The Best Five Books of 2021
The best of the best!
I’ve done a lot of reading this year, quite possibly the most I have ever done. With about one week left in 2021, I have completed 110 books of varying genres and subject-matter. I have read these books in a variety of formats that shifted as the year progressed, including (1) books purchased at my favorite independent bookstore, McNally Jackson, and picked up outside before vaccines allowed me to venture inside, (2) library books from my local branch of the New York Public Library placed on hold once I realized my book buying habits were getting out of control, (3) audiobooks to listen to while I cooked or went for walks with the dog, and (4) advance review copies provided by publishers as this blog gained traffic.
Over the past two weeks I have published lists of my favorite fiction and non-fiction, but saved five books that I thought were particularly exceptional to close out the year, all of which earned a 10/10 rating. I am very excited to see what next year has in store. Happy reading!
5. A Promised Land - Barack Obama
Memoir
This was the first book that I read in 2021 and it did not disappoint. As readers of this blog may know, I am a big fan of memoirs written by former Obama staffers (see the link below for some related recommendations), and so was thrilled when I learned late last year that President Obama was finally releasing the first half of his presidential memoir. As evidenced in his first two books, Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope, Obama is an excellent writer. This book, A Promised Land, is deeply introspective and written with humility as well as occasional humor. Stretching from childhood through the Bin Laden raid in 2011, it is abundantly clear how much Obama cared about using the power of the presidency to improve people’s lives. In an era of divisiveness and a seeming inability to get anything done in Washington, I was repeatedly struck by Obama’s idealism and commitment to bipartisanship despite Republican policy that appeared designed to oppose anything Obama showed signs of supporting. Despite this, this book makes me want to work in the White House in the future, as do most Obama-era memoirs.
4. Infinite Country - Patricia Engel
Fiction
As Infinite Country begins, readers are introduced to Talia, a teenager being held in a correctional facility for adolescent girls in Colombia. Talia is desperate to return to her father in Bogotá so that she can board a flight to the United States where her mother and estranged siblings now live. What follows is not just the story of Talia’s escape, but also the story of Talia’s family and their journey to the United States. Every word in this short, beautiful book matters. Despite its length, this novel is packed with so much in the way of themes, perspectives, and approaches, moving the story forward in a masterful way. I have read reviews that criticized the brevity of the book, arguing that if Engel had written more pages she would have been able to better develop the characters. I believe, however, that this book was not meant to contain detailed portraits of each of the characters lives, but instead successfully used the snippets of each character to tell the larger story of family, immigration, and the search for home. By interweaving Talia’s escape from the Colombian prison with the experiences of her family members, Engel granted her readers a stunning window into one family’s struggle for a better future amidst the harsh realities of the American immigration system.
3. I Am I Am I Am - Maggie O’Farrell
Memoir
Using seventeen brushes with death, I Am I Am I Am is the story of O’Farrell’s life. When O’Farrell was a young child she became ill with a mysterious illness that left her paralyzed for a year and provided her first encounter with dying. At age 18, while working at a holiday resort, O’Farrell escaped a predatory man on a hike who later was arrested for strangling and murdering a woman a few days later. After giving birth to her first child, O’Farrell experienced extreme bleeding that made the doctors believe she was going to die. Although each incident is its own chapter, they are not in chronological order, slowly revealing O’Farrell’s life and providing context for her experiences. Do not think that these incidents make this a depressing book. It is the opposite. Each close encounter with death seems to give O’Farrell more perspective and appreciation for life, which becomes critical after her daughter is born with serious, life-threatening allergies and all of the survivalist lessons that she has learned must be used to keep her daughter alive. This is a wholly unique and singular book. I knew that O’Farrell was an exceptional writer from her novel Hamnet, but the creativity of this work combined with her writing skills and depth of perception make this one of the best books I have read all year.
2. The Office of Historical Corrections - Danielle Evans
Fiction/Short Story Collection
After finishing Danielle Evans’ The Office of Historical Corrections in late January, all I could think was “wow, this book was good.” This book, a collection of short stories and a novella for which the book is named, was incredible. Each story contains dynamic and complex characters grappling with poignant questions of race, womanhood, nationalism, and grief. I learned so much about identity, its interactions with society at large, and American history within these subtle stories driven by the nuances of the daily lives of its characters. Unlike other short story collections that I read this year in which the stories quietly came to a close, such as Katherine Heiny’s Single, Carefree Mellow or Lily King’s Five Tuesdays in Winter, every story in this collection had a subtle twist. The beauty of these twists was that while they were each shocking, Evans wove them in so naturally that they felt like an inevitable element born out of the way things sometimes sadly are. I want to read everything Evans has written and can not wait for her to write more.
1. Early Morning Riser - Katherine Heiny
Fiction
This was the best book I read this year. Early Morning Riser follows Jane, a young second grade teacher who has recently moved to Boyne City, Michigan. Boyne City is a small town where everybody knows everybody. After she gets locked out of her house, Jane meets Duncan, a man known around town for how well he knows each of the city’s women. They quickly develop a relationship which readers watch develop over the course of two decades alongside the other residents of Boyne City. Midway through the first decade, however, their lives are altered by a catastrophic car crash that forces all of them, but especially Jane, to redefine family and what it means to love.
Early Morning Riser is one of those books where not a lot happens, and yet everything happens. While there is a plot that is extremely compelling and includes elements that are consequential and life-changing, it is secondary to the extraordinary characters. I don’t think there is a single character, no matter how prominent, that is not a fully fleshed out human being with quirks and humor and flaws. I found myself laughing out loud at some descriptions, appreciating the way that Heiny effortless told a serious story in a heartwarming and humorous manner. Each word in this book was used to achieve something, and the result was a delightful story about compassion, patience, love, and life in a small town. I can count on one hand how many books I have re-read, but I would read this one again in a heartbeat.
In case you missed them, my previous posts on my favorite fiction and non-fiction are below: