Bustle: The Best Books Of 2020, listed in order of publication

[see also 2018]

• Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis
  Ada Calhoun
• F*ck Your Diet: And Other Things My Thighs Tell Me
  Chloé Hilliard
• Long Bright River
  Liz Moore
• Topics of Conversation
  Miranda Popkey
• Creatures
  Crissy Van Meter
• Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
  Zora Neale Hurston
• Little Gods
  Meng Jin
• Uncanny Valley
  Anna Wiener
• A Long Petal of the Sea
  Isabel Allende
• Upright Women Wanted
  Sarah Gailey
• The Resisters
  Gish Jen
• Brother & Sister
  Diane Keaton
• The Illness Lesson
  Clare Beams
• Weather
  Jenny Offill
• The Antidote for Everything
  Kimmery Martin
• Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
  Mikki Kendall
• The Mirror & the Light
  Hilary Mantel
• My Dark Vanessa
  Kate Elizabeth Russell
• The City We Became
  N.K. Jemisin
• The Glass Hotel
  Emily St. John Mandel
• Wow, No Thank You.
  Samantha Irby
• Afterlife
  Julia Alvarez
• If I Had Your Face
  Frances Cha
• How to Pronounce Knife
  Souvankham Thammavongsa
• Our Riches
  Kaouther Adimi
• Little Eyes
  Samanta Schweblin
• A Children's Bible
  Lydia Millet
• Stray
  Stephanie Danler
• This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman
  Ilhan Omar
• The Vanishing Half
  Brit Bennett
• Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America
  Stacey Abrams
• The Margot Affair
  Sanaë Lemoine
• Death in Her Hands
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• Mexican Gothic
  Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• True Love
  Sarah Gerard
• Crooked Hallelujah
  Kelli Jo Ford
• Trouble the Saints
  Alaya Dawn Johnson
• Empire of Wild
  Cherie Dimaline
• The Death of Vivek Oji
  Akwaeke Emezi
• No Offense
  Meg Cabot
• A Room Called Earth
  Madeleine Ryan
• Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body
  Rebekah Taussig
• Cemetery Boys
  Aiden Thomas
• That Time of Year
  Marie NDiaye
• Piranesi
  Susanna Clarke
• The Book of Two Ways
  Jodi Picoult
• Bestiary
  K-Ming Chang
• Spoiler Alert
  Olivia Dade
• Ring Shout
  P. Djèlí Clark
• Phoenix Extravagant
  Yoon Ha Lee
• The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop
  Fannie Flagg
• Too Much Lip
  Melissa Lucashenko
• We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence
  Becky Cooper
• These Violent Delights
  Micah Nemerever
• The Thirty Names of Night
  Zeyn Joukhadar
• Perestroika in Paris
  Jane Smiley
• The Mermaid from Jeju
  Sumi Hahn
• This Is How We Fly
  Anna Meriano
• Wound from the Mouth of a Wound
  torrin a. greathouse
• A Spy in the Struggle
  Aya de Leon

BookPage: Best Books of 2020: Nonfiction

[see also Best Books of 2020: Fiction, Best Fiction Books of 2019, Best Nonfiction Books of 2019]

1. Notes on a Silencing
   Lacy Crawford
2. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
   Isabel Wilkerson
3. Fathoms: The World in the Whale
   Rebecca Giggs
4. Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
   Natasha Trethewey
5. The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X
   Les Payne and Tamara Payne
6. Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
   Robert Kolker
7. Is Rape a Crime?: A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto
   Michelle Bowdler
8. Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America
   Laila Lalami
9. Children of the Land
   Marcelo Hernandez Castillo
10. World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
    Aimee Nezhukumatathil
11. Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story
    Bess Kalb
12. Vesper Flights
    Helen Macdonald
13. To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq
    Robert Draper
14. Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness
    Catherine Cho
15. Wow, No Thank You.
    Samantha Irby
16. Just Us: An American Conversation
    Claudia Rankine
17. Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America
    Maria Hinojosa
18. Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
    David Zucchino
19. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
    Cathy Park Hong
20. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
    Erik Larson

BookPage: Best Books of 2020: Fiction

[see also Best Books of 2020: Nonfiction, Best Fiction Books of 2019, Best Nonfiction Books of 2019]

1. The Vanishing Half
   Brit Bennett
2. Transcendent Kingdom
   Yaa Gyasi
3. Piranesi
   Susanna Clarke
4. Such a Fun Age
   Kiley Reid
5. The Glass Hotel
   Emily St. John Mandel
6. Afterlife
   Julia Alvarez
7. Hamnet
   Maggie O'Farrell
8. Memorial
   Bryan Washington
9. Deacon King Kong
   James McBride
10. The Mirror & the Light
    Hilary Mantel
11. Leave the World Behind
    Rumaan Alam
12. The Death of Vivek Oji
    Akwaeke Emezi
13. How Much of These Hills Is Gold
    C Pam Zhang
14. Monogamy
    Sue Miller
15. The Lying Life of Adults
    Elena Ferrante
16. Valentine
    Elizabeth Wetmore
17. Sisters
    Daisy Johnson
18. The Lost Book of Adana Moreau
    Michael Zapata
19. Code Name Hélène
    Ariel Lawhon
20. Happy and You Know It
    Laura Hankin

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