Reviews of the Day, 2020: Adult Books

In a sense, every weekday is award day here at Booklist. Our Review of the Day highlights especially noteworthy titles by giving them the coveted front-and-center space on Booklist Online. We rotate adult, youth, and audio titles throughout the year, choosing titles that showcase the spotlight in the current issue of Booklist. Some Reviews of the Day are high-demand titles, while others are less-known gems we think deserve more visibility.

In keeping with the season of year-end “best” lists, we’ve compiled ALL of the Reviews of the Day for 2020, from January to December 18; divided them into four categories (adult books, books for youth, audiobooks, and graphic novels); and will be posting one category—and with it, dozens of Reviews of the Day—a day over the next few days. Below you’ll find every adult book Review of the Day from 2020. We hope you’ll enjoy this look back at a vibrant year in reading and stay tuned for more by following us on Twitter @ALA_Booklist.

ADULT BOOKS FICTION

General Fiction

Actress • Afterlife • All Adults Here • The Awkward Black Man • Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer • A Burning • The Choice • Crooked Hallelujah • The Glass Hotel • The Gringa • Half • Homeland Elegies • Infinite Country • Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 • Lake Life • Land of Big Numbers • The Last Story of Mina Lee • Little Family • Love, Death & Rare Books • Luster • The New Wilderness • Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. • Ordinary Hazards • The Perfect Nine • The Seep • The Silence • The Smash-Up • Spoiler Alert • Sweet Sorrow • The Thirty Names of Night • The Vanishing Half • Well-Behaved Indian Women • Where the Wild Ladies Are

Historical Fiction

An Elegant Woman • A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem • Black Bottom Saints • Bride of the Sea • Code Name Hélène • The Color of Air • The Eighth Life • The Four Winds • Hamnet • The Mirror & the Light • The Night Watchman • Red Letter Days

Mystery / Crime Fiction

Blacktop Wasteland • Camino Winds • Cut to the Bone • Dark August • The Distant Dead • Eartheater • Hold Your Breath, China • Smoke • You Can Go Home Now

Science Fiction / Fantasy / Horror

A Snake Lies Waiting • Attack Surface • The Blade Between • The Empress of Salt and Fortune • House of Earth and Blood • The Loop • The Once and Future Witches • Rule • Upright Women Wanted

ADULT BOOKS NONFICTION

Arts / Cookery / Geography, Travel, & Culture / Health and Medicine / Psychology / Science / Sports & Recreation

Can’t Even • The Chilean Kitchen • Falastin • Finding Comfort during Hard Times • The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness • The Language of Butterflies • Latinx Photography in the United States • One Life • Pharma • Resetting the Table • The Rise • A Walk around the Block • What Becomes a Legend Most • A World on the Wing

History / Social Sciences

Black Futures • Brown Album • Caste • The Dragons, the Giant, the Women • Footprints • The Genius of Women • Julian Bond’s Time to Teach • A Knock at Midnight • Madam C.J. Walker • Minor Feelings • On Account of Race • Our Time Is Now • Paper Bullets • A Promised Land • The Room Where It Happened • The Shadow System • She Votes • Stakes Is High • Tales of Two Planets • This is What America Looks Like • Twisted • Voting and Political Representation in America • We Gather Together

Literature / Philosophy / Poetry

Habitat Threshold • Homie • Intimations • Just Us • Recollections of My Nonexistence • See No Stranger • Sigh, Gone • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain • Wintering