What are the BEST BOOKS you've read in 2021?

[hermetic]

This is a traditional pinned post for you to use to list the most outstanding books you read during the year of 2021. They don't have to be books that were published in 2021, just whatever books you've read in 2021 that you think are particularly noteworthy.

This post is to provide a handy place for people to find suggestions without having to search through hundreds of threads. The post for Best Books of 2020 has now been moved down thread.

Happy reading!

[judesedit]

1. I haven't read any. It's only the 2nd of January. lol

[hermetic]

2. Actually

some people who frequent this group often read a book a day. Besides, just doing my job here. I'm one of those people who is always early for everything.

[judesedit]

5. Well, that's awesome! I could probably get a chapter in a day lol

Please, do keep us posted on the best reads. I am a reader when I have the time. Also, right now I can't concentrate til after the Inauguration of Biden and Harris. I'm a ball of tension.

[LisaM]

3. I have only read one so far (but I liked it).

'Chances Are' by Richard Russo, an author I enjoy. He draws memorable characters.

[SheltieLover]

9. Ty for sharing!

I'm on the last of Hiaasen's books now & lookinf for the next series to inhale!

[yellowdogintexas]

22. have you read any of the Discworld novels by Sir Terry Pratchett?

will keep you busy for weeks

[SheltieLover]

23. Not yet...

Ty!

[Backseat Driver]

4. I haven't finished one since early in 2020. By the time I would usually grab

a chosen book, bedtime, my eyes were bleary and my head filled with the nonsense spewed daily by MAGATs. I took a few books out of the library early in 2020. The library then closed up due to the CoVid; probably own all three of them now though I've received no overdue notices. Still hope to finish at least one of them by a favorite author, but just can't seem to pick it up - the concentration's just not there! Karma comes to a dysfunctional but monied family (can't really say "successful" family) - that book is Golden House by Salman Rushdie. Here's to reading again in 2021!

[SheltieLover]

8. Maybe if you find a really compelling book?

I've had the same issue, but only with mediocre books.

[LisaM]

13. I am a huge proponent of re-reading.

To get back into finishing books, you might dig up a clue of old (soothing) favorites and go to it!

[Polly Hennessey]

6. I just started, Parallel Lives by Phyllis Rose.

It is not fiction but details the Victorian marriages of:
Jane Welsh and Thomas Carlyle
Effie Gray and John Ruskin
Harriet Taylor and John Stuart Mill
Catherine Hogarth and Charles Dickens
George Eliot and George Henry Lewes

Happy 2021 reading.

[LisaM]

11. I really liked that book

I think I'll pull it out and re-read it this month.

[SheltieLover]

7. Definitely the Joe Gray series

The Cat Who Series

Hiaasen's work


There are more that I really enjoyed, but cannot think of authors or titles. Lol

On edit: sorry, I misread topic. I'm currently reading Hiaasen's Tourise Season. It is excellent, as I have found all his work to be.

[cilla4progress]

10. The Night Watchman,

Louise Erdrich.


Just finishing Women Rowing North, Mary Pipher.

[LisaM]

12. Now I have read two.

I also got (for Christmas) "The Queen's Gambit", which I enjoyed. I haven't seen the series.

I am enormously picky about fiction, so was glad to get two books for Christmas that I ended up liking.

[Oldem]

14. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Finished it this week. Beautiful, harrowing, memorable.

[japple]

15. Adding Michael Christie's book Greenwood to my list

of best books of 2021.

[CozyMystery]

16. Historical Novels

Shadow Palace, House of Closed Doors, Eternal Deception, The Jewel Cage (House of Closed Doors series) by Steen, Jane

Various historical novels by Lynn Austin, all good

[bif]

17. "Tell The Wolves I'm Home"

What a great read!

[Zorro]

18. Gai-Jin by James Clavell

Historical fiction about the opening of Japan to foreigners in the 1860s.

The man can write a story. It's almost on par with his epic novel Shogun.

For those who might be interested in a shorter read, King Rat is also an exceptional book by Clavell.

[yellowdogintexas]

24. I love Clavell's works and have read them all.

SHogun of course was awesome, but the one I enjoyed the most was Whirlwind. It is a rocking adventure with a lot of suspense close calls.

Clavell's characters are always wonderful; the folks in this book are no exception.

One of the coolest things he does is linking the characters and their descendants moving down through history. He wrote King Rat first, which is set in WW II; then Shogun which is set in 16th century Japan. Moving forward, we encounter descendants of characters in each successive book; when we reach Noble House, he ties in characters from King Rat, which up until that point was an outlier.

[LearnedHand]

19. "War Girls" by Tochi Onyebuchi

Afrofuturistic novel, set in the late 21st century, inspired by the Black Panther film and loosely based on the Nigerian/Biafran wars from the 1960s. I wanted to start over from the beginning the moment I finished the book (but it was due back at the library).

[LearnedHand]

20. The "Murderbot Diaries" series by Martha Wells

They are so hilariously, hysterically funny I’ve listened to the audiobooks three times already this year. And purchased the e-books. If you are so inclined, I highly recommend listening to them first. The reader IS the voice of Murderbot. Wells has won a ton of prestigious awards for these novellas and novel.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries

[yellowdogintexas]

21. The Secretary

a woman serves as a secretary for a Nazi muckety muck and ends up in the Resistance. Fast forward to the wall coming down and her granddaughter's discovery of her grandmother's past

Very good

ALso a strange little book called 'Home'

Aging cop, dying of cancer lives on Coney Island and has never even been off the island.
Considers the Island his beat and in his 80s still keeps an eye on things
He encounters a very tall and big man who lived on the island then left and has now returned. Strange and mystial events ensue.

THeir lives are intertwined in ways neither of them realized.

The story goes back and forth in time, involves a little fantasy, but it is mostly about the connection between these two men