My Favourite Books of 2021

[Note: This post was written all the way back in February 2022 and has been languishing in my drafts ever since. I am going to post it without edits to bring it up to date, but I mention this because otherwise certain allusions to other posts, etc. may not make sense unless you know this one was written some months ago. Also, my opinion on these books may have changed since time of writing, but I am also refraining from updating these as I want to keep this post accurate to how I felt in February, when these books were perhaps fresher in my mind than now.]

As I promised in my apology post last month, this will be my 2021 reading round-up post, in which I list the top ten books I enjoyed the most this past year. I would insert something here about 2021, how it was a long and arduous year but we made it in the end, etc. - but I really don't feel like it. Anyway, the most important thing to know for the purposes of this post is that I managed to get a roughly average amount of reading done this year: somewhere between 40 and 50 books. That should give you some idea of how highly I rate these following books, although I would also like to say that I genuinely think all of these are brilliant and would recommend any of them. I am also not ranking them in order based on quality or opinion, because they are all quite different and none of them significantly rose above the rest in my memory. Instead, I have tried to order them roughly from the books I read least to most recently (as far as I am able to recall when I read them).

One last thing to bear in mind is that some of these books I have written about before on this blog, in which case I will still write a little bit about them here but will also direct you to my previous posts for further detail.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

This is one of three books in this post that I already talked about a bit in my post 4 Short Book Reviews, so I won't talk about this too much here. I imagine that many of you are already familiar with the plot of Emily Bronte's Gothic classic Wuthering Heights, but if not: it focuses primarily on the violently tragic love story of Heathcliff and Cathy, who grow up together but are repeatedly kept apart by other people and their own bad choices. I always feel I have to add a disclaimer when writing about this book though: Heathcliff and Cathy are not good people, and I don't think we're meant to believe they are! I enjoyed the book in spite (because?) of this, but it's best to know about this going in, lest you expect noble and pure heroes and heroines and end up horrified by the reality of these terrible people.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Once again, this is a book I already covered in the aforementioned post (clearly that was a good month for quality books!). I already described it in that post, so here I will just say that this was an amazing book, one of the best family saga-type novels I've read. It has reappeared in my head many times since I finished it, and I can imagine reading it again many times in the future. 

Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri

Ah, one of the saddest books I read last year. Tokyo Ueno Station is set at its titular location, focusing on the ghost of a man named Kazu, who was a migrant labourer in life and who now haunts the station where he ended his life as a homeless man. Incorporating a number of events in Japanese history, from the preparation for the 1964 Olympics which Kazu worked during to the 2011 tsunami, Yu draws particular attention to the way these national events impacted the lives of Japan's poorest and most vulnerable citizens. This is done in no small part through the parallels between Kazu's life and that of Emperor Akihito, who was born the same year as him. In spite of this and numerous other coincidences in their lives, Kazu and the Emperor's lives are obviously and painfully disparate. This is not an easy book to read, but it is an emotionally powerful and important one nonetheless.

Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner

Okay, I promise this is the last book which will involve me redirecting you to my 4 Short Book Reviews post - I can't help it if my favourite books of the year all came around the same time! Anyway, this is a charming contemporary romance about a hotshot showrunner and her assistant, which somehow manages to escape the dodgy power-imbalance issues you would expect from such a setup while still taking advantage of the romantic tension it provides. I nurse a little gay hope that this book will eventually be made into a big gay movie, and my life will be complete. 

There There by Tommy Orange

I was ecstatic to find this book at a local library in Bahrain, having had it on my to-read list for some time. Written by Tommy Orange, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, There There follows the intersecting stories of twelve Native American characters in the lead-up to a pow wow in Oakland, California. Although the characters experience diverse issues in their personal lives - from mental illness, to abusive relationships, to foetal alcohol syndrome - a recurring theme across their stories is the idea of what it means to be a Native American in today's world, especially as an 'Urban Indian' living in a city. 

This was a beautiful and heart-breaking book, with a unique structure. I might have been doubtful of an author's ability to switch back and forth between characters and perspectives as Orange does in There There, but he pulls it off brilliantly. 

You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce

I bought this book (like so many in 2021) on a whim because the ebook was on sale, only for it to become one of my favourite books I've read in a while. This is an unsettling, Gothic tale of a girl whose life has been haunted from a young age by the mysterious Pepper-Man. He is seemingly a sort of fairy or fae, but not in the sense of the little winged pixies - Pepper-Man is more akin to the dangerous, vampiric and human-like fae of old folklore. The book is full of questions: is Pepper-Man real, or just a psychological manifestation of young Cassandra's childhood trauma? Is the adult Cassandra, a celebrated romantic novelist, responsible for the deaths of several family members, as many suppose her to be? How much of what Cassandra narrates throughout the story is real, how much is fake, and how much does she genuinely believe in?

This book gripped me from start to finish, and left me with a severe book hangover - a sure sign of a good book. I can't wait to read Camilla Bruce's next work, the equally fascinating-sounding Triflers Need Not Apply. If it's anything close to as good as You Let Me In, I will be a very happy reader.

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

To give you some idea of how I found this book, know that one of the tags I applied to it on LibraryThing is "ruined me emotionally". I stand by this. Even thinking about some parts of it now, I feel the urge to cry or possibly scream - obviously this means I highly recommend the novel.

Here Comes the Sun is about three women (a mother and her two daughters) living and trying to survive in modern Jamaica. While the cover of the book might convince you that this is a light summer beach read, the plot is far from it. Some of the issues the book addresses include gentrification, sexual exploitation, homophobia, colourism, and generational trauma, among others. All of the characters are by turns infuriating and sympathetic, with their own struggles and reasons for the way they behave. They all felt incredibly real, which made certain parts of the book all the more heart-breaking. There is one particular part near the end of the book which I can't describe without spoiling it, but it gave me perhaps the most visceral feeling of devastation I've experienced from a book this year.

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Speaking of viscera... the premise of Tender is the Flesh is essentially: what if factory farming, but with humans? If that sounds absolutely repulsive to you, then you would be right. This book is disturbing and would definitely be classed as dystopian, if not outright horror fiction. Both of these genres are most effective when their outlandish plots reflect real-life concerns, and Tender is the Flesh does this very well. Reading the book, you start to believe that certain scenarios could genuinely lead to a situation like this, with institutionalised cannibalism becoming just another form of exploitation in society. You can also of course read the book as a reflection of the horrors of factory farms as they exist now, which naturally as a vegan did occur to me, but I won't delve into that too deeply. Suffice to say that if you can stomach it, this is powerful and gripping read. 

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo

I will keep this section quite short, since if you want to read more of my thoughts on Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 you can simply read the previous post I wrote about it. For this post, suffice to say that this is a short but impactful novel about what it means to be a woman today, in Korea and beyond. If I had to recommend one book to a man to help him understand what it's like to live as a woman in the world of the 21st century, I think this might be the book I would suggest.

Margarita's Husband, A Fable of the Levant by Andriana Ierodiaconou

I read this book in the summer of 2021, as I wanted to read a book specifically set in Cyprus to continue my tradition of reading one book for every country I visit. I hadn't heard of this novel before and it didn't seem to have many reviews online, but I would happily agree with those few testimonials calling it 'a hidden gem'. Set on an island in the Levant which appears to be but is not named as Cyprus, this short book focuses on Homer Kyroleon, a 'wealthy Christian landowner, inveterate womanizer and local political figure', and the family members and local residents who surround him: his docile and sensitive wife Margarita, his rebellious son Adonis, his now-deceased daughter Polyxene, and Gethsemane, the young refugee who takes both Kyroleon and his son as lovers. This familial drama takes place against a backdrop of political and social unrest on the island, as anti-colonial, religious, and class tensions rise. 

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With that, my list of the best books I read in 2021 is complete! It was quite a good year for reading, and I hope that 2022 can provide me with at least as many excellent books again. If you're reading this, feel free to let me know: Was this a good reading year for you? Did you have a favourite book or books you read in 2021?