2020 is a strange year to look back on. In some ways it was the year that felt like a decade, with so much happening so quickly and headlines changing every minute. But in other ways I look back to things that happened in January and February and they feel so recent, largely because there was so little to fill the time memorably since then.
Reading, as always, has been a saviour and with limited opportunities to socialise there was more time than ever for it this year. I made it through a ridiculous number of books, which provided comfort, distraction, entertainment, education, and companionship through this odd year. Here are my ten favourites:
10. Plot 29 (2017) – Allan Jenkins
Not the book I thought it was going to be when I picked it up, but instead far more powerful and memorable. Jenkins set out to write about gardening and his relationship with his foster family but instead undergoes a very emotional journey, unravelling the mysteries of his troubled birth family.
9. Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps (2019) – Ursula Buchan
I loved this biography of the ever-fascinating John Buchan. He was a man of such purpose, energy and loyalty and his varied accomplishments and loving legacy are a testament to these increasingly rare virtues. His biographer is his granddaughter and she paints a rounded portrait of him both at home and at work throughout his too-short and extraordinarily busy life.
8. The Eighth Life (2014) – Nino Haratischvili (translated by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin)
A brilliant saga tracing the lives of the members of one Georgian family across almost one hundred tumultuous years, from the Russian Revolution to the early years of the 21st Century. I loved every page.
7. Madensky Square (1988) – Eva Ibbotson
I think we all struggled with our reading at some point this year, a frustrating process when we know how helpful books can be in times of stress and uncertainty. I read mindlessly for most of March and April but picked this up at the beginning of May and it broke the curse. Ibbotson is always comforting but serious times called for serious measures and nothing but Madensky Square, the best of her novels, would do. I wrote about it years ago and my love for its heroine Susanna and her friends and neighbours on Madensky Square in pre-war Vienna only grows with each rereading.
6. Love in the Blitz (2020) – Eileen Alexander
What a delight! This collection of Second World War love letters written by a young Cambridge graduate to her future husband bubbles with humour, lust, and anxiety, tracking their romance from its infancy through declarations, separation, engagement and marriage. I shared a few of the letters (here and here) and had to restrain myself from sharing dozens more. Alexander is remarkably frank in her letters and they make for very refreshing reading.
5. Out of Istanbul (2001) – Bernard Ollivier (translated by Dan Golembeski)
This story of one man’s journey along the Silk Road was just what I needed in this travel-free year. In the spring of 1999, the sixty-one-year-old Ollivier set off from Istanbul intending to hike several months each year in the quest to reach his ultimate destination: China. This volume covers the first leg of that journey, when he made it almost to the Iranian border before being felled by illness. It’s a fascinating journey and Ollivier is refreshingly free of the arrogance of so many male travel writers, who set out convinced of their invincibility.
4. Beartown (2017) – Fredrik Backman (translated by Neil Smith)
Set in a small hockey-obsessed town in Sweden, Beartown thoughtfully looks at how a horrible event splits the community. When the town’s hockey star rapes a girl at a party, the majority of the town immediately rallies around him. It’s an incredibly powerful story about the dangers of group identities, told simply and with great empathy, and deserves every bit of hype and praise that has been heaped upon it.
3. Pravda Ha Ha (2019) – Rory MacLean
A chillingly important journey through today’s Russia and other increasingly authoritarian Eastern European states.
2. Where Stands a Wingèd Sentry (1941) – Margaret Kennedy
Kennedy’s memoir of the first spring and summer of the Second World War is a wonderful record of a strange time and reading it through our own bizarre spring was perfect timing. When everything felt uncertain, it was reassuring to be reminded that people had reacted the same way eighty years before (and ignored the same good advice that was being doled out both then and now).
1. Business as Usual (1933) – Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford
Business as Usual was the happiest discovery for me this year, and for many others, thanks to its spring reissue by Handheld Press. And if ever there was a year where we needed happy books, 2020 was it. This epistolary novel about an optimistic young woman’s move to London and work at a large department store is enchanting and I delighted in Hilary’s determined progress. It is that rare book that suits me in most moods, giving me something to laugh over when I am down, to comfort me in times of stress, and to inspire action when I am feeling daunted by the world.
Dear Captive Reader, Claire,
I don’t recall how I discovered your site in 2020, but it has become for me an essential source of inspiration. Your curated collections and captivating reviews are unlike all the others. I look forward to all that I will learn from your recommended books in 2021.
In gratitude,
Elizabeth
Thank you, Elizabeth. I’m so happy that you’ve enjoyed my posts and have found inspiration from them.
Fascinating list, the only one I have read is Business as Usual. I like the sound of Love in the Blitz.
Love in the Blitz is so much fun. I think I would go crazy if I were on the receiving end of Alexander’s many letters, especially as the war ground on and she became hysterical with anxiety, but they make for a superb reading experience.
A great list, most of which I would happily read!
Thanks!
I was just thinking that Business as Usual should be my first book of 2021…but I’m going to start it in 2020, just to ring this strange year out. Happy new year, Claire!
There’s no better book to start or end a year with – you can’t go wrong either way.
PS A Margaret Kennedy that I hadn’t heard of! That’s an extra treat. 🙂
And even more delightful: it will be back in print and easy to find come March!
Ahhh excellent list. I soooo need to read Pravda Ha Ha and Out of Istanbul. Happy reading in 2021!
You do need to read them, especially Pravda Ha Ha! I’m reading the follow-up to Out of Istanbul right now (Walking to Samarkand) and finding it just as good as the first one.
Excellent!
I think I want to read the Allan Jenkins one- but when things are not feeling so glum.
Solid plan. It’s not a cheerful book but when you feel up to reading it I think you’ll find it very powerful.
Someone’s review (maybe yours) of Beyond the 39 Steps made me really want to read it. It has not yet reached a library near me. Love in the Blitz sounds great too.
I too chose an Eva Ibbotson as one of my comfort rereads this year.
Sadly it wasn’t my review – I didn’t get around to writing properly about it. Kate Macdonald, a Buchan expert, wrote very well about it when it first came out (back in the spring of 2019) so perhaps that’s the review you’re thinking of? I haven’t seen it around much but it deserves a larger audience.
I love this list! I queued Out of Istanbul from my library as a physical copy, for a New Year’s treat. Hoping it comes in soon because that sounds really good.
Excellent – I love how organized you are! I hope it comes in soon and that you enjoy it as much as I did.
Ah, it’s so wonderful to see Business as Usual at the top of your list. Pure unalloyed pleasure, a little like Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and The Diary of a Provincial Lady. As you say, if ever there was a year where we needed escapist books, 2020 was it!
Happy New Year to you, Claire. Wishing you all the best for the months ahead.
Thanks, Jacqui. Best wishes to you as well for 2021.
I would know this as your list anywhere, even with only having read Business as Usual, and knowing nothing about almost all the others! I always feel I can wrap up a year properly once I’ve read your list 🙂
I am nothing if not predictably eclectic! With library access limited until part way through the summer, my reading this year leaned towards more recent books (which I could borrow as e-books) so I’m looking forward to getting back to older books this year (fingers crossed). The hunt for Sally on the Rocks, thanks to your recommendation, is my first quest for 2021.
Business as Usual does sound delightful – I love epistolary books, and especially vintage British ones. I will have to track it down!
I think you will love it!
I really must read Business as Usual. In fact unless it appears for my birthday, I will make sure I buy it in my Great Book Token Splurge, which I usually do around May!
Excellent plan! (and I’ll keep my fingers crossed you get lucky on your birthday)
Thank you Claire! You’ll be happy to know that we’re republishing Where Stands A Winged Sentry in March!
Yes, I’m very excited about the reissue (and have included the link in my full review to make it easy for other readers to find it)!
[…] Here’s a link to Claire’s recent list: Top Ten Books of 2020. […]