5 favorite fiction titles from2020
Last week I revealed my favorite crime fifiction/mystery novels. Let’s close out the year with this last list of fifiction favorites from 2020.
“Deacon King Kong” by James McBride ( Riverhead, 370 pages, $28).
James McBride doesn’t publish many novels — when he does, readers take notice. Readers like Barack Obama, who just included “Deacon King Kong” on his list of favorites from 2020. This book was published on March 3 and the author was going to head out on a month-long book tour. We all know what happened in March; the pandemic hit. Please don’t miss this sparkling story.
It takes place mostly in and around a housing project in Brooklyn in 1969. The main character, an elderly alcoholic nicknamed “Sportcoat,” will steal readers’ hearts. Wise, sentimental, humorous, “Deacon King Kong” is another McBride classic.
“Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey” by Kathleen Rooney (Penguin Books, 324 pages, $17).
This miraculous novel is based on a true story of heroism during WWI.
American forces were pinned down, encircled by the Germans and undergoing lethal bombardment when their last messenger pigeon was sent offff with the desperate message that ended up saving them.
The story is told from the alternating viewpoints of the commanding offifficer, Major Whittlesey, and that valiant bird, her name was Cher Ami.
“A Small Thing to Want” by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (Press 53, 168 pages, $17.95)
My sleeper pick for 2020 is a collection of short stories that can tunnel straight into our hearts. These tales depict people like us.
Some of these folks are wounded. Other are trying to get up the nerve to grasp for happiness, or at least, a few moments of joy. So delicate, so delectable — pause to savor evocative images this gifted author conjures up. Like this one: “The apartment bleeds with quiet. All evening, he was trying to make his voice, usually commanding and booming, soft. He knows she can hear him if he barely says it, so he does. ‘Can you hold me?’ He can’t think of what else to ask.”
“What is Time to a Pig?” By John Straley (Soho Crime, 264 pages, $26.95)
This futuristic novel is set in Alaska fifive years after our war with North Korea has ended. The main character, a Native American named Gloomy Knob, is incarcerated and he’s about to become a target for spies who think he knows the location of a missing nuclear warhead.
John Straley is an incredible writer with a scary imagination.
“Broken” by Don Winslow (Morrow, 352 $29.99)
pages,
Don Winslow is one of our great novelists, so it was quite a treat to get a story collection from him.
There are so many standout pieces in this book it is hard to pick favorites. I loved the one about a jewel thief who cruises the Pacifific Coast Highway.
He closes the book with a powerful story about a Border Patrol Agent who is undergoing a moral crisis.
Vick Mickunas of Yellow Springs interviews authors every Saturday at 7 a.m. and on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WYSO-FM (91.3). Contact him at vick@vickmickunas. com.