You know what I just realized?  I haven’t done a mid-year look at my top books of the year (so far).  Whoops!  Blame it – and so many other things – on the pandemic.  I’m still battling my way out of a major reading slump, and not all that excited by books, period.  But I have read some great stuff this year – both before the pandemic hit (when I could squeeze a few pages in – pretty much up until the moment life shut down, I was majorly underwater with trial prep) and during.  While this has been an odd year for reading, for sure, here are my favorites so far.  In no particular order:

To War with Whitaker – The moment I read the synopsis in Slightly Foxed’s “new and forthcoming” section, I knew I was going to love this book.  The Countess of Ranfurly, newly married, follows her husband to war and takes up residence in the desert theatre as an “illegal” wife.  Lady Ranfurly steadily outwits everyone from baggage porters to generals in her efforts to stay near her husband, and it’s wonderful.  Sweet and poignant, and also fascinating as she writes about encounters with famous historical figures and gives her own take on the war.  I loved every word.

Sword of Bone – Another Slightly Foxed; what can I say?  They’re always winners.  This one was described as “an amusing book about Dunkirk,” so how could I not?  The chapters leading up to the evacuation were certainly amusing, and the evacuation part itself was fantastic – tense and riveting.

The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen – I really needed another visit with Elizabeth this spring, and I loved the week I spent reading my way through the Elizabeth and Her German Garden trilogy.  All three were wonderful, but I think I enjoyed The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen the most.  It was laugh-out-loud funny, combined with beautiful nature writing.  Definitely my sweet spot.

Mapp and Lucia – I am down to just two of the Mapp and Lucia books left and I am hesitant to pick them up, because I don’t want it to be over.  This one has been my favorite of the series – the much-anticipated cataclysmic encounter between two outsized personalities: Queen Emmeline “Lucia” Lucas of Riseholme and Elizabeth Mapp of Tilling.  It was absolutely hilarious.

The Priory – I just love Dorothy Whipple’s writing.  It’s so everyday, but she draws you into the lives of her characters like no one else.  The descriptions of Saunby Priory were a total delight and the characters so engaging.  I sympathized with Althea, but my heart went with Christine.

Well-Read Black Girl – This one lingered on my list for way too long before I made time for it.  Glory Edim collects essays – written and oral – by brilliant Black female writers, dramatists, poets, artists and activists, asking them to answer one question: when did you first see yourself in literature?  It was gorgeous and I came away with a long “TBR.”

Ex Libris – I can’t resist a book about books, and Anne Fadiman is the gold standard.  I devoured this slim volume in one evening on the couch, and promptly added Fadiman’s other books about books to my Amazon wishlist.  “My Ancestral Castles” was my favorite of the essays in here, but really – they were all great.

Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther – One of the first books I read this year was also one of the best!  Fraulein Rose-Marie Schmidt is an impoverished German girl who falls in love with an English student boarding in her house and studying with her father (a poor Professor).  The relationship doesn’t last, but the two become pen-pals (although the reader only sees Rose-Marie’s side of the correspondence).  Rose-Marie writes about books, her neighbors, food, nature, friendship – and so many other topics.  She is an absolute treasure and Mr Anstruther is clearly an ass if he didn’t recognize that.

Life Among the Savages – I think I snort-laughed on every page.  Shirley Jackson’s fictionalized memoir of her out of control children and rambling Vermont farmhouse is hysterically funny.  It became a little poignant when I considered that Jackson’s life, if slapstick, was definitely not exactly as she portrayed it – her husband, of whom she writes fondly as an endearing, bumbling, big kid, was actually a cheating, controlling jerk.  But to rise above that and choose the face you want to present to the world is something special, and Jackson’s sense of humor shines through in every word.

The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables – I loved this beautiful book!  The biographical details about L. M. Montgomery – one of my favorite authors – were fascinating, but the photographs of Prince Edward Island were the real draw.  Every turn of the page brought something new and lovely.  I want to read it again right now.

It’s been an odd year for reading.  I think that’s true for all of us, right?  For my part, I spent most of spring and summer in a reading slump, pandemic-induced.  I’m still not really out of it, although I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (I think).  Many of the books on this list are books I read this winter, before the pandemic, or in early spring, before uncertainty turned to disaster.  We’ll see if the year-end version of this list looks the same, or if the reading is better on the back end.  So far, I’m hopeful, but not especially optimistic.

What have been the highlights of your 2020 reading so far?