--- title: Enter the Aardvark: 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 description: Find out why Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. canonical: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904353/enter-the-aardvark/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-11-10T19:20:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:45:06.486Z og:title: 'Enter the Aardvark' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 og:description: Here's why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904353/enter-the-aardvark/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762968ae52efa2ec/698a13ff656a3f5eb0bdaad0/best-books-2020-Enter-the-Aardvark.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'Enter the Aardvark' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Enter the Aardvark' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 twitter:description: Here's why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762968ae52efa2ec/698a13ff656a3f5eb0bdaad0/best-books-2020-Enter-the-Aardvark.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 10, 2020 # Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  What could taxidermied animals and bitter partisan politics possibly have in common? It turns out there’s a range of [wonderfully weird possibilities](https://time.com/5805115/jessica-anthony-enter-the-aardvark/) in Jessica Anthony’s clever novel _Enter the Aardvark_. In it, a young Republican congressman unexpectedly receives a giant taxidermied aardvark, which sets off a series of amusing events as the politician uncovers who sent the package and why. Anthony connects her protagonist, an often angry and brash J.Crew.-obsessed millennial, with the men who initially stuffed and hunted the aardvark in 19th-century England. In illustrating the parallels between the characters’ lives, particularly in the secrets the men can’t bear to speak, Anthony creates a stunning examination of the evolution of male power, rage and love. **Buy Now:** _Enter the Aardvark_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780316536158) | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316536156/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0316536156&linkId=286e2218308db803746482cc4ba48acd) These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904353/enter-the-aardvark/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904353/enter-the-aardvark/"},"headline":"'Enter the Aardvark' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020","datePublished":"2020-11-10T19:20:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:45:06.486Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904353/enter-the-aardvark/","keywords":["E-Commerce","Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762968ae52efa2ec/698a13ff656a3f5eb0bdaad0/best-books-2020-Enter-the-Aardvark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762968ae52efa2ec/698a13ff656a3f5eb0bdaad0/best-books-2020-Enter-the-Aardvark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904353/enter-the-aardvark/","name":"'Enter the Aardvark' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020"}}]}] ```