Our favorite reads of 2020

Whatever else it was, 2020 was a great year for reading at the Mercantile. Circulation is up, and readers have found gems in the stacks as well as from the shelves of new releases.Below, you’ll find our staff’s favorite reads of the year. We’d love to hear what books you loved this year. Email us your list!

Al’s Favorites

• A Burning by Megha Majumder (first novel)
• The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (many novels and awards)
• I Hold a Wolf by the Ears by Laura Van Den Berg (short stories)
• Museum of Whales You will Never See by Kendra Greene (nonfiction)
• Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh (graphic memoir)

Amy’s FavoritesFiction

• Pretty Things by Janelle Hinton
• Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• The Cold Millions by Jess Walter (Al enjoyed this, too!)
• Beach Read by Emily Henry (Hillary cosigns this recommendation!)

Nonfiction

• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
• Sweet Taste of Liberty by Caleb McDaniel
• Tigerland by Wil Haygood
• The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
• Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez

Cedric’s Favorites

• Why Visit America: Stories by Matthew Baker
• Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald
• Mother Nut by John Jeremiah Sullivan

Chris’s Favorites

• The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantel
• Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Al loved this one, too!)

Hillary’s Favorites

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
• We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
• Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
• The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson
• The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Jasmine’s Favorites

• Luster by Raven Leilani
• My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
• Cinderella Is Dead by Kaylynn Bayron
• These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

John’s Favorites

• The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (Hillary loved this one, too!)
• The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• The Changeling by Victor LaValle (Jasmine cosigns this recommendation!)
• Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory