Best Books of the Year
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The Atlantic

The Atlantic Best Books of the Year 2020

The Atlantic Best Books of the Year 2020 names 15 books. 10 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

  1. A Burning by Megha Majumdarsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song by Kevin Youngsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headleysource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boydsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women by Kate Mannesource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yusource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo, translated by Jamie Changsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Minor Detail by Adania Shibli, translated by Elisabeth Jaquettesource (opens in a new tab)
  9. The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldsteinsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey and Michaela Angela Davissource (opens in a new tab)
  11. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennettsource (opens in a new tab)
  12. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasisource (opens in a new tab)
  13. Uncanny Valley by Anna Wienersource (opens in a new tab)
  14. Unworthy Republic by Claudio Sauntsource (opens in a new tab)
  15. Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irbysource (opens in a new tab)

About the The Atlantic Best Books of the Year

The Atlantic's own year-end best-books list. 2018-2025: the Culture Desk's list (The 19/15/20 Best Books of the year for 2018-2021; The Atlantic 10 from 2022). 2006-2012: the December magazine's Books of the Year, picked by literary editor Benjamin Schwarz. It is a single critic's list, kept because it is The Atlantic's only best-of-year list in those years. Only the picks printed as the year's top books are included: the 2009 page's 22 runners-up and the web-only runners-up posts for 2010-2012 are left out. No list for 2007 (no Books of the Year in the December 2007 issue) or 2013-2017: those years ran only staff 'best book I read this year' pieces, which mix in older books, so they are left out (as is the 2010 one). Also left out: genre and food side-lists, 'books we missed' pieces, and reader picks. Pages were read through the Wayback Machine because theatlantic.com blocks direct fetches. 2006-2012 picks were typed from the archived page text; later years were parsed from the page HTML. No list is ranked.

Organization: The Atlantic. Official site (opens in a new tab)

The most recommended books of 2020