Best Books I Read in 2020

 

Collage of the best books I read in 2020.

I read 30 books in 2020, besting my Goodreads goal of 25. I’ve reviewed all the books I’ve read this year on this blog. Here is my list of the best books that I read this year. Links go to my full reviews of the books.

Books released in 2020:

Make Russia Great Again, by Christopher Buckley: Trump finally gets the satire he deserves, dished out by a master of political satire. I’ve started calling Lindsey Graham “Squigg Lee Biskitt,” the name Buckley gives him in Make Russia Great Again.

More than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood, by Natasha Gregson Wagner: I’ve been a fan of Natalie Wood’s for a long time. More than Love and the documentary What Remains Behind both give us a glimpse of the woman behind her iconic performances in Miracle on 34^th Street, Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, and Splendor in the Grass. In More Than Love, Gregson Wagner also gives us a look at her own life, and how the pain of her mother’s death is ongoing.

The Answer Is…Reflections on My Life, by Alex Trebek: I’ll be honest, this isn’t the best-written book, but it’s as close as we’ll get to knowing the iconic and beloved Jeopardy! host. And because I’ve loved Jeopardy! since I was a little kid, it makes this list.

Books released before 2020:

Addicted to Americana, by Charles Phoenix (2017): This is a light title for a “Best Book,” but gosh darn it, 2020 was hard, and this coffee table book cheered me up! Charles Phoenix is a devotee of mid-century pop culture and kitsch, and his obvious affection for, and deep knowledge of Americana make him a delight. As Charles would say, “I knowwww!” If you like Tiki bars and cars with tailfins, this is the book for you.

Good Morning, Midnight, by Jean Rhys (1939): Jean Rhys is the opposite of Charles Phoenix. Her quartet of bleak modernist novels of the 1920’s and 1930’s ended with Good Morning, Midnight, a haunting book that was my first exposure to Rhys. I re-read it this year, and it’s bleak and depressing, but Jean Rhys wrote beautifully.

Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys (1966): This was Jean Rhys’ next novel after Good Morning, Midnight. A 27-year gap between books? That’s so long! I knowwww! Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of Rochester’s first wife from Jane Eyre. It’s beautiful and haunting and tragic.

A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, edited by Sun Yung Shin (2016): A fascinating collection of essays from my home state. It’s uncomfortable reading for liberal white folks like myself, who want to believe that everything’s hunky dory for everyone in Minnesota. Every white person in Minnesota needs to read this book.

President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon (1991, updated in 2000): A 750-plus page doorstop, this is an in-depth look at Ronald Reagan’s Presidency. Cannon makes a compelling case that Reagan was a poor manager of people. Reagan was great at giving speeches, but he was extremely averse to conflict. A fascinating look at a charismatic man who remained an enigma to everyone around him.

The Basil and Josephine Stories, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (written between 1928-1931, this collection first published in 1973): It wouldn’t be a best of the year without some Fitzgerald, would it? Fitzgerald’s fiction was always closely informed by his own personal life, and one of the fictional characters that was most similar to him was Basil Duke Lee. Fitzgerald wrote 9 short stories that followed Basil throughout his adolescence. They’re some of Fitzgerald’s best work. The Basil stories are coupled with 5 stories Fitzgerald wrote about Josephine Perry, a character based on his first love, Ginevra King. Lots of sparkling prose in this book.

Book Review: The Answer Is...Reflections on My Life, by Alex Trebek (2020)

 

The cover of The Answer Is...Reflections on My Life, by Alex Trebek, 2020.

Alex Trebek on the set of Jeopardy!

Alex Trebek in the 1970's. When he shaved his mustache in 2001, it made news.

Hearing the sad news of Alex Trebek’s passing on Sunday has prompted me to finally finish my review of his autobiography, The Answer Is…Reflections on My Life, which was published in July. I’ve been a fan of Jeopardy! since I was a little kid, and like many other people, I’ve grown up with Alex Trebek as the comforting presence behind the lectern, reading the answers in his crisply enunciated voice.

Even when I was a kid, I knew that Alex Trebek was reading the questions and answers from a sheet of paper, yet there was something about his graceful, dignified presence and the way he carried himself that made it seem as though he actually did know all of that information. It was something of a shock when I learned that Trebek wasn’t the head librarian at the Library of Congress or something like that, he was a former CBC broadcaster who had hosted numerous other game shows before he landed the gig at Jeopardy! But somehow Jeopardy! and Alex Trebek turned out to be a perfect combination.

In the last few years of his life, Trebek became an American icon. While it would seem unlikely that a game-show host could become such an important symbolic presence, through his hosting of Jeopardy! Trebek became a symbol of the pursuit of knowledge, learning, and the truth. After revealing his cancer diagnosis in 2019, Trebek received an outpouring of support and admiration from fans of the show. Trebek’s public profile had rarely been higher than during the last year of his life, especially with James Holzhauser’s 32-game winning streak, and the January 2020 special “The Greatest of All Time,” which pitted Holzhauser against Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. (Jennings won.)

Trebek kept a low profile throughout his public life, and The Answer Is will prove to be the definitive work on his life and career. I’m happy Trebek wrote the book, to share his life story in his own words. There are no huge revelations in The Answer Is, and the thing that might surprise you the most about Trebek is his ordinariness. Trebek was a man who worked hard in every job he ever had, and that extended to the very end of his life: he taped his final Jeopardy! episodes on October 29^th, just 10 days before he died.

Trebek’s writing style is simple and straightforward, and the early chapters about growing up in Canada reminded me of my Dad’s writings about his childhood growing up in northern Minnesota. They’re from the same generation, Trebek was born in 1940, and my Dad was born in 1941.

One thing that The Answer Is makes very clear is the close relationship between Trebek and Ken Jennings. Jennings narrated the audiobook of The Answer Is, and in the book Trebek wrote the following about Jennings:

“When I think of Ken, I think of a quality human being. Extremely bright—that goes without saying. Someone who’s not out to impress you. Somebody I can be very simpatico with because I think we’re the same type of person. We’re comfortable in our own skin and comfortable in dealing with other people and don’t feel we have to go out and impress or make a mark. He’s somebody I genuinely liked as a contestant on the program.” (p.195)

Trebek made it clear that he hadn’t appointed a successor, but my prediction is that Ken Jennings will be the next host of Jeopardy!

I’ve never been on Jeopardy! I’ve taken the online test many times, and twice I’ve qualified for an in-person audition. (No, I never met Alex.) If, by some lucky chance, I ever do get to appear on the show, it won’t be quite the same without Alex Trebek.