“What are the best Fiction and Literature books released in 2020?” We looked at 328 of the top Fiction and Literature books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 37 books, all appearing on 4 or more “Best Fiction and Literature” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 275+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Our other Best Of 2020 Articles:
Previous Years: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
All titles have been added to a Bookshop list as well!
Happy Scrolling!
Lists It Appears On:
The story of three women by a writer hailed by Haruki Murakami as Japan’s most important contemporary novelist, WINNER OF THE AKUTAGAWA PRIZE. “Breasts and Eggs took my breath away.”–HARUKI MURAKAMI A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2020 Vogue・Thrillist・The Millions・ Literary Hub・Now Toronto・Metropolis Ja
Lists It Appears On:
“This debut novel about an Irish expat millennial teaching English and finding romance in Hong Kong is half Sally Rooney love triangle, half glitzy Crazy Rich Asians high living–and guaranteed to please.” –Vogue A RECOMMENDED BOOK FROM: The New York Times Book Review * Vogue * TIME * Marie Claire
Lists It Appears On:
Con un ritmo y un lenguaje magistrales, Fernanda Melchor, autora de Falsa liebre explora en esta obra las sinrazones que subyacen a los actos m s desesperados de barbarie pasional. Una novela cruda y desgarradora en la que el lector quedar envuelto, atrapado por las palabras y la atm sfera de terrib
Lists It Appears On:
An unforgettable coming-of-age novel that becomes a profound mediation on life, death, and lifelong friendship.
Lists It Appears On:
“A sensual and perceptive novel. . . . With humor and humanity, Miller resists the simple scorned-wife story and instead crafts a revelatory tale of the complexities–and the absurdities–of love, infidelity, and grief.” –O, the Oprah MagazineA brilliantly insightful novel, engrossing and haunting,
Lists It Appears On:
ONE OF THE TOP TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR– PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR–VULTURE “Daisy Johnson is the demon offspring of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King.” –The Observer “Builds a gothic plot to an artful and shocking climax.”–The New York Times “Ends with a magnificent t
Lists It Appears On:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – The long-awaited new novel from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks. New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice – “Mitchell’s rich imaginative stews bubble with history and drama, and this time the flavor is a blend of Carnaby Street a
Lists It Appears On:
2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST! One of the funniest books of the year … a delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire. –The Washington Post From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe comes a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, a
Lists It Appears On:
From the widely acclaimed author of White Tears, a bold new novel about searching for order in a world that frames madness as truth. After receiving a prestigious writing fellowship in Germany, the narrator of Red Pill arrives in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee and struggles to accomplish anything at a
Lists It Appears On:
New York Times BestsellerBased on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes o
Lists It Appears On:
Barnes & Noble Discover pick for March 2020 Amazon Editors’ Pick for March 2020 Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a groundbreaking debut novel that folds the legends of Hawaiian gods into an engrossing family saga; a story of exile and the pursuit of salvation from Kawai Strong Washburn. “Old myths c
Lists It Appears On:
“A prose poem in praise of memory, forgiveness, getting the joke and seizing the moment.” –Dwight Garner, The New York Times In the present, Sacha knows the world’s in trouble. Her brother Robert just is trouble. Their mother and father are having trouble. Meanwhile, the world’s in meltdown–and t
Lists It Appears On:
A Most Anticipated Book by: The New York Times Book Review * Wall Street Journal * Time * Esquire * The Millions * Vogue * People * New York Post * USA Today * Medium * The Philadelphia Inquirer * NewsdayFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins comes another “literary miracle
Lists It Appears On:
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR’S CHOICE Electrifying. — O Magazine Named one of the year’s most anticipated books by The New York Times, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and more What does it mean for a family to lose a child they never really knew? One aftern
Lists It Appears On:
In Dublin, 1918, a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu is a small world of work, risk, death, and unlooked-for love, in “Donoghue’s best novel since Room” (Kirkus Reviews) In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city cente
Lists It Appears On:
Following the breakout success of her critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Euphoria, Lily King returns with an unforgettable portrait of an artist as a young woman. Blindsided by her mother’s sudden death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the
Lists It Appears On:
Pulitzer Prize finalist Lydia Millet’s sublime new novel–her first since the National Book Award long-listed Sweet Lamb of Heaven–follows a group of twelve eerily mature children on a forced vacation with their families at a sprawling lakeside mansion.Contemptuous of their parents, who pass their
Lists It Appears On:
In the highly anticipated follow-up to his beloved debut, What Belongs to You, Garth Greenwell deepens his exploration of foreignness, obligation, and desire Sofia, Bulgaria, a landlocked city in southern Europe, stirs with hope and impending upheaval. Soviet buildings crumble, wind scatters sand fr
Lists It Appears On:
LONGLISTED FOR THE GILLER PRIZE The Glass Hotel may be the perfect novel for your survival bunker. –Ron Charles, The Washington Post A New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Bustle, Buzzfeed, GoodReads, Houston Chronicle, Writer’s Digest, Medium, Washington Independent Review of Books, The
Lists It Appears On:
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER From the beloved author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation–one of the New York Times Book Review’s Ten Best Books of the Year–a “darkly funny and urgent” (NPR) tour de force about a family, and a nation, in crisis Lizzie Benson slid into her job a
Lists It Appears On:
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE 2020 CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION 5 UNDER 35 HONOREE A GOOP Book Club Pick “A fully immersive epic drama packed with narrative riches and exquisitely crafted prose.” –San Francisco Chronicle
Lists It Appears On:
A New York Times bestseller Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, returns to the world of Gilead with Jack, the latest novel in one of the great works of contemporary American fiction Marilynne Robinson’s mythical world of Gilead, Iowa–the setting of he
Lists It Appears On:
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick! “Truly unlike anything I’ve read before. Bryan Washington’s take on love, family, and responsibility is as complicated and true as life itself. I can’t stop thinking about it.” –Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House “Made me think about the nature of love, a
Lists It Appears On:
New York Times Bestseller! From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousa
Lists It Appears On:
A FINALIST FOR THE 2020 BOOKER PRIZE A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE “A blistering coming of age story” –O: The Oprah Magazine A novel of startling intimacy, violence, and mercy among friends in a Midwestern university town, from an electric new voice. Almost everything about Wallace is at odds wi
Lists It Appears On:
The brilliant #1 New York Times bestseller With The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with her peerless, Booker Prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs t
Lists It Appears On:
A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER Yaa Gyasi’s stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabama. Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience at
Lists It Appears On:
A “profound and provocative” new work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Disgraced and American Dervish an immigrant father and his son search for belonging — in post-Trump America, and with each other (Kirkus Reviews). “Passionate, disturbing, unputdownable.” — Salman Rushdie A deeply person
Lists It Appears On:
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER So delicious that it feels illicit . . . Raven Leilani’s first novel reads like summer: sentences like ice that crackle or melt into a languorous drip; plot suddenly, wildly flying
Lists It Appears On:
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER. Soon to be a NETFLIX Original Series. A POWERFUL NEW NOVEL set in a divided Naples by ELENA FERRANTE, the New York Times best-selling author of My Brilliant Friend and The Lost Daughter. “There’s no doubt [the publication of The Lying Life of
Lists It Appears On:
A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise–to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies–and find their lives entangled in the wake of a ca
Lists It Appears On:
A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award (Fiction)A Recommended Book From: Vogue * TIME * The Washington Post * Buzzfeed * The Boston Globe * The Wall Street Journal * Elle * Vulture * Newsweek * NY Observer * Refinery29 * The New York Post * Town & Count
Lists It Appears On:
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A REESE’S BOOK CLUB x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK PICK “The most provocative page-turner of the year.” –Entertainment Weekly “A great way to kick off 2020.” –Washington Post “I urge you to read Such a Fun Age.” –NPR A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhila
Lists It Appears On:
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird and the bestselling modern classic The Color of Water, comes one of the most celebrated novels of the year. In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportc
Lists It Appears On:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDShuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh “Shuggie” Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher’s policies have put husbands
Lists It Appears On:
England, 1580: The Black Death creeps across the land, an ever-present threat, infecting the healthy, the sick, the old and the young, alike. The end of days is near, but life always goes on in this national best seller and winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. “All too timely … [An] exceptiona
Lists It Appears On:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD A GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick “Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” –Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal “A
| # | Book | Author | Lists |
| 38 | Actress | Anne Enright | Kirkus 2 |
| Powells | |||
| Washington Post | |||
| 39 | Afterlife | Julia Alvarez | Kirkus 2 |
| Bookpage | |||
| TMN | |||
| 40 | Amnesty | Aravind Adiga | Kirkus 2 |
| Pan Macmillan | |||
| NPR | |||
| 41 | Anxious People | Fredrik Backman | Goodreads |
| Amazon | |||
| NPR | |||
| 42 | Apeirogon: A Novel | Colum McCann | Library Journal |
| TMN | |||
| Amazon | |||
| 43 | Bestiary | K-Ming Chang | Kirkus 2 |
| Los Angeles Times | |||
| Bookshop Santa Cruz | |||
| 44 | Black Sunday | Tola Rotimi Abraham | Kirkus 2 |
| TMN | |||
| NPR | |||
| 45 | Crooked Hallelujah | Kelli Jo Ford | Publishers Weekly |
| Washington Post | |||
| NPR | |||
| 46 | Days of Distraction | Alexandra Chang | Kirkus 2 |
| Washington Post | |||
| NPR | |||
| 47 | Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line | Deepa Anappara | NY Times |
| TMN | |||
| NPR | |||
| 48 | Earthlings | Sayaka Murata Ginny Tapley Takemori (Translator) | Financial Times 2 |
| NY Times | |||
| TMN | |||
| 49 | Inside Story: A Novel | Martin Amis | The Guardian |
| The Telegraph | |||
| Financial Times | |||
| 50 | Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 | Cho Nam-Joo | NY Times |
| TMN | |||
| NPR | |||
| 51 | Little Eyes | Samanta Schweblin | NY Times |
| TMN | |||
| The Guardian | |||
| 52 | Mexican Gothic | Silvia Moreno-Garcia | Barnes & Noble |
| Washington Post | |||
| Bookshop Santa Cruz | |||
| 53 | Migrations: A Novel | Charlotte McConaghy | Library Journal |
| Amazon | |||
| Bookshop Santa Cruz | |||
| 54 | Missionaries | Phil Klay | Kirkus 2 |
| NY Times | |||
| NPR | |||
| 55 | My Dark Vanessa | Kate Elizabeth Russell | Goodreads |
| Powells | |||
| TMN | |||
| 56 | Rodham | Curtis Sittenfeld | Washington Post |
| The Guardian | |||
| NPR | |||
| 57 | Run Me to Earth | Paul Yoon | Kirkus 2 |
| Washington Post | |||
| Bookshop Santa Cruz | |||
| 58 | The Discomfort of Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld ; translated by Michele Hutchison | Financial Times 2 |
| Kirkus | |||
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 59 | The Mercies | Kiran Millwood Hargrave | NY Times |
| Amazon | |||
| Pan Macmillan | |||
| 60 | The Mountains Sing | Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai | Book Riot |
| She Reads | |||
| NPR | |||
| 61 | The Office of Historical Corrections | Danielle Evans | Kirkus 2 |
| Washington Post | |||
| Barnes & Noble | |||
| 62 | The Silence | Don Delillo | Pan Macmillan |
| The Guardian | |||
| The Telegraph | |||
| 63 | Valentine | Elizabeth Wetmore | Washington Post |
| Bookshop Santa Cruz | |||
| Bookpage | |||
| 64 | What Are You Going Through | Sigrid Nunez | Kirkus 2 |
| Readings | |||
| NPR | |||
| 65 | A Girl Is a Body of Water | Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi | Washington Post |
| Powells | |||
| 66 | An Inventory of Losses | Judith Schalansky, trans. from the German by Jackie Smith | Financial Times 2 |
| Publishers Weekly | |||
| 67 | Barn 8 | Deb Olin Unferth | TMN |
| NPR | |||
| 68 | Beach Read | Emily Henry | Powells |
| NPR | |||
| 69 | Beheld | TaraShea Nesbit | Publishers Weekly |
| NY Times | |||
| 70 | Beowulf: A New Translation | Maria Dahvana Headley | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 71 | Big Summer | Jennifer Weiner | Goodreads |
| Washington Post | |||
| 72 | Burnt Sugar: A Novel | Avni Doshi | The Guardian |
| NPR | |||
| 73 | Clap When You Land | Elizabeth Acevedo | TMN |
| NPR | |||
| 74 | Collected Stories | Shirley Hazzard Brigitta Olubas (Editor) Zoë Heller (Foreword by) & 1 more | Kirkus 2 |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 75 | Dear Edward | Ann Napolitano | Goodreads |
| Washington Post | |||
| 76 | Fiebre Tropical | Juli Delgado Lopera | Kirkus 2 |
| Publishers Weekly | |||
| 77 | Fracture | Andrés Neuman | Powells |
| Financial Times 2 | |||
| 78 | Godshot | Chelsea Bieker | Powells |
| NPR | |||
| 79 | His Only Wife | Peace Adzo Medie | She Reads |
| NY Times | |||
| 80 | Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance | Zora Neale Hurston | TMN |
| Book Riot | |||
| 81 | I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me | Juan Pablo Villalobos ; translated by Daniel Hahn | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 82 | If I Had Your Face | Frances Cha | She Reads |
| NPR | |||
| 83 | Indelicacy | Amina Cain | Powells |
| Readings | |||
| 84 | Lake Like a Mirror | Ho Sok Fong ; translated by Natascha Bruce | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 85 | Long Bright River | Liz Moore | TMN |
| NPR | |||
| 86 | Man of My Time | Dalia Sofer | Kirkus 2 |
| NY Times | |||
| 87 | Mr Wilder and Me | Jonathan Coe | The Guardian |
| The Telegraph | |||
| 88 | New Waves | Kevin Nguyen | Kirkus 2 |
| NPR | |||
| 89 | Nights When Nothing Happened | Simon Han | Washington Post |
| TMN | |||
| 90 | One Night Two Souls Went Walking | Ellen Cooney | Kirkus 2 |
| NPR | |||
| 91 | Pizza Girl | Jean Kyoung Frazier | TMN |
| NPR | |||
| 92 | Ready Player Two | Ernest Cline | Books A Million |
| Washington Post | |||
| 93 | Sansei and Sensibility | Karen Tei Yamashita | Kirkus 2 |
| TMN | |||
| 94 | Something to Talk about | Meryl Wilsner | Kirkus 2 |
| NPR | |||
| 95 | Summerwater | Sarah Moss | Pan Macmillan |
| The Guardian | |||
| 96 | Take a Hint, Dani Brown | Talia Hibbert | Kirkus 2 |
| NPR | |||
| 97 | That Time of Year | Marie NDiaye ; translated by Jordan Stump | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 98 | The Awkward Black Man | Walter Mosley | Kirkus 2 |
| Washington Post | |||
| 99 | The Bass Rock | Evie Wyld | The Guardian |
| The Telegraph | |||
| 100 | The Cactus League | Emily Nemens | TMN |
| NPR | |||
| 101 | The City We Became: A Novel | N. K. Jemisin | Kirkus 2 |
| Bookshop Santa Cruz | |||
| 102 | The Dominant Animal | Kathryn Scanlan | Publishers Weekly |
| The Guardian | |||
| 103 | The Evening and the Morning | Ken Follett | Barnes & Noble |
| Washington Post | |||
| 104 | The Fallen | Carlos Manuel Álvarez ; translated by Frank Wynne | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 105 | The Girl with the Louding Voice | Abi Daré | Goodreads |
| Amazon | |||
| 106 | The Golden Cage | Camilla Läckberg ; translated by Neil Smith | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 107 | The Index of Self-Destructive Acts | Christopher Beha | Kirkus 2 |
| Library Journal | |||
| 108 | The King at the Edge of the World | Arthur Phillips | Washington Post |
| NY Times | |||
| 109 | The King of Warsaw | Szczepan Twardoch ; translated by Sean Gasper Bye | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 110 | The Kingdom | Jo Nesbø ; translated by Robert Ferguson | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 111 | The Knockout Queen | Rufi Thorpe | Kirkus 2 |
| TMN | |||
| 112 | The Lehman Trilogy | Stefano Massini ; translated by Richard Dixon | Kirkus |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 113 | The New Wilderness | Diane Cook | Amazon |
| Washington Post | |||
| 114 | The Resisters | Gish Jen | Washington Post |
| TMN | |||
| 115 | The Roommate | Rosie Danan | Kirkus 2 |
| NPR | |||
| 116 | The Searcher | Tana French | TMN |
| NPR | |||
| 117 | The Young Team | Graeme Armstrong | Pan Macmillan |
| The Guardian | |||
| 118 | These Ghosts Are Family | Maisy Card | Book Riot |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 119 | This Mournable Body | Tsitsi Dangarembga | Financial Times |
| The Guardian | |||
| 120 | Tokyo Ueno Station | Yu Miri, trans. from the Japanese by Morgan Giles | NY Times |
| Publishers Weekly | |||
| 121 | Want | Lynn Steger Strong | Kirkus 2 |
| NPR | |||
| 122 | We Ride Upon Sticks | Quan Barry | Book Riot |
| Kirkus 2 | |||
| 123 | You Had Me at Hola | Alexis Daria | Kirkus 2 |
| Bookshop Santa Cruz | |||
| 124 | 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World | Elif Shafak | Powells |
| 125 | 28 Summers | Elin Hilderbrand | Kirkus 2 |
| 126 | A Castle In The Clouds | Kerstin Gier | NPR |
| 127 | A Certain Hunger | Chelsea G. Summers | TMN |
| 128 | A Good Neighborhood: A Novel | Therese Anne Fowler | NPR |
| 129 | A Heart of Blood and Ashes | Milla Vane | Kirkus 2 |
| 130 | A Room Made of Leaves | null | The Telegraph |
| 131 | A Saint from Texas | Edmund White | Publishers Weekly |
| 132 | A Shadow Intelligence | Oliver Harris | Kirkus 2 |
| 133 | A Small Crowd of Strangers | Joanna Rose | Powells |
| 134 | A Theatre for Dreamers | Polly Samson | The Telegraph |
| 135 | A Time for Mercy | John Grisham | Books A Million |
| 136 | Afterland | Lauren Beukes | Washington Post |
| 137 | Against the Loveless World | Susan Abulhawa | She Reads |
| 138 | All Adults Here | Emma Straub | Washington Post |
| 139 | All the Devils Are Here | Louise Penny | Kirkus 2 |
| 140 | Alligator and Other Stories | Dima Alzayat | Pan Macmillan |
| 141 | Almond | Won-Pyung Sohn Sandy Joosun Lee (Translator) | Amazon |
| 142 | American Dirt | Jeanine Cummins | Goodreads |
| 143 | And I Do Not Forgive You | Amber Sparks | Washington Post |
| 144 | As You Were | Elaine Feeney | The Telegraph |
| 145 | Barcelona Days | Daniel Riley | TMN |
| 146 | Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe | Toshikazu Kawaguchi | Pan Macmillan |
| 147 | Black Bottom Saints | Alice Randall | Kirkus 2 |
| 148 | Black Sun | Rebecca Roanhorse | Kirkus 2 |
| 149 | Blacktop Wasteland | S. A. Cosby | NY Times |
| 150 | Bluebeard’s First Wife | Ha Seong-nan, trans. from the Korean by Janet Hong | Publishers Weekly |
| 151 | Circe | Madeline Miller | Powells |
| 152 | City of Girls | Elizabeth Gilbert | Powells |
| 153 | Code Name Hélène | Ariel Lawhon | Bookpage |
| 154 | Correspondents | Pan Macmillan | |
| 155 | Creatures: A Novel | Crissy Van Meter | NPR |
| 156 | Crossings | Alex Landragin | TMN |
| 157 | Daring and the Duke: The Bareknuckle Bastards Book III | Sarah MacLean | Kirkus 2 |
| 158 | Dead Land | Sara Paretsky | Kirkus 2 |
| 159 | Dear Ann | Bobbie Ann Mason | Kirkus 2 |
| 160 | Dear Justyce | Nic Stone | NPR |
| 161 | Docile | K. M. Szpara | TMN |
| 162 | Dominoes at the Crossroads | Kaie Kellough | TMN |
| 163 | Drifts | Kate Zambreno | TMN |
| 164 | Driftwood | Marie Brennan | Kirkus 2 |
| 165 | Eight Perfect Murders | Peter Swanson | Kirkus 2 |
| 166 | Empire Of Wild: A Novel | Cherie Dimaline | NPR |
| 167 | Even As We Breathe: A Novel | Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle | NPR |
| 168 | Every Reason We Shouldn’t | Sara Fujimura | NPR |
| 169 | Everywhere You Don’t Belong | Gabriel Bump | NY Times |
| 170 | Fair Warning | Michael Connelly | Kirkus 2 |
| 171 | Felix Ever After | Kacen Callender | Book Riot |
| 172 | Fifty Words for Rain | Asha Lemmie | Amazon |
| 173 | Followers: A Novel | Megan Angelo | NPR |
| 174 | Four by Four | Sara Mesa | TMN |
| 175 | Fresh Water for Flowers | Valérie Perrin | Bookshop Santa Cruz |
| 176 | Furia | Yamile Saied Méndez | She Reads |
| 177 | Girl Gone Viral: A Novel | Alisha Rai | NPR |
| 178 | Goldilocks | Laura Lam | Kirkus 2 |
| 179 | Good Citizens Need Not Fear | Maria Reva | The Guardian |
| 180 | Happy and You Know It | Laura Hankin | Bookpage |
| 181 | Headliners: An Enemies-To-Lovers Romance | Lucy Parker | NPR |
| 182 | Heart Of Junk: A Novel | Luke Geddes | NPR |
| 183 | Here We Are: A Novel | Graham Swift | NPR |
| 184 | High As The Waters Rise: A Novel | Anja Kampmann | NPR |
| 185 | Homie: Poems | Danez Smith | Bookshop Santa Cruz |
| 186 | I Hold a Wolf by the Ears | Laura van den Berg | Time |
| 187 | If I Had Two Wings: Stories | Randall Kenan | Kirkus 2 |
| 188 | Igifu | Scholastique Mukasonga, trans. from the French by Jordan Stump | Publishers Weekly |
| 189 | Include Me Out | María Sonia Cristoff | TMN |
| 190 | It Is Wood, It Is Stone | Gabriella Burnham | Publishers Weekly |
| 191 | Kingdomtide | Rye Curtis | Powells |
| 192 | Like A Bird | Fariha Róisín | NPR |
| 193 | Like Lovers Do: A Girls Trip Novel | Tracey Livesay | Kirkus 2 |
| 194 | Likes | Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum | Publishers Weekly |
| 195 | Little Bandaged Days | Kyra Wilder | Pan Macmillan |
| 196 | Little Family | Ishmael Beah | Library Journal |
| 197 | Little Gods | Meng Jin | Powells |
| 198 | Loathe At First Sight: A Novel | Suzanne Park | NPR |
| 199 | Love Lettering: A Witty and Heartfelt Love Story | Kate Clayborn | Kirkus 2 |
| 200 | Low | Jeet Thayil | TMN |
| 201 | Make Russia Great Again | Christopher Buckley | Washington Post |
| 202 | Mansour’s Eyes | Ryan Girod, trans. from the French by Chris Clarke | Publishers Weekly |
| 203 | Many People Die Like You | Lina Wolff | Financial Times 2 |
| 204 | Master of Poisons | Andrea Hairston | Kirkus 2 |
| 205 | Members Only | Sameer Pandya | NPR |
| 206 | Minor Detail | Adania Shibli | NY Times |
| 207 | Miss Iceland | Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir | NPR |
| 208 | Modern Times | Cathy Sweeney | The Guardian |
| 209 | Moonflower Murders: A Novel | Anthony Horowitz | NPR |
| 210 | Must I Go | Yiyun Li | TMN |
| 211 | Network Effect | Martha Wells | TMN |
| 212 | Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West | Lauren Redniss | Bookshop Santa Cruz |
| 213 | One by One | Ruth Ware | Kirkus 2 |
| 214 | One To Watch: A Novel | Kate Stayman-London | NPR |
| 215 | Oona Out of Order: A Novel | Margarita Montimore | Amazon |
| 216 | Or What You Will | Jo Walton | TMN |
| 217 | Out of Mesopotamia | Salar Abdoh | Publishers Weekly |
| 218 | Party Of Two | Jasmine Guillory | NPR |
| 219 | Pew | Catherine Lacey | Publishers Weekly |
| 220 | Plain Bad Heroines | Emily Danforth | Washington Post |
| 221 | Postcolonial Love Poem: Poems | Natalie Diaz | Bookshop Santa Cruz |
| 222 | Precious You | Helen Monks Takhar | Kirkus 2 |
| 223 | Rainbow Milk | Paul Mendez | The Guardian |
| 224 | Reality, and Other Stories | John Lanchester | The Guardian |
| 225 | Recipe For Persuasion: A Novel | Sonali Dev | NPR |
| 226 | Redhead by the Side of the Road | Anne Tyler | The Telegraph |
| 227 | Rest and Be Thankful | Emma Glass | Kirkus 2 |
| 228 | Ring Shout | P. Djèlí Clark | TMN |
| 229 | Robert Ludlum’s the Bourne Evolution | Brian Freeman | Kirkus 2 |
| 230 | Rules for Being Dead | Kim Powers | Powells |
| 231 | Saint X | Alexis Schaitkin | NY Times |
| 232 | Salt Slow | Julia Armfield | Pan Macmillan |
| 233 | Scorpionfish | Natalie Bakopoulos | NPR |
| 234 | Sea Wife | Amity Gaige | NY Times |
| 235 | Season of the Wolf | Maria Vale | Kirkus 2 |
| 236 | Self Care | Leigh Stein | Book Riot |
| 237 | Sex And Vanity: A Novel | Kevin Kwan | NPR |
| 238 | Shiner: A Novel | Amy Jo Burns | NPR |
| 239 | Simon the Fiddler | Paulette Jiles | Washington Post |
| 240 | Small Pleasures | The School of Life Alain de Botton (Editor) | The Telegraph |
| 241 | Snapped | Alexa Martin | NPR |
| 242 | Snow | John Banville | Financial Times |
| 243 | So We Can Glow: Stories | Leesa Cross-Smith | NPR |
| 244 | Storm Birds | Einar Kárason | Financial Times 2 |
| 245 | Straight from the Horse’s Mouth | Meryem Alaoui | TMN |
| 246 | Take Me Apart | Sara Sligar | Kirkus 2 |
| 247 | Taste of Sugar | Marisel Vera | Washington Post |
| 248 | Temporary | Hilary Leichter | Publishers Weekly |
| 249 | The Abstainer | Ian McGuire | Publishers Weekly |
| 250 | The Aosawa Murders | Riku Onda | NY Times |
| 251 | The Beauty of Your Face | Sahar Mustafah | NY Times |
| 252 | The Blind Light | Stuart Evers | Pan Macmillan |
| 253 | The Book of Two Ways: A Novel | Jodi Picoult | Amazon |
| 254 | The Book of V. | Anna Solomon | Kirkus 2 |
| 255 | The Boy In The Field | Margot Livesey | NY Times |
| 256 | The Boyfriend Project | Farrah Rochon | NPR |
| 257 | The Butterfly Lampshade | Aimee Bender | Publishers Weekly |
| 258 | The Daughters of Erietown | Connie Schultz | Washington Post |
| 259 | The Death of Jesus | J. M. Coetzee | NY Times |
| 260 | The Devil of Downtown: Uptown Girls | Joanna Shupe | Kirkus 2 |
| 261 | The Disaster Tourist | Yun Ko-Eun | TMN |
| 262 | The Doll Factory | Elizabeth MacNeal | Pan Macmillan |
| 263 | The Down Days | Ilze Hugo | TMN |
| 264 | The Duke Who Didn’t | Courtney Milan | NY Times |
| 265 | The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree | Shokoofeh Azar | TMN |
| 266 | The Exiles | Christina Baker Kline | Kirkus 2 |
| 267 | The Glass Kingdom | Lawrence Osborne | NY Times |
| 268 | The Great Offshore Grounds: A novel | Vanessa Veselka | Bookshop Santa Cruz |
| 269 | The Harpy | Megan Hunter | Pan Macmillan |
| 270 | The Hiding Game | Gwen Strauss Herb Leonhard (Illustrator) | Pan Macmillan |
| 271 | The Hole | Hiroko Oyamada | TMN |
| 272 | The Invisible Life of Addie Larue | V. E. Schwab | Kirkus 2 |
| 273 | The Jane Austen Society: A Novel | Natalie Jenner | Amazon |
| 274 | The Last Great Road Bum | Hector Tobar | Publishers Weekly |
| 275 | The Last Taxi Driver | Lee Durkee | Kirkus 2 |
| 276 | The Liar’s Dictionary | Eley Williams | The Guardian |
| 277 | The Lives of Edie Pritchard | Larry Watson | Kirkus 2 |
| 278 | The Lost Book of Adana Moreau | Michael Zapata | Bookpage |
| 279 | The Memory Monster | Yishai Sarid | NY Times |
| 280 | The Midnight Library | Matt Haig | Goodreads |
| 281 | The Missing American | Kwei Quartey | NPR |
| 282 | The Most Precious of Cargoes | Jean-Claude Grumberg | Pan Macmillan |
| 283 | The New American | Micheline Aharonian Marcom | Library Journal |
| 284 | The Old Drift | Namwali Serpell | Los Angeles Times |
| 285 | The Only Good Indians | Stephen Graham Jones | Bookshop Santa Cruz |
| 286 | The Poet King | Ilana C. Myer | Kirkus 2 |
| 287 | The Prettiest Star | Carter Sickels | Kirkus 2 |
| 288 | The Queen of Tuesday | Darin Strauss | Washington Post |
| 289 | The Redshirt: A Novel | Corey Sobel | NPR |
| 290 | The Regrets | Amy Bonnaffons | Publishers Weekly |
| 291 | The Return | Nicholas Sparks | Books A Million |
| 292 | The Secret Lives of Church Ladies | Deesha Philyaw | Kirkus 2 |
| 293 | The Seventh Perfection | Daniel Polansky | Kirkus 2 |
| 294 | The Shadow King | Maaza Mengiste | The Telegraph |
| 295 | The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires | Grady Hendrix | Barnes & Noble |
| 296 | The Story of a Goat | Perumal Murugan N Kalyan Raman (Translator) | Los Angeles Times |
| 297 | The Subtweet | Vivek Shraya | Book Riot |
| 298 | The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again | M. John Harrison | The Guardian |
| 299 | The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel | Richard Osman | Bookshop Santa Cruz |
| 300 | The Tunnel | A. B. Yehoshu | NY Times |
| 301 | The Vanished Birds | Simon Jimenez | Kirkus 2 |
| 302 | The Voice in My Ear | Frances Leviston | The Guardian |
| 303 | The War of the Poor | Eric Vuillard Mark Polizzotti (Translator) | Pan Macmillan |
| 304 | The Women in Black (paperback release) | Madeleine St. John | Powells |
| 305 | The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop | Fannie Flagg | Books A Million |
| 306 | The Wondrous and Tragic Life of Ivan and Ivana | Maryse Condé | Financial Times 2 |
| 307 | The Worst Best Man | Mia Sosa | NPR |
| 308 | The Yield | Tara June Winch | Book Riot |
| 309 | Thin Girls | Diana Clarke | Kirkus 2 |
| 310 | This Is My America | Kim Johnson | NPR |
| 311 | Three Apples Fell From the Sky | Narine Abgaryan | She Reads |
| 312 | To Be a Man | Nicole Krauss | Financial Times |
| 313 | Trouble the Saints | Alaya Dawn Johnson | Kirkus 2 |
| 314 | Truthtelling: Stories, Fables, Glimpses | Lynne Sharon Schwartz | Kirkus 2 |
| 315 | Tyll | Daniel Kehlmann Ross Benjamin (Translator) | The Guardian |
| 316 | Upright Women Wanted | Sarah Gailey | Book Riot |
| 317 | Walking on the Ceiling | Aysegül Savas | Powells |
| 318 | What Happens at Night | Peter Cameron | Kirkus 2 |
| 319 | When No One Is Watching: A Thriller | Alyssa Cole | Bookshop Santa Cruz |
| 320 | When We Cease to Understand the World | Benjamin Labatut | The Guardian |
| 321 | Where the Wild Ladies Are | Aoko Matsuda | Time |
| 322 | White Ivy | Susie Yang | Washington Post |
| 323 | Why I Don’t Write: And Other Stories | Susan Minot | NY Times |
| 324 | Wild Swims | Dorthe Nors | Financial Times 2 |
| 325 | Winter Counts | David Heska Wanbli Weiden | Los Angeles Times |
| 326 | Woven in Moonlight | Isabel Ibañez | She Reads |
| 327 | You Deserve Each Other | Sarah Hogle | NPR |
| 328 | You Will Never Be Forgotten | Mary South | Pan Macmillan |
| Source | Article |
| Amazon | Best literature and fiction of 2020 |
| Barnes & Noble | Barnes & Noble’s Best Fiction of 2020 |
| Book Riot | Best Books of 2020 (So Far) |
| Bookpage | Best Books of 2020: Fiction |
| Books A Million | Our Top 5 Fiction Books of 2020 |
| Bookshop Santa Cruz | Best Fiction of the Year 2020 |
| Financial Times | Best books of 2020: Fiction |
| Financial Times 2 | Best books of 2020: Fiction in translation |
| Goodreads | Best Fiction |
| Kirkus | Best Fiction in Translation of 2020 |
| Kirkus 2 | Best Fiction Books of the Year |
| Library Journal | Best Literary Fiction of 2020 |
| Los Angeles Times | The 20 reads book people actually want this year |
| NPR | NPR’s Book Concierge |
| NY Times | 100 Notable Books of 2020 |
| NY Times 2 | The 10 Best Books of 2020 |
| Pan Macmillan | The best literary fiction of 2020 |
| Powells | Best Fiction of 2020 |
| Publishers Weekly | Best Fiction Books |
| Readings | The best international fiction books of 2020 |
| She Reads | Best international books of 2020 |
| The Guardian | Fiction |
| The Telegraph | The best novels of 2020 |
| Time | The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2020 |
| TMN | The 2021 Tournament of Books Long List |
| Washington Post | 50 notable works of fiction in 2020 |
| Worldly Gentleman | The Best Books of 2020 |
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