My best books of 2021 (and other distinctions)
Last year, I expressed my thanks to authors for writing such wonderful books for us to enjoy, and I’d like to repeat that sentiment here. I am in awe of the variety of genres, moods, lengths, and tones available to me to pick up and read, whenever I want (ok ok, usually as soon as the library hold comes in, anyway). And with each passing year, I believe even more strongly that there aren’t necessarily many truly bad books out there - just ones that aren’t for me, right now. I love seeing books bring people joy, even if I read the same one and don’t get much out of it (and vice versa).
The last two years have also been an interesting time to see how reading tastes can change. When I talk about books with friends, we sometimes wonder out loud if a book is actually good, or just “2020 (or 2021) good”. That distinction has become less important as the pandemic has progressed because if it brings me joy, then it’s good, I guess! And I’m far more ruthless than I used to be about putting down books that don’t draw me in. I get to read a finite number of books in my life so I don’t want to waste time on something that’s not for me! NEXT!
Here are my favorite books from this year.
The Last Duel, by Eric Jager. This year’s logorrhea book for sure! Get ready to be spewing facts about 1300s France to anyone within earshot when you read this book!
Finlay Donovan is Killing It, by Elle Cosimano. I only gave this 4/5 stars when I read it, but looking back, this book was just so much fun and I have to include it here. Lighthearted but smart, witty, and satisfying!
We Keep the Dead Close, by Becky Cooper. If The Last Duel was this year’s logorrhea book, this was 2021’s Book That Took Over the Groupchats. The same thing has happened in years past with books like Educated and Say Nothing - if I know you read this book, then we DISCUSSED IT AT LENGTH. Everything about this book was interesting to me and it was fascinating to see what this book had to say about true crime, academia, and structural sexism.
The Diabolic series, by S. J. Kincaid. Miriam and I devoured this series this year; I had some friends read it who liked it just ok. But I have to include it here because it’s been a while since a new (ish) YA series caught my interest so thoroughly. It made interesting and brave choices and took the Same Old Things in new directions.
I wanted to include at least one romance book in my favorites list, and it came down to You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle, with Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane as a close runner-up. The thing I loved about both of these books was their focus on emotional growth and feeling feelings and becoming better people while navigating relationships with loved ones.
Other distinctions:
Most unexpectedly good book: Beyond the Mapped Stars, by Rosalyn Eves. I heard about it randomly on Twitter and thought it couldn’t be that good but might be interesting on a personal level due to its setting and subject matter. But it was really good and Miriam is about to finish reading it as I type this!
Most unexpectedly bad book: As Good as Dead. I really liked the first and second books in this series and I was disappointed when the third one went off the rails.
Most-read book: I read the Shadow and Bone series for the third or fourth time, as well as The Winner’s Curse series for the third time.
The most “is this good, or 2021 good?” book (best bad book/guiltiest pleasure): Probably the Bromance Book Club series? There was something inherently ridiculous about them but they were immensely entertaining and heartwarming, too!
Worst good book: Empire of Pain, no contest. Really well written, which made the heartbreaking subject matter (opioid crisis) even harder to stomach.
Worst cover: Megan Spooner’s lovely books deserve lovelier covers! These are fine, but…
Best cover:
Worst title: Basically any of the contemporary romances. Their titles seem to be interchangeable and I could never remember what any of them were.
Best titles: We Keep the Dead Close, Killers of the Flower Moon.
Some years (like last year) I keep really good track of strange coincidences in different books. This was not one of those years! My brain just wasn’t in the mood. But here’s to another great year of books!
