The New York Times - USA - Book Review (2020-12-13)

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 3

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Book Review DECEMBER 13, 2020

The 10 Best Books

of 2020, Page 14

Fiction

21 THE ORCHARD
By David Hopen
Reviewed by David Goodwillie

23 NIGHTS WHEN NOTHING
HAPPENED
By Simon Han
Reviewed by Thessaly
La Force

27 A CERTAIN HUNGER
By Chelsea G. Summers
Reviewed by Amy Silverberg

29 THE SUN COLLECTIVE
By Charles Baxter
Reviewed by Jess Walter

Nonfiction

10 Help Desk
Self-Improvement
By Judith Newman

12 THE BEST OF ME
By David Sedaris
Reviewed by
Andrew Sean Greer

16 THE ZEALOT AND THE
EMANCIPATOR
John Brown, Abraham Lincoln,
and the Struggle for American
Freedom
By H. W. Brands
Reviewed by Sean Wilentz

17 TEN LESSONS FOR A
POST-PANDEMIC WORLD
By Fareed Zakaria
Reviewed by Josef Joffe

18 JFK

Coming of Age in the American

Century, 1917-

By Fredrik Logevall

Reviewed by

David M. Kennedy

19 CATCHING THE WIND

Edward Kennedy and the

Liberal Hour

By Neal Gabler

Reviewed by Jeff Shesol

20 MANTEL PIECES

Royal Bodies and Other

Writing From The London

Review of Books

By Hilary Mantel

Reviewed by

Fernanda Eberstadt

22 FEVERS, FEUDS, AND

DIAMONDS

Ebola and the Ravages of

History

By Paul Farmer

Reviewed by Steven Johnson

24 FIRST PRINCIPLES

What America’s Founders

Learned From the Greeks and

Romans and How That Shaped

Our Country

By Thomas E. Ricks

Reviewed by

Virginia DeJohn Anderson

25 GRIEVING

Dispatches From a Wounded

Country

By Cristina Rivera Garza

Reviewed by

Melissa del Bosque

26 THE UPSWING

How America Came Together a

Century Ago and How We Can

Do It Again

By Robert D. Putnam with

Shaylyn Romney Garrett

Reviewed by Robert Kuttner

28 I’LL BE SEEING YOU

A Memoir

By Elizabeth Berg

Reviewed by Alex Witchel

28 GROUP

How One Therapist and a

Circle of Strangers Changed

My Life

By Christie Tate

Reviewed by Dani Shapiro

34 The Shortlist

Race and Relationships

Reviewed by Anna Holmes

Children’s Books

30 THE ICKABOG

By J. K. Rowling

With illustrations by the

winners of The

Ickabog Illustration

Competition

Reviewed by Sarah Lyall

30 RISE OF THE HALFLING KING

Tales of the Feathered

Serpent, Vol. 1

By David Bowles

Illustrated by Charlene

Bowles

Reviewed by Grace Lin

Features

8 By the Book

Jerry Seinfeld

35 Sketchbook

By Grant Snider

Etc.

4 New & Noteworthy

6 Letters

31 Best-Seller Lists

31 Editors’ Choice

32 Inside the List

32 Paperback Row

The universally acclaimed novel

is now a groundbreaking

GRAPHIC NOVEL!

“Demonstrates just how

effective and artful

comics can be.”

—Booklist, starred review

“A moving rendition.”

—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Reynolds’s words paint pictures of their own...

Tragic yet poignant.”

—School Library Journal, starred review

And don’t miss the award-winning novel!

A Newbery Honor Book

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book

A Printz Honor Book

A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner

for Young Adult Literature

Longlisted for the National Book Award

for Young People’s Literature

Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award

An Edgar Award Winner for Best

Young Adult Fiction

Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner

An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book

A Vulture Best YA Book

A BuzzFeed Best YA Book

Author photo by James J. Reddington. Illustrations © 2020 Danica Novgorodof. A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book