Best books of 2020

That I read this year. (skip past the jump to just read the list of books, otherwise what follows is an overview and also a whine-session.
2020 was supposed to be the year I read way more books than I ever did before. The pandemic, for those of us lucky enough to enjoy the quarantine as a time of introspection, was supposed to allow me to do that and much more. I think the first half I did indeed get things done and read about past pandemics (as well as modern books about the pandemics at hand), but I didn't really or truly read as much fiction. Anyways, as the election and the GOP attempts to steal it came to the fore, the second half was spent dong more scrolling than I imagined or that was good for me. 
Damn you internets and your direct appeal to the lizard brain in us all. Still, even after the election I haven't spent as much time as I would have liked on things like my writing (or transferring all that I have handwritten into stories). I think you could say that I have reached a kind of ceiling in terms of motivation. I'm not sure why. Not to get all whiney here, but there exists the fact that not only couldn't I write, but what I wrote seemed that much weaker than the reality going on around us (and perhaps didn't explain it as well as I think it should). Hell, the best fiction out there is masquerading itself as reality and selling itself better than I ever could sell my own work. Qanon and Fake News yells to distract from actual Fake News? Yea that's some solid fiction that speaks to old ruts in people's brains better than any other fiction labeled as fiction.
Seriously, this is the kind of stuff that religions are based on and it's powerful and should be see as thus. So I wonder where my writing fits in all of this. If you follow my writing you will see that in 2016 came right as I tried to write about the multiple realities and lies hidden in truths that existed out there. I hoped that my writing would provide a kind of inoculation to such thinking but it didn't. [1] To that end I moved towards art as a better (is it?) way of reaching into the zeitgeist. We'll see. 
I suppose this reaches out to what I read too, this lack of motivation. Simply put, too much out there is just too bubble gumish. Even if the publishing industry finally seems to have opened up to voices that aren't just mainstream (or just white) I sense much of what I read doesn't reach deep like I hope my writing does... 
But, I still read some good stuff. So, here goes. 
History of Violence. Non-fiction about Central America. Very violent and not for the faint of heart. But damn is it worth it if you want to know why women and children travels hundreds of miles and risk everything just to come here. I do wish it spoke more to what America did there, but it's worthwhile still.
Broken Stars. You know how I like those anthologies, Johnny Boy, so this one is right up my alley. Scifi, but some damn good stories that really can stretch one's imagination. Love it. Hope you do too. 
Citizen Illegal. Great poetry here. Loved it all. Read and enjoy, though it's tough to swallow, no lie. 
Pandemic. I read a bunch of Pandemic (and flu) books, and this one struck me as the best one. It looks at a variety of diseases (different vectors) and it has a great point that with the Anthroprocene we will only see a higher amount of pandemics hit us (humans encroaching into nature's domain, for the most part). Highly recommend. 
Folly by Tuchman. Reread this (not sure if I mentioned it before) because with the pandemic reaching its heights and America (and let's be honest, the EU as well) messing things up, I had to read about previous fuckups. Essentially it's when institutions get rigid enough that instead of doing what they know is right, they focus on maintaining power. Not sure that was our exact issue here in America (or the EU) but given how Asia seems to have done much better, well, it was certainly a part of it. 
Breast & Eggs. An interesting book that lets you peer into parts of Japan that you might not be aware of. Here it shows how hard it is for women in Japan. 
What is not Yours is Not Yours. Interesting and enjoyable, I'm gonna have to read more of hers. 

Other solid ones:
Exhalation. Very Borges like stories. Some he really hits out of the park. 
Severance. Solid read and enjoyable. 
The Looting Machine. Interesting, and pretty informative, but it also felt a little pieced together. And some of the stuff on China, sure it's damning, but there does need to be a comparison to what Europe did. He mentions it, but not enough. 

Evicted. This also came highly recommended and though it was solid, I don't think it spoke enough to the forces behind what was done. Worth reading though, and I'm not sure there's a better book out there. 
Defoe's Journal of a Plague Year. good to read and see the similarities to today. Yeah they had trolls back then (worse than now, then you had to be at the mass graves and mock people directly to their faces). This is free at Gutenberg, btw. 
A Small Key can Open a Large Door. The Kurds and Rojova. Solid read that gives an idea about what the Kurds were thinking (even with their current betrayal by us, though that's something I imagine most anyone would agree to, Dems or GOP, just because of the importance of the Turks). We'll see if that revolution begets anything worthwhile. 
I read and others like, but I don't know why:
Plague by Camus. reread (and might do it again). Basically everyone I know likes this book. I don't like the Stranger either, btw, but this one, though better than that, is solid, but I can't understand the level of praise it gets (nor the tie in to fascism that I see some people try to say). Emperor without clothes? We'll see. 
Billy Lynn. I have read about this book and seen the praises for it (the definitive Iraq War book) so I had to give it a try. No, just no. I found it wanting on many levels, though I can see why the people who like it like it. It reads like a what you would think is the mainstream understanding of the war and veterans. yeah, not even close enough to being deep enough for me. Give me your thoughts, though. 
[1] Hell some readers of mine turned out to be Trump supporters. Yeah, I didn't get it either. 
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