As 2020 comes to an end, “Best of …” lists are popular, so we wanted to feature a variety of reading options. Did any of your favorite books from 2020 make the lists?

• A selection of the 10 Best Literary Adaptations of the Year highlights this year’s new literary adaptations.
• The most popular and purchased books by Amazon customers in 2020 shares what customers were reading this year.
• With over 2,000 suggestions, NPR’s Book Concierge provides recommendations of “top books” for the years 2013-2020.
• What are other writers reading? The Guardian’s best books picked by guest authors provides insight into what authors like to read when they are not working on their next work.
• Why stop at Top 10? Here is Literary Hub’s 65 favorite books of the year.
• 2020 Mighty women reading list for adults features biographies and memoirs about remarkable women of the past and present.

Children’s literature provides students with the opportunity to explore diverse cultures and topics. Below is a selection of lists highlighting this year’s top children’s books.

• The Guardian’s best children’s books of 2020 for all ages lists new children’s books that touch on world-changing events like Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter.
• The Ten Best Children’s books of 2020 from the Smithsonian Magazine provides readers with material such as “history lessons, wordplay, and a musical romp through the animal kingdom.”
• For middle school grade readers and younger, this list contains more than 20 best children’s books of 2020.
• From the American Library Association, these Notable Children’s Books – 2020 can be enjoyed by children ages birth to 14.
• Book Riot books of 2020 covers all genres from children’s and fiction to poetry and young adult.

Love a good murder mystery novel? Want to brush up on your science knowledge? Just how did they use science to solve that case? These science and crime lists are sure to provide some suspenseful reads. 

• The Book of Eels and Owls of the Eastern Ice are just two of the books you will find on the Smithsonian Magazine’s Ten Best Science Books of 2020 list.
• The Crime Reads has compiled a list of the year’s 10 best first-time authors breaking into this genre. 

Traveling can be a big excitement for some, but 2020 saw travel plans halted due to many travel restrictions. Here you will find some of the top books for travel, photography, and food (YUM!). Who says you have to leave your house to travel the world?

• The Smithsonian Magazine’s top 10 best books on travel highlight books ranging from whales and other unusual museums in Iceland to the history of hitchhiking  in America.
• The 10 great food books of 2020 from the Guardian touches on recipes and memoirs of time spent in the kitchen.
• Explore your palate and food curiosities with these ten best books about food for 2020 from the Smithsonian Magazine.

Our list wouldn’t be complete without free books, such as offered via Project Gutenberg, providing access to more than 60,000 free ebooks. If you want to browse frequently viewed or downloaded books you will have hundreds of recommendations. The IU East eBooks & Audiobooks resource guide contains a compiled list of sites offering open access to audiobooks, eBooks, and college eBooks.

See a book mentioned that you are interested in? Your IU East campus library is here for you. Let us help you with all your research needs. Ask us! Email us at iueref@iue.edu or simply click this button: