Sign in with Facebook
Goodreads Staffers Share Their Top Three Books of the Year
Every December, as we wrap up our annual Goodreads Reading Challenge, we ask our book-loving colleagues a simple yet incredibly tough question:
What were your three favorite books you read this year?
Oh, the agony! The internal debates! The anguish we caused our coworkers as they whittled down their lists to just their top few books! Hopefully our carefully considered staff picks will inspire additions to your Want to Read shelf.
You'll notice that our reading habits run the gamut. But careful perusal unveils some office favorites, including lots of love for The Vanishing Half, the novels of Yaa Gyasi, and Ijeoma Oluo's So You Want to Talk About Race.
Now it's your turn! What are your top three books of the year? Please share them with us in the comments!
Oh, the agony! The internal debates! The anguish we caused our coworkers as they whittled down their lists to just their top few books! Hopefully our carefully considered staff picks will inspire additions to your Want to Read shelf.
You'll notice that our reading habits run the gamut. But careful perusal unveils some office favorites, including lots of love for The Vanishing Half, the novels of Yaa Gyasi, and Ijeoma Oluo's So You Want to Talk About Race.
Now it's your turn! What are your top three books of the year? Please share them with us in the comments!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Your turn! What are your top three reads of 2020? Share them with us in the comments!
Check out more recent articles:
Readers' Most Anticipated Books of December
33 Reader Approved, Highly Rated Fiction to Discover Now
Goodreads Members Suggest: Favorite Very Quick Reads
Comments Showing 1-50 of 314 (314 new)
Martin Gilbert/the second World WArV Woolfe/ a room of her own
I.P. Duckfield/Fathers in Jane Austen
Roxanne Peter Grainger10 Lessons for a post-covid world Fareed Zakaria
Sapiens, A Breaf History of Humankind, The Histories of Herodotus,
God: A Human History
Patsy Nicole Dennis-Benn Beloved Toni Morrison The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman
Fiction: 1.A Burning by Megha Majumdar; 2.The Playground by Jane Shemilt;
3.On Writing by Stephen King
My Top 3 Reads1. A Burning by Megha Majumdar
2. On Writing by Stephen King
3. The Playground by Jame Shemilt
1. The Dutch House by Anne Patchett, 2. The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner, 3. A Single Thread by Tracey Chevalier
1. English Patient by Michael Ondaatje 2. Red Sorghum by Mo Yan
3. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
1 The First Circle by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
2 Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
3 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
2 Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
3 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
1. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman 2. Gentlemen and players by Joanne Harris
3. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
Catch 22 by Joseph HellerThe hare with Amber eyes by Edmund de Waal
Hollywood Garden of Allah series by Martin Turnbull
1. The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead2. Chroniques de Jérusalem Guy De Lisle
3. Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary MantelOn Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Front Desk by Kelly YangHow the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Un gentiluomo a Mosca Olive,again Undici solitudini
My Dark VanessaPiranesi
The hidden girl and other stories
The Girl with the Louding Voice Dear Edward
Washington Black
The Dutch House by Ann PatchettThe Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha ChristieTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Institute by Stephen King
The Ickabog by J K Rowling
Audreywb wrote: "The Dutch House by Ann PatchettThe Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Red at the Bone by Jaqueline Woodson"
Bel Canto was epic. Is the Dutch House the same?
1. Dozakhnama by Rabisankar Bal2. Anxious People by Frederick Backman
3. The Essay by Robin Yocum
1. Things in Jars by Jess Kidd2. The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of 2000s by Andy Greene
3. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd, Under a Gilded Moon by Joy Jordan-Lake and The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
The Beguiling by Zsuzsi Gartner (novel)How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa (short stories - winner of Canada's Giller Prize, $100,000.)
The Smallest Lights in the Universe by Sara Seager (memoir)
Three stalwart books by Canadians!!
Braced by Alyson GerberThe Selection by Kiera Cass
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Mountains Sings by Nguyen Phan Que RaiMigrations by Charlotte McGonaghy
Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin
Sex and Vanity by Kevin KwanShuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Lesser Bohemians by Eimar Mcbride
Homegoing by Yaa GyasiThe Book Of Longings By Sue Monk Kidd
Valentine by Elizabeth Whetmore
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
1) Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell: 2) The Mirror and the Light by Hillary Mantel: 3) Apierogon by Colum McCann
Midnight Sun by Stephenie MeyerA Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Light from Distant Stars by Shawn Smucker, The Crown Lord by William Sirils,
Two of the best in fiction for 2020: The Night Watchman and Hamnet. And neither one showed up on staff recommendations.
1. Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver2. The Butterfly's Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe
3. Origin by Dan Brown
Water Dancer, Little Fires Everywhere, Vanishing Half.
Killers of the Flower Moon by David GrannThe Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Right Sort of Man by Allison MontclairThe Girls of Pearl Harbor by Soraya M. Lane
Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini
Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century/George PackerWhere The Crawdads Sing/Delia Owens
Permanent Record/Edward Snowden
The Dragons, The Giant, The Women: A MemoirA Prayer For Owen Meany
Homegoing
1. The Book of Longings, Sue Monk Kidd2. Girl with the Louding Voice, Abi Dare
3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Runner Up: The Holdout, Graham Moore
1. The Institute by Stephen King2. Dear Child by Romy Hausman
3. The Thunder Head by Neal Shusterman
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi CoatesThe Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
My Vanishing Country by Bakari Sellers
The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett, Anxious People by Fredrick Backman, and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
The Exiles, Dear Edward, The Good Neighborhood
1) A Better Man by Louise Penny2) The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
3) Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Confessions on the 7:45Code Name Helene
Dear Edward
Sharks in the Time of Saviors, Kawai WashburnThe Invisible Life of Addie Larue, VE Schwab
The Night Manager, Louise Ehrdich/Ehrlich
Clockwork Princess
Every Last Word