If You Only Read One: December 2020

We know that we read — and review — a lot of books. It definitely helps that there are three of us, in that regard. So with this feature, we want to tell you our favorite read of the month - if we only recommend one book to pick up, what would it be?

Elizabeth

I am way, way behind on reviews — and can’t wait to catch up because I have read some fabulous books recently — but I have to say that if I can only recommend one from December, it would be “Escaping Dreamland” by Charlie Lovett (Bookshop | Kindle) (though “The Talented Miss Farwell” was a closeeee second). I mentioned this book in my Most Anticipated Books of Fall post and specifically stated how much I love books about books. And this was a great one. Robert Parrish is a successful novelist whose life is falling apart, and he decides that one of the ways to get his mojo back is by solving a decades-old literary mystery that helped shape his childhood. You see, there’s a children’s book series that he, his father, and his grandfather loved, and in order to make peace with some of his past, Robert tries to figure out what happened to the three authors. Alongside Robert’s quest, we get to delve into the interconnected lives of those three authors as they come together in the early 1900s in New York. This one was thought-provoking, funny, sad, and hopeful at the same time — a really wonderful read about the power of friendship and literature.

Shannon

I have already talked about Yaa Gyasi’s beautiful second novel in my most recent round-up, but it’s absolutely the best book I read in December, and one of my favorites of the year. “Transcendent Kingdom” (Bookshop | Kindle) is, itself, transcendent. Gifty is conducting research with reward-seeking mice to better understand depression and addiction, and her motivation becomes clear through flashbacks of her childhood. As a Ghanaian family living in Alabama, Gifty’s family experienced outright racism, microaggressions, tenuous acceptance once her older brother became a high school basketball star, and depression after her brother dies of an opioid addiction (not a spoiler). Gifty’s mother, a devout Christian who works as a home caregiver, becomes incredibly depressed after her brother dies, and as the novel opens, she is experiencing another depressive episode and travels to California, where GIfty must care for her. I went through some fairly religious periods in my childhood, and the novel’s spiritual ruminations resonated with me deeply.

Moira

I find a lot of my mysteries and thrillers through the NYTimes column by Marilyn Stasio, who recommended this as a quiet, thoughtful story. “The Distant Dead” (Bookshop | Kindle) focuses on Absalom “Sal” Prentiss, an orphaned middle-schooler whose life has been hugely affected by the opioid crisis. His favorite math teacher turns up dead under violent circumstances, and much of the mystery is pieced together by a fellow middle school teacher intimately familiar with the dark side of the town. The book, while dealing with a great deal of almost unrelentingly dark material is filled with glimpses of hope. It’s a quick read, and while not quite uplifting, it feels honest and authentic.

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