I may have bookshelves, double-stacked rows, and book piles next to my bed and other places, but I still crave the rapport you can fall into at the library. There you are, wrapped in a cocoon of happy browsing, perhaps idly brushing your fingertips along the bindings, when suddenly out of the corner of your eye, perhaps a shelf or two below or above, perhaps one off to your right, a book will say, “Pick me!”

Thank goodness for Libby! That library app kept me sane in this past year of not-going to libraries.

Here’s what it served up for me in 2020. Some are brand new to me and others are beloved re-reads. I tried to keep a list of non-library books as well, but gave that up around February. I know where that list is, at least; it’s next to a book pile.

The full list is below. I particularly loved these (links lead to Amazon, not Libby):

Elinor Lipman, On Turpentine Lane and Good Riddance. Both of these books are delightful with oodles of realistic quirk and characters. I loved them and I felt good reading them.

Ernest Cline, Ready Player One. Enticing Gen X pop culture references and a stunning virtual world juxtaposed against a ten-minutes-into-the-future breakdown of society and humanity. I had such a great time reading this.

Fiona Davis, The Masterpiece. Art, creativity, elegance, strength, and dirty dealings. Revolving around the Grand Central School of Art that exists within New York’s Grand Central Terminal, we’re taken into both the late 1920s and the mid 1970s. What’s not to love?

Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth. Vibrant short stories of family life that span India, Cambridge, Thailand, and Seattle. To say any more would spoil it for sure, so suffice it to say that I wanted to learn more about some of the characters!

Haruki Murakami, 1Q84. Toyko, 1984. “A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s 1984.” I really enjoyed this world that brings together two narratives over a year within a parallel existence.

This is either a slight spoiler or I’m just pointing out a known characteristic, so read this next line with care (or skip): I have found with Murakami’s books that I’ve read so far that he has unfinished endings that jar me.

I make a tiny affiliate commission if you use the Amazon links above.

The List of Library Books Read in 2020

• Benjamin Franklin
  • The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
• Brittney Cooper
  • Eloquent Rage
• Candace Fleming
  • The Family Romanov
• Carrie Fisher
  • The Princess Diarist
• Celeste Ng
  • Little Fires Everywhere
• Cixin Liu
  • The Three-Body Problem
• Dave Eggers
  • The Circle
• Deborah Moggach
  • The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Diana Wynne Jones
  • House of Many Ways
  • Howl’s Moving Castle
• Donna Tartt
  • The Goldfinch
• Elinor Lipman
  • Good Riddance
  • On Turpentine Lane
• Elizabeth Strout
  • Olive, Again
• Eloisa James
  • Paris in Love
• Emily Henry
  • Beach Read
• Ernest Cline
  • Armada
  • Ready Player One
  • Ready Player Two
• Fiona Davis
  • The Masterpiece
• George Eliot
  • Middlemarch
• Glenn Dakin
  • Star Trek Cocktails
• Haruki Murakami
  • 1Q84
  • Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
  • Men Without Women
• J. Courtney Sullivan
  • Saints for All Occasions
• Jane Smiley
  • Moo
  • Some Luck
• Janie Chang
  • The Library of Legends
• Jennifer Chiaverini
  • The Aloha Quilt
  • The Christmas Boutique
  • The Wedding Quilt
• Jennifer Close
  • Girls in White Dresses
  • The Hopefuls
  • The Smart One
• Jessica Simpson
  • Open Book
• Jhumpa Lahiri
  • Interpreter of Maladies
  • The Namesake
  • Unaccustomed Earth
• Jill Lepore
  • Book of Ages
• John Green, Lauren Myracle, Maureen Johnson
  • Let It Snow
• Kerry Greenwood
  • Cocaine Blues
  • Death at Victoria Dock
  • Devil’s Food
  • Flying Too High
  • Forbidden Fruit
  • Murder and Mendelssohn
  • Murder on the Ballarat Train
  • The Castlemaine Murders
  • The Green Mill Murder
  • Trick or Treat
  • Unnatural Habits
  • Urn Burial
• Kevin Kwan
  • China Rich Girlfriend
  • Crazy Rich Asians
  • Rich People Problems
• L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
  • Anne of Avonlea
  • Anne of the Island
  • Anne’s House of Dreams
• Lauren Francis-Sharma
  • Book of the Little Axe
• Lauren Graham
  • Someday, Someday, Maybe
  • Talking as Fast as I Can
• Leah Johnson
  • You Should See Me in a Crown
• Liane Moriarty
  • Big Little Lies
• Lily King
  • Euphoria
• Lindy West
  • Shrill
• Lois Lowry
  • Anastasia Again!
  • Anastasia Has the Answers
  • Anastasia on Her Own
  • Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst
  • The Giver Quartet Omnibus
• Lorrie Moore
  • A Gate at the Stairs
• Lucy Worsley
  • Jane Austen at Home
• Maeve Binchy
  • A Few of the Girls
  • A Week in Winter
  • Chestnut Street
  • Heart and Soul
  • Nights of Rain and Stars
  • The Builders
  • The Copper Beech
  • The Glass Lake
  • The Return Journey
  • Whitethorn Woods
• Malcolm Gladwell
  • Talking to Strangers
• Margarita Montimore
  • Oona Out of Order
• Margot Lee Shetterly
  • Hidden Figures
• Marie Benedict
  • The Only Woman in the Room
• Marie Kondo
  • The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
• Martha Hall Kelly
  • Lilac Girls
• Mary Balogh
  • Someone to Love
• Maureen Johnson
  • The Hand on the Wall
  • The Vanishing Stair
  • Truly Devious
• Maxwell King
  • The Good Neighbor
• Maya Van Wagenen
  • Popular
• Mercedes Lackey
  • Beauty and the Werewolf
• Nancy Young
  • Strum
• Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett
  • Good Omens
• Nora Ephron
  • I Feel Bad About My Neck
• Pamela Druckerman
  • There Are No Grown-ups
• Paula Hawkins
  • The Girl on the Train
• Rachel DeLoache Williams
  • My Friend Anna
• Ran Walker
  • Bessie, Bop, or Bach
• Ransom Riggs
  • Hollow City
• Rhys Bowen
  • Love and Death Among the Cheetahs
  • Masked Ball at Broxley Manor
• Roald Dahl
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Rosamunde Pilcher
  • The Day of the Storm
• Sally Rooney
  • Normal People
• Sarah M. Broom
  • The Yellow House
• Shirley Abbott
  • The Future of Love
  • Shirley Jackson
  • The Haunting of Hill House
  • We Have Always Lived in the Castle
• Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Mexican Gothic
• Stassi Schroeder
  • Next Level Basic
• Susan Mallery
  • Before We Kiss
  • Secrets of the Tulip Sisters
  • Sisters by Choice
  • Three Sisters
• Terry Pratchett
  • Hogfather
  • The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld
  • The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories
  • Tiffany Aching Complete Collection
  • Witches Abroad
  • Wyrd Sisters
• Todd McCaffrey
  • Dragonwriter
• Ursula K. Le Guin
  • A Wizard of Earthsea
  • Tehanu
  • The Farthest Shore
  • The Telling
  • The Tombs of Atuan