I read 48 books in 2021, which I thought was two short of my goal, but I guess I told Goodreads 45 at the beginning of the year. Technically, I exceeded the goal, but I truly wanted to reach 50, so it doesn’t really count for me. Either way, that’s 48 books, though I turned to re-reads, perhaps more than I have in the past, simply because I needed the comfort of returning to worlds I already know.
These are my favorites of the year, though they’re not necessarily the “best” books I read. Best feels like an objective pronouncement, but these eleven books stand out for their ability to burrow into my life, both during their reading and in the days and months that followed. As always, what works for my brain might not work for yours, but I can recommend at least trying a few on this list.
*Leave the World Behind by Rumann Alam — As soon as I started Leave the World Behind, it felt a little like a nightmare, where everything seems fine — vacation, family, pool, wine! — but something is just a little off. As the story progresses, and the vacationing family (mother, father, teen son, tween daughter) reluctantly welcome the vacation rental’s owners back into the house, it grows even more uncomfortable. Something’s wrong, but no one can get a cell or wireless signal, and getting to town feels futile. Reading it now, with the pandemic still unfolding, felt a little surreal and strange. You know disaster awaits “out there,” but you don’t exactly know how it will unfold for the novel’s small cast of characters. I felt a sense of hopelessness while reading it, the idea of being disconnected from the outside world and suddenly tethered to people you barely know. I’m still thinking about it, which means I’ll be recommending it to people so I can discuss it more.
* All Adults Here by Emma Straub — I adored this book. For whatever reason, I fall in love with dysfunctional family relationships where you enjoy but want to faux-strangle the characters. The Strick family checks a bunch of dysfunctional boxes. Everyone is holding onto secrets, though some of them aren’t nearly as hidden as the characters think. The small moments make this story for me — the connectedness of a small town, a goat cheese farm, the push and pull between offering privacy and keeping dangerous secrets, a transgendered friend, a gazebo at the town center, a Harvest Parade Queen. One of my major takeaways from All Adults Here touches on a personal parenting fear of mine. Astrid worries and obsesses over mistakes she’s made in the past, but her kids are most affected by other moments, other mistakes, and that seems to be parenting in a nutshell. (Read a slightly longer review on Goodreads.)
*Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart — Abbey and I both read Genuine Fraud while on vacation, and we both loved it. The story unfolds in reverse chronological order, which means you could read the book from front to back and have a completely different story. Jule Williams and Imogene Sokoloff are two girls with similar lives. At least that’s what we see at the beginning of the story. My Marvel-loving daughter adored the girls-fighting-for-themselves angle, along with the idea of origin stories. I can’t help loving the unreliable narrator trope — when it’s done well — and a generous helping of trust fund freedom and interesting side characters drew me into the story quickly, keeping me hooked until the satisfying conclusion.
*The Midnight Library by Matt Haig — I waited for this for a long time from the actual library, and I wanted to savor it when I started. Instead, I finished it in one wonderful day. Essentially, I believe I needed to read this book exactly when I did, and I’m not generally the type of person to say something like that. The idea permeating the novel is that it’s possible to undo the regrets in your life when you’re in the Midnight Library. Each different choice will change the way your life looks, but will it change the way your life feels? I adored this story about the possibility of choices, potential, and parallel lives that allows you to build a life that fits exactly right — even created from a foundation of regrets.
*Sisters by Daisy Johnson — This beauty of a gothic story captured me from the very start, though I wasn’t sure where it was leading, or perhaps more accurately, where it had been. Two sisters live with their mother in a state of isolation, depending on each other to speak and live and tiptoe in and out of the outside world. Rife with trauma, more trauma, and a dash of melodrama, I couldn’t stop reading until the end. I appreciate a dark story, and Sisters fits the bill, quickly and in totality.
**The Turnout — Disclosure: I’ve already read this three times, because I completely devoured it the first time and got mad at myself for not savoring it. Ballet lives and breathes at the heart of this story, but what I loved about it is the way ambition and desire become one and the same thing, the cool and the hot Abbott uses to describe sisters Dara and Marie throughout the book. She’s unafraid to gaze into the darkness of the things we want viscerally and the way lines blur between extremes until maybe desires renders them the same in the end. (Read my longer review on Goodreads)
*Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley — I appreciated the insight into and the respect for the Ojibawe community, especially with the familiar ties to Sault Ste. Marie. It’s hard to watch Daunis attempt to navigate the two worlds she inhabits, Ojibawe through her father and wealthy Caucasian through her mother, especially when being a young adult comes with built-in insecurities and worries. When her best friend gets shot, Daunis enters another world, that of undercover law enforcement, which gives her an up-close look at the way drugs can fracture friendships and families.
*Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid — Set against the breathtaking beauty of Malibu, California and the unapologetic excess of the 1980s, Malibu Rising tells the story of a deeply-flawed family led by — and abandoned by — Mick Riva, superstar. During the course of one day in the present and many flashbacks to earlier years, the path of the Riva siblings changes irrevocably. What I loved most about the book, other than the atmosphere of the setting, was the way the various characters dance around the idea of who they are versus what they present to the world versus who they want to be. It’s hard to remember the Riva siblings are as young as they are (twenty-five and under) because of the growing up they have to do within the shortcomings of their parents’ lives.
*The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman — Anyone who has ever read and loved classic murder mysteries needs to read this book. An eclectic group of retirees meets on Thursdays to dissect and try to piece together cold cases, so there’s no better group to take the case (unofficially, of course) when the developer of their retirement community turns up dead.
**The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab — When I posted on Instagram, I said I wished I could start this one from the beginning, with no memory of it (a little like Addie LaRue’s life). This one felt magical from the beginning and stayed with me long after I finished.
*Billy Summers by Stephen King — Another great novel from one of my favorite novelists. This strays into violence but stays in the crime lane rather than horror or supernatural. The story of an assassin trying to leave violence in the past, Billy Summers tells a story within a story, and it works beautifully. I found myself heavily invested, emotionally, by the end, which I thought came too soon, despite the length of the book (and the number of commas in that sentence).
