The Twelfth Annual Westies - review of the year 2020

Well it's been an odd year but here we are again, gearing up for Christmas and so it's time to indulge in the annual blog custom and remember the good books of 2020.

Once again, it's been a great reading year for me with a nice mixture of brand new novels, a few books that have languished on my TBR pile for too long, some good second-hand finds (which jumped straight to the top of the pile) along with some welcome re-reads.

As always, the top 20 places were hard fought and, I think, show a nice variety in genre and tone - if I've blogged about a book before, I've linked to it on the list.

Without further ado, I present the Twelth Annual Westies Award - “My Best Fiction Reads Of The Year” - and the top 20 looks like this:







1:   Ormeshadow, by Priya Sharma
2:   Into The River, by Mark Brandi
3:   At Home In The Shadows, by Gary McMahon
4:   Under The Italian Sun, by Sue Moorcroft *
5:   Christmas Wishes, by Sue Moorcroft
6:   13 Minutes, by Sarah Pinborough
7:   The Possession, by Michael Rutger
8:   Here We Are, by Graham Swift
9:   Memory Leak, by Richard Farren Barber **
10: Ascent To Godhood, by Jy Yang

11: The Shadow Friend, by Alex North

12: Strangers, by C. L. Taylor

13: The July Girls, by Phoebe Locke

14: Glorious Beasts, by Gary McMahon

15: Star Wars, by Alan Dean Foster

16: The Survival Of Molly Southbourne, by Tade Thompson

17: Tomorrow Never Dies, by Raymond Benson

18: Dead To Her, by Sarah Pinborough

19: Someone We Know, by Shari Lapena

20: Trust Me, I'm Dead, by Sherryl Clark

* This is Sue's Avon book for next summer, which I read to critique and will be published in May 2021.

** I read this to critique

The Top 10 in non-fiction are:

1:   Halfway To Hollywood: 1980-1988, by Michael Palin

2:   Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin
3:   Face It, by Debbie Harry
4:   Wild And Crazy Guys, by Nick de Semlyen
5:   I Am C-3PO, by Anthony Daniels

6:   Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V, by Lisabeth Shatner

7:   The Making Of Taxi Driver, by Geoffrey Macnab
8:   My Squirrel Days, by Ellie Kemper
9:   Cinefex 49, by Mark Cotta Vaz
10: The Art Of The Rise Of Skywalker, by Phil Szostak 

Stats wise, I’ve read 74 books - 41 fiction, 15 non-fiction, 12 comics/nostalgia/kids and 6 Three Investigator mysteries.

Of the 68 books, the breakdown is thus:

6 biography
15 horror
9 film-related
6 drama (includes romance)
16 crime/mystery
7 sci-fi
3 nostalgia
6 humour

All of my reviews are posted up at Goodreads here

In case you’re interested, the previous awards are linked to from here:
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009