Some good picks again this year at a time when one might need a little something to read, mostly from book club options (marked with*). I did skip one book club pick this year, Circe, but picked it up in 2020 (spoiler alert, I liked it). I think the following are noted in the order read, or close to it. Some of the specifics get a little forgettable, this year I am vowing to write this as we go, or closer since it’s already March, which could also help me be timelier.

• Who Is Vera Kelly* by Rosalie Knecht – A fun take on spy drama though not quite a traditional mystery we follow our protagonist into Cold War infiltration of a student group in Argentina.
• Asymmetry* by Lisa Halliday – Two of the three distinct sections were more compelling but overall worthwhile to look at these stories of people, from a young editor and her relationship with an older known author and an American man detained on a visit to see his brother in Kurdistan, from the relationships themselves to relationship between the various stories.
• Freshwater* by Akwaeke Emezi – An interesting and very odd take on the many selves within a woman (literal or psychological?) as we see her raised from Nigeria to the US.
• The Witches of Eastwick* by John Updike – This was a holdover from 2018 which I honestly had trouble getting through, though the witchiness will always have an appeal.
• The Barbarian Nurseries* by Hector Tobar – This one was also a slow start for me, and I ended up picking it back up after book club, eventually enjoying the tale of a family and their maid’s personal and societal drama and their quest to find family across cultural lines.
• An America Marriage* by Tayari Jones – One of my favorites of the year this heartbreaking tale of a newlywed couple where the husband is sentenced for a crime he didn’t commit, we get to know each through their journey together and apart.
• The Mars Room* by Rachel Kushner – I appreciated much of this book but never completely engrossed by the relatively brutal story of a woman incarcerated with extenuating circumstances as it goes through multiple POVs that sometimes add and sometimes detract.
• Lake Success* by Gary Shteyngart – A novel that is very of the time following a hedge-fund manager at a midlife crisis point that although at times amusing I found our unsympathetic narrator a little off putting.
• Transcription* by Kate Atkinson – More espionage, this time our also female protagonist gets involved with MI5 and we see various points of time in this fun enough British WWII and beyond spy novel, told from a nice POV but didn’t fully drawn me in with twists and characters over the years.
• My Sister the Serial Killer* by Oyinkan Braithwaite – Oddly light in tone this story of two very different sisters both enmeshed in each other’s lives, one of which has a tendency to kill her boyfriends.
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation* by Ottessa Moshfegh – The group was so put off by the earlier reading of Eileen that this got raised a few times before folks agreed, but well worth the push for the dark yet comic protagonist drugging herself through depression.
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – Having really enjoyed Everything I Never Told You I was very intrigued by this follow up two families crossing in a suburban community bringing great themes together, very well done (now a Hulu series).
• My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent – Compelling even with the tough subject matter it creates a world and characters that draw you in hoping for our tough young protagonist.
• Tell the Wolves I’m Home* by Carol Rifka Brunt – I quite enjoyed this coming of age tale with a young girl dealing with her favorite uncle’s death from AIDS and her new relationship with his unknown, to her, partner.

For critical picks I’ve gravitated to the consolidated LitHub list, and since we’re at a decade digging into their best novels of the decade. All good fodder for reading in 2020. What were your favorites?