Super-excited to bring you my top 10 favorite books I read in 2021! And boy, did I agonize over this list! I’ve been making top 10 lists since all the way back in 1999 (back when I used to just share my list with a few friends), but somehow it never gets easier! In fact if anything, maybe it gets harder as I read more and more books over the years.
As a reminder, these are books I read in a particular year, not necessarily books which were published that year - though as it turns out, all but one of this year’s list was published in 2021. For the first time ever, I only had one 5 star book for the year! I try to reserve 5 stars for the most amazing books that I know will be all time favorites, and this year even though I read 173 books, there was only one book that felt like it deserved 5 stars - Project Hail Mary. However, I had 21 books which I gave 4.5 stars to, which is what made narrowing down my top 10 so hard, so perhaps I’ll also be sharing with you a “best of the rest” or a best of various genres.
Without further ado, my ten most favorite of the year, listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name:
Mary Jane - Jessica Anya Blau
Trophy Son - Douglas Brunt
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
Early Morning Riser - Katherine Heiny
Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro
True Crime Story - Joseph Knox
Once There Were Wolves - Charlotte McConaghy
Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters
West With Giraffes - Lynda Rutledge
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Read on for a little more about each book: