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Favorite Books of 2020

12/16/2020

Jon Vogels

Having received positive feedback on my documentary film recommendations last month, I thought I would offer some suggestions about books this time around. Admittedly, I have not been able to read as much as I would have liked in 2020. All those big plans to get even more accomplished during the pandemic didn’t quite pan out . . . (By the way, there are numerous articles on the myth of productivity during COVID-19.)

But much of what I did read was well worth the time. So here are a few of my favorites:

Apeirogon by Colum McCann – there is nothing conventional about this book, including no clear delineation between fiction and non-fiction. The story of two real men—one Israeli, one Palestinian, who have both lost children to the violence in the region—ripples outward into a myriad of subjects and stories, all centered on the ongoing crisis of conflict and occupation in the Middle East. Simultaneously heart-breaking and optimistic, the book explores grief, love, redemption, historical complacency, hypocrisy, and family. McCann has written many novels, including the amazing Let the Great World Spin in 2009, and this one is typically full of historical references that will have you reaching for Wikipedia. (For example, you will learn a great deal about the ortolan, a small French bird that is considered a delicacy.)
Welcome To Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo – I have been immersing myself in Nigerian literature lately, and this was one of several books I could have chosen for this list. I recommend this particular book, not as a literary masterpiece necessarily, but as an entertaining glimpse into numerous aspects of contemporary Nigerian culture, all of which make that country such a modern conundrum. Through many personal and political sub-plots, a ragtag collection of characters find comfort in each other and endear themselves to the reader. Hoping someone will turn this novel into a movie.
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang and The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui – my two favorite graphic novels that I read in the past year. I have become a major fan of graphic novels, and these two epitomize the best of the genre, for very different reasons. Yang’s book is a documentary about high school basketball, while at the same time being about the teacher/author’s own existential dilemmas. Thi Bui’s memoir captures vividly one Vietnamese-American family’s immigrant experience—the personal trauma brought on by the war, the generational conflicts, the sacrifices of parenthood. And her artwork is beautiful and haunting.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson – there were so many great books that emerged from the George Floyd-inspired racial justice movement in this country. Many of these books had been written years before and were just now being re-discovered by “woke” white readers; others, like Caste, were new but struck a bigger chord among a wide range of readers in the midst of another civil rights reckoning. Whether or not you agree with all of her conclusions, Wilkerson will make you think, and her historical research grounds her arguments effectively.
One of Ours by Willa Cather – this is my classic selection. Based on the recommendation of a writer whose views I trust, I went back to this Pulitzer Prize winner from 1923. It’s a Cather book that does not seem to be widely taught, but I found it engaging and insightful. The first half of the book chronicles the life of Claude Wheeler, a young man who feels restless and out of place in the life he seems destined to live in rural Nebraska. That all changes when Americans enter the Great War. The second half of the book follows Claude on his journey overseas and into trench warfare in France. The depiction of a soldier’s life is unlike other books I have read and makes an interesting companion to the recent film 1917.
Downriver by Heather Hansman – I am far from an outdoor adventurer, but I do appreciate nature, am fascinated by resource management politics, and have always had a thing for geography and the stories of places. Consequently, this small non-fiction book from the University of Chicago Press really resonated with me. Hansman is a CU-Boulder grad and an avid adventurer. She decides to take a solo trip down the entire length of the Green River. Along the journey, she explores many of the most pressing natural resource issues of the day, encounters people all along the political spectrum, and has many of her own “what am I doing with my life” sorts of reflections. An awesome combination.