Best Reads of 2021

Already time for the yearly roundup of some of my best reads this year. I always wait until the very last possible moment to post my list; you never know what you'll come across around Christmas! I like to give every book I've read this year a chance to appear on my favourites list, no matter if I read it in the first week of January or the last few days of December. 

I also create a statistical summary each year, mostly for my own geekish pleasure. As I've said before, I don't think of reading as a competition -- I keep track of numbers and various stats for my own interest, not to prove anything or compare myself to anyone. 

Here are my reading stats for 2021:

Total Reading: 150

Authors

Female: 136
Male: 12
Both/Neither: 2

Genre 

Fiction: 110

Non Fiction: 39

Poetry: 1

In Translation: 37

Esperanto - 1

Portuguese - 1

Italian - 2

Catalan - 3

Spanish - 2

Arabic- 2

Korean - 1

Japanese - 6

Ukrainian - 1

Russian - 2

German - 1

French - 5

Quebecois - 6

Swedish - 2
Norwegian - 1 

Finnish - 1

My Own Books: 42
Library Books: 100

Review Copies: 8

Rereads: 6
E-reads: 32

Author who I read the most from: 

Margaret Millar, with 4. 

2021'sWeird Random Stat: 

Books with characters named Melanie: 6

I seem to have picked up my reading slightly over last year, which admittedly was a very strange year! The number of audiobooks I read this year dropped quite a lot but I'm still using them more than I did in the past. 

Like always, I read a big majority of women authors, and quite a few more library books than my own this year. Must get to my own shelves again soon. But I am happy with all the great books I found through the library!

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And now for the Best of 2021!

These are titles that were memorable, unusual, or caught me with their great storytelling or rich characters. Just books that hit the right note with me when I picked them up! 

Better Luck Next Time / Julia Claiborne Johnson

A random and unexpected find, this novel was set in the 30s in Reno, quickie divorce capital of the US. I liked the relationships between all the women in this one a lot. 

The Ghost in the House / Sara O'Leary

A small Canadian novel I stumbled across, this one hit me with the bittersweet storyline. Plus it was funny as well. A nice surprise. 

The Memory Collectors / Kim Neville

Loved this story of a girl with special powers recovering from the trauma of her past, and finding someone else with the same ability to sense the energy of objects. Fascinating and a great pace to the story too. 

The Sentence / Louise Erdrich

Not reviewed yet, I finished this recently and loved it as I have loved many of Erdrich's books. More to come on this one.

The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour / Dawn Dumont 

This was a book I'd been looking forward to and it did not disappoint! Dumont is funny, sarcastic, and illuminates Indigenous lives through her storytelling.

The Core of the Sun / Johanna Sinisalo; trans. from the Finnish by Lola Rogers

Finnish sf, a futuristic society and contraband chili peppers...what's not to love?

Variations on the Body / Marina Ospina; trans. from the Spanish by Heather Cleary

These six loosely connected short stories, set in Bogota, were wonderful. Each one had its own charm and I couldn't put this book down. 

The Lonesome Bodybuilder / Yukiko Motoya; trans. from the Japanese by Asa Yoneda

11 quirky stories from this Japanese writer -- strange things happen, fateful decisions are taken, the narrators encounter really odd people, and tell it all straight, as if nothing unusual is going on. Compelling reading!

Where the Wild Ladies Are / Aoko Matsuda; trans. from the Japanese by Polly Barton

I read this collection of stories in nearly one go. Highly recommended for its bright, lively tone, clever construction, and wonderful women who feature throughout. This book just won the Best Collection award at the World Fantasy Awards, too. 

Your Ad Could Go Here / Oksana Zabuzhko; trans. from the Ukrainian by Nina Murray, Halyna Hryn, Askold Melnyczuk, Marco Carynnyk, & Marta Horban

A Ukrainian collection by an author I really like, this one was a great read for me this year!

There were also a couple of non-fiction reads that were just stellar. There were two in particular that really struck me this year.

The Reading Cure / Laura Freeman

A stunning look at books and their power to shape and change our lives, and help us through trauma.

Patch Work / Clare Wilcox

Reviewed at my sewing blog, this is a book about memory and physical objects and museums and... well, so much to appeal to people whether they are sewists or not!

And I want to put in a special mention of a delightful middle grade series that entertained me a great deal, the Myrtle Hardcastle series by Elizabeth J. Bunce. If you're looking for lighthearted mystery reading, this is a great choice. 

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I hope you've enjoyed this wander through some of my favourites of the year. I was lucky to find some random titles that turned out to be great reads, and I found a bunch of fabulous reads during Women in Translation month, including short story collections, which are not always my first choice. But this year they knocked it out of the park! And then some provocative non-fiction and instant comfort reading kids books. A pretty good reading year for me. 

Here's to new discoveries in the new year.