25 Books I Read in 2021

Well, for some reason, here we are in 2022. About a year ago, I did a post which went through all the books I read in the year 2020, which for many reasons (many very obvious) was the year I really got back into reading as a constant habit and something I really enjoyed. In 2021, I read some extremely memorable books and had a bit of a personal target to start reading books that are part of a series, so that if I enjoyed them I would have something to come back to and look forward to. Some of these attempts at series were very successful. Others not quite so much. You will see which ones I mean when I get to them.

I hope that in this list you find something new to read that you hadn’t heard of before, or were meaning to get round to. There are some true gems in here this year. Again, I present them in no particular order, except that I’ve grouped series together. I’ve also only included fiction in this year’s list - I read a fair few other non-fiction books too which might be a separate post for another day.

1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

This was, in fact, the first fiction book I read of the year, and I read it as I was composing an ambitious piece that required a lot of attention to detail. I remember this, because I remember thinking that if this book were a piece of music it would be exactly as described. What a book. Such an intriguing set-up and structure, which explores both questions about how and why an event takes place, and then the aftermath of it. All the while, its characterisation is fantastic. It’s quite wordy and feels too ‘intellectual’ to start with but after warming up into it, it was a fantastic read. After finishing this, I couldn’t wait to read another novel by Tartt…

I highly recommend this one.

2-3. The Expanse Series 1 + 2 by James S. A. Corey (Leviathan Wakes and Caliban’s War)

I took a bit of a gamble with the first of this series as I’d heard someone say something good about it, and knew it had been turned into a successful streaming series, but I was also aware that I really didn’t like having to invest in completely new make-believe worlds over a long series of long books (each book in this series is at least 550 pages long). But these fears were assuaged as soon as I picked it up - the world-building is second to none and felt utterly believable and based in reality from the beginning, making it very immersive very quickly. The plot lines are intriguing and multi-faceted, sustaining interest and intrigue throughout as well as creating a truly expansive world to explore. There are 9 books in total, and I’m determined to read all of them before I try watching the series - wish me luck!

Again, from what I know so far, I can highly recommend the series!

4. We All Hear Stories in the Dark by Robert Shearman

I had to get this one in early (while you were still reading) because oh my goodness. I can guarantee you’ve never read anything like this before. This is a collection of 101 short stories in 3 very large volumes with a framing device at the start which sets up the idea that you finish one story and then get to choose your next one out of the remaining options as presented to you by the book itself (it will say something like ‘if you want to read more stories about sausage dogs, go to story 83’ or ‘for something a little more light-hearted, go to story 4’ etc). The absolute unparalleled genius comes into it when you realise the author has designed the stories to be re-contextualised based on the different potential stories you might have read before them, and has also designed them to give new colour and meaning to the stories you might read after them. For example, story 72 might seem like a light-hearted comedy after the bleakness of story 34, but might seem incredibly dark when compared to story 96 (I’m just making these numbers up, so they don’t spoil anything!). Of course, the stories in their own right are just incredible anyway - treading the line between darkness and humour, fantasy and cold reality. There’s only one path through all 101 stories, though - to read them all you have to make the correct decision every time. I’m afraid when I got to the end, I’d only read about 34. So plenty of re-reads to come!

I absolutely can’t recommend this one highly enough for something exciting and different. There’s truly nothing else out there like it.

5. The Ruby and the Smoke by Philip Pullman

While I love Pullman’s stories, I have to admit there’s something about his writing style that I find a little bit difficult to engage with. I enjoyed this book a lot. It was short, but with a lot of elements and characters and I think that is probably where the issue lies for me. The characters and setting are well-drawn though, and the plot crosses into many different genres while still feeling authentic. There are some elements that I might describe as outdated, but largely a lot of traps it could fall into are handled very well and further the plot very well. It’s an intriguing little adventure - although I don’t think I can be particularly bothered with the series that follows… sorry…

6. Animal Farm by George Orwell

This is a classic - and I’d never read it before! A very vivid metaphor that still holds as much true today as it did at its time of writing. Sometimes I avoid reading allegories that too much mirror the state of the world we live in, but actually there’s something cathartic about knowing that the messed up nature of the system is sort of common knowledge. I obviously knew this book existed and that it was a classic, but upon actually reading it I was pleasantly surprised at how profound yet readable it is.

7. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

This is the first big sad face of the year I’m afraid. I bought this book thinking it would be as fantastic as the things I’d heard about it were (and the potential start to reading a whole trilogy of long books, as was my intention this year), and to be honest, I can still see why it’s so loved. It is expertly written, researched and realised. No stone is left unturned. It’s a clever idea too, on the whole, and very expansive and involving. The problem is, it just wasn’t for me. The book uses ‘he’ to refer to its protagonist (?) but is essentially in first person - constantly inside the thoughts of the character. This made it really confusing, because ‘he’ makes it very difficult to direct the brain to who is being referred to. Doubly so when everyone seems to be called Thomas. I feel bad, because I’m sure it’s a masterpiece in its own way, but I was just reading words that eventually had no meaning to me. Reader, I didn’t finish it.

8. Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is a truly beautiful book of five short stories connected by themes of the night, loneliness and music, but is also at times really hopeful. There are some fantastic images and metaphors as well as some fantastically vivid and clear exploration into complex emotion and states of being. Over time, the stories have faded into my memories in a sort of melancholic dream-like fashion.

A highly recommended quick read for if you’re in a reflective mood.

9. The Waiting Rooms by Eve Smith

This book presents a terrifyingly possible future where human antibiotic resistance has developed too far, and everyone over 70 is no longer allowed antibiotics - so they end up waiting to die, basically. The story itself is more of connected lives, events and conspiracies to do with this premise, and actually didn’t hold my interest as much as the premise and world-building did. There was also a bit of a twist that was far too obvious. In fact, another book I read this year did a similar thing that I didn’t see coming at all, but this one treats the reader like a bit of an idiot in regards to twists I’m afraid. The ending, while sort of exciting, was also the sort of ending that could have been in a completely different book with less of an impressive central idea. So a bit of a mixed bag, really…

10 - 12. Various Books by Agatha Christie (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Body in the Library and Hercule Poirot’s Christmas)

Going into 2021, I’d never read anything by Christie before, despite loving murder mysteries. It was time to put that to rights. While I thoroughly enjoyed The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the introduction in my edition spoiled the reveal. It didn’t actually outright say it, but it gave enough clues so that when I came across a relevant piece of information in the plot, I could immediately work everything out. So be warned - just read the story itself and nothing else until you’ve finished. All three of these stories, featuring both Poirot and Marple, are really enjoyable and genuinely keep you guessing, and at times shocked. I really enjoyed all of them, and am looking forward to reading many more in 2022!

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd especially is one I’d highly recommend as a very clever classic of the genre.

13. The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler

This is a book which is both charming and intrinsically dark and sad. It crams a lot into a small number of pages, but very successfully indeed. I felt myself routing for the characters in the right way. In a way, and for reasons I don’t fully understand, I imagined this one as a sort of Pixar movie for a more grown-up audience, as it has that sort of innocence about it while remaining incredibly vivid, dark and moving.

14. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

Remember when I said I couldn’t wait to read another book by Tartt? Yeah - that didn’t work out. I actually finished this one, but my word it was a chore. Again though, I can appreciate that it was very well written, with a very immersive attention to detail and central voice. But it was just so boring. I mean, it was realistic - if the events that happen in this book were going to happen, they would absolutely happen like this (although… some of the events themselves are actually incredibly far-fetched when I think about it) but it just means everything takes ages and doesn’t really resolve. As a piece of writing I’m sure it’s masterful, but as a reading experience - no thanks. It also had the audacity to be 550 pages long with words tinier than most other books I’ve read. If you’re going to write a book that long, it has to be either a plot complex or involving enough for it to be worth it, or it has to have an ending that makes everything worth it. This had neither - and the characters weren’t even that likeable. Incredibly disappointed. I hate to say it, given how well written the book is in its own right, but I wouldn’t wish the experience of reading this on my worst enemy.

15. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Another 550 page novel in the southern gothic style you say, just like The Little Friend? Imagine my panic. Fortunately, this one is written incredibly well, with vivid characters and an interesting structure. It also has a plot that moves around enough but works to the same ends, as well as an ending that genuinely surprised me on multiple occasions. The way it’s written is, admittedly, quite difficult to get into at first as it’s presented almost as a stream of consciousness, making it very hard to know what is speech and what is thought - but (and again, different to another previously mentioned book) it is executed so well that this doesn’t end up being a problem. So, perhaps a difficult read, but a very good one.

16-17. The Broken Earth 1+2 by N.K. Jemisin (The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate)

Wow. After having read some of The Expanse before starting this series, I didn’t think world-building could get any better, but this series has proved me wrong. A whole, thoroughly all-encompassing world has been created which is able to tell stories with deep resonance to issues that are going on in the real world, with characters who are constantly developing deeply, and stories which are intrinsic to finding more out about the world the book actually takes place in. It’s sort of a blend between dystopia, sci-fi and fantasy, but works so well. This is just top-notch - I don’t think I’ve read anything quite as successful as this in terms of creativity and story-telling. The second one is perhaps slightly less good as elements begin to change shape and are put in place for the final instalment, and there is obviously less world-building to be done there, but I can’t wait to read the final instalment in 2022.

‘The Fifth Season’ is probably my most highly recommended book of the entire year!

18. Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

In a weird way, I found this both easy and difficult to read at the same time. It’s really a series of short stories all set in Berlin before war is about to break out, but also contains lots of queer themes and explores lives of people that might have otherwise been looked down on. It’s an interesting and engaging read that’s very well written, but at times it isn’t exactly pleasant. Still, by this point, Isherwood as a writer has fully got my attention now - I’m starting to really admire his work.

19. Scratchman by Tom Baker

Yes, that is the Tom Baker (although I can’t say that he wrote this entirely on his own). As a Doctor Who fan, this was fun. It is essentially the book of an idea for Doctor Who that Tom Baker had and which never came to fruition. It’s basically a bit of a ‘greatest hits’ for the first half with a more out-there plot in the second half. I really enjoyed reading it, although I appreciate it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

20. Real Life by Brandon Taylor

I bought this book purely because it was on the Booker shortlist for the previous year, and looked interesting. I was really pleasantly surprised when reading it, finding something very clearly written which sustains interest almost over the real time of a weekend for a student. It examines themes of sexuality and racism in a specific environment, but explores them in a way that resonates beyond that environment. It certainly feels like you’re reading something that is really happening (hence the title) but in this book, that’s to its benefit.

21. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

I’d previously read The Farm by Smith and loved it, and thought it would be good to attempt this, which is the first in a trilogy. I thought it was really good, and subverted certain elements of a crime thriller expertly. Its setting and plot are gripping and very well realised, as are the characters. Unfortunately though, over time, the impression it left on me has sort of waned for reasons I don’t fully understand, which is a bit of a shame. So it’s not that I don’t want to continue reading the trilogy as such, but I don’t feel in any particular rush to. It was definitely a good book though.

22 - 23. Rivers of London 1+2 by Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London and Moon Over Soho)

Another great series which I’m glad I’ve got into and am keen to read more of. This is a strange blend between magic and proper police procedural (which the books do take very seriously, not just using it as a frame for the magic part, which takes some getting used to I’ll admit). The voice somehow managed to blend all the elements together really well while remaining witty and genuinely funny, with plots that are dark and scary but also completely madcap and serious at the same time. I didn’t enjoy the second quite as much as the first, probably only because the subject matter didn’t appeal to me in quite the same way, but I enjoyed them both. At times it feels like you’re just being idea-bombed, but keep with it as the resolutions do make things clearer, and I’m enjoying the balance between ongoing story and standalone novel too. One slight issue though is how these books have handled representation of certain people so far - they do their best to have a truly representative cast of characters, but I do question whether authentic voices from the groups represented have been consulted, as a lot of the time stereotypes do seem to be approached without too much caution. This may improve as the books continue though, and I still enjoyed them.

24. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Another classic that I’d never read, and again very good! It’s sort of a crazy idea, but the more you read it the less crazy it seems. As you might expect, there are some really thought-provoking ideas and moments throughout, and the book is written incredibly snappily, as if it’s not trying to fit with any particular rules about how a book should be - and I really like that. It’s certainly one to read if you haven’t already.

25. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I might have been lying when I said that ‘The Fifth Season’ is the book I’d most recommend. This book was truly remarkable and I absolutely loved it. I don’t want to give too much about the plot away, but once it gets going the themes it explores and the points it makes about them are some of the most deeply resonant, interesting and heartfelt things I’ve found in a book. Its setting and mood are addictive to read too. I would never have picked up a book like this of my own volition had it not been recommended to me, and I’m very glad indeed that I did as it’s become one of my all-time favourites ever. I loved all the characters and everything that happened, and the cross between glamour and melancholy throughout is just spot on.

So there we go - all 25 fiction books I read this year. I love getting recommendations, and in fact some of the best reads come from recommendations, so please share suggestions with me, and I hope you found something new to read in this list!

Now, I have about a million books waiting on my bookshelf for 2022 that a currently unread, so I’d better make a start…