For many 2020 unintentionally became a year of reading, and as the pandemic continues many people are burning through their reading list.
Luckily, the end of 2020 brought a 'best of' list from the Vancouver Public Library (VPL); they asked their staff and some avid readers to put together a list of their top 20 books published in 2020 (they do a monthly top five, as well).
Some of the books, while new, have already garnered critical acclaim, including Giller Prize longlist nominees, Writers' Trust fiction finalists and a New York Times top 10 pick.
Among the writers are the legendary sc-fi author William Gibson, Cree lawyer Michelle Good (who now lives in small-town B.C.) and Nelson's Sarah Louise Butler (who's debut work The Wild Heavens takes place in B.C.).
Subject matter ranges from historical fiction where nurses work against the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 to a fictional history of a 60's rock band to a collection of short stories about a family and their estate by the sea.
The list, which notes whether any copies are in stock at the library, is hosted on the VPL website. Some are easier to get ahold of than others (one has 367 holds on the library system's 40 copies).
