The 25 best books of 2020
The 25 highest-ranked books first published in 2020 in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 74 books of 2020 in all. How we rank
- 1
Dungeon Crawler Carl91.8Must-Read ScoreDungeon Crawler Carl
One night, aliens destroy every building on Earth and turn the survivors into contestants on an intergalactic game show: a vast, deadly dungeon where every fight is broadcast to the galaxy.
Why it made the list72 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025 - 2
Shuggie Bain88.4Must-Read ScoreShuggie Bain
Glasgow in the 1980s, as Thatcher's policies close the mines and factories and the city sinks into poverty.
Why it made the listBooker Prize winner (2020)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2020) - 3
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents87.8Must-Read ScoreCaste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Isabel Wilkerson argues that America's racial hierarchy is best understood as a caste system, an artificial ranking of human worth like the ones in India and Nazi Germany.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)73 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020NBCC Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2020) - 4
House of Earth and Blood87.6Must-Read ScoreHouse of Earth and Blood
Bryce Quinlan, half human and half Fae, works by day at an antiquities shop and parties by night in Crescent City, a modern metropolis of angels, shifters, witches and mortals.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (romantasy) winner (2024, for House of Flame and Shadow)Goodreads Choice (fantasy) winner (2022, for House of Sky and Breath)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)33 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 5
Greenlights86.8Must-Read ScoreGreenlights
Matthew McConaughey has kept diaries for 35 years, full of notes on success and failure, joy and sorrow, and the things that made him laugh out loud.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)306 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 6
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X86.5Must-Read ScoreThe Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X
In 1990, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Les Payne set out to interview everyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X: his siblings, classmates, street friends, cellmates, Nation of Islam figures, FBI informants and political leaders around the world.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (Biography) winner (2021)National Book Award (Nonfiction) winner (2020)NBCC Award (Biography) finalist (2020) - 7
A Promised Land84.5Must-Read ScoreA Promised Land
In the first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his political rise, from his early days as a community organizer and state senator to his 2008 campaign.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (10 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2020 (Publishers Weekly) - 8
The House in the Cerulean Sea83.4Must-Read ScoreThe House in the Cerulean Sea
Linus Baker, forty, lives a quiet life with a devious cat and his old records, working as a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (fantasy) winner (2024, for Somewhere Beyond the Sea) - 9
The Vanishing Half81.3Must-Read ScoreThe Vanishing Half
The Vignes twins grow up in Mallard, a small Louisiana town of light-skinned Black people.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)55 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020Women's Prize for Fiction finalist (2021) - 10
The Splendid and the Vile81.2Must-Read ScoreThe Splendid and the Vile
On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium, and soon Britain stood alone.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (5 weeks at #1)44 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 11
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning80.5Must-Read ScoreMinor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
Cathy Park Hong, a poet and the daughter of Korean immigrants, writes about growing up Asian American and the "minor feelings" that come with it: the irritation, shame, paranoia and melancholy of being treated as invisible, or as a stereotype, and being told that you have nothing to complain about.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Memoir) winner (2020)Pulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) finalist (2021) - 12
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath80.4Must-Read ScoreRed Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath
Heather Clark's biography of Sylvia Plath tells her life in full, using material never available before: her brilliant, ambitious youth, her years at Smith College and her breakdown, her Fulbright year at Cambridge and marriage to the poet Ted Hughes, motherhood, his affair, and the extraordinary burst of poems she wrote in her last months, before her suicide at thirty.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (Biography) finalist (2021)NBCC Award (Biography) finalist (2020) - 13
Legendborn80.4Must-Read ScoreLegendborn
Sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews joins a residential program for gifted high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill after her mother's death, and on her first night she witnesses a magical attack: a flying demon feeding on human energy, and a secret society of Legendborn students who hunt such creatures.
Why it made the list26 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 14
Taiwan Travelogue80.4Must-Read ScoreTaiwan Travelogue
In May 1938, Aoyama Chizuko, a young novelist from Nagasaki, arrives in Japanese-ruled Taiwan at the government's invitation.
Why it made the listInternational Booker Prize winner (2026) - 15
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You80.2Must-Read ScoreStamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
Jason Reynolds adapts Ibram X.
Why it made the list83 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 16
Will78.6Must-Read ScoreWill
Will Smith tells his life story with writer Mark Manson: growing up in West Philadelphia with a violent father, becoming a rap star as a teenager, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hollywood superstardom, and his marriage and family.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021 - 17
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family78.5Must-Read ScoreHidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream: after World War II they settled in Colorado and raised twelve children.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1) - 18
Loveless78.2Must-Read ScoreLoveless
Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush, but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she's sure she'll find her person one day.
Why it made the list36 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022 - 19
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue78.0Must-Read ScoreThe Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
In France in 1714, desperate to escape a forced marriage, a young woman makes a bargain with a dark god to live forever, and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Why it made the list50 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 20
The Night Watchman77.2Must-Read ScoreThe Night Watchman
In 1953 Thomas Wazhashk works nights as a watchman at a jewel-bearing factory near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2021) - 21
Empire of the Vampire77.2Must-Read ScoreEmpire of the Vampire
It has been twenty-seven years since the last sunrise, and vampires have waged war on humanity ever since, building an eternal empire.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (fantasy) finalist (2024, for Empire of the Damned) - 22
Transcendent Kingdom76.9Must-Read ScoreTranscendent Kingdom
Gifty is a sixth-year Ph.D.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction finalist (2021) - 23
Humans76.6Must-Read ScoreHumans
Photographer Brandon Stanton, creator of Humans of New York, spent years traveling the world, photographing strangers and recording their stories.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1) - 24
American Dirt76.5Must-Read ScoreAmerican Dirt
Lydia Quixano Pérez runs a bookstore in Acapulco and lives a comfortable life with her journalist husband and her son, Luca.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)39 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2020 - 25
The Evening and the Morning76.5Must-Read ScoreThe Evening and the Morning
In 997 CE, at the end of the Dark Ages, England faces raids from the Welsh and the Vikings, and those in power bend justice to their will.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)
