Welcome
friends, book bloggers and avid readers alike, to my annual book of the year
post. As usual, this post is not about books written or published this year, it's about books I have read this year, and with dozens to choose from it's no
easy task. I won't bore you with a big long list of all my reads from
2020, for that you can check out my historic posts or look at Amazon/Goodreads
for my reviews, so without further ado:-
In
at number five are (I know, I know but I just couldn’t separate them): The
Exorcist, by William Peter Blattey, Frenchman’s Creek, by Daphne du Maurier and
The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
(26/07 + 29/11 + 26/12/2020 posts respectively).
‘The Exorcist is atmospheric
throughout, great characters and it leaves you cold and needing the lights on
for bed.’
‘Du Maurier's flagrant disregard for
propriety is one thing but her depth of characters, her ability to have the
reader rooting for the pirate and the adulterer as opposed the law abiding
citizenry of Cornwall is simply brilliant.’
The Midnight Library was, ‘An enjoyable but thought provoking book
which, especially at this time of year, brings the very important subject of
loneliness to the fore . . . it does not disappoint.’
My
number four is, An Untamed State by, Roxane Gay (28/06/2020 post)
‘BRUTAL,’ I said once I’d read it, and it was.
‘Brutal is about all you really need
to sum up Roxane Gay's superb, An Untamed State, but there are two parts to
this book (Happily Ever After and Once Upon a Time) and two sides to the story,
so if brutal is one, then love is the other.
. . . the way Roxanne Gay writes just rips at
your heart and you just know that if Mireille ever manages to escape, her
journey would have only just begun.’
In
the bronze position then, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by
Stuart Turton (27/02/2020 post)
‘Oh
No! Have I found my book of the year 2020 already? Well . . . Maybe!’ was what I said in February, and it
came close.
Confusing, fast-paced, witty,
horrific intriguing and
I'll-be-damned-if-I'm-putting-this-book-down-it's-only-half-past-one-in-the-morning-and-I-really-really-really-need-to-know-who-the-murderer-is,
oh, shit it’s . . .!’ pretty
much sums things up.
So,
this year’s runner up, The Taxidermist’s Daughter, by Kate Mosse (31/10/2020
post)
‘Atmosphere.
If you like a book with atmosphere,
whether you're on the moors with Cathy and Heathcliff, crossing the causeway to
Eel Marsh House, running from the ruins of Manderley, or walking the rain
soaked alleyways of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Barcelona, if you like your books with
atmosphere look no further than The Taxidermist's Daughter.’ I said back in October.
‘Chilling, spooky, rain soaked town
on the south coast of England in the midst of a murder spree in the early
1900's with beautifully written characters, great plot, plenty of blood and
intrigue; what's not to like?’
And
the winner, my favourite book of 2020: Schindler’s Ark, by Thomas
Keneally (12/04/2020 post)
‘Read this book I beg you, for although
it is horrific beyond imagination and will tear at your heart, it is a
must-read if you ever want to understand just a snippet of what it must have
been like to live in such conditions, and yes, if you've seen the film, both
the girl in the red dress and the boy (albeit he was a teenager at the time)
who hid in the cesspit, were both real, but only one survived.
To put a star rating on a book like this seems
a bit crass but in the hope that it might get others to pick up a copy and read
it, I will give it five.’
N.B:
If you like your books spooky & atmospheric then you need to read Carlos
Ruiz Zafon, who sadly died this year but left a lasting legacy with his amazing
Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, of which the first two (The Shadow of the
Wind & The Angel’s Game) I have just reread and are utterly amazing.
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