Favourite books of 2021

[lillielangtry]

Let us know your best read or reads of the year!

Mine:
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - the first book I read in 2021, so got the year off to a great start. The judges of the women's prize agreed with me on this beautiful, fantastical story

Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi - multigenerational saga from Uganda

Weather by Jenny Offill - climate anxiety, but don't let that put you off ;-)

My husband by Rumena Buzarovska - short stories from North Macedonia, all of them based around a marriage

Educated by Tana Westover - as much discussed here and elsewhere!

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell - beautifully written historical novel inspired by the life of Shakespeare

[ozziegiraffe]

The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams
State of Wonder, Ann Patchett
A Promised Land, Barack Obama
Among the Islands, Tim Flannery
People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai
The River, Chris Hammer
Also more than one book by each of Kerry Greenwood, Jodi Taylor and Louise Penny.

I read Educated in 2019.

[Liiisa]

Thank you lillie!

Going through my list I see that a lot of ones I gave stars to this year were nonfiction, so I'll split them up:

Fiction
Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Chris Adrian, The Great Night
Jonathan Lethem, The Arrest
Ada Palmer, Perhaps the Stars

Nonfiction, with topic
Patrick Radden Keefe, Say Nothing (N. Irish Troubles)
Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life (Fungi)
Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise (20th century music)
Patrik Svensson, The Book of Eels (eels)
Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café (existentialism)
Erik Larson, Dead Wake (the Lusitania)

I read "Weather" in 2020

[shilgia]

Ooh, putting several of these on my goodreads list. Speaking of, anyone want to connect on goodreads? (PM me your name/page if so!)

Some of my favorites from this year:

Afua Hirsh - Brith(ish) (on being Black in the UK)
Charles Yu - Interior Chinatown (fictional commentary on portrayal of Asian characters in film, in a phenomenally creative way)
Richard Powers - The Overstory (tree-centric fiction)
Matthew Desmond - Evicted (on tenants and landlords in poor neighborhoods)
Maria Konnikova - The Biggest Bluff (psychologist trains to become a pro poker player)
David van Reybrouck - Revolusi (on the history of the Indonesian nation)

I also read Entangled Life and Obama's Promised Land, and liked them both, but they did not make my 'best of' list for the year.

[scrubb]

Thanks, lillie! My favourite thread of the year. Lots mentioned already that are on my list.

I read a lot of good books this year, but few that really REALLY stood out. Still, looking through them now to figure out my favourites reminded me of some really enjoyable books.

Non-fiction:
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Educated by Tara Westover
Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh (Not that I think this was necessarily a great book, but it really spoke to me personally.)

Fiction:
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett
Daddy was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether
Walking to Gatlinberg by Howard Frank Mosher

There are some runners up, in fiction, that I can't bear not to mention too :-)

10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in this Strange World, by Elif Shafak
Black River, by S.M.Hulse

[mei]

This is giving me some ideas for new fiction to read, which I've struggled with this year.

So, unusually, over half of my reading was non-fiction. Also means I've read less books than I hoped, mostly because I take more time with a non-fiction book.

The best non-fiction:
Less is More by Jason Hickel - on the urgent need for a new economy and what that looks like
Winners take all by Anand Ghiridharadas - more on the failings of capitalism, focusing on philanthropy
Revolusi by David van Reybrouck - the history of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia and Indonesia's struggle for independence.

Best fiction:
The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
The White Book - Han Kang
An almost perfect friendship - Milena Michiko Flasar

I've found it difficult finding compelling fiction this year, I probably should spend more time in the library and not feel guilty about reading other things than those books that I still have waiting at home (which is mostly a lot more non-fiction about capitalism, sustainability, modern politics so not the easiest reads)

[Oweena]

Guess I need to keep track of what I read like most of you do because I just had to go back through all of those monthly threads to remind myself of what I read. Most of what I read was non-fiction.
Like scrubb, I read a lot of books, but there were few standouts.

Fiction:
*The Love Songs OF W.E.B. Du Bois By Honorée Fanonne Jeffers.   Can definitely recommend, don't let it's nearly 800 pages scare you off. The main character Ailey, is one I'm still thinking about.

Non-Fiction:
*Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe.   I think I'd read anything by him, he wrote Say Nothing which was one of my favorite books a year or two ago. He's got a new one coming in 2022 called Rogues and I'll be first in line.
*How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith.   A tough topic for sure, but Smith is a poet, he writes beautifully. And I learned a lot reading this.
*All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler by Rebecca Donner. Tells the story of American Midred Harnack, executed by the nazis after running an underground resistance.  Her story is not one many Americans know about, partially due to the fact she worked for the Communists which made her an unlikely heroine to the U.S.  Even if she was fighting Hitler.

[tzarine]

i loved

yasunari kawabata's beauty & sadness
about a writer, his teenaged lover to grew up to be a renowned artist w a woman lover
the writer's son becomes interested in the the young lover of the artist

christopher isherwood's berlin stories
really fun to immerse in weimar berlin during covid. he's a fun evocative writer
saw cabaret & found this volume @ a park

nonfiction to come

[sophie]

Non fiction: The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson.

Fiction: The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili. A few others were right up there but this one really stuck with me. Also: China by Edward Rutherford; the Daevabad trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty.

[Liiisa]

Oh I remember you and lillie raving about The Eighth Life. I came close to picking it up but at the time was daunted by its width (i.e., length); I'll make another attempt this year.

[tzarine]

roland barthes - a graphic guide

cause i loved mythologies @ uni, so this was a very different take on the man

[Queen]

I didn't read that many books last year oddly

favourite for non-fiction
You Don't Belong Here, Elizabeth Becker

favourites for fiction
LaRose, Louise Erdich
The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates

[scrubb]

Feb 4, 2022 12:02:34 GMT -5 Queen said:

I didn't read that many books last year oddly

favourite for non-fiction
You Don't Belong Here, Elizabeth Becker

favourites for fiction
LaRose, Louise Erdich
The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates

I just bought "You Don't Belong Here".

Loved LaRose.