--- description: The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that deepened our understanding, ignited our curiosity and helped us escape in 2020. title: The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt982aa0e1ddbecd1e/698a141b16d8843479c38ce9/100-best-books-2020-credit-3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  Justin J Wee for TIME # The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that deepened our understanding, ignited our curiosity and helped us escape —Andrew R. Chow, Eliana Dockterman, Mahita Gajanan, Annabel Gutterman, Suyin Haynes, Nate Hopper, Cady Lang and Lucas Wittmann ## 100 Must-Read Books *  [Actress by Anne Enright](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904251/actress/) byTIME Staff *  [The Address Book by Deirdre Mask](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904265/the-address-book/) byTIME Staff *  [African American Poetry by Kevin Young (Editor)](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904306/african-american-poetry/) byTIME Staff *  [Afterlife by Julia Alvarez](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904284/afterlife/) byTIME Staff *  [Agency by William Gibson](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904425/agency/) byTIME Staff *  [Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904269/begin-again/) byTIME Staff *  [Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904387/big-friendship/) byTIME Staff *  [The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904391/the-book-of-eels/) byTIME Staff *  [Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904431/breasts-and-eggs/) byTIME Staff *  [Brown Album by Porochista Khakpour](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5907473/brown-album/) byTIME Staff *  [A Burning by Megha Majumdar](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904315/a-burning/) byTIME Staff *  [Can't Even by Anne Helen Petersen](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904394/cant-even/) byTIME Staff *  [Caste by Isabel Wilkerson](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904381/caste/) byTIME Staff *  [A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904412/a-childrens-bible/) byTIME Staff *  [The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904421/the-city-we-became/) byTIME Staff *  [Cleanness by Garth Greenwell](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904325/cleanness/) byTIME Staff *  [Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904243/conditional-citizens/) byTIME Staff *  [Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904252/crooked-hallelujah/) byTIME Staff *  [Culture Warlords by Talia Lavin](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904398/culture-warlords/) byTIME Staff *  [Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904360/days-of-distraction/) byTIME Staff *  [Deacon King Kong by James McBride](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904253/deacon-king-kong/) byTIME Staff *  [The Dead Are Arising by Les Payne and Tamara Payne](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904229/the-dead-are-arising/) byTIME Staff *  [Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904323/djinn-patrol-on-the-purple-line/) byTIME Staff *  [The Dragons, the Giant, the Women by Wayétu Moore](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904287/the-dragons-the-giant-the-women/) byTIME Staff *  [Earthlings by Sayaka Murata](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904433/earthlings/) byTIME Staff *  [The End of White Politics by Zerlina Maxwell](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904268/the-end-of-white-politics/) byTIME Staff *  [Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904405/entangled-life/) byTIME Staff *  [Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904353/enter-the-aardvark/) byTIME Staff *  [Followers by Megan Angelo](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904414/followers/) byTIME Staff *  [A Girl is a Body of Water by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904254/a-girl-is-a-body-of-water/) byTIME Staff *  [The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904343/the-glass-hotel/) byTIME Staff *  [Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904277/golden-gates/) byTIME Staff *  [Having and Being Had by Eula Biss](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904240/having-and-being-had/) byTIME Staff *  [Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904385/hidden-valley-road/) byTIME Staff *  [His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904365/his-only-wife/) byTIME Staff *  [Hitler by Volker Ullrich](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904232/hitler/) byTIME Staff *  [Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904374/hitting-a-straight-lick-with-a-crooked-stick/) byTIME Staff *  [Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904319/homeland-elegies/) byTIME Staff *  [Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904271/hood-feminism/) byTIME Staff *  [How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904378/how-to-pronounce-knife/) byTIME Staff *  [I Don’t Want to Die Poor by Michael Arceneaux](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904246/i-dont-want-to-die-poor/) byTIME Staff *  [I Hold a Wolf by the Ears by Laura van den Berg](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904371/i-hold-a-wolf-by-the-ears/) byTIME Staff *  [If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904321/if-i-had-your-face/) byTIME Staff *  [Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904327/interior-chinatown/) byTIME Staff *  [Intimations by Zadie Smith](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904244/intimations/) byTIME Staff *  [Is Rape a Crime? by Michelle Bowdler](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904401/is-rape-a-crime/) byTIME Staff *  [Jack by Marilynne Robinson](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904256/jack/) byTIME Staff *  [Just Us by Claudia Rankine](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904383/just-us/) byTIME Staff *  [Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904429/kim-jiyoung-born-1982/) byTIME Staff *  [Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam](/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904419/leave-the-world-behind/) byTIME Staff The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/"},"headline":"The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020","description":"The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that deepened our understanding, ignited our curiosity and helped us escape —Andrew R. 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