Top Reads of 2021
Another year of books in COVID…..
Another year, another lockdown…. which does mean another year to read more books. Throw a job change into the mix and 3 months of looking for work (while in lockdown) means plenty more chances to read. No surprise that I hit a new personal best of 93 books read (including 2 DNF) — the elusive 100 still needs another few lockdowns (or retirement).
As always, I’ve completed a spreadsheet of everything read with various data points —
You can see 2021s list here (plus my growing back catalogue of lists)
As always — I like to do a data-driven approach to my reading; so first the stats:
2021 was once again a very diverse year: with 17 countries covered (defined by place of birth of Author) +1 from 2020. USA (frustratingly) once again continues to dominate— (I haven’t been able to read less than 25% from the USA!! But then again, plenty of top rated books are from there… so a correlation of sorts). A few new diverse entries with Sudan’s “They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys of Sudan” plus a late entry from Trinidad and Tobego with the very pleasant ‘Pleasantview’
The Women Had It (again!): still well over half (57%) of my reads this year were from women — and being a modern world — now able to count a sole non-binary author amongst this year’s collection — from the Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi and their captivating book ‘The Death of Vivek Oji’; (their previous read ‘Freshwater’ has been a past fave).
29,993 pages read; that’s an average of 90 pages a day — and approx 321 per book — just nudging up last year’s tally. The shortest was the sometimes interesting but underwhelming ‘Old Seems to be Other People’ by Lily Brett. At just 98 pages, surely she could have beefed it up a bit. At a hefty 945 pages Robert Galbraith’s (aka JK Rowling) ‘Troubled Blood’ was the perfect summer read, the 5th in the Cormoran Strike detective series. Highly recommended.. especially the lightweight eBook version!
New releases FTW: With the publishing industry playing catch up from last year, there were plenty of good new reads out. 33% of the books read this year were published in 2021 and another 25% from last year. Oldest was Patrick White’s classic 1966 book ‘The Solid Mandala’ (it was good, like a tough gym work out), and special mention for the devastating 1980 book ‘Housekeeping’ by Marilynne Robinson (note: do not pick this as your summer beach read).
DNF: Worth mentioning the two duds that I agreed were not worth the effort. ‘Tentacle’ by Rita Indiana (Author), Achy Obejas (Translator) I picked up as I needed a Dominican Republic author as part of my diverse reading, and the ‘colonial punk’ in the description sounded interesting. Turns out a story about a transgender vagrant who gets some sort of sea animal attached to their head and goes off to save this oceans is even too weird for me. Then there was my street library find ‘Great House’ by Nicole Krauss (she of the great ‘History of Love’ fame). Not sure what was going on in this one.. but it was boring as batshit.
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Below are what I have claimed as my Top 10 Reads for the Year — and a little review for each. They won’t be books that appeal to all — so make sure you check out a few other reviews to see if this is the right book for you. Listed in alphabetical order, by title.
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‘China Room’ Sunjeev Sahota (M / UK / pub 2021) 243pp
I knew this would be a cracker… Sahota’s previous book ‘The Year of the Runaways’ was one of the highlights of 2015. Once again, ‘China Room’ had me gripped from the first to the last page. The main story — a young girl in an arranged marriage…. and the other a great great grandson coming back to India to recover.
‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ Anthony Doerr (M / USA / pub 2021) 623pp
I fell in love with Doerr’s previous ‘All the Light We Cannot See’ and was hanging out for his latest release all year. Was not disappointed — a deeply rich book spanning centuries, mythology and a fabulous array of characters. There’s magic, love and mystery — and you really just need to hang on and let it take you on an adventure. Fans of ‘Cloud Atlas’ will enjoy.
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‘An Equal Music’ Vikram Seth (M / India / pub 2000) 484pp
I’m only about 20 years late to the party on this one. All the reviews have all been said before. It’s music, it’s romance, it’s saga. Just a perfect book.
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‘A Girl Returned’ Donatella Di Pietrantonio (F / Italy / pub 2019)170pp
The shortest of my top reads, this one just stuck with me through out the year. Recommended by Words Without Borders as one of their best reads of 2020, this is a strange, almost uncomfortable — yet beautiful book about a girl who is ‘returned’ to her real mother after years of living with another family. This is what she discovers and — despite the plot, it’s a very heartwarming read. For fans of the other Italian author about ‘bad girls’ — Elena Ferrante.
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‘Harlem Shuffle’ Colson Whitehead (M / USA / pub 2021) 320pp
Need a high paced book to recommend for a friends other half? (I may have done that a few times with this one). This is like a black gangster version of Ocean’s 11 in 1950s/60s Harlem. Just great — and a much worthier novel (in my humble opinion) than Whitehead’s previous ‘best seller’ ‘The Nickel Boys’. (Plus how awesome is the cover art?)
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‘Klara and the Sun’ Kazuo Ishiguro (M / Japan / pub 2021) 307pp
No surprises here, as Klara (with its striking cover artwork) has made it on to most of the ‘Top Reads’ for this year already. Written by the master of the minimal Ishiguro (‘Never Let Me Go’, ‘Remains of the Day’), this is sci fi with brilliant nothingness. What a book. No stereotype in my experience could help me navigate where this would go. A teenager, her Artificial Friend, the sun, a climax and ending. It’s sci fi — but not as you know it.
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‘The Night Watchman’ Louise Erdrich (F / USA / pub 2020) 443pp
I’m usually wary of ‘Big Book Prizes’, but I’ve had a good run with Pulitzer winners, and this one from American Louise Erdrich just reinforces the quality judging of this award. Funny side note was my notes written after reading that “I haven’t enjoyed the Pulitzer Prize winner this much since 2015’s “All the Light We Cannot See”. While it took a few chapters to get my head around all the different characters and stories — I was soon absorbed by this 1950s American Indian community; the challenges against the government, love and family. Just wonderful. Bonus — her latest book ‘The Sentence’ is OUT NOW!
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‘The Offing’ by Benjamin Myers (M / UK / pub 2020) 272pp
If you need a book that you just want to hug — then go for this one. What a beautiful, heartwarming book — perfect for this time of lockdown. A boy and an old woman in post war UK. It’s a bit of a slow start.. but get to the house, meet Dulcie and then come back to me.
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‘A Room Made of Leaves’ Kate Grennville (F / Australian / pub 2020) 317pp
Grenville took what could be a dull and dry subject and turned it into the most beautiful story of Australiana — which seems to be her ‘thing’ in all the books that she writes. What if there was an (alternate) history about Elizabeth — the wife of John Macarthur. If you want a new Aussie Classic with a strong touch of feminism — this is for you.
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‘Still Life’ Sarah Winman (F / UK / pub 2021) 436pp
I think I’ve already recommended this to about 796 people since finishing… and this is probably going to be my default Book to get people onto (if they’ve already read my other go to ‘A Man Called Ove’). Here you’ll get lost for days in a history of post war England, the wonders of Italy — and a cast of fabulous characters whom I wanted to join around the table with their wine and bread. Also — just a slight dash if literary magic to bring all the wonders of this book together. And a talking parrot.
