2020, a year in books

2020! A year when I had more time than ever to read and an attention span that was shorter than ever before (see: pandemic and all that attendant anxiety). 36 books in a year is not nothing but it's a lot fewer than I've managed in previous years. Still, there were some good ones. Here's what I recommend (listed in the order in which I read them):

• Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion (love her forever)
• Circe, Madeline Miller (third reread; not the last)
• Walking Distance, Lizzy Stewart (just delightful)
• So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo (really excellent)
• Devotion, Patti Smith (love her forever, too)
• The Dutch House, Ann Patchett (far and away the best book I read in 2020)