Milkweed Staff Favorites of 2020
Well, folks. It hasn’t been an easy year by any means, and we’ve missed hanging out with our local book community in our currently-in-suspened-animation bookstore. Still, of the many (difficult) lessons 2020 had on its syllabus, one we’ve taken to heart is that books keep us connected—over long distances, in isolation, through grief, through joy.
To that end, we’ve gathered the Milkweed team’s favorite books of 2020. The words on these pages have helped invigorate us and comfort us; they’ve given us intimacy and vision; they’ve reminded us that we are human, when we perhaps feel anything but. Hopefully one of these books speaks to you, too. To 2021, friends. ?
Much love,
The Milkweed Staff (& Izzy, a bookstore pup who can’t wait to meet you all someday)
“My year in reading was escapist, airy, and invigorating.”
- Wow, No Thank You: Essays by Samantha Irby | Vintage
- The Vanishing Half: A Novel by Brit Bennett | Riverhead Books
- A Good Neighborhood: A Novel by Therese Anne Fowler | St. Martin’s Press
- Barn 8: A Novel by Deb Olin Unferth | Graywolf Press
LEE’S PICKS
“My year in reading was visionary, magnetic, and necessary.”
- Such a Fun Age: A Novel by Kiley Reid | G.P. Putnam’s Sons
- Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong | Vintage
- The Only Good Indians: A Novel by Stephen Graham Jones | Gallery/Saga Press
- Black Futures edited by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham | One World
KACHINA’S PICKS
“My year in reading was escapist, thrilling, and comforting.”
- Mexican Gothic: A Novel by Silivia Moreno-Garcia | Del Rey Books
- World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil | Milkweed Editions
- Writers & Lovers: A Novel by Lily King | Grove Press
- When No One is Watching: A Thriller by Alyssa Cole | William Morrow & Company
- Such a Fun Age: A Novel by Kiley Reid | G.P. Putnam’s Sons
“My year in reading was archival, painterly, and intimate.”
- Luster: A Novel by Raven Leilani | FSG
- Hamnet: A Novel by Maggie O’Farrell | Knopf Publishing Group
- Postcolonial Love Poem: Poems by Natalie Diaz | Graywolf Press
- My Autobiography of Carson McCullers: A Memoir by Jenn Shapland | Tin House
- In Accelerated Silence: Poems by Brooke Matson | Milkweed Editions
“My year in reading was otherworldly, resilient, and human.”
- The Burning God by R. F. Kuang | Harper Voyager
- Some Are Always Hungry: Poems by Jihyun Yun | University of Nebraska Press
- A Deadly Education: A Novel by Naomi Novik | Penguin Random House
- Wound from the Mouth of a Wound: Poems by torrin a. greathouse | Milkweed Editions
? To see more reading suggestions from bookstore staff and from some of the bookstore’s favorite authors, click here.
? Check out our Bookshop page for more great books!
