I read more books than usual in 2020 (you can read all about them here), which has made choosing my top books of the year even harder than normal. But I've finally whittled it down to my top 10 (with 5 honourable mentions). Here goes...

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë



After much internal debate, Jane Eyre gets the top spot, because rereading it last year confirmed it as one of my all-time favourite books. Also, look how beautiful the edition I bought last year is.

2. Hinton Hollow Death Trip by Will Carver



Hinton Hollow Death Trip is the third book in one of the most inventive crime-fiction series I've ever read, and it is quite simply brilliant.

3. The Middle of a Sentence from The Common Breath



The Middle of a Sentence is an anthology of short stories, which I was able to completely lose myself in. I can easily imagine returning to these stories time and again.

4. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin



Jane Eyre might be my book of the year, but James Baldwin is my author of the year. Of the books of his I read, Giovanni's Room is the one that most impressed me and stayed with me.

5. Full Throttle by Joe Hill



I often judge a book by how long it stays with me for. I read Full Throttle in March, but I'm still thinking about the brilliantly creative stories in this horror anthology.

6. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman



Good Omens is another incredibly inventive story, which is still on my mind almost a year after reading it.

7. The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch



Iris Murdoch gets the next spot, because 2020 is the year I treated myself to the Vintage Classics Murdoch set. I'm loving the books in this beautiful collection, but The Sea, The Sea is my favourite thus far.

8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen



2020 was also the year I discovered Jane Austen, which is why she appears next on the list. I surprised myself by loving all the books of hers I read, but none more than Pride and Prejudice. I see a lot of myself in Elizabeth Bennett.

9. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes



I ticked off a few more classics last year, including Don Quixote. This one was a bit of a slog, so I'm quite pleased with myself for reading it, but it was also an absolute blast.

10. The Sellout by Paul Beatty



Despite some tough competition, The Sellout made the final cut. I really liked this one, but it also represents to me how much my reading was shaped last year (and will continue to be shaped) by the Black Lives Matter discourse.

Honourable mentions

1. Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

2. Everything Under by Daisy Johnson



3. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

4. Afropean: Notes from Black Europe by Johny Pitts



5. Frankissstein: A Love Story by Jeanette Winterson

Here's to the books 2021 brings!