So, it’s July, and this is a long overdue post, but despite being beaten down by exams and creative exhaustion, I finally found myself motivated to dedicate some time to share my favourite books of 2021 with you. In 2021 I read 82 books, which is the least I have read in a year since I started recording. However, I feel very fulfilled by the books I read – I enjoyed very many of them, and I think my reading has expanded and changed to accommodate for new genres. For the first time, fantasy doesn’t take up the majority of my list (though it does still occupy quite a few spaces). I think my lack of energy overall meant I couldn’t really invest myself in such detail-oriented, information-heavy books, and I don’t know when that is going to change, to be honest. But I haven’t disliked the change of pace – all of these books were ones I truly loved and had such a good experience with, and I discovered so many new things that I love. So here are my favourite books of 2021 (though to be perfectly honest, I’m sceptical about the order, as it changes every time I make this list).
10: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Beck Chambers
It has been a while since I read this book, and unfortunately many elements of the plot and premise have slipped my mind. One might wonder why this book is on this list, if that is so, but what stands out to me most in my mind about this book was the way it made me feel – both comforted and saddened at the same time. I’ve read one other book by Becky Chambers, and it feels like only she can create the perfect science-fiction-cosy atmosphere. I just feel an intense desire to consume everything she has ever written, and I hope to reread this at some point to firmly solidify its details in my mind.
9: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This book elicited an emotional response in me that I never could have anticipated. I am not an externally emotional person, and I literally never, ever cry when reading. But this book made me cry. On an objective level, I personally don’t find Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing particularly special, but what really carries this book is the characters. I felt such an emotional attachment to everyone in this book, and I really wish I had a physical copy so I could annotate it (I read a library copy on my phone). I truly missed the hype train for this book, but I’m so glad I read it when I did. Taylor Jenkins Reid is now an author whose new releases I really want to watch (though I did not enjoy Malibu Rising to the same degree).
8: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
Do I think that the first book remains the greatest in the series? Yes. But this was such a step up from book two, and the ending took off and kept running in the same way Brandon Sanderson’s endings always do. These books are long, but the payoff is always so good. And that is what makes these books – plot and world-building. While I will be sad to leave these characters behind, I don’t think that is what kept me attached to this series. However, I hope to immerse myself fully in Sanderson’s works and this series will always be such an amazing start to that.
7: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Two things I have been loving for a while: mermaids and horror, and putting them together was in no way unsuccessful. This was everything I wanted from this genre and I’d take as much of it as I could get. The tension throughout the novel was so well done – something about science and things going wrong is really unsettling. I think the only critique I have is the slightly abrupt ending – like when you step down the stairs thinking there are more and there are none. But everything else was incredible and I wish I could read this book again for the first time and experience the creepy, building tension fresh.
6: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Casey McQuiston’s books are everything. This book just suffused me with joy and will forever define the corner of summer in which I read it. The writing, romance, the slight magical element – they all worked together in such great harmony. I think what truly makes this book is the character dynamics and the banter – Casey McQuiston could not be better at this, and I will never get tired of reading their dialogue.
5: The Mirror Season by Anna Marie McLemore
I really adore Anna Marie McLemore’s writing, and I was overjoyed to love their 2021 released after being a little disappointed by their release in 2020. This was so layered with imagery and metaphors and was truly a masterful piece of writing. This is a loose retelling of the Snow Queen, but it is never rooted in the past. This is a real, raw exploration of current day themes and issues, and its ability to treat teenagers like teenagers but still with great respect and maturity was really skilful and incredible to read. I truly believe that McLemore’s works are some of the best in YA today.
4: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
This book opened my eyes to how much I could love literary fiction, something I had never really been interested in before. I was glued to the pages, obsessed with every character – I couldn’t look away. I think I was worried that because this was ‘literary fiction’ I would be too dumb to understand anything going on – and at this point I was honestly more scared of literary fiction than classics. But that was not the case with Girl, Woman, Other. It remains lyrical and complex, but it also really accessible, and I was transfixed by the entanglement of all the threads of the novel.
3: A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas
Listen, I am Sarah J Maas trash at this point. Was this book perfect? No. Did I agree with everything the characters said or did? No. I’m torn on whether I even liked the representation of mental health or not. But what I can say is that Sarah J Maas’ characters are created in a way that feel so real to me. And the emotional response I had to parts of this book took me by surprise. I could say I hated and loved everything about this book, and I think that’s why its on this list. No matter what she does, something in Maas’ books always resonates with me in some way. I was so determined to hate Nesta, and for a while I thought that even this book couldn’t change that, but by the end I was won over. She is certainly not my favourite character, but I can sympathise with her, and I think that Sarah J Maas did a good job crafting a multifaceted character. The next book had better be Elain’s, is all I’m saying.
2: Do You Dream of Terra Two? by Temi Oh
This is a book I fairly randomly picked up from my local library and then it completely consumed me. What I loved so much about this book is that it offered me a glimpse into a new favourite sub-genre of mine – early space exploration in the near future. The haunting emptiness of space will never fail to chill me. I was also in love with the multi-perspective narrative, which is one of my favourite styles. Each character felt real, flawed, fleshed out. My favourite character was Juno, but that took me a while to settle on – I oscillated between liking them all – or most of them. And even if the characters were not likeable, they still were interesting. The book offers both something slow and internal, but also a harrowing survival story – two things that I loved.
1: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
Every time I think about the fact that a classic is probably my favourite book of the year, I’m a little more in awe. I enjoy classics immensely, but they rarely elicit enough of an emotional reaction from me to make a five star rating, let alone become one of my all time favourite books. I tend to think of classics as a craft, rather than an emotion. But Anne Bronte’s novel grabbed me by the throat and did not let me go. The sheer anger I felt reading this novel (at one point I literally got up and walked away from it) is testament to just how evocative Bronte managed to be. She does not deserve to be the least admired or well known of the Bronte sisters because this novel is perhaps the best of all their work together. Beautifully written, powerful in its early feminist themes, and simply masterful in the way it captures your attention, I am so glad I finally read this novel. I now must mourn the fact that I have no more of Anne Bronte’s books left to read.
Though extremely late, I felt that I wouldn’t feel complete without putting this post up. I’m looking forwards to continuing to read great books throughout the rest of 2022, and I hope that you are too.
The Bookish Courtier 