This Bookshelf: 2020 Books
Links to All Steve Hopkins’ Bookshelves
Web Page
PDF/epub/Searchable
Link to Latest Book Reviews:
Book Reviews Blog
Links to Current Bookshelf:
Pending and Read
2020 Books
2020 Books
Links to 549 Books Read or
Skipped in 2020
2020 Bookshelf
2020 Bookshelf
Links to All Books from 1999
through 2020 Authors A-G
All Books Authors A through
G
All Books Authors A through
G
Links to All Books from 1999
through 2020 Authors H-M
All Books Authors H
through M
All Books Authors H
through M
Links to All Books from 1999
through 2020 Authors N-Z
All Books Authors N through
Z
All Books Authors N through
Z
Book of Books: An ebook of
books read, reviewed or
skipped from 1999 through
2020
Book of Books
This web page lists all 360 books reviewed by Steve Hopkins at http://bkrev.blogspot.com during 2020 as well as 189 books relegated to
the Shelf of Ennui. You can click on the title of a book or on the picture of any jacket cover to jump to amazon.com where you can
purchase a copy of any book on this shelf.
Key to Ratings:
*****
I love it
****
I like it
***
It’s OK
**
I don’t like it
*
I hate it
Title (Click on Link
to purchase at
amazon.com)
Author(s)
Blog
Date
Comments
Click on
Picture to
Purchase at
amazon.com
Out of
Mesopotamia
Abdoh, Salar
11/9/20
Endless. For an immersive mediation on
war, read Salar Abdoh’s novel titled, Out of
Mesopotamia. From the perspective of
protagonist Saleh, a journalist, we struggle to
make sense of those who are engaged in what
seems like endless war. With great skill,
Abdoh can be poetic and authentic in the
same sentence. We’re led into the darkness
of war where we find some form of
enlightenment about why we do what we do.
Most readers will finish this novel somewhat
weakened by proximity to the fragility of life.
Our Time Is Now:
Power, Purpose,
and the Fight for a
Fair America
Abrams, Stacey
11/24/20
Formidable. Stacy Abrams drew national
interest when she ran for governor of
Georgia and was beaten in a close race in
2018 by Brian Kemp, whom she claimed
suppressed Democratic votes. In her book
titled, Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose,
and the Fight for a Fair America, she
describes her life and the progress she’s
made in Georgia to register new voters and
build a Democratic force for change. Readers
of this book will find the story of a
formidable woman whose work over the past
decade in Georgia led to the state voting for
Biden in 2020, and as I write this, awaiting
the results of a runoff election on January 5,
2021 to select two U.S. senators.
Bleeding Out: The
Devastating
Consequences of
Urban Violence--
and a Bold New
Plan for Peace in
the Streets
Abt, Thomas
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Places and Names:
On War,
Revolution, and
Returning
Ackerman, Elliot
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Heap
Adams, Sean
7/15/20
Recovery. Sean Adams’ debut novel titled,
The Heap, pulls readers into an examination
of what we build, what collapses, and what it
takes to restore what is important. Los
Verticalés was a 500-story residential
building in the desert that has collapsed.
Protagonist Orville Anders works on a dig
site where he is looking for his brother,
Bernard, who survived the collapse and
broadcasts a radio show from the rubble
called the Heap. Adams explores what life in
Los Verticalés was like before the collapse,
and what was different for those on the outer
units who had windows compared to those
on the inner units who relied on digital
screens. The workers at the dig site form a
community of their own in CamperTown,
and Adams uses all three communities as
fodder for his satire. Many readers will find
this to be a compelling story, and others will
come away from it ready to reflect on the
creation of community life.
Amnesty
Adiga, Aravind
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
Friday Black
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana
Kwame
6/10/20
Creative. There are twelve funny and crazy
short stories in the debut collection by Nana
Kwame Adjei-Brenyah titled, Friday Black.
These are sharp, finely written stories that
show off the author’s creativity and are likely
to delight most readers. There’s an emotional
range on display in this collection that packs
a punch. There’s dark humor, human failings
and issues galore. His writing surprised me
often, always had my full attention, and gave
me great reading pleasure.
Homeland Elegies
Akhtar, Ayad
12/9/20
Intense. If there was ever a year that
demanded the lamentations we find in a
finely written elegy, it is 2020. In his novel
titled, Homeland Elegies, Ayad Akhtar offers
an intense narrative about finding one’s
place in contemporary America, especially
for those raised in a different culture. The
novel draws us into the dynamics of a single
family and their problems and issues, which
provide a mirror in which we can see
ourselves and others. This novel is an
uncomfortable and cleareyed look at
capitalism and the current reality of the
American dream. There is raw
disillusionment on these pages, and
heartbreak. By the end of the novel, our
feelings for a father, a son, and for the
United States have commingled and we join
our voices in an intense song of lament at
our common predicament.
She Lover of Death
Akunin, Boris
5/26/20
Club. The eighth Fandorin mystery by Boris
Akunin is a novel titled, She Lover of Death.
A young and naïve protagonist, Masha
Mironova, arrives in Moscow at the
beginning of the 20
th
century and joins a club
of mainly poets who are enamored with
death. She becomes Columbine, wears a pet
snake, and before long finds herself next in
queue to commit suicide, thanks to the signs
she has received. Events are heading off the
cliff when Fandorin joins the club. Of course,
you’ll have to read the novel if you want to
find out what happens. Akunin plays with
words and names in this novel in ways that
will entertain many readers.
American Carnage
: On the Front
Lines of the
Republican Civil
War and the Rise
of President Trump
Alberta, Tim
Shelf of Ennui 2020.
The Catholic
School
Albinati, Edoardo
Shelf of Ennui 2020.