We might be only two months into 2020, but there's already plenty of recommended books to read to choose for the best reads of the year. We know the year has just started; but it’s going to be a truly tough task to beat the best literary books we discuss here. From buzzy novels to engaging memoirs, family drama to guilty delights and adventures, you need to get your hands on these exceedingly popular page-turners (and simply good books to read) ASAP in 2020.
1. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
The new year brought new books to read, and American Dirt definitely takes one of the leading positions. Reviews say that after finishing this book, you won't be the same as before. The first novel explored here is the quintessence of immigrants' experience attempting to cross the US-Mexico border illegally. But even more than being a modern look at the complex issue of immigration, this page-turner is the story of a mother’s love.
2. Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
Uncanny Valley is a memoir about being a woman in a Silicon Valley as well as about changing the tech landscape working in open-planned offices filled with intelligent, but still dressed as children, future billionaires. Anna Wiener left being an assistant in her book-publishing office in New York City, and very soon ended up in Silicon Valley. She starts to work as a data analyst for 24-year-old bosses with major gaps in their life knowledge and experience who, however, managed to control the fates of so many people.
3. Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon
This award-winning novel of Paul Yoon reflects the lives of three children from war-torn Laos over several decades, starting from the 1960s. Run Me to Earth begins when the protagonists in their teenage years are living in a bombed-out hospital and organizing a sort of a team with a doctor aiming to supply the injured and help them amid the war devastation and destruction. Things get more complicated when the Vietnam War moves on, and the characters are left to deal with their perceptions of loss, safety, and survival.
4. I Know You Know Who I Am: Stories by Peter Kispert
In this debut collection of his stories about liars, Peter Kispert examines why we lie and discusses all the good, bad, and simply chaotic ripples coming out of those lies. Up to the date, there's really a lot of essays discussing this very topic, but I Know You Know Who I Am aims higher than just scoring points behind fabulist leaders in history. His stories are full of black humor, romance, and wisdom; you'll also do find the ideas of personal truth and deception that consider reasons for people telling lies from so many angles as maybe never before.
5. Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey
This very first Miranda Popkey's novel is all about desire, loneliness, motherhood, art, and feminism - all seized with the author's unique style full of intelligence and erotic moments that comprise almost every woman's life. The whole writing is composed of women's conversations they have with each other, as well as the ones they tell themselves. No doubt, Topics of Conversation has introduced the world another brave and immensely gifted writer.
6. Here for It by R. Eric Thomas
Have you ever felt like someone completely out of this world? The same situation is even more likely to become true if you're a teenager, either a college novice, stuck in your online reality much more than in real life. In his writing, R. Eric Thomas redefines what does it mean to be on the "other" side. It's not only about students' problems like how to write your essay or how to pay this-month bills, as there's always somebody you can pay for essay or where to earn some extra cash. It's rather about much more deep and fundamental problems of young age's identity.
7. Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar
As we all know, stories about raising the dead have always been among the most popular novels throughout centuries. Vikram Paralkar made this year's contribution to this top-notch popular topic with Night Theater. The whole story revolves around a surgeon who works in a poor, remote village in India. He gets visited by a recently murdered family of three and is asked to return them to life. Wonder what happens next?
8. The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
The first Ferrante's novel, since her bestselling Neapolitan quartet starts with a shocking: "Two years before leaving home, my father said to my mother that I was very ugly." This rich with deep psychological analysis novel is a comprehensive examination of Italian family life along with being an in-depth study of youth's desires and its self-destructive trends. Through the eyes of Giovanna, the author manages to explore the city's dual identities.
9. Grown Ups by Marian Keyes
Marian Keyes' new bestselling release includes all the elements of the so-called "Keyes classics," laugh and tears - all in one volume. The story is about three strong female characters, namely Cara, Jessie, and Nell, dealing with life’s big challenges. The three sisters-in-law come through self-doubt and relationship troubles, money worries, painful diets, and the same painful relations with their parents-in-law.
10. Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Entertainment Weekly called Kiley Reid’s debut novel Such A Fun Age “the most provocative page-turner of the year.” And, maybe, they're right as you barely can put down the story of a black babysitter, Emira, who is arrested for kidnapping the white child. For real, the novel recounts the dirty realms of race, privilege, feminism, and cheap work.
11. Salt Water And Spear Tips by Thor F. Jensen
The novel starts in 2016, together with a Danish filmmaker setting off from Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. The journey was completed with a traditional local sailing canoe under the apprenticeship of three Papua New Guinean master sailors. Traveling 6,300 km through dangerous seas over 13 months plus author's narrative talent produced a modern-day odyssey with fighting storm winds and pirates, dealing with dangerous seas and crocodiles.
12. Unlocking the Universe by Stephen and Lucy Hawking
This one comes from the children's books must-read collection; however, we found it worth your adult look as well. Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to have a walk four and a half billion years ago when the earth was filled with lava only? This and plenty other related to space and time-traveling questions are examined in a series of novels written by Lucy and Stephen Hawking.