John Sandford, 2002
• Naked Prey - John Sandford, 2003
• Sword of Destiny - Andrzej Sapkowski, 1992
• The Last Wish - Andrzej Sapkowski, 1993
• Blood of Elves - Andrzej Sapkowski, 1994
• The Time of Contempt - Andrzej Sapkowski, 1995
• Baptism of Fire - Andrzej Sapkowski, 1996
• The Tower of Swallows - Andrzej Sapkowski, 1997
• Lady of the Lake - Andrzej Sapkowski, 1997