Your BEST BOOKS of 2021

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Your BEST BOOKS of 2021

1PaperbackPirate
Déc 26, 2021, 8:59 pm

Happy Almost 2022! What were your 10 favorite books read this year? Are you going to struggle to get your list down to 10? Are you going to struggle to come up with 10?

Tell us your best reads of the year, and if you're inclined, one line about why they made the list. Our TBR piles will continue to grow!

Best of 2006

Best of 2007

Best of 2008

Best of 2009

Best of 2010

Best of 2011

Best of 2012

Best of 2013

Best of 2014

Best of 2015

Best of 2016

Best of 2017

Best of 2018

Best of 2019

Best of 2020

Happy list making!

2Molly3028
Modifié : Déc 27, 2021, 4:06 pm

Here are this year's most satisfying novels for me in this rather disappointing book year (audios in order consumed) ~

When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain (mystery)
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave (domestic mystery)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (a girl and her robot friend)
Radar Girls: a novel of WWII by Sara Ackerman
The One by John Marrs (DNA is used to find a perfect love match)
The Guide by Peter Heller (surprise twist)

3PaperbackPirate
Déc 27, 2021, 9:57 am

>2 Molly3028: I just finished my first book by Peter Heller. Good to know he has more good ones out there.

My sister and I are going to read The Last Thing He Told Me next month. Can't wait!

I'm sorry for your disappointing book year. Hopefully we'll have lots of good recommendations for you to help in 2022!

4Molly3028
Modifié : Déc 27, 2021, 4:04 pm

>3 PaperbackPirate:

I pulled the plug on a lot of novels this year. I have already recommended 4 or 5 seemingly interesting 2022 audios for OverDrive to acquire.

6PaperbackPirate
Déc 29, 2021, 8:46 pm

>5 JulieLill: You read a lot of good nonfiction this year!

Thanks for sharing your list!

7LyndaInOregon
Déc 31, 2021, 6:05 pm

I read 118 books in 2021, with roughly an 85/15% split between fiction and nonfiction. The total is down a fraction from 2020, when I read 122 books. The fiction/nonfiction split that year was 67/33% so non-fiction is down considerably this year.

Top reads, in alphabetical order –
A Country Called Home – Kim Barnes
Ella Minnow Pea – Mark Dunn
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon – Julie Phillips
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue – V.E. Schwab
Leaving Time – Jodi Picoult
The Liar’s Dictionary – Eley Williams
Mink River – Brian Doyle
Shaman’s Daughter – Nan Salerno & Rosamond Vanderburgh
Wild Life – Molly Gloss

Overall, I had 9 DNFs this year, which is about average.

Jodi Picoult and Tony Hillerman were top-read authors this year, with three titles each, though in an odd turn of events, Picoult was also responsible for one of my Hall of Shame nominees – Mercy, a rather silly mish-mash of The Bridges of Madison County, a ripped-from-the-headlines trial over euthanasia, and a smattering of Outlander, just to keep the pot boiling.

8PaperbackPirate
Jan 1, 2022, 8:47 pm

>7 LyndaInOregon: You have a lot of interesting sounding books on your list! Thanks for sharing!

9PaperbackPirate
Jan 1, 2022, 8:51 pm

I had a good reading year because I had to narrow my list down to ten!

Here's my list in the order I read them:
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Long Walk by Stephen King
The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower VII) by Stephen King
Pride: The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike by Tim Tate
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Butterfly's Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe
Moon Palace by Paul Auster

10ahef1963
Jan 2, 2022, 12:46 pm

I had a good year - 10 may not be enough! In no particular order except for the first one.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi was the brilliant story of slaves brought to the US from Africa, and which follows the generations of African-Americans as they adapt to life in America. Beautifully written, vivid characters, historical accuracy - this is one of the best books I've read in my 58 years.

A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins
Both Lucy and Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - just loved this.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

11framboise
Modifié : Jan 2, 2022, 6:04 pm

>7 LyndaInOregon: Impressive! How do you read so many books? I'm lucky if I finish the yr having read in the 30s!

I absolutely loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue too.
Also loved these:
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Rememberings, a memoir by Sinead O'Connor
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguru
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

12framboise
Modifié : Jan 2, 2022, 10:00 pm

Forgot about Crying in H Mart, a memoir by Michelle Zauner which I loved.

13LyndaInOregon
Jan 3, 2022, 1:17 pm

>11 framboise: If you read fast, always have your nose in a book, and are retired ... the numbers add up!

14framboise
Jan 5, 2022, 8:07 pm

>13 LyndaInOregon: One day! :)

15msemmag
Fév 14, 2022, 4:46 pm

I didn't have 10 whole books I could say were really good in 2021, unfortunately (I only read about 25 books total! 😭)

But my {some amount} favorite books in 2021 were:
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - this is hands-down my favorite of the lot; it's funny, romantic, excruciatingly punny* and has as many twists-and-turns as you can fit in a book about time travel**. I enjoyed the narrator for the audiobook in particular (Steven Crossley). You don't need to read the first book to understand the setup (it's a separate adventure and isn't linked to the events in the first book).

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - this is such a lovely, powerful book on plants, the interdependency between people and our land, climate change and Kimmerer's life growing up as a Potawatomi woman and her career in the sciences. I'm a life-long devotee of the creed 'let's stay inside', but Kimmerer's writing makes me want to learn how to find the beauty she describes in nature.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - I'm cheating a little here and including this (I finished it in early Jan. 2022), but this is a classic history of the sciences, and more than that, it's a really FUN book to read. I loved Bryson's style, which was light but not without substance. I learned so much about how modern society's 'basic' scientific knowledge developed, and how much of science is a PROCESS of understanding our world, and not a foundation of unimpeachable truths waiting to be uncovered.

*it's a good thing!
**which is A LOT. I loved it :D

16PaperbackPirate
Fév 14, 2022, 9:37 pm

>15 msemmag: Thank you for sharing your list of any amount of good books! I keep hearing positive reviews for Braiding Sweetgrass so I think I will try it.

17JulieLill
Fév 15, 2022, 11:25 am

>15 msemmag: I love Bryson - am never bored with his topics!