Shondaland: The Best Books of 2020

• Check, Please! Book 2: Sticks & Scones
  Ngozi Ukazu
• The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  Adrian Tomine
• The Vanishing Half
  Brit Bennett
• Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës
  Isabel Greenberg
• Solutions and Other Problems
  Allie Brosh
• A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
  Roseanne A. Brown
• This Is What I Know About Art
  Kimberly Drew
• Luster
  Raven Leilani
• Cemetery Boys
  Aiden Thomas
• His Only Wife
  Peace Adzo Medie
• Homeland Elegies
  Ayad Akhtar
• Beach Read
  Emily Henry
• Mexican Gothic
  Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex
  Angela Chen
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
  Isabel Wilkerson
• Elatsoe
  Darcie Little Badger

Electric Lit: Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2020

[see also Favorite Novels of 2020, 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019, 15 Best Novels of 2019]

• Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex
  Angela Chen
• Born to Be Public
  Greg Mania
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
  Isabel Wilkerson
• Fairest
  Meredith Talusan
• Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America
  R. Eric Thomas
• Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
  Mikki Kendall
• I Don't Want to Die Poor
  Michael Arceneaux
• Later: My Life at the Edge of the World
  Paul Lisicky
• Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism
  Seyward Darby
• The Sprawl
  Jason Diamond
• Uncanny Valley
  Anna Wiener
• Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book
  Courtney Maum
• Riding with the Ghost
  Justin Taylor
• Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
  Natasha Trethewey
• The Unreality of Memory
  Elisa Gabbert
• Tomboyland
  Melissa Faliveno
• The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia
  Emma Copley Eisenberg
• My Autobiography of Carson McCullers
  Jenn Shapland
• Wow, No Thank You.
  Samantha Irby
• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
  Cathy Park Hong

Electric Lit: Favorite Novels of 2020

[see also Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2020, 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019, 15 Best Novels of 2019]

• A Lover's Discourse
  Xiaolu Guo
• Everywhere You Don't Belong
  Gabriel Bump
• Jack
  Marilynne Robinson
• Mexican Gothic
  Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Pizza Girl
  Jean Kyoung Frazier
• The Glass Hotel
  Emily St. John Mandel
• These Ghosts Are Family
  Maisy Card
• You Should See Me in a Crown
  Leah Johnson
• Writers & Lovers
  Lily King
• A Children's Bible
  Lydia Millet
• Leave the World Behind
  Rumaan Alam
• Parakeet
  Marie-Helene Bertino
• The Lying Life of Adults
  Elena Ferrante
• Memorial
  Bryan Washington
• Piranesi
  Susanna Clarke
• The Death of Vivek Oji
  Akwaeke Emezi
• The Illness Lesson
  Clare Beams
• The City We Became
  N.K. Jemisin
• A Burning
  Megha Majumdar
• Breasts and Eggs
  Mieko Kawakami
• Cleanness
  Garth Greenwell
• Transcendent Kingdom
  Yaa Gyasi
• The Vanishing Half
  Brit Bennett
• Real Life
  Brandon Taylor
• Luster
  Raven Leilani

Claire Fallon: The Best Books of 2020, as published by Huffington Post

[see also 2018]

• Temporary
  Hilary Leichter
• Real Life
  Brandon Taylor
• The Unreality of Memory
  Elisa Gabbert
• The Glass Hotel
  Emily St. John Mandel
• Parakeet
  Marie-Helene Bertino
• Death in Her Hands
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• Luster
  Raven Leilani
• Leave the World Behind
  Rumaan Alam
• Red Pill
  Hari Kunzru
• The Office of Historical Corrections
  Danielle Evans

Vogue: The Best Books of 2020

[see also 2019]

• Open Secrets
  Sheila Kohler
• The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
  Erik Larson
• How to Be a Good Girl
  Jamie Hood
• We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence
  Becky Cooper
• What Kind of Woman
  Kate Baer
• Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story
  Bess Kalb
• The Bass Rock
  Evie Wyld
• Leave the World Behind
  Rumaan Alam
• Memorial
  Bryan Washington
• Such a Fun Age
  Kiley Reid
• Uncanny Valley
  Anna Wiener
• In the Land of Men
  Adrienne Miller
• Apartment
  Teddy Wayne
• Shuggie Bain
  Douglas Stuart
• A Burning
  Megha Majumdar
• Tender Is the Flesh
  Agustina Bazterrica
• Luster
  Raven Leilani

Refinery29: Best Books of 2020

1. Memorial
   Bryan Washington
2. Transcendent Kingdom
   Yaa Gyasi
3. Leave the World Behind
   Rumaan Alam
4. Homeland Elegies
   Ayad Akhtar
5. Likes
   Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
6. The Vanishing Half
   Brit Bennett
7. A Burning
   Megha Majumdar
8. Parakeet
   Marie-Helene Bertino
9. Deacon King Kong
   James McBride
10. You Exist Too Much
    Zaina Arafat
11. Temporary
    Hilary Leichter
12. Pizza Girl
    Jean Kyoung Frazier
13. Perfect Tunes
    Emily Gould
14. The Lightness
    Emily Temple
15. Drifts
    Kate Zambreno
16. How Much of These Hills Is Gold
    C Pam Zhang
17. Heaven
    Emerson Whitney
18. Alice Knott
    Blake Butler
19. Want
    Lynn Steger Strong
20. Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
    Natasha Trethewey
21. True Love
    Sarah Gerard
22. Little Gods
    Meng Jin
23. The Knockout Queen
    Rufi Thorpe
24. Little Eyes
    Samanta Schweblin
25. Pew
    Catherine Lacey
26. A Children's Bible
    Lydia Millet
27. Weather
    Jenny Offill
28. Luster
    Raven Leilani
29. Uncanny Valley
    Anna Wiener
30. The Disaster Tourist
    Yun Ko-eun
31. What Happens at Night
    Peter Cameron
32. Wow, No Thank You.
    Samantha Irby
33. Homie
    Danez Smith
34. If I Had Your Face
    Frances Cha
35. The New Wilderness
    Diane Cook
36. Topics of Conversation
    Miranda Popkey
37. My Baby First Birthday
    Jenny Zhang
38. The Office of Historical Corrections
    Danielle Evans
39. Thresholes
    Lara Mimosa Montes
40. Cleanness
    Garth Greenwell
41. Writers & Lovers
    Lily King
42. Days of Distraction
    Alexandra Chang
43. Real Life
    Brandon Taylor
44. Such a Fun Age
    Kiley Reid
45. The Mercies
    Kirin Millwood Hargrave
46. Piranesi
    Susanna Clarke
47. Interior Chinatown
    Charles Yu
48. Rest and Be Thankful
    Emma Glass
49. We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence
    Becky Cooper
50. Death in Her Hands
    Ottessa Moshfegh

The Boston Globe: Best Books of 2020

Fiction

• The Awkward Black Man
  Walter Mosley
• The Cold Millions
  Jess Walter
• Deacon King Kong
  James McBride
• The Death of Vivek Oji
  Akwaeke Emezi
• Leave the World Behind
  Rumaan Alam
• Luster
  Raven Leilani
• Memorial
  Bryan Washington
• The Office of Historical Corrections
  Danielle Evans
• Sharks in the Time of Saviors
  Kawai Strong Washburn
• The Vanishing Half
  Brit Bennett

Nonfiction

• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
  Isabel Wilkerson
• Having and Being Had
  Eula Biss
• Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
  Robert Kolker
• Is Rape a Crime?: A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto
  Michelle Bowdler
• Just Us: An American Conversation
  Claudia Rankine
• Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
  Natasha Trethewey
• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
  Cathy Park Hong
• Uncanny Valley
  Anna Wiener
• Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory
  Claudio Saunt
• Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
  David Zucchino
• Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
  Katherine May

Vanity Fair: The 15 Best Books of 2020

• Clap When You Land
  Elizabeth Acevedo
• Inside Story
  Martin Amis
• The Vanishing Half
  Brit Bennett
• Felix Ever After
  Kacen Callender
• Find Layla
  Meg Elison
• The Death of Vivek Oji
  Akwaeke Emezi
• The City We Became
  N.K. Jemisin
• Luster
  Raven Leilani
• Mexican Gothic
  Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Transcendent Kingdom
  Yaa Gyasi
• Wow, No Thank You.
  Samantha Irby
• My Dark Vanessa
  Kate Elizabeth Russell
• Real Life
  Brandon Taylor
• Memorial
  Bryan Washington
• Interior Chinatown
  Charles Yu

Barack Obama: Favorite Books of 2020, as posted to Twitter

[see also 2019, 2018]

• Homeland Elegies
  Ayad Akhtar
• Jack
  Marilynne Robinson
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
  Isabel Wilkerson
• The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
  Erik Larson
• Luster
  Raven Leilani
• How Much of These Hills Is Gold
  C Pam Zhang
• Long Bright River
  Liz Moore
• Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
  Natasha Trethewey
• Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
  Anne Applebaum
• Deacon King Kong
  James McBride
• The Undocumented Americans
  Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
• The Vanishing Half
  Brit Bennett
• The Glass Hotel
  Emily St. John Mandel
• Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
  Robert Kolker
• The Ministry for the Future
  Kim Stanley Robinson
• Sharks in the Time of Saviors
  Kawai Strong Washburn
• Missionaries
  Phil Klay

Katy Waldman: My Favorite Fiction of 2020, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017]

• The Glass Hotel
  Emily St. John Mandel
• Leave the World Behind
  Rumaan Alam
• Where the Wild Ladies Are
  Aoko Matsuda
• The Office of Historical Corrections
  Danielle Evans
• Rest and Be Thankful
  Emma Glass
• Luster
  Raven Leilani
• Cleanness
  Garth Greenwell
• Interior Chinatown
  Charles Yu
• Real Life
  Brandon Taylor
• Homeland Elegies
  Ayad Akhtar