{"id":5479,"date":"2021-01-03T22:51:25","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T22:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aussiepizzas.com\/PIZZADELIVERY\/my-top-5-books-of-2020\/"},"modified":"2021-01-03T22:51:25","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T22:51:25","slug":"my-top-5-books-of-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aussiepizzas.com\/PIZZADELIVERY\/my-top-5-books-of-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"My Top 5 Books of 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the last of my 2020 round-up posts, and highlights my favourite five books that I’ve read this year. My reading habits changed as much as my travel habits<\/a> this year, and I’ve read far fewer books than last year<\/a>: 94, in total. I used to read for pleasure mainly on my bus ride into the office and when travelling. I’ve technically had more time this year, but I’ve tended to use it for other hobbies, like writing (my own novel is now technically finished after I wrote the final 30,000 words this year) and doom-scrolling. I also got stuck on Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light<\/i> for several weeks, which I did enjoy but felt it should have been 200 pages shorter. Il Decameron<\/i> is a pretty hefty read too, even in English, rather than the Italian original I studied at university, but its Black Death setting and black humour felt apt for this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Spotted in Rye, Sussex<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/a><\/span>I’ve also tried read books from a more diverse range of authors, and in particular to read more works by Black authors. As I read a lot of crime novels, I’m grateful to a colleague who pointed me in the direction of the Crime Writers of Color<\/a> website, as well as to Sisters in Crime<\/a>, which promotes women crime writers. 
Before I jump into my top five, I’d like to point UK readers to a website called Bookshop.org<\/a>, which allows you to support independent bookshops with your purchase \u2014 particularly important during these tiered times in which bookshops may not be open.
1. The Vanishing Half<\/a><\/i> by Brit BennettOf all of the novels I read this year, Brit Bennett’s is the one that has stayed with me the most. The Vanishing Half <\/i>tells the story of light-skinned Black teenage twin sisters growing up in 1950s Louisiana, one of whom runs away and ‘passes’ as white, marrying a white man and having a blonde, blue-eyed daughter. Set across the United States, from the South to the Midwest, and California to Manhattan, Bennett’s novel is powerfully told and with convincing characters whose agonising choices resonate down the generations. [You can read my longer review here<\/a>.]
2. The Burning<\/a><\/i> by Jane CaseyEarlier this year, I highlighted some of my favourite detective novel series<\/a>, and Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan books were a welcome new discovery at a time when I’d finished all of my existing favourite series. The Burning<\/i> is the first in the series, and features a victim with the same name and job as me, who lived very close to where I live, so how could I not be intrigued? Joking aside, the plotting and character development are both very good, and I love how the various neighbourhoods of London in which the novels are set really shine through.
3. Whiskey & Ribbons<\/a><\/i> by Leesa Cross-SmithA haunting but beautiful love story, Whiskey & Ribbons<\/i> is another book that really stayed with me. It tells the story of a former ballerina living with her brother-in-law and young son, which is interwoven with the stories of her brother-in-law and her husband, a police officer who was murdered in the line of duty. Leesa Cross-Smith’s prose has a wonderful rhythm to it, and the novel is cleverly and thoughtfully constructed, with great care place on every last word and sentence. [A longer review is here<\/a>.]
4. The Ruins<\/a><\/i> by Mat OsmanMusic also features prominently in the debut novel of Mat Osman, who happens to be the bassist of one of my favourite bands, Suede. Set in London in 2010, The Ruins<\/i> sees the introspective Adam Kussgarten trying to get to the bottom of the unexplained death of his estranged twin brother Brandon (yes, twins again), the lead singer \u2014 and enfant terrible<\/i> \u2014 of a once popular rock band. Set in 2010 in a version of London that is at once familiar and somehow not quite right, Osman’s novel is mysterious, darkly comic, and with witty dialogue and, as you might expect, shrewd observations about the music industry and its interconnected underworlds. [A longer review is here<\/a>.]
5. Uncanny Valley<\/a> <\/i>by Anna WienerContinuing in the theme of the uncanny, Anna Wiener’s memoir describes her years working in various Silicon Valley start-ups. It’s a cautionary tale that pulls back the gloss, the hubris, the endless snack bars and the incredible share options, and reveals the hollowness and eeriness of the industry underneath. Wiener, an arts graduate, starts her career in publishing and is tempted first by a book-related startup, before moving into customer support roles at other tech companies, providing a much-needed human touch to an industry whose humanity is often questioned. The journey is not pretty, but Wiener’s insider story is extremely compelling. I enjoyed it for the same reasons I love David Fincher’s The Social Network<\/i>: it reminds me that no, that definitely wasn’t a route I wanted to take in my own career.
I also really enjoyed the following five books, which didn’t quite make my shortlist but which I highly recommend:<\/p>\n