The 12 Best Novels of 2020
Ghosts, boxers, Jesus, and Coca-Cola baths
2020 has been the most important reading year since I graduated college. Certainly I haven’t needed reading material this badly since I was a child, and hopefully won’t again. But the books pulled through, despite each and every obstacle — and there were many — thrown in the way of authors, publicists, editors, booksellers, warehouse workers, delivery drivers. Perhaps the most significant obstacle among them, at least in my apartment, was my dwindling attention span, which frequently found itself caught in the web of anxiety that spread in my chest and mind despite my best intentions. Below are the books that conquered my wayward focus, broke my heart, and gave me hope when I desperately needed it. I hope one or two will lift you up, too.
THE KNOCKOUT QUEEN, Rufi Thorpe. This is Thorpe’s third novel, a terrifyingly powerful expansion of the talents evident in her previous books, The Girls From Corona Del Mar and Dear Fang, With Love. In it, a young, gay, adrift teenager named Michael becomes best friends with his wealthy, beautiful, very tall neighbor Bunny Lambert. A cascade of violent events fractures, but never entirely destroys, their connection. This book is…
