My 10ish Best Books of 2020

What a blessing it is to love books”

   -Elizabeth Von Armin

Books have been more important to me than ever this last year.  They have  provided worlds in which to become lost in; words to be inspired by, and a comfort it was not always easy to find elsewhere.

Lockdown 1 rewarded us with long lazy weekend afternoons in the spring and summer sunshine.  Afternoons to sit in the dappled shade or in the blaze of the hot sun and fill the hours with books and stories.  As I look back over all the books I’ve read this year, I realise how many of them have been carefully chosen to suit my mood.

This year I have mostly not wanted to read books which would be ‘difficult’.  When I say this, I mean I have not wanted to be disturbed by my reading.  I felt far too often distressed by what I read in the newspapers or heard in the news or saw at work.  I wanted to be cosseted and palliated by books which would overrule the turmoil playing out inside and outside of my head.  This does not mean I wasn’t prepared to be challenged, I was.  And I certainly wanted to be inspired.  But it was the Cosy crime, familiar authors and books set in places I love such as Cornwall and Norfolk which became hugely important to me.

The following in no particular order are those books and authors which I remember most fondly.

Best Fiction

Dear Mrs Bird by A.J. Pearce

I love a story set during the second world war and especially if it is in London. This  gorgeous.  book tells the story of a young woman who longs to be a war correspondent and inadvertently becomes a secret advice columnist / agony aunt.  It is an emotional read full full of laughter and tears.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

A colleague lent me this during the peak of the first lockdown when we both agreed we needed stories we could immerse ourselves in to  blot out the reality of the working day.  This fit the bill perfectly.  The relationship between a brother and sister and their relationship with a house they were forced to leave when an evil stepmother came on the scene. A modern day fairy tale. It is the first of Ann Patchett’s novels I have read.  I shall be reading more this year!

The Giver of Stars by Jo Jo Moyes

A book about books will always be a winner for me.  Set in depression-era America, the story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey delivering books through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond. Fabulous female friendships, and what women will do to survive and indeed thrive against all the odds.

Best Non Fiction

Wintering by Katherine May

This is Katherine’s exploration of what it means to ‘winter’.  She explores her own journey through a year long ‘winter’ when an unexpected change in her own health led to a time of fear and uncertainty.  She recounts the experience and describes how she found strength in nature and adapting to her own extended period of winter.  This was such a poignant read during the first lockdown and I highly recommend it again now.

Most Beautiful and Unexpected

The Song From Somewhere Else by A.F. Harrold and Levi Pinfold

I bought this some years ago originally intending to give it as a gift, but somehow just knew I needed to keep it.  This is a magical read about an unexpected friendship which blossoms in strange circumstances.  It is beautifully and lyrically written and the haunting illustrations are wonderful.  I think this may be a children’s book, but it is so nuanced I think it will speak very clearly to adults too.

Best Historical

The Familiars by Stacey Hall

This is a tale of women and witchcraft and the fight against brutal power. Fleetwood Shuttleworth the 17 year old  mistress of  Gawthorpe Hall, has been unable to deliver a living child experiencing miscarriage and still births.  Her husband is anxious for a child. By chance she meets Alice Gray, a young midwife who promises to help her give birth to a healthy baby.  Alice is drawn into accusations of  witchcraft so that with Fleetwood the two are bound together as the trial approaches. They both need each other to survive

This came to me by way of my postal book group and from the moment I started it I couldn’t put it down.

Best Vintage

The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield

I loved this so much.  The diarised ups and downs of a woman in the 1930’s.  Self effacing and humorous she documents her struggles with the dreadful Lady Boxe, her inability to grow hyacinths and her continuous struggles to make ends meet.  She is a persistent multi tasker and the ultimate in ‘make do and mend’.  We read of her trying to entertain children, deal with her husbands monosyllabic conversation and placate the cook!  Hugely entertaining and full of real life lessons!

Most Inspirational and Informative

Square Haunting – Women, Freedom and London between the Wars by Francesca Wade

Listening to the author of this book talk about her book at Daunt Books in London, was the first and last book event I went to in 2020.  I am very thankful I did and consequently bought the book which proved to be a fascinating read.  The story of 5 creative women who all forged lives for themselves at a time when being an independent creative woman was still seen as unusual and difficult to achieve.  All the women lived at different times in the same square in Bloomsbury.  This book carefully weaves together their lives and work.

Best Series

The Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries by Carol Dunn

I really needed Daisy Dalrymple in my life last year.  I discovered her in Hatchard’s Bookshop in Piccadilly when browsing the crime section.  This is cosy crime at its best.  Set in the 1920’s, the charming Daisy Dalrymple is a writer who just happens to have skills for uncovering crime. She works along side Alec Fletcher a Scotland Yard detective to bring murderers to justice.  Beneath the surface the ‘will they wont they’ relationship between Daisy and Alec simmers along nicely!  The joy of this series is that I still have over 20 books to read.

Most Challenging

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

This was one of the most talked about books of last year not least because it was joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize.  My natural state means this usually means I won’t read it.  On this occasion I knew this was a book which I needed to read. This is a clever book which follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.  During  a year when ‘Black Lives Matter’ became increasingly important and hugely significant, I wanted to make sure I read more books by women of colour.  This was a very good place to start.

Best Comfort Reads

Rosamund Pilcher’s Novels: The Shell Seekers; September; Winter Solstice

I really needed to be reacquainted with Rosamund Pilcher last year.  I loved her writing and read many of her books years ago.  I started with The Shell Seekers as a way of escaping, at least in my mind! Everyone has somewhere filled with holiday memories of endless sun bleached days, the place they would return to again and again. For me that is always Cornwall. The Shell Seekers set in Cornwall is a wonderful  great big juicy saga of a read set between  cornish beaches, the streets of London and the quintessentially english Cotswolds. After devouring this I read the wonderful ‘September’, in September revelling in the descriptions of an autumnal Scotland.  In December I moved on to Winter Solstice a gorgeous Christmas read.

Best Christmas Read

Christmas at Fairacre by Miss Read

December reading is all about Christmas and comfort.  There is no better place to turn for both of these than Miss Read and the imaginary Cotswold village of Fairacre.  Here it always snows in winter, Christmas traditions have barely changed.  Carols are sung around the Christmas tree, stockings are hung on fireplaces above blazing log fires, and parcels are bought in local shops and delivered with the joy of the season to friends and neighbours.  Just lovely!

What next…….?

January is always a big reading month for me.  So I am looking forward to reading my way through some of my always large to be read pile.  I have started with The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.  It was a Christmas present and I already feel it could make this list next year!  Do let me know your reading recommendations for 2021.