This year presented a conflict for many readers: more time to read but more distractions than ever. The pandemic and presidential election combined to make it hard to concentrate on long-form reading, what with the obsessive need to stay informed pulling readers away from the books they were desperately trying to read.

As a result, I read fewer books than last year. Most of my favorite books were published this year, but several are from 2019. So this is simply a list of the 20 books by women that I enjoyed and/or admired the most in 2020. If you’re surprised by the omission of some acclaimed books published in 2020, it could be that I haven’t read them yet. There’s a good chance you’ll see several 2020 books on my 2021 list.

I haven’t done a mini-review about why I chose each book because (a) I’ve already reviewed some of them and (b) anyone reading this blog is probably already familiar with most of these books. And there’s a wealth of info about all of them at your fingertips.

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In alphabetical order by author: