Though it sometimes feels like we never quite left 2020, it is somehow the beginning of 2022, making it time to look back at the best, the worst and the sometimes weird of my 2021 reading. I read 115 books this year, down from the high numbers I did a few years ago but comparable to recent years – and considering I also had a baby in March, we’ll call that good!
1) Best of…
I’ve been splitting my “Best of” books for the past several years, so that I can highlight the ones that were best in very specific ways.
1A) Best Premise: Invictus by Ryan Graudin – Do premises get better than time traveling thieves who are jumping through time to steal artifacts history records as lost? Amazing idea.
1B) Best World Building: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers – I thoroughly enjoy this series, and this book in particular created a fascinating world – though literally not a world, as it’s set almost entirely on a fleet of spaceships. It’s almost all world building, since it’s mostly people going about their lives, and it was so interesting to see how their lives work and society is structured in a culture aboard a space fleet.
1C) Best Romance: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor – Lovely, lyrical book with an excellent romance despite it moving fast (not usually my thing). The second book in the duology trended very dark for my taste, but the first one, and its romance, were a delight. And the second one was good – just dark!
1D) Best Characters: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune – If I was going to do a single Best of 2021 book, this would be the one. Absolutely, amazingly good, a beautiful found-family story that’s touching and funny and says important things too. And the characters really made the book. I read this in October and I feel like every book I’ve read since I’ve had to forgive for not being The House in the Cerulean Sea. So, so good. Continue reading “2021 Reading Round-Up”