Chapter 31 - The Accidental Bestseller

In late July Publisher's Weekly, a well respected book industry magazine, published the bestselling books so far in 2020. You can find the article here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/83894-bestselling-books-of-2020-so-far.html

As you all know I love new books so I was surprised to see that some of the bestsellers so far this year were not new. I suspect that COVID-19 is giving people the chance to catch on their reading! I was also happy to see that I have read quite a few of them.

Here is my take on the year to date bestsellers I've read and recommend.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - Crawdads was published in August, 2018 and I put off reading it until my friend, Scott Richards of WEZV told me he thought it was the best book he had read in 2018. That recommendation from a trusted book lover and the fact that Owens was going to be at the 2019 Savannah book festival, prompted me to check it out. It is a coming of age story, a mystery, a love story all wrapped up in one. The book is, at this writing, still in hardback.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - The popularity of this book, published in September 2017, has been I am sure because of the series made by Renee Witherspoon. The premise of the book is that an artist and her daughter blow into town and upset the balance of picture-perfect Richardson family.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins - Few books have generated the amount of controversy this novel by Cummins has. Released in January of 2020, the book is a story of a Mexican mother and her son on the run from the drug cartel which killed her husband and her extended family.

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson - A look at Winston Churchill's first year as Prime Minister of England at a time when it was not particularly clear that England would be successful in stopping Hitler. Larson's history is flawless and his writing reads like a novel.

Educated by Tara Westover - Westover's memoirs of growing up in a Mormon, survivalist family is raw and moving. Formal education was denied to most children in her family until her older brother applied to college and she followed in his footsteps. Westover's account of her childhood is eye-opening, yet her strength in overcoming her background is extraordinary.

Are there any books on the list which you have read and can recommend? Let me know.